Stef's frugal Feb

[Stef]

Still no spend.

Though I did swap that fiver for some bottles of beer - over the lane neighbour had some leftover (??!!!!) and was happy to do the exchange and it saved me petrol too!

So, freezer has been raided, I think both bags are chillie....

[Stef]

Another week and I think I have spent about £3 - staffroom birthday included.

I freezered away the whole week and have sorted the cupboards. Next week, when I can spend again, I shall buy a couple of bits and pieces to add to them and I'll then make and bake and refill the freezer

Unfortunately I will need to but petrol this weekend. I will probably fill up as the nearest garage is a fair few miles away and it would be false economy to stick to the Frugal Feb for the sake of a couple of days!

Wow! That's about £34 spent so far. He who also lives here has spent about £20 on odds and sods, but he had to as he had his op and needed something do/read/eat!!

7 days to go. I'll make it at about £50 and we will probably make it at about £75 all in. Not too bad!

[clunie]

Well done Stef! That's really impressive. I've not done nearly as well.

[Stef]

It's only that low because we had been so ridiculously overspending previously!

If we had given any thought we wouldn't have had much of the stuff we have been living off.

I am actually quite embarrassed by it!

[Spreckly]

Goodness, Stef, you have done well.

[MissEllie]

Wow, we'll done Stef, thats some serious savings

[Stef]

Well, we've emptied the last of the cupboard stuff onto the table. He who also lives here is still off work so he will be perusing the pile and making a list of what is needed to turn it into edibles - mainly eggs it seems.

Next weekend we will have a making/baking binge, freeze a lot of things back in small portions and then we can begin to vastly overspend again

We have one or two bits of pig left, the ribs last night were delicious, we only had to buy orange juice for them, everything else was lurking. We are looking at half a lamb next time.

As I said, the only reason we were able to be so frugal is because we were so profligate previously. Maybe the lesson this year is to be much more frugal all of the time.

[Mo]

Is it profligate to have a well stocked larder?
I don't think so, especially if you stock up when things are on offer.
Mind you when my daughter was small she loved sugar puffs, so everytime I shopped I grabbed a box. Then she went off them - not sure how long it took to finish the backlog.

I do moderate my freezing now - only put away enough plums for 2 years (in case we have an off year, like this year). The rest I give away.

[Stef]

Mmmmmm! Thanks Mo

Though I am not sure that all of the baking fancy bits, chocolate, nuts etc, count as forward planning.

I still have gooseberries left from 2 years ago - must use them next!!

[Stef]

Odd, I still haven't bought petrol.... so we came in at £60 cash paid out for the month.

We had already reduced SO's and DD's during last yera's Frugal Feb, so our only way to go now is to continue with the reduced spend.

We don't buy things, especially the clutter some colleagues carry round with them (I'd hate to be so 'connected').

So the rest of the year will be 1 plane ticket for me to visit mum and dad and a week driving round Cornwall in summer. Everything else will be home based and hopefully we will only be spending a lot of time

Then again, I might rebel and spend a HUGE amount on a new wardrobe - if I lose enough weight