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.

Ten - I would close all but one. Have one card that you clear but then use for one tank of petrol a month and pay off each month. This way you keep your history of making payments each month but don't have loads of open accounts.

MrsDean- I am saving for when I drop to SMP and also giving eBay a hammering!

just marking my place. Well done to us all for filling our last thread. will update tonight on lap top x

Signing in. The car is on its last legs and I need to save £1000 in the next 2-3 months.

I'm putting stuff on fb to sell as I type.

NSD today, thanks north for the new thread! Frugal thing I have done today is unsubscribe from the various emails designed to get me to part with my money...........

Ohkaaaayyyy closing the month today - this is how it looks

Everything else: £76.84 remaining
Groceries: £23.24 remaining (which will get added to the Xmas fund)
Petrol: £67.84
Kids activities: £20.85
Emergency fund: £190

You may have noticed the addition of a new emergency fund and I'm putting this into place as I am utterly terrified of one of us getting made redundant so I'd like a little bit of a cushion. Let's see how long it lasts for. DH did brilliant last month by living off his betting winnings and extra money earned so his £190 pocket money was untouched.

DH has announced today that he needs two new tyres for his car as they are practically bald, so he has got onto the garage and ordered them. It'll be a darn sight cheaper than ordering from Kwik-Fit although it'll still be over £140. It's sod's law that the back end of last year and January was taken up with MOT-ing, taxing and repairing my car only for it all to have been for nothing. I could cry. Also have to tax DH's car which I haven't done yet so must do it tomorrow.

Talking of the car, it has now been removed and I've been on the phone to the insurance today and the chap said that he too thinks I'll be lucky to end up with a penny as not only do they have my £175 excess to take off but also the remainder of the policy. Despite me reckoning I only owed around £250, they said it's nearer £330 (sob) so it all hinges now on how much they offer me for the car. I'm not holding my breath.

Slimming World continues to go well. I lost 3.5lbs this week taking me to 13lbs in four weeks and as well as being slimmer of the week I was also Slimmer of the month for January. Only another 4-and-a-bit stones to go (I haven't worked it out yet). Now the owner of 4 shiny award stickers in my book.

Will have to do my February budget now which will look a bit different as no petrol for me, but the sofa payments will start coming out. Also a week of bus fare as I start my new job the last week of the month.

Was in London today. Will charge work the parking, the train fare and all that. I spent £15 of my own money - £5 on sushi and £10 on cakes for my family! Went out for celebrations with my boss last night so didn't get to say hi to the kids!

Right... Got the cc1 and it's £500 less which is great. But it was the same as the usual spend because we had huge expenses for the car previously. I believe it's the spend of the sales etc. I know that the supermarket wasn't that much as compared to before.

Well its been an NSD for me. dh spent £2.50 on lunch at work but that's it.

My aim for February is to keep within our weekly budget and to have enough surplus to get a few nice bits for dh's birthday at the end of the month. I've done quite a few extra hours this month so will have extra money at the end of this month.

I keep meaning to unsubscribe from marketing emails but have just not got round to it so will start now, thanks for the reminder

This week's meal plan has gone out of the window but in a good way as I've used up various leftovers that weren't anticipated.

Eeeh that's taken some working out.

February budget

Groceries: £326.26 (is £350 minus school dinners)
Petrol: £171
Bus fares: £15
Kids Stuff: £162
Everything else: £392.26
Emergency: £190

I'm dead grumpy about DH's car. I'm going to hardly have anything left after tax and tyres. Another frugal month and it's DS2's birthday and DH's birthday too.

Hi there and thank you north for the new thread. I feel proud to have been the last poster on the previous one.

Nsd and feel good about it. That's two in a row. I had a massive urge to go out and spend today for no other reason than my wages burning a hole in my pocket. So I stayed at home with dp and we pottered around doing housework and jobs around the house. It was lovely! Dd had a friend over doe tes, for which I usually buy pizza, icecream and treats. Instead I made a tea from what we had in the house and it was lovely.

This thread is really working and making me think before spending. Long may it continue.

claret well done with slimming world you must be very proud. I am trying to give up my sugar binges. Is the longest a New Years resolution has lasted for me! I hope you get some good news about your car.

But bald tyres can cause an accident.

Can I join? Dp is a builder and has been working on our extension for the last 3 weeks, so no pay for him, plus £5k in spends on skips/concretes and steels and that's only for the base ("slab" as he calls it).

