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

Damn it. As part of our new frugal life, DH ebayed some of the baby's old things and forgot to set a minimum. Almost brand new Moses basket and stand has just been sold for 7 quid and cost me 60. So fucked off. DH tried to placate me by saying it's probably gone to a really hard up single mum, which made me feel better for a while, but then the woman turned up and was plummy and un-poor looking. Annoying.

Anyway. Must forget it and move on. Wanted to share my latest frugal trick: there's a website called 'copify' recently launched. If you are a competent writer, you can sign up and do little copy jobs for them for 2p a word. Once the job is approved the money goes into PayPal, which you can store up and use to buy clothes for dc on eBay. The jobs can occasionally by quite interesting and if you can multitask and knock them out while watching TV, it's an easyish thing to do to earn a few extra pennies while sitting at home.

Unescorted I've just had the jam on ryvita with cheese. YUM.

MsRabbit re Copify it looks interesting. Do you have to be a writer to do it? or can you just apply without any previous writing experience (other than assignments for college).

Copify has some v bad press.. google and see .. I'd avoid ..

Blimey, February isn't any slower than last month's threads is it! Haven't quite caught up yet but just wanted to say a huge well done to BantamBoy for the upcoming award :o

Good luck ememem..... Exciting times, have you chosen what you'll wear??

NSD for me, we stayed in all day. Yawn. Had a lovely pud with reduced blackberries foraged last year on sponge pud. Stuffed now.

Added up supermarket spends in jan, totalled £380, would like Feb to be a little less, seeing as I'm not at work atm, we can have home cooked meals rather than more expensive convenience meals?

Have to get an application form done this week. Would be fab not to have too long off work, my redundancy pot pretty much equals what we have on interest free credit to be paid off in august.

Fluffy, Ohhelp what is this diffuser you speak of?!!!

Good luck with new job tomorrow enemem - have you packed all bags and got shoes and clothes and handbag ready?!

Good luck, Em

Blimey you lot don't hang about 6 pages already and its only the 1st!!

So today £4 in coffee 1 on a latte and baby chino and for dd, £3.75 on a sandwich and drink for dd and £3 on dds swimming badge.

So thats more than a tenner on not much really

Decided to get fully involved this month
1.50 on lettuce and 20 on electricity

Anyone have clever ideas for lettuce? Dh bought some for something we ate, but we aren't really salad eaters although I guess we could do that. Any other ideas to do with tat sort of veg?!

I just add lettuce to main meals or sarnies. It's so inoffensive so you can just add it in really!

Best of luck tomorrow emem!

I'm going back tomorrow too, have been off 3 weeks. Don't feel ready but not really ill enough to stay home - and I think it's a case of use it or lose it IYSWIM, the longer I'm off the harder it is to go back.

Thanks for the internet advice. So do you think if I call them I should act like I'm planning to leave - would that get a better offer? I've never done this before! Well, other than complaining at Virgin media when they messed up big time several years back.

NK Fry the lettuce in butter and garlic with peas. Do a google/bbc good food for "french style lettuce" (I think...) my dad made it the other day and it was really good.

I have a choice of a grey shift dress and blue button down shirt, black tights and either black flats, or black courts. Black trousers, white chiffon top, grey cardigan and leopard print flats, or navy pencil skirt, white chiffon top, leopard flats, grey cardigan. will decide tomorrow. but all clothes are washed, ironed and ready.

bag is packed (sort of). was going to go straight from work to the gym, but that involves another bag and I don't really want them thinking I'm moving in on day 1...!

NK Fry the lettuce in butter and garlic with peas. Do a google/bbc good food for "french style lettuce" (I think...) my dad made it the other day and it was really good.

I have a choice of a grey shift dress and blue button down shirt, black tights and either black flats, or black courts. Black trousers, white chiffon top, grey cardigan and leopard print flats, or navy pencil skirt, white chiffon top, leopard flats, grey cardigan. will decide tomorrow. but all clothes are washed, ironed and ready.

bag is packed (sort of). was going to go straight from work to the gym, but that involves another bag and I don't really want them thinking I'm moving in on day 1...!

The other thing I should've mentioned on my intro - we have even more reason to be frugal as we are getting nearer the conclusion that DCs aren't coping with school, and we may end up needing to home educate. Obviously this would require a huge change in working patterns and it'd be even harder to manage.

NK I have seen Hugh FW do things with lettuce. I've never fancied it cooked but I think he does a quiche or something - worth googling? It'll keep much longer if you separate and wash all the leaves then put it in a Tupperware container with damp kitchen roll at the bottom and put it in the salad compartment of the fridge.

Signing in for Feb, thanks for the thread North . NSD for me.

How do we get to six pages in just 2 days, not exactly frugal use of the thread

I sometimes do a French style chicken dish that uses lettuce. From BBC Good Food, but I can't find it now. Anyway, fry leeks, add chopped chicken thigh, whole grain mustard, cream, stock - once that is cooked add shredded lettuce. Turn off heat and cover to let the lettuce wilt. Serve with rice or potatoes.

Agree about Amazon, our bank statement on run up to Christmas was one list of orders from there. I need to put money away each month for Christmas food, and give vouchers rather than gifts and buy them thought the year to spread the cost. £15 for ticket to a play.

Eeek 6 pages in already? Will have to catch up later.
Actually an NSD to start February off but only deferred spends really. DP will have to go to Home Bargains and Tesco today.

So nice to see so many new people! Good luck Em on your first day!

Yesterday: £15 Wii personal trainer (determined to exercise more) £13 top up food £8 FIFA coins for DS in lieu of pocket money.

There is me, DH and 2 teenage DS. We both work but both currently on temporary contracts. I had some redundancy money which I have partly used but now want to save this to fall back on if necessary.

Should be Nsd here. Friend coming for coffee so I won't leave the house apart from to walk dd to the bus

Good luck Ememem! Hope it goes well.

Hoping for NSD here: packed lunch is made and I don't have to go out after work. In fact I'm going to have a crack at five consecutive NSDs (but then the weekend will be v v spendy as we're going away for dinner and a night in a hotel for my sister's birthday - but we've known about that for ages so it's budgeted for).

Meal plan for this week:

Monday L: ham sandwich, salad
D: veggie and cashew nut paella, kale

Tues: veggie burgers, kale, carrots, sweet potato chips

Weds: Asian noodle soup

Thurs: paella again , salad

Fri: veggie chilli with rice for DH and courgette ribbons for me.

Sat: spaghetti squash with roasted tomato sauce

Sun: L: veg broth, bread D: home made pizzas, salad

Introduction (just RTFT )

Hello, I'm MissA, 29, just me and DH. We paid off £17,944 of debt (credit cards and car loan) in 2014 and just as we became debt free and had £1000 of savings I became very ill and after two botched operations on NHS needed to go private, something we couldn't have considered before.
Now we are trying to save for a house deposit, we have no family to help us so it will be several years of hard graft.

Very grateful to this lovely thread for all the support through debt payment and illness. Here's to a happy, healthy and frugal 2015 for us all!