About Frugal February

Thrifty tips, ideas, news & experiences on anything around the home to shopping to re-cycling etc.
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Richard
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About Frugal February

Post by Richard »

After a two year absense, it's back.

February is supposedly the hardest month for finances, many are receiving the Dredit Card Bills from Christmas, outside it's dull, miserable with more things going wrong around us than most other months.

Up to you how you want to take part, many like to have a Diary and just add to it as things happen around them, others just prefer the odd post.

Whatever, the aim is to look at ourselves and ask, answer questions about what we spend and how we can make savings through February which could have a lasting effect for the rest of the year.
So please let us know how you're doing ie. changing Fuel, Phone companies, maybe going without something for a month, cutting out that Coffee in the Restaurant after Shopping, 'do I really need a new one' etc. etc.

Good luck !

Richard
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lancashire lass
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by lancashire lass »

By late 2014 my finances were not good (through no fault of my own) but after arranging a manageable loan, things definitely turned in my favour and although there's still a debt, at least I'm coping better and gradually paying it off (and still £0 on the credit card )t' ) Before Christmas the life assurance on my 'interest only' mortgage matured and the shortfall was not as bad as I thought it might be - yesterday I paid off the capital on that mortgage )c( , and now just have 7 years of the repayment mortgage left. As I'm about 3/4 of the way to paying that off, what is owing is so much smaller ... which means I can really start thinking about trying to pay that (and hopefully the loan too) off earlier. I've been inspired by spudley's "This is the year" thread so my objective in February is to put things into place such as savings or increasing payments on the loan (I won't be penalised for paying off earlier - one of the attractions of that loan) from the money saved from the monthly life assurance/interest payments I no longer have to pay :-D
Freeranger
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Freeranger »

Congratulations on that achievement, LL! )app( )app( That's a really big step.

I found Spudley inspirational too, and will be thinking what to do to walk in her footsteps. I've been following Ilona's flirtation with celebrity as well (Member's Chat), thinking there are lessons to be learned from her frugality rather than her media career!

Don't have much to add yet, but posting in solidarity!
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Mo
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Mo »

Richard wrote:... the Dredit Card Bills from Christmas,

)like(
Richard wrote: outside it's dull, miserable with more things going wrong around us than most other months.

Isn't it just

Mind you my credit card is just a 'keep it earning interest as long as I can, then pay once instead of bits' since I am lucky* enough to have a pension lump sum in a high interest current account.


* Is it luck or good judgement? Well I've been frugal all my life, but OTOH Jim earned a good enough salary to save on and had a final earnings pension. I don't believe in splashing out and wasting, but I think it is so unfair when people have to work all hours at unpleasant jobs for minimum wages, something wrong with priorities.
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Mo
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Mo »

Maybe my frugality will be to buy some seed spuds from the place where you pick your own and they weigh them, before the Arran Pilot sell out (if they haven't already).
And sort out my veg seeds - need some runner beans.

Yesterday I started the first bag of bought spuds, and I had to buy frozen runners last week.
Must do better.
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Spreckly »

I may have posted this on the other FF post, but my FF goes from bad to worse! One silver wedding present (son), one golden wedding gift (bridesmaid), OH's birthday, my new denture ("00+), and now a family meal on Saturday to celebrate the departure of a grandson to USA for six months.

Since before Christmas I have promised myself a new pair of best black trousers, but they don't seem to be on the cards for the time being!
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Richard
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Richard »

Great stuff.

Hope you're all going to keep a Diary thread going through the month.

Maybe good to start with a plan and see how it all goes.

Richard )t' )t'
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by bmpsands »

I accidentally bought a car this week - so FF is definitely for me this year.

For a start we will be living out of the freezer for at least a month. This means that I can probably miss at least one week's big shop except for fresh fruit. We have plenty of frozen fruit, veg, portions of cooked mince etc from batch cooking, a couple of home made curries and some pies.

Both credit cards have zero balances and I aim to keep it that way. I always pay off the full amount but actually haven't used my pocket money card since October and the housekeeping one since Christmas.

I wonder if our local supermarket has those yellow ticket sessions that I've read about? If I could pick up stuff that I can cook a batch of and freeze down that would help. What else gets yellow tagged?

Baking today is OH's usual stuff but I've also made a few buns. Not only are they cheaper than chocolate biscuits but they have fewer calories too. Excellent.

I'd better have a big think.
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
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lancashire lass
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by lancashire lass »

bmpsands wrote:I accidentally bought a car this week


{rofwl} have to confess something similar when buying a car in 1999. I only went to have a look ....
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Meanqueen
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Meanqueen »

bmpsands wrote:

I wonder if our local supermarket has those yellow ticket sessions that I've read about? If I could pick up stuff that I can cook a batch of and freeze down that would help. What else gets yellow tagged?



Depends which supermarket is your local, and how big it is. Is it a local branch of one of the big ones? Yellow stickers can be picked up at any of the big 4, but you need to know the times when they get marked down. Tesco and Asda seem to have the most, Morrisons and Sainsbugs are ok but don't generally have loads on offer. Aldi and Lidl forget it, they don't mark down. Some are to be had in the Co op, and Spar shops, and Marks and Sparks mark down, but I don't know what time.

You need to visit your shop at different times and watch what the staff do. They go through the shelves and print out stickers for anything that is going out of date that day. Usually the meat gest marked down first because they want to get rid of it first.

I go at 7.15pm because my supermarket puts on the final ticket about that time. They start at lunch time with the first sticker, the second one goes on mid afternoon, and the last one about 7 - 7.30pm. Last week I got £50's worth of food for £6, no kidding. I buy fruit, veg, salad, dairy, anything from the chiller cabinet except meat, and bread.

I batch cook the veg into soups, stews, and curries, and freeze portions in margarine tubs. Bread will freeze and several other things as well, read the labels.

Me on Good Morning Britain on Thursday morning.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AnY6r5jPL40" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Have fun, yellow sticker shopping is great.
Ilona
Why can't I embed this video? Copy and paste into address bar.
bmpsands
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by bmpsands »

Couldn't make this work Ilona. Tried copy and paste, typing in directly, accessing GMB directly onto YouTube where I got about a minute and a half of the highlights of what was coming. Hey ho.

Thank for the other info. I'm in town at the appropriate time tomorrow evening so I'll see what I can do.
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
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lancashire lass
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by lancashire lass »

bmpsands wrote:Couldn't make this work Ilona


https://www.youtube.com/embed/AnY6r5jPL40
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perchy
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by perchy »

I just watched it )t'
bmpsands
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by bmpsands »

Thank you LL. I've watched it now. Sprout curry??? I love sprouts and we do have loads in the garden but I'll have to think about that.
Bea; 19 hens (most of whom I intended to get); 6 bantams (which I never intended to have); old Benji dog and young Toby dog (who I definitely wanted). Three years into country living and loving it.
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Re: About Frugal February

Post by Spreckly »

February is not very frugal in our house! My iron packed up last week, and today I have bought the cheapest available from our local electrical shop, who no longer do repairs. I mean, it is only the flex which has gone! OH got one from flea bay, but couldn't get into the iron, and I wasn't happy using it with a taped on flex yike* .

Got back from town, and in putting the dog harness on (the dog), discovered that the clip has broken. Raked through my button tins, but no suitable buckles to do a repair, so a new dog harness is now a necessity!

Still got my dental bill, and one golden wedding to cough up for.

Hope others are doing better!
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