Join the Fantastic Frugaleers for a February full of frugality

[northender]

Shiny new thread ready for Sunday. Newbies very welcome. This is a wonderful thread full of encouragement and support

I think ds had turned it off halfway through so I thought it had finished

Oh introductions hi I'm spotty and I'm addicted to spending money I don't have me, dh, dd(4) and ds(2) trying to convince dh to have another have a credit card debt big enough to not be able to get a limit big enough to transfer but always have enough money to pay our bills. I will pay my credit card off then cut it up I promise. Unfortunately I earn peanuts so it might take me a few years.

Fgs bad start to February here.
£41. Odd in sports direct for football shoes, shin pads, frozen dress and black tracksuit to make into world book day costume.
£20 on unplanned lunch
£15 in wilko on nerf gun and packaging for ebay stuff.
3.20 on chocolate ahem
Still have some costume bits to get but need a list and then hit the haberdashery.

Oh and £28 on build a bear.
Both Dc were promised a reward for being superstars while I was ill in the week.
DH has spent £79 on a blue ray player as our DVD player has broke. Cheaper than a smart TV I suppose. (Trying to find a positive)
£60 on sainsburys shop coming tomorrow as I've changed my none working day so can't get to aldi.

Phew

Afternoon, long time lurker checking in - just done a food shop based on meal plan, £54 in aldi and need to go to butchers and £20 in there will cover 3 weeks worth other than regular milk and little bit's. Looking to ttc end of this year and so before that want to reduce my debts from 9 k by hopefully about half so frugal living starts here :-)

Hi I'm Babsmam. There is me DH, DD 7, DS 5 and DDog 15.5. We live in a modest semi but I would like to move, still deciding if it's worth the stress and extra 60 k plus
I work 4 days and Dh full time and then some. No debts apart from our mortgage but still paying childcare as due to DH job it's a must for me to work.
My frugal mission is to get the best deal for everything and live within our slowly decreasing means. Both public sector workers and no pay rises for 5 years and counting. I hate paying full price for anything and love a voucher and a deal

We're in a HA house and I hate it. Obviously I'm grateful but I get horrible house envy. We pay similar in rent to the lovely four bed detached houses you see up north on homes under the hammer.

Wow, what a lot to catch up on and it's only day of Feb. Anyway, thank you for the new thread (pulls up chair) I'm Clippity, there's me, dh, 2dds and two cats here and I just want to clear our overdraft and get into the black before we go on holiday in the summer. We have one credit card which dh clears every month saving points for travel and small mortgage will be gone when he gets pension lump sum soon It's a joint account, on paper things should be fine. But the overdraft, which built up when we did some work on the house a couple of years ago sits at around £900. The only answer is not spending so this thread is great for helping me accountable and on track!

Afternoon all, hope you are well. You all seem to be doing well with your supermarket spends this month! I can't believe I used to spend so much! £70 on a weekly shop at the weekend, followed by £15-20 through the week!

Bank: £528.18 (was £548.18)
Purse: £7.08 (was £0.22)
Jar: £39.50 (was £39.50)
Grand Total: £574.76 + £120 + £15
Reduced by: £13.14* (£53.14 really)
Days to payday: 12

Spends:

£4.80 – train fare to Leeds
£4.00 – Leopard print scarf
£3.00 – swimming goggles for DS2

£1.34 – biscuits
£40.00 - on two pairs of jeggings (one blackest black, one indigo) which were the purpose of my trip to Leeds. I did need them as I have no 'dress-up-able' denim, and I have a night out coming up soon. Old habits die hard though as I did put them on my credit card, but when my statement comes, I will pay them off in full.

I did have a voice in my head screaming at me “Spend! Spend! Spend! It's not every day you get to come to Leeds with all it's lovely shops” but I managed to shut it up with a £4 scarf. I had promised myself a sandwich and a hot chocolate in a cafe anyway but I didn't go for that and I am sure I would have spent more than £4 in a cafe so I can assuage my guilt by not going for lunch.

Budgeted stuff still to come out of that £574.....

