Frugal fun in February - the one with the Spring spring

[Unescorted]

New thread continued from this one

All are welcome - just dive in.

Hey floating glad you came through unscathed

Yes wolf time to reassess and budget properly here too

£712 ikea

£35 beach hut

Payday And back to work

Payday here so budgets done for the month and all the pots funded (food, petrol etc) plus debt payments made.
Current totals: CC1: £1255, CC2: £237 + bank loan on fixed repayments for IVF currently at £6251 with another couple of years of payments scheduled.

I’ll be happy once credit cards are gone and will probably just let the bank loan tick away rather than overpaying it as it’s on a super low interest fixed rate. Hoping credit cards will be paid off by May, then we can start saving properly. The new NI charges, higher pension contributions and the energy crisis will make all of this slower.

Payday here too.

Just transferred money over to my emergency fund, only £400 to go till I hit my savings target.
Food shop today, just need to check over the freezer contents to sort out what we are eating this week to avoid overbuying. I know I’ve got 2 pork tenderloins in there that I can do something for Sunday with. I work on a Sunday so has anyone got a good slow cooker recipe, or a quick and easy way I can do something nice with them?

@floatinginmyhomie wow, that must have been scary, glad you’re ok now.

@Gensola sounds like you’ve got everything really well organised. Roll on May to say goodby to that cc debt!

Definitely trying to be more frugal here. Still waiting to hear from energy supplier as to what our new direct debit will be, they say we should be emailed in the next couple of weeks.
Going to get back into surveys, and using Shoppix to try and earn a bit extra.

Wrote and lost a long post so the long and the short is Pay day. Savings have taken a hit over the last month. Car has possible expensive issue

Gen great stuff , so well organized
Wolf our car has cost us a fortune this month with the Ins , tax, service and new brakes , it must be 1k at least
It is a necessary evil l know but it's balking
Well done Curls very organised
Been shopping, 12 in TKMax , 2 birthday/Christmas presents for DD2
I am doing very well with them, thank God
Bought a lovely soft fleecy throw for 7 www.aldiss.com/dalmatian-fleece-throw/p29236
& a Christmas Starbucks mug for 5
Spent 12 in Asda on juice & 20 in Aldi on lots of sparkling waters because they are half the price of anywhere else and taste good .

Sorry I got buried in a proud puff of flour and sugar. This week's baking was a orange and chocolate cake for DD's Birthday. Alternate layers of orange and chocolate sponge layered with chocolate ganache and creme legere. All coated in orange Italian buttercream, topped with chocolate curls and caramel coated orange...... It even looked the part. one day I will work out how to do photos.

Wolf good call on the tips. It has been a while since we had it on the top of the thread... Do people want to add their tips to this thread & we can collect them for the start of the next one? I am guessing that there will be loads of people who could do with some pointers / encouragement with all the bills going up.

em nice on on the appraisal feedback.
Scary stuff on the house being without its wall - I always feel sorry for houses that aren't watertight..... I know they don't have feelings, but they are so vulnerable looking with their insulation flapping.

Floating a mansion with a fleet of nannies is not big enough for 4 tweens.

Sounds delicious unescorted and happy birthday dd

Ok let’s start with the obvious

Check your outgoing-are they essential, are you on the best deal
Loyalty cards for stores you regularly shop at
Meal plan
Annual budget rather than monthly for those, well annual, expenses
Second hand is fine for 90% of stuff
Sign up to money saving expert emails
Insulation at home.
Close curtains at dark and tuck behind rads
Foil behind external wall rad
Turn the heating down . Tropical houses are not necessary
Use the washing line when you can
Look out for food recycling scheme- bread and butter thing, company shop, too good to go type things
Do you have to buy that Christmas/ birthday present. Can you give time instead
Eat less meat (tho I’m rubbish at this)
Have a on toast day. Or baked potato weekly
Double up while the oven is on for a reheat meal or a bake. Save electric running the oven less.
Branded goods are not always the best

My brain has run out now

-Walk those short trips if possible, instead of using the car (I am the worst for doing this). Saves petrol, good exercise too.
-Combine car trips better too eg dropped DD off at an activity tonight, which is next to the supermarket.

We’ve spoken to the DC about buying less branded food stuff. We’re bad at pandering to what they like best.

We’ve both upped our money going into our bills/joint account due to rising costs. I’ve moved my small amount of money into savings, after being paid today.

Work was ok today, my boss was in a much better mood it was awful before half term . Still a bit fed up on the job hunting front, but realistically a full time job won’t work for me at the moment. My next three days off already have appointments booked, especially now I have to factor in the physio too which could be up to 8 weeks worth.

Aldi was heaving today! But then I think its the first time in ages I’ve gone on what is a lot of people’s actual payday. It was mine as well, but I just shop on a Monday anyway because that’s what fits in with my week.

Over budget by about £40. But actually that’s ok because I bought a crate of beer that was on offer that DH will take at least 3 months to get through. DS2 has started reacting to the shower gel we use so £3 spent on Sanex for him. Plus he’s started going through puberty and needed a face wash to keep spots at bay so that was another £3. The beer was £16 , plus a £1 food bank donation so I’d say I’m only £16 over which given I’ve had the same unofficial food budget for as long as I can remember is pretty good going.

