Frugal Feb gives way to Money-Saving March. Now featuring austerity health and beauty tips!

[Lexilicious]

Third thread after first and second

Let's get saving and enjoying our frugal wins!

summary of links so far
www.organizedhome.com
www.supersavvyme.co.uk/
womenfreebies.co.uk/
www.lovemoney.com/
www.moneysavingexpert.com/deals/discount-voucher-codes/
www.poundland.co.uk/top-tips/gardening-2012/
www.purlbee.com/
www.familyandfriends-railcard.co.uk/halfterm
www.makeupstop.co.uk/
www.approvedfood.co.uk/
www.goodtoknow.co.uk/money/cheap-food-deals
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/perfect_portions

Plus remember Jen if you're a DC you've got to make as much use of the servants your parents as you can, while you can

OMG Lexi just read your post

Slow leak, I should clarify. About a drip every 5 secs but enough to have made a stain on the ceiling below in a day or two. Through or within the bath tap. I have that feeling this evening of just having slightly too many 'issues' to deal with at the moment. Not overwhelming can't cope ness, but urrgggh do I have to be a bloody grown up it's so haarrrrdddd argh.

Thanks for concern tho TPP

I see what you mean Pink. He certainly has no problem recognising things & plays very well - he bashes things together, throws them, turns them around, shakes them... He doesn't crawl yet (pretty near, though), so things may change then. He certainly does seem to follow the policy "Why should I do it, when I have many adoring fans to do it for me. Or even if they won't, I can just sit back & watch!"

Lexi good luck with the bath. Our dining room ceiling bears the scar of where our bath leaked & DH had to cut out the soggy bit of ceiling, repair the leak & then replace the ceiling part, complete with artexing, so I feel your pain!

Had another good reduced spend at Waitrose.

Innocent pots -£3.79 for one or £4 for two.

They were reduced to £1.34 each so I got two. They then gave me £3.58 back!!! They paid me to buy them!

£15 shopping for a massive bag of reduced stuff. My freezer is groaning.........

Hi
Wasn't sure what thread I was sloping off too...you just all seem to know each other really well.

I seem to have a birthday every other week, plus dd (7) has lots of parties to go to - charity shops are my saviours

spew if you speak any east european languages get in touch.

We had a bath leak which we thought was fixed. Not entirely fixed. It's on my list of pull your head out of the SAND NOW sorts of things. need plumber, need to find plumber.

nice to know we're not alone re the bath! On the plus side, NSD yesterday and prob today and tmrw as I am on a residential course, all meals catered etc. I miss my boys but nice to have my bed made up and someone else to clear the trail of coffee cups I tend to leave in my wake.

See, this is what happens when DS has to use the laptop for homework and then DH slopes in and spends all evening 'surfing' around on t'internet super highway ... masses of posts ... oh, happy reading .

duchesse, I am on first name terms with many assistants in my local Waitrose I spend so much time and money in there. Tbh, the dr did mention the possibility of a final height of 6'7" but I am seriously trying not to think of that, 6'4" is about as tall as I can contemplate at the mo. He eats like a hound ... everything except cheese (and even then he will eat it melted but not otherwise . Eats everything else though, in HUGE quantities. In his defence he loves the usual stuff but also loves his fruit and veggies (sprouts and brocolli being particular favourites!!!!).

Upthread, one of you lovely lot asked about online shops - I use Waitrose online or Ocado (supply Waitrose goods but are now a separate company to Waitrose) for my online shops. They have both always been reliable and the stuff arrives in a usable condition - unlike Sainsburys.

Lexi, sorry you have a leak. I once caused our toilet cistern to overflow ... not pretty. Thank god DH is good at DIY.

NSD yesterday...yaaaaaaaaay. The first for aaaaggggeeeesssssss. Envisage another one today - just an oyster bus fare a bit later. Have reduced the pyster fares down to one a day to collect DS from station by walking all the way there - so exercise and frugality in one measure

Btw, welcome to the newbies - this is a great thread, jump right in.

Can I mark my place? Our spending has gone mad this month and I don't want that to continue because we want to decorate downstairs and put new carpet in one of the bedrooms and I am determined not to use money that would normally be for savings or holidays to do it!

Mission 1 was to get DH taking lunch to work instead of buying, which he has done today. So that should save about £25 a week.

Alibaba- that's a £100/month saving right from the beginning! DH mustn't fall off the wagon- taking a packed lunch has to become an ingrained habit for him.

Morning all & welcome Alibaba

Just packed DS1 off to nursery as he seems a lot better today - he couldn't wait to go, either! DS2 & I will have breakfast (whilst watching last night's Superscrimpers) then head into town. My 2 BIL's & 1 niece have birthdays this month, so need to get pressies for 2 of them (have 1 already). Have £15 vouchers to use in Debenhams, provided I use my Gold card, so that should cover it. Parking is free & I also have enough stamps to get a free cup of tea at Debenhams, which I may well do! I must say, watching my weight is also helping with watching my purse as it means when I go to cafes I do not allow myself a cake, and I also walk places rather than take the car or bus!

After town, need to pop to a nearby village Co-op to get milk, mushrooms & lettuce & also my free San Miguel beer from Facebook .

Better go before DS2 starts wondering where his breakfast is...

Sorry, welcome to new people - I was a bit stressed with work last night, so sorry for ignoring. Oops.

Harriet - I only translate German to English, so no eastern European goodness, I'm afraid.

