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

Think we're heading for a good weekend, overall. Just £1.50 so far and hoping nothing today.

Going back to the Health and Beauty focus we had talked about, can anyone recommend a good home-made conditioner for dark hair? I currently use Original Source, but my hair doesn't seem very conditioned. Anyone got any tried and tested methods?

debs75 are you sure you can't return them? i was under the impression you could...

Spew

I've used olive oil, and almond oil, takes a lot of rinsing to get rid but results were good. Reminds me, my straw like hair needs a bit if attention.

spew, an over-ripe avocado all mashed up and rubbed into hair can act as a conditioner. Also, if you have a day at home (or you can do this overnight too) dampen your hair and coat it in lots of conditioner. Leave it as long as you can and then shampoo it out. It makes your hair lovely and soft.

Went to lidl's yesterday - spent £15- got loads. Today -day at park -£5 for lollies, water (dd managed to knock over the bottle I brought from home) and Sunday paper for me . I say in the sun while Dcs played

NSD here :).

Went to Morrisons and spent £42. The checkout girl then told me if I got the sun I would get a fiver off, so I did.

SPEW for dark hair you can use beer when you rinse, that is meant to be good.

This weekend has been fairly heavy spend for us as had to get diesel (which we got with Morrisons 15p/litre off voucher, saving about £8 on a full tank).

Saturday: Diesel at Tesco to get us to Morrisons £5.05. Diesel + malteser bunny at Morrisons £71.31, baby food, bananas, tinned tomatoes & carton of formula at Morrisons £5.99. We also had a lovely few hours at the 'seaside' (actually more like an estuary town I think, but it's lovely) & only spent £1 on parking as we took a picnic including cans & a flask & somebody gave us their parking ticket with time left on it, which lasted for half the time we were there, so felt quite virtuous about that . Then got chips for dinner £2.15 & DH bought some fizzy & cookies , so about £1.50 there.

Sunday: £1.30 for drink at soft play party for DS1's friend. Then went sobbing round to my parents as have been feeling really rough all day & DH was working 12 hours (left house at 5.45am ) & I just knew I couldn't look after DSes on my own all afternoon . They sent me straight up to bed, brought me tea & toast & medicine & made me stay there until DH fetched us. I feel 100 times better now, just a bit woozy

eeeeeeeeeek I spent loads today! DH looked after the boys all day so I went shopping myself I bought:
-no7 concealer, facial exfoliator, nail polish &lippy all for £15 (should've been £33 but it was 3for2 plus I had a £5 off voucher)
-clothes for ds1 in tk maxx £15
-a mothers day present £15
-a tin doggy plant pot (not needed at all but it's now got herbs in it on the decking & the boys love it & called it mr balloon lol) £15
-petrol £20
-moses basket for soon to be here ds3 £40 reduced from £100 in mamas & papas
-changing bag, nappies in Boots £10 but should've been £40 (i had vouchers!)

So lots of money spent but I enjoyed it very much :o Need to get food shopping this week but I'll try not to spend any more this week!

Has anyone used a yoghurt maker? We go through tons of the stuff and wondered whether we should try one

Spendy weekend here too. Lunch out on Saturday, although only pizza hut so not too much. Boots for a refil of the toiletries drawer - spent £50 but that was for £80 worth, plus I got £20 of points onto my advantage card using coupons.
Exchanged a t-shirt for DS1 in Marks - free.

Today I bought one large crate in Staples to pack away clothes DS2 has grown out of - £15.
£100 on wine for upcoming party plus restocking the cupboard.

Might manage a NSD tomorrow, although i do need to start buying food and bits for said party.

April will be a better month!

Janx no I haven't. We get through a lot here too but it is a bridge too far for me I think. Love my breadbasker though.

Decided to Get shopping today, ate in McDs- so cheap lunch. Supermarket was £40, plus £3 for seeds, flowers for the DDs and chive, tomatoes and chilli pepper for me. I haven't grown from seeds before, fancy having a try. Did manage to Start off a lemon tree from a pip but it got thrown away when we moved. Men!Moving on, I don't expect to spend anything tomorrow apart from the road toll to School

Thanks for the conditioning tips. Think I'll give the avocado a go (worried I won't wash out the oil properly and have lanky locks). And we do have a bottle of Stella in the fridge (we don't drink but got it in for family, been there yonks) so could try beer too.

Total spend for weekend was £1.50. Could have been more, but luck was on our side (broken parking machine at local reservoir where we had gone for a walk and cafe closed for refurb at Blenheim Palace, where we had also gone for a walk!).

Am planning on buying some of Mini Spew's first b'day presents early though, to spread the cost. Big day not until May 1st, but we're also having a small party for him so will have to factor in costs for that nearer the time.

Alibaba - that's one heck of a party!

Anyone else in a hosepipe ban region? I am... Think I might be looking into water frugality tips soon! Sharing showers, brushing teeth without running the tap, and flushing only number 2s, mmm lovely?!?! Might get the boys to pee in a jug so I can use it on the compost.

On more conventional note, have been quite good this week at only buying essentials, but not doing a big shop has meant DH's top up shop was extravagant. Today I might go to B&Q for a water butt in view of the hosepipe ban news, before they increase their prices. I already have one but it's only 100litres and I have about ten sq m of veg to water this year. Need a second butt.

