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

Thought I'd posted last night, but can't see it now. I spent £93.25 yesterday, although £55.25 was for DS's next block of swimming lessons. Must get back on track next week, as I went a bit mad this week.
Chilena, take care with those tremors! Duchesse, hope your DD's eczema will improve again soon.

Thanks CremeEgg

We're pretty much accustomed to tremors, but this one felt strong because of being so close. Our house is well built, but when OH was talking to the chaps in the builder's mercant they told him their walls were moving back and forth.

Finally paid the vet, £200, that was for blood tests, an overnight, medicine and specialist food. A bargain really.

You sound much braver than I, Chilena! And your vet bill sounds much more reasonable than it would be in the U.K. We have been very lucky in that respect, as our cat is almost 14, and so far, we have only ever had to pay for her annual check-up and booster injections.
Much more sensible spend of £8.69 today, on a few bits and pieces from Tesco and bus fares for DS and I to get home.

Yes, I realise the vet's bill was much lower than a UK vet would charge, that's one of the few things where we win. School uniforms are also cheaper, although more expensive than the supermarket options in Britain. I know not all schools make it possible to use the cheaper options though.

We once had to take a dog to the vet away from home, used to rent a lakeside cabin out in the countryside. The entire bill, consultation, advice and meds was about £15. I had to double check as I was sure I'd miss-heard. Conversely, when we first moved here, nearly 10 years ago, I and both DDs needed antibiotics. That was £80 for the Dr, he very kindly didn't charge for me as it was obvious I had the same as the DCs, then £100 for 3 lot's of antibiotics and 1 bottle of cough mixture. I quickly learned to ask for the generic drugs after that. I've also found that the dentist can be cheaper, although we pay for children here, so it kind of evens out.

Not sure if I'm brave or just blasé to be honest! I used to be a little jumpy about the tremors, but since the big one a few years ago I've learnt when not to worry and when to grab the DCs and run

Hope you all had a good weekend, not had time to read everything.

Not a bad weekend for me spendwise. Saturday went to see DSis & DBIL's new house (very swish indeed - would love not to be the struggling sister for once!), so £1.50 on road toll for that.

Yesterday, had to pop to Tesco for top-up shop which should last until DH gets paid on Friday - milk, yoghurts, bananas, formula, crisps, custard & rice pudding (will go nicely with some going-off fruit in bottom of fruit bowl I pureed for DSes), apple juice - came to £10.60 after vouchers, I think.

Also, today postman knocked on the door with 2 lovely dresses for me from Tesco Home Panels, which we were free, I just have to review them. Just hope I have somewhere to wear them before I shrink out of them!

One more thing - checked online bank yesterday (as I do every day, to try & keep on top of things) & saw a debit card transaction that I didn't remember making. So clicked on it & it was from 12th January, from when we went to Center Parcs! It was only £6.50, but it has left me short on money I was going to transfer to the joint account for direct debits, so I will have to go into town & pay that in. I really feel that it is the principle of the matter, as it could have been a lot more and left us really short this month/week, due to a transaction that we believed had already gone out (although I suppose this is my fault for not checking each individual receipt against my account). So I am going to ring the bank tomorrow for a moan, and if it is down to Center Parcs, I will send them am an email, too! Grr!

Hello all, hope the sunshine (for those in the UK) is lightening everyone's mood a little! I have had a great weekend at home, although it kept costing little bits of money it was all for a good cause of getting our new shed up which will create storage inside - and work we'll do later is all increasing the value of our house. We spent both days hard grafting in the sunshine (digging out for the shed base and mixing concrete by hand!) and DS helped too.

Today I have just earned £5 at work for ten young plants (beans and tomatoes) and the rest are waiting in the office for people to come and buy them. I have more in the car and am going to have to go out in my lunchtime to make sure they aren't dying of heat.

Food-wise, the freezer is now full of meat, the fridge is full of veg/salad/yogurts (all bought on "3 for £..." deals) and although I haven't been writing meal plans for a few weeks we seem to be doing well at not wasting food. I did fail to get up early enough this morning to have breakfast at home but I stopped off at the Tesco Bakery on my commute so it wasn't as bad spendy-wise as the work cafe... brought my lunch (leftovers from last night) though!

