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.

DH used to have FIL as a ñamed driver. Changed it To BIL and the premium doubled. BIL Still insists that he doesn't drive fast. You should be okay adding a law abiding driver.

Forgot to mention that DH bought a printer and got enough Néctar points for half a week's shopping.

Good day here. dd had cricket nets (no charge) then came with me to football (using D's' and my season tickets). Didn't meet friends at the pub beforehand so no spend. dh and ds went to watch their team. Their tickets were paid from the budget a couple of weeks ago so it just cost a bit of diesel.
Tomorrow is dh's birthday. We're going for lunch at a naice pub that has sent us a free main course voucher. We will stick to mains and have a jug of water with it!

Have made a plan today for how to save some money this month - March is very expensive for us with several family birthdays and also Mother's Day. I am setting aside several hours this weekend to make cards in advance for each person and then I won't be rushing out to buy one at the last minute.

Most people will have to make do with just a card as we are not in a position to be buying gifts (makes me feel so mean!) and I will have to get my thinking cap on re Mother's Day...

Well done getting that refund Picknmix

I may have been a bit of a toiletries hoarder, possibly. But I'm so much better now that DH has no toothpaste for the morning. We didn't get as far as the supermarket today, he wanted to detour to McD's for ice cream. That turned into fries all round, after the ice-cream -tut tut- and a cheese burger for me. I don't like their ice-cream. He paid so I'm not sure but he usually spends £7 on 3 ice-creams McFlurry addicts, the lot of them and probably another £6 on burger and fries.

I shall endevour to get out tomorrow for essential top up bits but we all have a bit of a cold. DH may just have to really squeeze the tube or suffer using my Sensodyne, which he hates. Meh. He needs to spend yet more fecking money in the morning. Needs a phone for his new office. I'm saying nothing about him buying desks etc having given the last lot away when he thought we had a buyer for the house.

It's too late to move back now, would mess up DD's education because of their age, so we're staying put. Still need to sell the house. If we can do that and move closer to the school it will reduce our travel costs by about the cost of our BUPA for the year.

Busy few days here but minimal spending!

Spotty how about home made fudge for a frugal Mother's Day present? There's a white chocolate and cranberry fudge recipe on the Tesco website which is lovely and easy.

Still no job for DH. He has 9 applications in, one wants to do a second interview. All of them mean we'll have to move. I've found out that due to our income this year we're eligible for no benefits next year. Can't get HB as we own a house - even though there are tenants in it that we can't kick out until September and the rent doesn't fully cover the mortgage and it's 300 miles away. Now I'm stressed!

We've money to get us through until July but after that who knows?

Good idea but mums diabetic

spotty cheese crackers/straws maybe?
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2513635/easy-cheesy-biscuits

you could add a lump of posh cheese and a small jar of chutney?

I live in England and my mum is in Ireland so I need something that will post well... fudge could work! Although postage charges atm are absolutely ridiculous.

Could you do some diabetic baking? There are lots of recipes which use fruit to sweeten (not sure if that would be ok for her?)

I could do. She's not really a foody (unlike me!). I have still got john lewis vouchers I could use. Have a step mum too and my Nan's 70th argh!

Do you have a sewing machine? I'm not particularly handy with one but there's lots of easy bits to make on pinterest with fabric scraps. It would if course depend on you having fabric scraps to make it frugal and on your family being the types who don't mind wonky rustic handmade pieces :D

I'm just off to get 2 pairs of boots repaired rather than replacing them

Dropped the car off at the garage and instead of getting the bus home I took the pushchair and the dog and had an epic walk! Feeling virtuous as I saved money and did some extra exercise.
I am crossing everything that the repairs won't be too expensive. I'm hoping under 150, as even that will be a struggle :(

For Nan/Step mum/non diabetic recipients - buy big cheap box of chocolates in poundland (or several smaller bags of different ones) and repackage in a nice bag made out of fabric or a nice box decorated at home maybe? If you've got DC you could get them to make the box or bag... there are even pinterest tutorials on how to make gift bags from newspaper, repackaging it makes it more personal and er... hides the less salubrious origins...

Spotty someone had started a thread on frugal mothers day gift that I've posted a load of suggestions on.

Helena don't despair. April is the start of a new year, if you're expecting your household income to decrease significantly in the new year compared to this year, which it obviously is, then you can claim tax credits. You need to apply, get turned down and then phone them and tell them your forecast earnings, it's a shit longwinded system but you have nothing to lose. Also, I have seen mentioned on this site several times that you can claim housing benefit if the rent you're receiving doesn't cover the mortgage. Maybe worth booking an appointment to chat to someone.

Have been hounding M&S for the £50 cashback they owe me. It's getting paid tomorrow! Budget is looking reasonable but we are buying nothing unless absolutely essential world book day costume IS an essential until at least next month, maybe even month after while we get straight and put some money aside for upcoming events.

I've got 18 items listed on eBay atm, a few bids and lots of watchers so I'm hoping there'll be lots of sales. Also listed loads of books and children's clothes on my fb selling page, made £16 on books within 5 mins of posting!

Sod the boot repairing one!!! 10 quid for new heels on one pair (fair enough) but 25 quid for a new zip on the other more than I bought them for I think - needless to say, I didn't bother

For MissAnnersly and anyone else posting gifts overseas, is it not possible to get something delivered from a store local to your DM/relies?

Helena good luck, try what Nugget suggested.

bluedog i had the same with a gorgeous pair of boots I got on eBay for a bargainous tenner. Both zips went and it would've cost £50 to replace both! I sadly binned them.

£5 petrol & £2.50 lunch because a morning job turned into an afternoon job.

Nsd well sort of. £60 for dd's ballet...

Enjoyed my free coffee and cake this morning at John Lewis. It would have come to £6.10 . Travel, lunch, a paper and water came to £13.75, so under my £15 budget for my day out today.

Aldi voucher tomorrow in the daily record/mirror.

£1.80 on the bus. Car will cost £127 for today's repairs, however they discovered that the "sump" on the oil thing is leaking. Just a tiny bit but will have to be done asap, I guess. That's going to cost around £130!! It doesn't even sound like a real thing :-/

fluffy what's the voucher for? We get the mirror in the staff room at work and it just goes in the bin at the end of the day - I'll be wombling that!

It's £5 off a £40 shop plus a selection of 30/50% off vouchers.