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

I didn't have a non-speand weekend as such but I spent a whooping grandtotal of £12.45!!

Which is reeeally good for me. I went without white wine as we have loads of red left over from Xmas (I would usually buy 2 bottles of white on a friday night - good stuuf so saved about £18 there) I cooked both nights, no complaints from family and saved the £20 we would usually spend on a takeaway. Took DD in to town (after lunch so no need to buy food - saving of around £20 usually spent in pizza Express or similar) with her saved pocket money and resisted buying her anything (result was a very proud little girl who told anyone who would listen how she had used all her own money in town ) Then yesterday we went to the park and I packed a picnic which was waaaay more fun than what we usually do which is buy from the coffee shop when we're there.

I'm really pleased with myself.

LadyHarrietDeSpook they tried to tell me they had taken people to court befor eand won so I told her she was welcome to and good luck with finding a solitor that would charge less than the amount I owed. I didn't hear from her again but I had already wasted the first term's costs, cost of uniform and cost of show so I was pretty pissed

I have 5 small bags of frozen potatoes so seeing as no one knows what to do with them i shall take one for the team and carry out various experiments and update you all with the outcome

Reading

I would defrost first...then cook until they look done.

like your response to the ballet teacher...

Hi all. Not been on in a long time, but thankfully not spent loads (mainly because have not had loads to spend . A total of about £20 in Tesco since Thursday for milk, formula, baby jars & a few other bits (which I can't remember as have lost the receipt!). Also, the grand sum of £2.00 at a car boot sale yesterday, for which I got a lovely pair of jeans for me (was hoping not to have to get any more as weight loss going well, but last pair have literally worn out) & a toy camper van for vehicle-mad DS1. Rather miffed as I passed up some lovely John Lewis dungarees, Little Rocha jeans & other similar items for 30p each, all in great condition! They wouldn't have fitted DS2 for long, perhaps only another couple of weeks, but I could have sold them on for a lot more than 30p, I'm sure!

Also, very annoyed & frustrated as DH has been working for a month in his new job now & was due to get paid, by BACS, on Friday, with the mortgage & most other direct debits going out of our bank today. Well they did pay him on Friday - but by cheque, which will not clear until Thursday ! They apparently told him about this at about 4 o'clock on Friday, but he did not think to tell me until I asked him if he had been paid, when he got home at about 6.30 - so too late to do anything that working day . Luckily, lovely lovely PILs have lent us £1000 until the cheque clears, but it is so humiliating having to ask.

Harriet re: the ballet classes - it is always awkward to say 'no' to DCs & I certainly hate doing so, but it sounds like it really is a situation where you need to at least consider this option. Perhaps if you introduced your DD to some other options, she might show a preference or liking for one of those? I think that sometimes children (and indeed adults - certainly I am like this) cannot see beyond doing what they are doing & are scared of change, but when it happens are glad that it has, IYSWIM?

Reading, I see you have already made your frozen roasties, so I hope they turn out well. However, we buy a 25kg sack of potatoes from our local farm shop once every 2-3 months & they store very well in our garage, especially in cold weather. We are just at the end of our current sack, which we bought before Xmas, & none have sprouted or gone spongy, so this could be something to consider for you for the future?

Hope you all have a good day - looking forward to posting my totals on Wednesday!

Not been very good spending wise. Back to work yesterday after our holiday and even though a fridge of food we were too lazy to plan and ended up £5.40 for lunch. It was a meal deal at work though and not in sainsburys cafe as we would normally do.
Saturday was a NSD apart from milk. And today was going to be but need to go and buy a new goldfish as poor little nemo died last night . Girls haven't noticed thankfully but husband distraught
.
Tomorrow will be a NSD I think as both off and having building work done so probably won't leave the house.

My hamster's testicles are out in force again today. I think he has some kind of monthly fertility cycle. But this time I am not going to take him to the vet's.

Almost a NSD here - £13 in Tesco. That was a whole side of salmon which will do us at least 3 meals, some new potatoes, asparagus, 2 bottles of diet coke and a tin of tomato soup for DS

Makes a change to get to a monday and still have over £40 in the bank! Usually have a lot less, and scrimping to get enough together for a pint of milk! So, on the basis of having that, I decided to go to tesco and treat ourselves to a "nice" dinner rather than the curry we have leftover in the freezer!

need to do a menu plan for this week as go shopping tomorrow morning..... am seriously stuck in a rut when it comes to food and ending up having the same things week in week out...... need to scour the web for some new ideas!

Sorry to hear about the goldfish. It's awful when pets pass away.

I spent £13.90 today. £2.50 on DS's fruit money for the half term, as they charge KS2 for it at his school, £6 on a book, that the visiting author who was in his school today for World Book Day, signed. Then I had to pay £400 cash into the bank, so spent £3 on a return bus fare and treated myself to a vanilla chai latte for £2.40. Oh, just remembered, DS will need a £1 for the collection at the Cubs service to mark founder's day tonight, so £14.90 in total today.

Thanks for that link - have a few more ideas now!

I went to lidl today! I usually go to tesco every 2 weeks & it's about £140/ £150 for 2 adults & 2 small children. Well today it was £82!!!! And that was including 2 packs of nappies, soft drinks and a huge multipack of crisps (dont usually buy them) & meat. And loads of fruit & veg that was quite a bit cheaper.
:)

I also went out for lunch though with a friend & that was £20, oh well it was very tasty!

