Have a fabulous frugal February with the fantastic frugaleers

[northender]

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

2 days NSD not next week though :(

Hi. Had a quick whizz through some posts on here and think I really need to join, if that's ok? Just posted on the debt support thread in money matters too. DH and I are determined to sort out our finances and obliterate our debt and I want to soak up whatever I can about being frugal and generally better with money. Will catch up with the posts to date and look forward to learning a trick or two.

Welcome Jadle. You've done brilliantly. Welcome fox.

NSD but some of my suppliers are late paying me so paying my half the mortgage this month is going to be hard & I really don't want to borrow off dh.

Realised I can get free gym membership through work. Cancelling my £42 a monther tomorrow. Signing up for free one.

No food shopping until payday (26th).

Loads of treats this month as have tons of spa vouchers to use up.

Did the food shop. Came to £10 at waitrose!! That's because I had £15 JL vouchers. And I stuck firmly to my list.

Paid £20 for a new phone... But my bill will be £10 less a month. All good.

Cooking Bolognese to make spag now, leftovers will be lasagne. Beef stew in slow cooker. That should be it for the next few days!

Welcome jadle and fox

9.53 in charity shops. That got me a pair of Hobbs jeans, an in the night garden bag and a talking maccapaca with working batteries. I am very pleased with my purchases. No more spending now though.

Today is the start of my challenge to spend as little as possible on food until 15th March. Got home after the weekend away and I normally would have gone to the supermarket but I restrained myself. Worked out we can get our five a day tomorrow as well with what I've got in do defo no supermarket tomorrow.

amber my ex has other children and I knew they were getting a lot more than my DS. He is now splitting the money fairly and has worked out he has been way over paying his other ex. So he's now paying less overall, I'm getting more and other ex is down but fine with that as she must know she's had it good for years. Im delighted as I thought this was going to cause a war which is not what I wanted.

Can you use john lewis vouchers for food?? I've got over £150 worth!

Well I don't need the cash. We're kind of saving them for if we need something. We bought a buggy, some birthday cards and a toy remote with some today

NK, did you get cashback?

I do have a tesco s 2 minutes away but I save so much more money going to aldi even with the extra petrol!

The best thing I do is buy enough milk and bread to last the week so there is no need to do any top up shops at all, this has saved me loads of money! I make a weeks worth of pack ups and freeze them then I know there's plenty of bread in freezer for toast as snacks.
My phone was just due for an upgrade and I'd got myself signed up for a new deal which was £7 cheaper than my current one but then I worked out I would pay almost £800 over the 2 years for it so cancelled, I'm about to order a sim only deal for £9 a month which is a huge saving :)

I just wish I had found this thread sooner!!

Yes spotty! You can use JL vouchers at waitrose.

No didn't get cash back. I haven't signed up. But i will. I just need to understand how they work!!!

NSD today, we're meal-planned until Sunday next, should be a Low Spend week.

I was a bit as paypal won't let me take all the money I made as I have reached "the monthly withdrawal limit" ..er, it's my money! But then I realised I need to leave about £40 in there at least for eBay fees, so it's good that there's something in there to offset those when they come out later in the month.

I don't really understand how tcb works.

I'll ask dh, he will know because he's been buying mdf recently.

Fluffy - neither do I and that's why I need to understand it before I sign up! And we were in a hurry as dh's phone was acting up and he couldn't get or send any calls/text. He relies on it for his work and he's self-employed!

Oh help - you can get mdf cut up at b&q for no extra charge. As long as you know what you want cutting. So you can buy a 200x150 board and draw up on a sheet of paper the dimensions you want it cutting to. And they'll do it. Mdf is available in many thickness levels and sizes so it may be worth getting a large one and then getting it all cut up. We did that for some shelving in the dc's room and we got some bonus plank of mdf for Dd's doll house to sit on (so that she's not crouching). All for £30 or less.

Topcashback:

You sit there and think 'hmm I fancy buying some nice shower gel from the body shop online as I'm too lazy to go out'

You got to topcashback, type in the body shop and it comes up. 'Wow, 12% cash back plus acids for free delivery and 20% off?!' (Yes, it does happen!)

You click 'go to merchant'.

You're on the bodyshop page and you buy your lovely treats. Checkout.

Tada! You receive an email from topcashback saying you have x amount from the body shop.

First it's pending, then it's confirmed and then it's payable. Some take a few days, others a few weeks and some a couple of months but it's free money plain and simple

Oh and it's the rules that if you want to join you have to do it through my a fellow mnetters link

60 weekly shop today including socks and vests for DS and 22 quid on eBay but got a coat, rain coat, jeans and 3 prs trousers and dungarees for DS which means his clothes are sorted for the year!

Just another plug for corner shops. Ours sells Kingsmill bread for 1.10 all the time. And peppers for 50p each.

Nsd here. In fact done well all weekend just £25.00'in Lidil for a pack up shop. That also included beer and valentines card for dp, conditioner and moisturiser for me. Their moisturiset, cien I think it's called with Q10 is lovely.

NSD Sunday

I've a 26 mile round trip to all supermarkets live in the country, local shops 4 mile round trip but you'd nearly save as much going to supermarket far away as they're so dear. Milk is the only thing that is same price as supermarket!

Had spendy weekend but planned so happy enough with that. Remembered my fatcheese account when buying from book depository for my mother so 21c better off!

Another great blog I've been reading (who needs magazines!) andthenwesaved.com/about-the-spending-fast/ she paid off $23,000 of debt in 15 months by living very frugally indeed!

Also reading a book by a Guardian journo called "Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping" (Judith Levine) - it is very interesting.

Have joined the no new clothes thread - originally was planning to try not buying any new clothes until March but having seen the extent of DHs debt it will probably be over a year. Am determined to pay this off.