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

True, pinky (for that is what I shall call you . John Lewis are very good though - they will refund any whole balls of yarn as long as you have the receipt, no matter how long since you bought it. Thank you for assuaging my guilt . I have a few projects in the pipeline which should keep me out of trouble for the forseeable!!

Debs, no ... seen it ... but if you look up-thread a little you will see mine

I typed a long post then lost it!

Basically it said - going to ebay like mad to raise for a holiday - we haven't had a 'proper' one (other than camping at relative's place) for 3 years, we just want something cheap with some friends of ours.

And I also wrote something fabulously witty and wise about locking keys in car, ultimately the message was - we've all done something like that!

oooooo lovely new thread! NSD here today hopefully, I'm off today & it's pissing down so I'm having a nice day in with my boys :)

I have an utterly GROSS money saving tip today- this morning ds1 put a loo roll down the toilet in order to get the cardboard tube (to make a 'watch' with). Then dh went for a massive shit & stupidly didn't notice all the loo roll jammed in it, resulting in major blocked toilet which was frankly, hideous. DH was all set to drive for miles to tesco to buy one of those toilet unblockers to pour down & dissolve it all (sorry tmi BLEURGH) but instead muggins here got a stick from the garden, stuck it down the loo several times & voila it was unblocked! I didn't trust dh to do it cos he'd probably then drag the shit coated stick through the house & leave it on the worktop or something. BOAK!

So saved about a fiver there, even if I did nearly puke in the process!

Ilike nice . I've been very good for the past few days using up freezer/store cupboard stuff but feel that I might fall off the no spending wagon tomorrow. Am planning to bring back some unused party craft stuff which will put me in the way of temptation. If I get a refund I'll also have some 'spare' money....

Lovely!

Just got a load of books on money saving from the library. Probably won't tell me anything I don't know, but worth a look.

I also had to reserve a book (95p) as they won't transfer books between libraries (you'd think the central library would have the biggest range, but they randomly send some of the best books to libraries that are difficult for me to get to).

Spent £3 something in Costa (drink and some biscuits as stupidly left house without lunch for me).

One of my soda breads didn't cook properly - has an uncooked layer of dough in it. Still tastes nice and will probably be ok toasted (when new toaster finally arrives). Can you rebake bread that is undercooked??

Just found this - if you make bread and things go wrong, this link has some tips:

www.yourbread.co.uk/When_things_go_wrong.html

Who's growing veg this year?

Thinking of doing a few containers.

Going to try, LadyH. Didn't manage it last year as baby was due April/May and husband couldn't be less green-fingered if he tried!

I'll do spinach/lettuce at the very least. Last two attempts at tomatoes (in fact, I did manage to do those last year) just resulted in a jungle of green toms that wouldn't ripen. I made a lot of chutney! Oh, I did also manage courgettes last year. They worked well.

We have strawberry plants in the garden, that produce a few fruits (but not that many) and would like to grow more fruit. I planted a raspberry plant coming up three years ago, but still no fruit...

Yep, LadyH, about half my garden is edible in the summer...
In the ground/containers at the moment: winter salad leaves, pak choi, broad beans, peas, rhubarb, onions, shallots, garlic, chard, cavolo nero, lots of herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano, marjoram, sage, lemon balm, hyssop, horserasich, bergamot, mint, chives, lovage, caraway, rosemary, bay), dwarf patio fruit trees (1 each of peach and apricot), blueberries (early/mid/late).

Got plans for raspberries, strawberries, a dwarf kiwi, asparagus (like the rhubarb, that won't be productive till next year), four types of potatoes have been chitting on the windowsill since January, carrots, brussels, cabbage, my only constraint is tight space and no greenhouse!

I can't possibly get through my seed collection while they are still good to plant so if anyone wants, please ask and I will be happy to post some - there are always far too many seeds per packet for me so I would be happy to decant a few. PM me!

Last night I started off a few tomato and pepper seeds, which I'll keep doing until I've run out of little plastic pots, and then I'll sell the seedlings at work/DH's work/our front wall to passers-by... any ideas what other plants would sell? What would you buy for pennies at a time - sweet peas? sunflowers?

Well 3 days until payday and am literally fantasising about them moment. I have made 11 NSDs out of 14 though, but that has been because we have no money but still counts! We have also only spend 57.48 in that time as well

Hooray, found new thread!