Forgot to say that I got an email on Friday from Approved Food saying it was free delivery weekend - I didn't get round to buying anything but I will next time they offer that. We are still working our way through the mountain of stuff I got last month! Some I won't buy again (Ainsley Harriot couscous) and some I will (Morrisons De Identified couscous, and some chutney/curry paste I forget the brand, ginger ale, muesli, water biscuits)

Had a splurge at the garden centre today. £28 on two trough like planters, sunflower seeds, sweet peas, compost and a little rake and watering can for dd2. I know I could of got most of it cheaper at poundland/wilkos but the sun was out and I was enjoying myself. Dsis bought us coffee and cake so saved on that.
Not a too bad weekend, a few more groceries on Saturday £40ish. Have a full fridge and the freezer is just starting to look half empty ready for shopping again on Friday

Much more sensible day! £3.48 on postage and 2 ice-creams. Isn't this sunshine marvellous :).

I'm too tired to list today's spending, just can't get my head around. Will try again tomorrow Besides, the DDs are arguing over who owes whom a new laptop, so that needs sorting.

I am broke, and waste oodles of money :(. I keep starting to write down everything I spend and then lose the will to live but I think I need to make myself do I can assess what I am doing iykwim.

I have iPhone 3, can anyone recommend an app that might help me do this and sort out what I am spending on?

Btw some fantastic tips here and I bet I am not the only lurker seeking inspiration so thanks everyone!

Spent about a tenner yesterday in Wilkos on suncream and freezer bags, otherwise nowt :) Taking snotty kids to library this morning and then making my stepmum a get well soon card this afternoon, so potentially a NSD.

My Phase Eight dress has got 17 watchers on ebay! Hope this translates into a good sale.

Sunday spending: 95 quids on a tank of diesel (!)
Monday was NSD

Will be NSD here - not leaving house + stony broke!

Rang Natwest re: Center Parcs taking so long to take my money. Apparently, this is absolutely fine and, in fact, they have up to 6 months to take your money . Just hope I haven't got any more payments like this lurking!

Also, update on my friend who was considering a £600 double pushchair for her 2.10 yo plus newborn - she has gone for the entirely more sensible option of purchasing one at a car boot sale - £35 including car seat (hope she doesn't use this, though), car seat foot muff, pushchair cosy toes & raincover

Why not just use the notes section on the iPhone for recording spending? it loads instantly and wont crash halfway entering figures and it's free.

NSD yesterday (as most Monday's are as I work all day and can't get to the shops )

Will be next to a NSD here again today, as well as am going to collect DS and he usually costs me a trip to the newsagent .

Welcome to newbies.

jenduck - I think your friend has taken the sensible option. £600 on a buggy ... .

chile, you sound like you have had a busy few days. But can I just ask ...£2,500 on car tax . £2,500!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's horrific.

duchesse, diesel (indeed, all bloody fuel charges) are dreadful aren't they? So expensive.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather.

Sold some things on Ebay so made £19, plus the postage will come under on some of them so a couple of extra £'s there.
Had a walk down our local high street and bought
dd's new Hello Kitty slippers £7,
Hello Kitty bowls,spoons,forks,plates£3 for 2 sets,
wrapping for ebay parcels£2,
lap tray for dd2£4
Nappy bags£1
Strimmer wire£1.50
Hanging trays for knickers and socks 2 for£2
Bread and sugar and drinks as it is so hot£3
That is my Ebay fortune spent, have to wait until the rest sells before I go out spending.

Jenduck has your frugalness rubbed off on your friend?

Yes, rougepixie it is horrific, feels rather like a penalty for buying cars that are safe and not belching out vast amounts of noxious fumes. I have a friend who drives a thirty year old pick-up truck and pays about 2% what we've just paid. She has to get her exhaust gases checked annually-allegedly-but a few years ago the bloke in the MOT centre was rushing and gave her a cert valid for 10 years instead of 1. My OH insists on buying new cars here because people don't service their cars. We know two families, ex-pats, who bought new-ish cars which had passed the MOT, and the brakes failed. Another local friend had just sold his wife's car. Perfect condition. Every panel apart from the roof has been replaced more than once because she keeps pranging it, and it hasn't had a service in 5 years, but it's in perfect condition. We could live a lot more cheaply than we do here, but it's really not worth it.