Note about Lidl - I love it - absolutely love it, except I have tried their mouthwash tonight for the first time - DONT BOTHER! OMG it was vile! Will stick to the mega £££ Dentyl Active!

Did this week's shopping in Lidl for £22. Got some toiletries as well, £11. Not too bad really. Had a NSD on Sunday and spent £5.00 on Saturday on birthday cards and a drink at the birthday party, but got both my kids out the house, fed and running around like loonies for two hours, with a party bag for the next day too, so value for money there!

Today, I took my lunch in to work, and wasn't even tempted to get a cappuccino from the cafe. Had a dinner out planned with a friend, and she paid for me and DS - she had a voucher for a deal on two mains but the set menu was as good an option. Also went to the veg shop this afternoon and got two carrier bags full for £10.56

DH and i have a joint account and have standing orders into our personal accounts so we have the same cash regardless of who's earning more at any given time. However, once I take cash out I don't keep it separate so I've ended up funding a lot of stuff for the kids, top up shops and bday cards etc for DH family from my money. That and clothes (OMG the price of bras!) means I'm always dipping into the joint account . So, my Feb challenge has been to keep my personal spend to budget.

It's gone pretty well. I have allocated half the cost of my haircut to March as it won't need doing again until April. I bought a pair of trousers for work that will also need to come out of March budget but i won't get to shops in March so decided to get them when i saw them.

So, went into this weekend with £30 remaining. DH birthday lunch came in at £20 a head. I was a bit narked as we only had one course but the beer monsters ordered me a second large glass of wine while I was taking DD1 to the toilet. £5.65 for a glass of wine! Bit of a shock after 2 years of almost no drinking.

Takeaway coffee yesterday after taking DD2 to docs. I think I'll need another today and probably a pain au chocolat too - terrible night with the poor mite! Supposed to return to work on thursday. It's not looking likely!

NSD yesterday & will be again today, as DH's wage cheque will finally clear on Thursday (technically March ). Then envisage a lot of spending on Thursday - will go to Morrisons to spend £60 to get 15p/litre off diesel & will also get petrol there (about £70 to fill up Zafira but should last for most of the month).

Also, I have spent most of this morning unblocking our drain in the garden [yuck], as it had flooded the patio. So, on Thursday will go to plumbing shop down the road & get some trade strength drain unblocker (used it before, is excellent & I think about £10).

Off to my grandparents' later when I pick up DS1 from nursery, so that should be lovely.

Hope you all have a good day

NSD yesterday (I am lying as I bought a can of spagetti hoops for DD)

NSD today too, well, so far and I've no plans to venture out

Back - have fallen off the wagon a bit - not overspending as such but not keeping up with the thread. I have a question for everyone - freezing milk. I've tried it before and it was terrible when defrosted. Tips??

well, good news - I got a bit of last-minute proofing, so that's $50 (not sure why they quote in $ given they're a UK company, maybe they do lots of work for US clients?).

Mini Spew is now well and truly mobile, so we've had to buy a stairgate (£30 odd as our stairway is too narrow for the standard, cheaper ones) and we also need to get some sort of room divider to stop him diving head first into the cat litter tray- got my eye on one on ebay that I hope to get for under £40.

Did the main shop at Aldi last week for under £20!

I find that freezing milk only really works if it is semi-skimmed and homogenised, and even then it's best if you are going to end up heating it for cooking. My attempts are never very successful either, even defrosting slowly in fridge.

I have been lurking for a while here, being inspired by you all. I feel brave enough to post today because I have just looked properly in my fridge and freezer and cupboards before going to do a weekly shop (usually £80), and realised that actually all I need is bread and potatoes. I think I have seen the light

Tip for freezing milk. Put in a sink of cold water overnight to defrost and it will be fine in the morning - works best with smaller cartons or the milk bags so good tip for picking up the marked down pints, even if you won't use them all quickly.

spew, have you seen this thread?

I did a mealplan last week, did my online shop based on it then managed to lose scrap of paper I wrote it on and now I have no idea what I am supposed to do with the butternut squash and peppers sitting patiently in the fridge! Funny, wasn't many months ago I found the whole concept of meal planning quite alien and now I'm lost without it.

Nearly at the end of month weigh-in and although I've been quite good on most things my running total for lunches, coffees etc. is still pretty shocking - I thought I had got a whole lot better but I think being ill recently and struggling with work has led to a lot of justifying of comfort food eating/buying. Only 7 working days until mat leave though and I should be able to be better then with lunches at home etc.

Currently skiving off work in the cafe... I've just had enough of it now. Really ought to get back and try to do something productive though.

NSD because home ill today, first sick day in two years. Welcome Cyd! I too was a lurker but now actually find it fun to stretch the freezer stuff/groceries as far as pos. Family's enjoying new recipes, overdraft shrinking so win-win. Inspirational stuff on here - enjoy!

spewgloriousspew weekly shop for £20 [bows down]

I got paid on friday and so far have spent £16.95! My food shop comes on Thursday which will be £52.97 but other than that if I manage to not spend anything else it will be the least money I have spent in a week since I was about 16 years old (possibly not that long...)

Ooh I am however about to spend £5.12 on Amazon buying the ingredients to make the bathbombs they made on superscrimpers last night... frugal mother's day gifting I feel.

Today I spent £4.52 at Tesco (milk, bread and Quorn fishfingers, yum!), £5.20 on local bus fares for me and DS (guitar and after-school sports club today) and £24 on Cubs fees until Easter. So £33.72 in total.
Welcome, Cyd. And Spew, that's incredible!