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Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Have a fabulous frugal February with the fantastic frugaleers

885 replies

northender · 29/01/2014 23:33

As we filled the old thread, thought I'd start a new one for February.

OP posts:
SpottyTeacakes · 07/02/2014 16:32

I put potatoes in the oven for dinner so I can't have take away Smile boo

CremeEggThief · 07/02/2014 16:33

£18 on DS' s scouts subs for the month and 80 p on his bus fare.

Hope everyone has a good weekend Smile.

AdoraBell · 07/02/2014 17:14

Delasi I use the same logic with shoes/boots, hope they do last well.

Forgot to post my frugal thing. DH said "these raisins have gone all sugary" BBF about 6 months ago, so have soaked them in rum for use with ice-creamGrin. Also made flapjacks from slightly over ripe bananas.

Fab41 everything crossed for you.

Dark capes and masks sounds brill if you can get fabric cheaply

Ellis hope DH enjoys his weekend inside Grin

Dosey · 07/02/2014 18:36

ellis I would love a full weekend not leaving the house and staying in pjs the whole time.

Nsd so for but popping to see a friend tonight and after this week of locking the dogin the car, breaking my tooth, I feel a bottle of wine maybe on the cards.

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 07/02/2014 18:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Turnoffthelights · 07/02/2014 19:16

Big spend today - £190 on our mini-break with extended family in March Shock we did put the money aside in savings account before Christmas but I'd kind of got used to seeing it there when I logged into online banking. Seems such a shame now it's gone...! On the plus side we had talked about all pitching in for a grocery delivery for the long weekend, however I frugally suggested that each couple provide one breakfast and one dinner which has been enthusiastically accepted. It's great as it means, as you elude to above ohhelp, that we can get away with something like chilli for dinner and pancakes for brekky for our contribution. Something cheap and cheerful!

Have a great weekend everyone Smile

FreelanceMama · 07/02/2014 19:32

turnoff we did that on our family holiday - each pair cooked two evening meals for the rest of us and takeaway on the last night. It was a) cheaper than paying for 7 different meals, b) lovely to be cooked for c) avoided madness in the kitchen.

Bought DS a porcelain teaset for 2.99 today at the garden centre in anticipation of a day stuck indoors and me feeling crap from a headcold. He is mad for tea parties!

Got a fair bit of work done despite feeling ill which is good. Takeaway tonight in lieu of going out on Valentine's Day.

delasi · 07/02/2014 19:33

Adora I hope so too! Grin

Ohhelp A frozen milk is good. DF keeps 1 or 2 long life milks in the cupboard for this purpose.

We're steadily getting used to less takeaway and food/coffee out, and less cook from frozen stuff. It's not that cook from frozen is bad, but when we start using it, it ends up becoming more regular, and it works out more costly over time. I always keep some frozen chopped veg, some frozen yoghurt or ice cream, and frozen mash. We used to have burgers, chicken bits, chips, pizza, but I haven't topped those up since we ran out and we're not missing them, we've just got more used to having some leftovers in the fridge for late returns to the house or tired/sicky days. DH made bolognaise before leaving for work stuff this evening, but I'm also going to slow roast some pork this evening whilst I generally laze around (I'm recuperating). So tomorrow will be a very easy cooking day of reheating and some veg.

I think I've finished my spends... well, mostly. I am going to check one shop to see if they have one item I would like, if not I won't bother (it's a specific brand and they only have one store in the UK). That would be £20-30 so not awful. DH would like some more cufflinks as most of his shirts are double cuffs, one pair broke so he has about 4 pairs so I'm off to look for some - shouldn't be too bad. My current tally is, well, like before, only more (!) - much higher than initially planned, but really glad with what we've got, everything has been on offer/sales/cashback, and I can just forget about it all for ages!

hickorychicken · 07/02/2014 19:57

We just had takeout Blush
I am not happy with myself but me and dp bloody ill Sad

AmberSpyglass · 07/02/2014 20:28

Spent about 80 quid today but bought food shopping, petrol and dog food. Shouldnt need anymore food until next week at least. I had a crazy day yesterday and was so tempted to get a takeaway but I resisted! V proud!

AmberSpyglass · 07/02/2014 20:28

Spent about 80 quid today but bought food shopping, petrol and dog food. Shouldnt need anymore food until next week at least. I had a crazy day yesterday and was so tempted to get a takeaway but I resisted! V proud!

Ohhelpohnoitsa · 07/02/2014 21:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Thebluedog · 07/02/2014 21:27

NSD for me.. Although I had to take DH van for an estimate after he drive it into a post. 400 quid! That'll be staying dented for sometime

NK5BM3 · 07/02/2014 21:35

LSD. £2 at play gym!! That's it!

ilovepicnmix · 07/02/2014 22:12

71p on milk.

AdoraBell · 07/02/2014 23:24

NSD

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 08/02/2014 07:47

NSD yesterday, won't be today as need top up groceries for meal plan. It should only be small fresh stuff - milk, yoghurt, salad etc so hopefully not more than £15-20 max.

eBay stuff all ending today and tomorrow - have made over £250 so far, so glad I forced myself into it! Am planning to re-list stuff that doesn't sell and try once more, then it'll all go to car boot in mid feb.

The worst thing about eBay is selling stupid purchases I never wore for about a tenth or less of what I paid - e.g. recent "designer" item for £4.23 when I paid £90 a few years ago, never even wore it. Angry

Fluffycloudland77 · 08/02/2014 08:29

delasi I'm glad you liked the shoe sites, I use shoeaholics eBay site too.

£10 on fuel & £10 on parking yesterday.

MissAnnersleyismyhero I find good high street makes like karen millen go well on eBay but anything designer doesn't unless it's stuff like chanel. It's really odd, boden goes really well.

hickorychicken · 08/02/2014 11:03

Feeling better today, kids bored so we are going to do some baking later :) All stuff i already have in of course Grin

May set an ebay account up later got a few things to flog.

SpottyTeacakes · 08/02/2014 11:45

£85 on ocado shop. Forgot yoghurts and chocolate bars Angry

MissAnnersleyismyhero · 08/02/2014 12:04

fluffy do you think people are scared it's fake, or just don't know much about certain designers, and do know about Boden/Hobbs etc?

Ellisisland · 08/02/2014 13:18

A NSD day here hopefully. Taking DS to a birthday party lately and that's it. Hoping for a cheap weekend as nursery fees came out twice by mistake yesterday so £880 in one go! Ouch! Hoping to struggle on though and then it means not having to pay next month but we will see how we do

delasi · 08/02/2014 15:11

Miss You've touched upon why I wouldn't buy designer on eBay (well, apart from the fact that I'm not too interested in designer!), I wouldn't really trust it no matter what the seller provided as proof. Whereas no one is going really going to forge something like Boden, but it might be something nice enough and a bit expensive or overpriced for someone to want to pay retail price for. I think if I wanted to buy second hand designer, I would go to a specialist outlet for that - there are a number of stores and websites that specialise in second hand designer names, and that just makes it seem like it's going to be genuine, I assume that they have to authenticate it in some way.

MsAspreyDiamonds · 08/02/2014 17:04

M&S has got a sunday roast deal for 6 whereby you get a joint of meat/poultry and two side dishes. You could easily supplement it with stuffing balls and yorkshire puds to comfortably feed an extra few mouths.

hickorychicken · 08/02/2014 17:11

Is that every sunday?