Anyway, moving on...

Yesterday's road tolls were heavy, £4 doing school run because it's rush hour, then another £5 taking OH to the airport. Had to get more school uniform bits, they didn't have everything last time, £100, supermarket was £100 again. Diesel was another £60, last week's fuel should have lasted me longer, but I had to drive to the capital 4 times and then OH used my car on Sunday. We choose to live outside of the city because of the pollution. This is lovely place to live, if you are in the right area, but it's a booming market and it seems to be getting close to the bubble bursting stage. And we built a house because OH didn't want to keep on renting.

I'm trying to get things organised so that I can reign my spending in but it's not working. Today I took my coffee and a banana on the school run, sat in the car park for a while to allow traffic to ease up. That saved me £2 in road tolls for my homeward journey. I have to pay our pool maintenance chap today, £45 for the month, and later I'm taking the DDs to the cinema. Tomorrow I have to go into the capital to change the school sweaters I bought yesterday.

Today I am staying home, until the school run, to bake, roast and otherwise organise the week's meals. Sweets and drinks will be smuggled into the cinema, because that is the sole purpose of large handbags

Jenduck, glad your friend was able to find a cheaper option. My double buggy, twins, went to a good home and is most likely still being used by the friends of friends of the lady I gave it to here 7 years ago. I can't bring myself to sell things here. Oh well, the oven calls

Oh debs, you reminded me of my Ebay sales. Made some money for my DSis and some for myself too. She has more expensive stuff than me so her's went for more ... .

Jenduck, that's annoying that companies can take up to 6 months to take a payment, but it's well worth knowing and I suppose it's a good thing in a way if it makes you think twice about spending small amounts on cards. I was trying to work out how much I have left until the middle of next month on my online bank account, but it was tricky because I kept remembering that stuff hadn't come out yet. E.g. last week's Sainsburys order and swimming lessons.
Anyway, I spent £5.91 today on some milk, coleslaw, salad and frozen wedges from Tesco and bus fares for me and DS.

I've been lurking on your thread for ages - I'm one of those people who spend unnecessarily, but have been much better recently. No1 of our 4 dcs will be off to university in Oct with 2 more to follow quite quickly, and that has really made me focus on my spending.

First was meal planning. I was lucky enough to have the love food hate waste team come to my house a couple of years ago (through mumsnet) - but they didn't really get my situation, so very little stuck.

However, for the last 3 weeks have stuck to our plan. The cupboards look better, and the spending is definitely down. Have also had a bit more paid work so that keeps me out of the shops! It's great - I've found people who are trying to be sensible but appreciate the odd capuccino with friends is part of life.

So thank you all - NSD here because I decided we really could live on the meal planned and I didn't need a 12m round trip to nearest supermarket as well as wasting the food I bought earlier.

Fluffy. Thanks will do. Perhaps a gap in the
Market for anyone who can write apps? I would love something that sorted spending for me. Especially as my typing is pants!

There are apps for it but I didnt find them any good, the catergories didnt really apply to me so I did my own spreadsheet on the computer instead.

There wasnt a section for wine! can you imagine?

Talk to me about haggling Sky down please!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you super duper frugal fancies.

They were about to put our prices up in October or so, so i called and said, sorry, no can do, cancel Sports. They immediately (without drawing breath) gave me the Sports for 6 months at half price. That expires in a few weeks now, so what other tactics can I use to haggle them down to a better deal? Will they do it again if I cancel the Sports, or at least threaten to?

We don't have movies, only sports (which we do actually watch) and otherwise have a basic package. No HD, but we have Sky Plus boxes in two rooms on Multiroom and we really need to retain that facility. Weird house layout - can't explain, but things really wouldn't work otherwise! But it's going to start coming in at over £50 a month again.

Tips please!!!!

Anonymous tell them you are going to switch to Virgin! Or, alternatively, phone up without giving your name & ask about new customer deals, and if you have to have not been a customer for a certain period of time (iyswim). If these are good for you, let the current package run out & then sign up again as a new customer. Job done (works a treat with AA)! Don't forget to sign up online through a cashback site, often they offer £50 or more cashback, so a saving of at least one month. HTH