£122.86 left for groceries (and next week's shop is already done at £59 but I might delete a couple of evening meal stuff as there's been 2-3 evenings over the past three weeks that we haven't eaten anything for one reason or another so it's still in the freezer)
£78.28 left for petrol (half a tank left)
£48.60 left for bus fare & sports
£13.01 for credit card
£14.65 in interest
Leaving £297.36 + £135 still to bank. It sounds a lot but the next 12 days are likely to be spendy as:-

• Funeral & wake to go to tomorrow and I will have to get a taxi there.
• My cousin from Ireland is coming to visit the following week, so that will probably incur as yet unknown spends.
• It's also DS2's 12th birthday on Wednesday followed by DH's on Saturday so we'll probably end up going out for tea.
• And we've got the 5th round FA Cup game on Valentine's weekend – but at least it's at home so I won't have to fork out for travel.
• I missed my Godson's birthday so have to put £10 in a card and send that in't post.
• I've also bought two tickets to see a play (it was only £12 each though)

I'm still hopeful that I will be able to roll some credit over into next month though.

bantam lucky you got a home game, we're away to arsenaland so train fairs from middlesbrough to London - but dp paying for those out of his 'play' money so not too bad :-) just 2 of us here and 2 cats which I'm sure are spoiled more than kids would be anyways. I love reading and getting ideas fromantic people for things I may not have thought of :-) spotty we are in one of those cheaper houses up north (500 a month mortgage on a 3 bed detached in the suburbs, good schools locally and a 10 min drive from the north Yorkshire moors) I hAve spoken to people who live further down and baffles me how I'd ever afford it so my heart is out with you on this one!!

Yeah it is expensive. Cheapest private rent three bed houses locally are £1100pcm rent or £240000 to buy. I couldn't move away from all our family and work etc though.

I just dragged myself out of warm house as taking DH down to ferry ( he works away all week) On the way back I went to the co op to pick up my carrots , lemons and ginger (for soup and cold toddys.) and some cottage cheese, ..wanted milk also

However it was reduce time, so i got: ( as well as the carrots, lemons etc above:) all reduced by 2 thirds

400g pork mince (that will go in freezer for later)
large packet of (cook yourself) chicken wings e with hot buffalo wing sauce
box of organic mushrooms
2 packs of spinach and watercress
1 pint milk

.... the whole lot (inc non reduced) came to £8.16

Result! (chuffed) There was lots else there , but not things i would usually buy or needed so i didnt

So as well as soup ill now also be making a chicken wing mushroom and spinach /watercress dal curry .. just the thing to ward off the lurgy..

I have eggs and fruit and things for sarnies so thats my weeks lunches and suppers sorted ( I'm quite happy eating the same thing when I am here on my own )

So yes NK5 shopping in the reduced bit in supermarkets is definitey worth it if you get lucky , but yes, only buy what you normally would have anyway.. )

HOT toddys!! (for my cold) Duh

Moderate day or so for us.

Eight pounds on thermos travel mug for me. Am getting bus to work now as cheaper and easier but it is cold! We have free drinks machine at work so can have on the way home too.

Seven odd pounds on sistema rice cooker, as electric one died. Hopefully it will be ok, never microwaved rice before.

Four pounds in Poundland on cereal bars and custard pots for DP.
Five pounds in Coop for gammon joint to boil for DP sandwiches, resultant stock will do for soup.

Forthcoming expenses for the week, small top up shop at Lidl. Possibly new work shoes for me, inexpensive pair. Petrol and bus fares.

Forthcoming treats, local pool open again tomorrow after repairs so no more trailing further afield and spending on petrol and parking, we can walk.
Going to make cakes this pm, and also make roast beef dinner, beef bought reduced and frozen. New library books to collect tomorrow.
Tesco club card vouchers fifteen odd pounds, going to squirrel away!

Bad start to February here. DD's feet have grown, so £40 on new school shoes, £30 on new everyday shoes and £10 on plimsolls . I really resent the school uniform: I don't want her wearing ridiculous, uncomfortable, stiff black leather shoes for playing and running about in, so the uniform effectively doubles our shoe bill.

Also £10 on DD's haircut, so have brought her home to have a bath and get rid of the bits of hair while DH goes to do the food shop.

Introductions: I'm Robin, I earn a decent salary but don't save enough. Married with one DD, DH works part-time from home. My aim is (a) to spend more intelligently and get value for my money and (b) to save enough to do major works to the house in five years' time, which means I have to spend less on frivolities like theatre tickets and meals out. Doing better than I was before I joined this thread, but still some way to go.

Hi all, I'd like to join you please. It's just me and two DS 12 and 10 and money is tight. Would like to save for a holiday and new landing and stair carpet.

Haven't had the best of starts as spent £30 on Breville juicer thing this morning from Amazon (but am hoping to claw that back this month by not eating biscuits or cakes).

I need to sort my shopping bill out it used to be around 40-50 euros a month but has gone up to 70 - 100 euros. I'm in France and the price of food has hiked but I think I'm not paying as much attention as I should.

Slow cooker is on today with a curry and I've got stuff in to do home made pizza for tea tomorrow , beef casserole Tuesday and baked pots on Wednesday. There will be left over curry and casserole that will either go in the freezer or we'll eat the following day.