Alibaba - yes, making lunch will save a fortune. My husband just has a packed lunch (rolls, crisps and fruit), but he is actually scared of microwaves (for someone who works with computers, he's a bit weird when it comes to tech) so I don't give him leftovers to take, but that's another option (or if you don't have leftovers, purposefully cook another portion in the evening for tomorrow's lunch).

Agree with Duchesse re packed lunches .I usually pinch some of previous nights dinner to reheat at work as we have a microwave and all my colleagues go "aaahhhh" when i reheat my shepherds pie or roastie

If they is no leftovers I make the packed lunches straight after dinner and then Im not tempted to buy it.
Yesterday I was poorly so DS made the packed lunches for everyone - he is 13 and did BLT
Plus bought sarnies are full of mayo -bleurgh !

Janx - are the charity shops in your area any good? Mine used to be really good but have become a lot more hit and miss. There's a suburb of Ox known for its charity shops (it has about 6/7), but even there I struggle to find stuff I might actually want to buy.

Thanks for the welcome :) We had a very frugal January and first half of February because DH got made redundant just before Christmas. We set up our own company and DH is contracting, and since he secured his contract we have been disastrous. He had a stag weekend, and my brother got married which were both expensive. The freezer and cupboard had got a bit depleted so they needed restocking, plus there were a number of expenses related to setting up the business and DH starting work (new laptop being the worst!). It will all even out, but the bank balance is suffering!

I asked DH last night how much he was spending on lunches, and he reckoned £5-6 a day! And they get free tea, coffee and water so that isn't even with drinks.
He has made up a big bowl of couscous and taken some of that with some leftover roast lamb and some salad. We are both trying to watch our weight as well, so this will be a bonus on 2 fronts.

I am going to try for a NSD today, I don't need anything - I did a top up shop in Sainsbury's yesterday and bought ingredients for making DS2's naming party cake.
Actually I am planning to order DH's birthday present today, but it is the frittering that needs to stop so in my head it will still be a NSD!

Nightmare month for birthdays here too. DH, DS2, my Mum plus a couple of friends.

Hello all - wow, having marked my place yesterday, have now had a good read through. Some heroic stuff on here!

I can probably have a NSD today. Went to supermarket yesterday - £48 (was £55, but had £7 off voucher!) that should see us through to the weekend, barring some milk and fresh bread. Now we are eating Veg meals at least 2-3 times a week has really helped with budgeting for food. I have quite a few packs of meat in the freezer as well so for the rest of the month, food shopping bills will be smaller than usual if I gradually work through some freezer meals.

I need to do some banking today though, some small credit card purchases to budget through and set up weekly payments to repay but not talking a lot and should be paid back by the time the bills arrive and avoid interest (I hope!)

Need to pay a deposit for our holiday at the month end, so some seriously super scrimping will be a bit help this month to enable me to do that. Will have to time sending the cheque carefully so arrives on payday in case it is cashed straight away!

Men are nightmares for buying lunches. I am seeing a friend today so will be out over lunch, leaving DD3 with DP so DP has bought himself a meal deal from Co-op. There is loads of food in the fridge and cupboards and he will have to make something for DD3 so why buy something?

I don't think we have a Waitrose near us but I will check. I know Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury and Iceland deliver in our street but I have never seen an Ocado or Waitrose van.

Today should just be a bus fare spend as I am seeing friend then off to college for an interview so I'm not taking the car as I won't be able to get parked without paying. If I don't buy anything else then this will be a NSD

Sorry Alibaba
Didnt read that it was you who mentioned packed lunches - drools over couscous and roast lamb
Regarding birthdays- I buy and keep a little stash of cards .Often multipack ones are fine . Do you have any points knocking about on boots,sainsbos clubcards. If you have you can buy some toiletries etc as pressies

Hi All!

I'm joining the no spend train!

with regards to cards look out for card factory! they do 10 cards for £1 you might think but honestly they are lovely. I stock up a couple of pounds worth and they last ages! They are also good for little notebook sets etc for gifts!

I always try to send DH in with a packed lunch but if I couldn't be bothered haven't had time to make him sandwiches, I just give him a tin of soup from the cupboard & some bread. Or homemade soup from the freezer works well, as it stays frozen on the journey & is usually defrosted by lunchtime.

Back from my little shopping trip. Couldn't pick up free beer as my printer didn't want to print off the coupon, so have sent off for that. Spent £6.15 in Debenhams (as had £15 vouchers, so total shop was £21.65) & got: Little Rocha sunhat for baby boy to be born next month (£5 down to £2), pack of 5 Red Herring pants for DS1 (£4 down to £2), really cute 'soft' Junior J trainers for DS2 (£7.50 down to £1.50 as they had no packaging - I'm sure DS2 won't mind that ), 2 Blue Zoo sparkly tops for Dniece's 11th birthday (£16 down to £12.80) & a leather 'media pouch (I'm thinking iPhone wallet) for DBIL's birthday (£9.50 down to £2.85). So £42 worth of goodies cost me £6.15 . Also had a hot chocolate with whipped cream etc for free, as my stamp card was full

Then went to Tesco & got mushrooms, milk & lettuce as required, nothing else! So spent £2.73 for those.

Altogether not a bad morning's work!

Ah leaks. - had to spend £350 on getting a new element for my boiler recently.
We have decided to take our car off the road to save money- we are hardly using it - dp cycles and I mainly use public transport - live in London
Yes our charity shops are pretty good - fairly trendy and it's amazing what people donate - very few kids clothes though.
I have spend nothing today.... So far