I try to be frugal when it comes to the food shop/heating/clothes budgets and wonder what's the point of saving 12p on carrots when money is pouring out of his hands so I jokingly say I am going to fund the £30k cost of the extension by saving on the food shop

Spend today £17.70 on return travel to work. Not else so I class that as a NSD.

Oooh you're over here! Thanks North for the new thread.

Couple more NSDs in January so I think I did 14 overall - best month ever!

DH has another interview today. His contract ends in March.

Aha, found you
tencups and anyone else wondering about credit rating.
1)sign up to topcashback
2) go through their site to Experian
3) start a 30 day free trial with them but note to cancel it in two weeks.
4) get a free credit report which will tell you why you're doing well or not and explains about credit cards

Martin Lewis talks about this in his free guide to getting a mortgage for 1st time buyers (on the Money Saving Expert).

This way you'll get free credit report and money from TCB!

Good luck to your DH Helena.

Welcome passthecake IKWYM about building costs. when we did the extension at our last house I remember spending the equivalent of an entire month's grocery budget on wiring and sockets We are in the same boat now, though not building at present but saving for it, and it does sometimes feel that the amount saved by scrimping is only going to be a drop in the ocean. But I think this thread is really useful as it's forcing me to think before spending and getting into that habit saves loads over time.

Right, budgets. This is how I did in January:

Grocery budget £352 spent / £353 budget
Travel budget: £162/£200 (saving will go towards cc)
Household budget £160/£150 (overspent on presents due to lots of DC parties - will knock £10 off next month)
Personal spends £224/£193 ( expensive month: new tyre, train ticket + meal cost for reunion accounts for £155 of that)

February budgets:

Groceries £350
Household (including presents, DC things) £140
Travel £200
Personal spends £132

I hope he gets the job helena, good luck.

Morning all. I couldn't get my post to post last night. Ggrrr.

Thanks for new thread north

Well done on sw claret you're doing really well!

Spent 23 in aldi on a million nappies and other paraphernalia yesterday. Just put 45 of petrol in my car. Getting my hair done tomorrow but shouldn't have much more spends over the weekend.

Welcome all newbies.

€5 in local shop yesterday on things that would have cost way less in aldi but had unexpected visitors so had to tidy up before they came.
Today €5 on gym as arranged to meet someone to do second day of c25k & it's pouring rain, will do grocery shopping after that €100 budget. And must start paying towards household tax today another €30.
Tomo dh is taking me to my fav restaurant for my Christmas present so will do extra dinner tonight for stepson & dd to have tomo.

Good luck to your DH Helena

Yesterday turned out to be quite spendy mainly due to me being weak in sainsburys and giving in to DS demands for a peppa pig magazine to avoid a meltdown

Sold some more bits on eBay today so my baby fund/ paypal is now up to £160

Signed up to nectar toolbar as well so can earn some points when I am wasting time on the internet in the evening !

U have started giving my kids (4 &5) 50p a week on the condition that they have an effort at tidying up when asked and not make a fuss. That has prevented alot of the pester power as I say. .."sure. ..u can have that, I'll take the money from your purse shall I?" All of a sudden those mags in the supermarket are less attractive lol! I do buy them random stationary stuff in the 99p shop, I'm not completely mean ha ha

U=I, stupid phone

So I'm doing my end of month review...
Good news:

• just about stuck to our grocery, outings and birthdays budget for this month;
• ended up earning more from clients than expected.
• stumbled onto this lovely group of frugaleers and learning lots and feeling really supported.
• stayed out of my overdraft and got £5 reward from Halifax

Bad news:

• tax bill ended up being £800 more than expected.
• worked more hours than I wanted (evenings and weekends especially) which put a strain on the family.
• still have yet to do any flipping meal planning (see above point)

Oh I need this thread! I was reading last years one last night and got very excited about being frugal this Feb!
I'm a single mum and had always had a bit of disposable income as I've only got a tiny mortgage but I was made redundant a few months back and I'm going back to college but I've still been spending as I've always done and every time a letter comes in the door my stomach drops, I've fallen behind with a few bits and my bank account is howling in pain!!

My gas card has €37 on it which is a relief!
My cupboards have plenty of things shoved in the back that I'm looking forward to digging out and using my imagination with.
I have enough clothes, cosmetics and books to last a lifetime.

NSD today (which really isn't hard as I have about 20 quid to my name, but luckily have essentials)

I made £4.50 from selling a coat of DDs. Going to hunt out some more bits to stick on fb today.

Car fund stands at- £22.40. Just £977.60 to go