I can't see where I can make any savings as I'm pretty confident I'm as slimmed down as I can get.Meanwhile, Storm Fionn (15th January) had wrenched a ridge tile off the bay window when the winds battered the front of the house and flung it into my car parked on the drive leaving a fairly deep scratch on the door. I thought I could get it done myself but the first estimate was £792
I decided to go through my car insurance after all but with £150 compulsory and £100 voluntary excess, I'm going to have to fork out £250, PLUS get a builder to replace the broken ridge tile and repair the bay window roof (luckily it seems to be waterproof atm so not immediately urgent but sooner rather than later)The other expenditure this month is the family history site annual subscription which is £120. I have already cancelled one of them (the FindMyPast) in December as I wasn't getting anything out of it like I used to. Researching the family history has had benefits so it's not just about feeding my curiosity - to cut a long story short, my mother used to keep in touch with family but when she passed away, that contact with relatives was lost. Now we have a common interest and got in contact after nearly 20 years. I've also been in touch with much more distant relatives as a result of the family history (descendants of 2 brothers of my great grandfather - quite an amazing reunion) It's become much more than a hobby so I'd like to keep the project going.
At least I am making savings on not having to pay rent on the allotment plot anymore since giving it up last year. However, I will need to spend some money in the coming weeks to prepare the polytunnels and greenhouse for growing veg at home .... at least one will need a replacement cover, plus I need materials to make beds as well as compost / soil etc. Meanwhile, my seed potatoes arrived at the end of last week and the garlic which I hurriedly planted just before Christmas in a seed tray to set them off growing, will need planting out soon so they can grow and mature. I bought some garlic from the supermarket last week (for eating) - lovely big bulbs (with big cloves which I prefer) that originated from Spain ... I'm almost sure they are ones I used to grow on the allotment and like so I have decided to plant some of those in the polytunnel as well. See, I'm saving on the cost of seed garlic (can be about £5 for 2 bulbs + p&p unless you waited until the special offers) but how they grow will be the test LOL
Frugal February can imply recovering from an excessive Christmas / January sales binge but this is not always the case. For one the cost of living just keeps rising year in year out but for most working people on moderate earnings, the pay rise for some has been fixed at 1% since 2010 .... it doesn't take a genius to work out that without an increase in income, there's only so far you can make cut backs or switch products to something cheaper. And sometimes life has a habit of throwing bad things at you - such as that faithful washing machine that you bought 17 years ago looks like it might not make it to 18 ....
it worked! Half price subscription when you join using the discount link, and if you use your email / password to sign in, your tree and attachments are all there. So happy about this 