Hopefully we won't need anything other than food this month. Fingers crossed. I need to stay away from Amazon.

Giraffe - we deserved a home tie - all but one of the previous four rounds had been away. When we played Chelsea, the coach was more than the tickets (£90 for tickets, £132 for the coach). Good luck against the Arsenal

Thanks laska for the link to get me moving over here.

I've got some frugal philosophy/family issues I'm trying to deal with and wondered how other people handle them.

A) How do you handle invitations from extended family that involve spending - going out for lunch, going on a trip, going to this or that event, etc.?

I sometimes find myself feeling like if we say we can't afford to do xx, we can never be seen to spend anything on non-essentials (i.e. beyond bills and food) - not that it happens very often at the moment!

B) I'm also struggling with the idea of a) accepting loans from well-meaning family members or b) accepting handouts in order to be able to do the things we say we can't afford. Does anyone feel uncomfortable with that too? I think I want us to be independent and I get a bit twitchy in those situations.

Too intense for a Sunday afternoon? Sorry! More frugal frivolity next time.

opals I have a sistema rice cooker. Is great! Experiment a bit when you get it and for each new rice packet but I use 250g rice and 500ml water no salt for 10 mins in a 700kw micro. The standing bit is important I think as the rice fluffs better after it. I love mine!

Hah hah and as if by magic, DS1's athletics club have rang to tell me that DS1 will be getting an award for performance of the season at the annual club dinner :-) which is brilliant but it now means we will have to attend this at £25 per head ARRGGHHHH for three of us (I'll have to try and palm DS2 onto someone for the night)

Hi Miss Mystic, re invitations and plans with friends and family, I try not to accept if I am sure it is something I cannot afford and suggest something I can. Recently I had to decline dinner with a friend, which with travel would be too dear but suggested she brought her two little girls over and I would make them all afternoon tea with jellies, pink cakes etc, and we could take them to a big local playground. I think if people know you would still like to see them they will usually be happy to accommodate. Not always easy though. Re accepting loans to do more expensive things, don't. Although it is sweet of people it really does make you feel like a poor relation.

Thank you so much Vinegar, will try that. They had good reviews online, glad you get good use from yours.

Hi all, I'm just back from Lidl, where I did the bulk of the week's shopping for £25.46, so well chuffed with that .
My meal plan this week is macaroni cheese and spinach twice (already had macaroni), jacket potatoes with beans and cheese, veg stirfry with quorn chunks (still need to buy noodles for this, as Lidl were out of all but instant ones), veggie burgers and oven chips (already have burgers and baps in the freezer), veggie cottage pie (in freezer) and pizza (need to get some fresh veg and olives for this nearer the time). Breakfast will be porridge, cereal or toast (stocked up on marmalade, honey and nutella) and lunches will be egg and quorn sausage muffins (still need eggs), beans on toast, soup and bread and I'll treat myself to a lunch out.

Introductions: I am a single parent with a 12 year old DS. Originally from Ireland, but lived in the UK since 1996. I am a supply teacher, but I won't get any work until after half-term, so currently living on £761 (child benefit, child tax credits and child maintenance) plus housing benefit, which covers nearly 70% of my rent. I am very lucky to have no debt, apart from student loan, but it's an on-going challenge, trying to stay in the black on a low income. In the last two and a half years, I managed to earn over £1950, selling unwanted stuff on eBay, Amazon trade-in, We Buy Books and Music Magpie, de-cluttering in the process, but as you can imagine, there's not much more to sell.

So, life is a bit of a struggle at times (I also have some health issues), but I have to admit, I get a kick out of being frugal, as long as we have a few treats now and again. It is DS's half-term in two weeks time, so I want to srimp and save enough for a couple of days out. We have National Trust and English Heritage membership and a Family railcard, which I really recommend, if you can afford them. I used some Tesco clubcard vouchers to get my railcard half price for £15 and I spent our Christmas money on the memberships.

I have been a lurker for a long time on these threads - and thanks to so many constructive hints, tips, morale boosting comments on here we are due to pay off our 32K of credit card / loan debt with a last payment in June. It had got to a stage where our bills were higher than our income [shame] .

It has been a long hard slog, but worth it - and unachievable without your virtual support. Thanks to you all! I am almost in tears here - I think it is all catching up with me 6 years later as I realise it is light not an oncoming train.

Forgot the introduction - no manners. Me, Dh and 2 kids (10 & almost 13)... live in the sticks.

Hello to all the new people lovely to have you back ilove!

I think I've just made my best ever spag bol mmmm