Today was supposed to be an NSD, but actually wasn't . Spent £10.19 in Co-op on: 2 packs of salmon steaks, 1 pack of pork loin steaks (4 in there so will do 2 dinners), 2 packs of breaded haddock fillets, 2 packs of posh burgers, 1 8-pack of Mueller mini-yoghurt corners, 1 pack of 6 mini pork pies & 1 pack of Lurpak butter. This was all reduced & should have been £26.43 if full price, with offers taken into account & will do 8 main meals plus some snackage (so probably £1 per meal), so don't feel too bad. Also bought a cute little good-as-new Cherokee jumper for 75p at the charity shop for DS2. Oh, and yet another toy car for DS1, 10p . And 50p Edward Bear fees. Also, I used towards this £5 that DH had been given & found 5p on the ground [desperate for absolution].

Also, DH has had to travel for work today & been given £50 petrol money, but reckons he will only need £40 of that for the work trips

One beauty tip have is to tell all the perfume/make-up counters in department stores that you have a wedding/event to go to & are trying to choose a new perfume/make-up/moisturisers & they will often give you free samples - so you have a wide range of different, fashionable scents that are handbag-sized

spew you need to cut back raspberry canes, I can't remember the details but it is something about them fruiting on new wood (or is it old wood?) Google is your friend here :)

New thread....I'm here too!

NSD here today. Yipeee!

lexi, you sound like the lady to tell us all how to grow food. I was going to plant some rhubarb in my front patch and shove some herbs out there as well. Would like to do some container growing the back as well. I will PM you for some seeds - if the offer is there. What details do you need? Am happy to Paypal you some money over for postage.

Thanks, pinkpussycat, they've never fruited so will have a little google...

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this, re health/beauty, but keep an eye out of trainee haircuts. I've had free ones in the past, as the trainees have to do 'test' cuts. A fully qualified hairdresser then checks it before you leave, so you won't walk out with a mullet (unless that's what you really wanted...). Also, check if your salon does a loyalty scheme - I get 15% off every third cut. Or, get it done at home. I used to, but the girl that did it become uncontactable...

Or FE colleges who do hairdressing courses.

Hello, I am new and never done this before, but I guess that my financial situation hit dire this month, so I am vowing to spend as little as I can next month while I try to sort my cash flow out.

Do I just jump right in?

Hi sort of new here too I think I tried to have NSDs in November and don't think I lasted long!
On holiday this week so havent saved a lot but for once haven't went mad at shops or take aways (prob as not pay day till next week! ) tomorrow out for lunch but did a tesco shop yesterday so food for the next week is all sorted. Going to look at making bread though sounds fun!
Going away 11 weeks tomorrow to spain so need to start being really good and stop spending money on pointless things!

Pixie very happy to send seeds and will list what I've got in a minute. I wouldn't say I'm any good at actually growing a consistent supply of food but I do grow lots of edibles and I would say in terms of 'bang for your buck' you cannot beat herbs like thyme and rosemary, particularly in making the difference to comforting stews and roasts. Cut and come again salads are also foolproof, and tomatoes and peas/beans are eleventy million times better when they are straight off the bush, not refrigerated or tasteless supermarket non-varieties.

Wailing child upstairs. Will deal with that and then list what I've got in my seed box...

Welcome GrownUp and namechange, yes, just jump straight in. There are links further up thread to the past two threads which have tons of tips etc in.

lexi, will look out for your post re seeds. I'll then pm you my details for posting. Thank you.

Great new thread!

Can anyone give me an opinion? I opened a multipack of Walkers crisps today that I bought at the weekend and they tasted stale - I checked the best before and they are 3 months over. Now I'm not a fusspot and if I'd bought these from Approved Foods, I would chalk it up to experience. But seeing as how it's Tesco who are peeing me off royally with their price hikes and also due to the poor quality of the product I want to return them. As I live rurally this will be a 25 mile round trip( although I am going to town anyway)

So not normally my style but what can I expect from Tesco? A simple refund? Or a refund AND a replacement? Or a months free shopping? (joke)

Iammummy - you want to post them back to walkers and they will probably send you vouchers. I have done it with stuff before

mummy, if you are going into town then do take them back to Tesco. Take your receipt and get your money back. However, before you do that I would also contact Walkers Customer Services - they may be interested in hearing that you have been sold stale products and you may get vouchers (I did with Jacobs when I found a piece of their machinery in a packet of Twiglets .

X post with molly