Will have a think and see if I can add anything to the money saving tips list.

They are great Life & Curls
Does anyone use Groupon or cashback sites - how do they work & why would retailers want people to use them.....

I am soooooo not wanting to go to work today.

Tips that I don't think are mentioned already:

Cancel sky, if you still want the programmes switch to Now Tv for a fraction of the price
Cancel any subscriptions you don't need. Check direct debits to make sure you're not paying for anything you no longer need by accident
Check all your bills, insurances etc are the cheapest you can get for the cover you need (the last bit is important)
If you can get a voucher, use a cash back site or have some sort of work discount (nhs, bluelight, Tesco, student etc) check before paying
Meal plan before you shop. Make extra to freeze for another day as it's often cheaper per kg to buy bigger packs of meat
Go veggie a couple of times a week
Aldi and Lidl are great but not if you're going to get sidetracked by the aisle of doom
An annual budget is essential but pay yourself first each month so money into the annual pot, into savings, off debt before anything else happens. Make sure there's a line in your budget for fun money even if it's a tiny amount, budgeting can be a grind otherwise
You will have patches of spendiness and demotivation, don't give up just start again from wherever you end up

Great tips everyone 😄👏👏👏Unescorted happy birthday to your DD that cake sounds wonderful & very delicious well done 😋😋😋

Frugal win. The rag bone man took my rusty greenhouse base.

Frugal tips:
Take your own drinks, snacks, food, pic nic
Invariably cheaper and nicer

Make your own if you have a stocked baking cupboard and spice cupboard. Cheaper and nicer, tho building said cupboard can be ££

Aldi for baking stuff it’s fine.

Work out of season for clothes as it’s usually cheaper

guess who's the lucky winner of a positive Lateral flow test this morning?!!

tips for saving.

the obvious kirsty allsopp ones of cancel gym memberships and stop buying takeaway coffees. . . .

i switched to a coffee subscription (coffee is my weakness) - so our local shop delivers me a 250g bag of ground coffee every 2 weeks (i have 4 in the cupboard currently) and i make my own morning coffee. the subscription is for 6 months and costs me £58 i think. a takeaway from the same shop is £2.80 a pop. so it is a money saver. i bought a contigo cup (spendy but worth every penny). so take my coffee hot to work with me.

i'm also a fan of using it up. so tings like toiletries, stationary (i am also a notebook hoarder) food etc. not replacing until it's all gone (or all of one thing gone).

my lloyds account does "save the change" so it rounds up a purchase and then moves the pence to my savings account.

i also pay myself first on payday and am trying to use the things we have- zoo membership - use it loads so worth the £160 a year cost. same with my gym membership i use it so get my moneys worth.

Also what you can save/be frugal on can be inversely related to your means. If you have more "spare" money per month it's easier to buy in bulk and choose things that are cheapest per kg. If you have less or no spare money this isn't possible to do and then you're looking at cheapest price per item rather than per kg.

Agree re taking own stuff although I do often forget but a good coffee cup and water bottle is a good investment if you can afford it

If you have a dog use something like all about dog food to work out what the best food is you can buy based on what you can afford to spend per day

agree with that wolf

I also give the clothes an extra spin in the washing machine before they go in the dryer, and dry outside whenever i can - currently not living at home, so limited to a washer dryer (which is crap) and an airer next to a rad which i hate.

im a big fan of using the freezer and freeze anything i can. we buy reduced items (like bread and keep it in the freezer as it saves it going off - we maybe get through a loaf every couple of weeks).

meal planning is something im not too good at, but dh is, and i'm a sucker for a shiny package in the supermarket.so he tends to do the food shop! i regularly go "off liste" and spend a fortune. it's easier for us to not let me do the shop!

i know that credit cards are sometimes seen here as the work of the devil (on mn specifically not this thread) bu tif you have one use to to your advantage. mine gives me money back in the form of m&S or amazon vouchers every quarter depending on how much i've spent. and as long as you pay it off every month it works.

im making the final kitchen payment on it today and will pay off with savings. so will get a ton of points for that.

also toipcashback for all internet purchases.

Garage says there is nothing wrong with the car

Em you haven't got Covid again have you ? if so my commiserations bless you !
Great tips !
Just seen William & Kate in Abergavenny market ❤️
Am so thrilled!

More tips , check the price on the shelf edge per Kg , l have just bought 10 X 75p Cadburys Easter eggs from Morrisons, which works out at 52p per 100gs. Cadburys chocolate is about 90p 100gs so these Eggs were a good buy. I buy in advance when things are on offering l can, things like these, like Wolf says better to buy in bulk on offer if you can 😊
Also l watch the Christmas prequel bargain thread , just had 2 lovely Ghost bags for 15 each for the DDS for Christmas 🎄
They are lovely. Beautiful velvet large make up bag , Ghost the perfume , nail varnish, posh nail file , l think it's a crystal one a bottle of serum and A 10ml mini perfume as well.
HotUKDeals is amazing , l look on there every day.

I took a leaf out of Em'a book and walked into my 121 and asked for an annual bonus. Shy bairns get nowt