Went to a garden yesterday with an amazing plant shop, legendary in its ability to make you spend money. Entry to the garden was free with a membership I got for my birthday, and although I spent £6.55 on sandwich, drink and crisps, I shared them with DS (because neither of us needed a whole one, and I'd brought snacks for him anyway) and I then Just Did Not Go In To The Plant Centre after enjoying walking round the gardens. I just walked on by. It was so empowering!

Lexi if you get an eco wash liquid you can use the dishwater for plants. I don't know which ones are eco but worth a try. We already don't flush overnight unless no2s. We all shower mainly except dd2 and 3 and I try and save water when i wash up/hands/teeth, just need to bully encourage the others tpo be more water frugal.
NSD up to now but have chip shop to get for tea so £10 there

Plants (some anyway) also love leftover tea & coffee - I learned this after neglecting my boss' plants (in the environment Cabinet, ironically) for the best part of 2 weeks while he was away, then feeding them strong Belgian coffee for a couple of days - he commented that they'd never looked better!

You can also put a brick in your toilet cistern so it uses less water per flush. And contact your water company to see if they have any ideas for you.

Feeling rotten again today so not been out to spend anything. DH spent about a fiver on medicine/juice for me. I realise that I am so lucky to have DH & parents, grandparents & sister nearby to help at times like this & totally take my hat off to lone parents. It must be tricky at the best of times, but when you are not well, I can't even begin to imagine how you do it [admiring emoticon]

Sorry to hear you are still poorly, jen. DH works away and we have no family near by and I found it very hard when I had a stomach bug 3 weeks ago, even though DS was at school. I was just about able to make him a hotdog and scrambled eggs on toast in the evenings, so I am teaching him to cook simple things in case it happens again. He is 9, so time for him to learn anyway.
I only spent £1.10 on a bus fare today.

sorry if these have already been posted, I haven't got time at present to catch up, bogged down with uni work.
Like Birds Eyes page on FB, then fill in your details to get sent three sets of seeds. Max 3 packs per person, not sure how long this is on for. Key words - growpeas, growcarrots and growcorn, code L2025 :)

Aldi Super 6 up to and including Sat 24th March - all 39p per pack subject to availability - Baking Potatoes(4 in a pack), Onions, Beetroot, Swede, Celery and Cucumber as found on Aldi's FB page

Well we already have small cisterns on both toilets and half-flush buttons. Bathroom and toilets and washing machine go out via a soil pipe but the kitchen sink and dishwasher are separate, so I could possibly rig something up outside to make use of the dishwater but it would be a bit Heath Robinson. I'm not fannying around with wateringcans in the sink and schlepping out through the house. Until it's desperate anyway.

So, I got a 210 litre water butt with stand and tap and connector for £47 from tesco direct. As far as I can tell from a fairly cursory Internet search that's about the best deal around at the moment. Also spent £12 in co-op on coffee grounds, choc ices and tangerines, but £10 was a voucher so only £2 really, and £1.80 in the veg shop.

Lexi, yes, we're in a hosepipe ban region too (we're Ox, where are you?). We shower (except the small person, who has a bath as he can't yet stand up!) and generally don't use too much water. Although we are doing A LOT more washing these days.

We always chuck dish water on the plants in summer, and it's done them no harm yet.

Spent a bit in M&S today, but using a £25 voucher. So, once that had been deducted I paid £20 for:

2 x cake tins
2 x oven trays
1 x roasting tray
3 x 5 packs of 12-18 month vests (online - using a gift card that contained the 'change' from the original voucher).

Not bad. Meant to be paid for some work I did back in Jan, but am having to chase that up. That should be approx £80.

Went via Quidco for the online part of the M&S shop, which gives 6% cashback at the moment. It'll only be a couple of quid, but it all helps. Have also lodged a claim for a Debenhams order I placed through them a week ago, but of which there is no sign on my activity.

Jen, hope you're feeling better soon.

Lexi thanks for the waterbutt tip, I will have a look at that because we need to get one as we are in the hosepipe ban area. No paddling pool for the DSs this summer!

Spent £13 today on a pack of vests for DS2, and no other spending.

janx I believe you can make yoghurt in a thermos - a google would tell you more. Have heard mixed reports about the results - either from that way or a yog maker.

Hope you feel better soon, jenduck, glad to hear you have so many people to help.

We don't get hosepipe bans here, it's outrageouse really. After a couple of years of drought water started to run out before spring and yet no-one turns off their garden sprinkler systems. There's a golf course where live, the sprinklers come on at 6 hourly intervals. The water companies are private, so charge a huge amount, and instead of just saying water will cost more when scarce they penalise anyone using more during summer than winter. So, those with money use the same amount on their gardens in the wettest winter months as the driest months during a drought. Absolute disregard for everyone else, as long as they have lush lawns. Rant over

Anyway, all I spent today was the road toll going to school, unavoidable, -£2
Went out in the afternoon, had a mooch around the shops, saw lot's of lovely stuff of all varieties, food, home furnishings, jewellery, crockery and glass etc. didn't buy a thing. Feeling very pleased with myself.

Spew, would you let us know how get on with the avocado conditioner please?