Chanie fabulously looks after her pennies...

chanie

Today, OH and I popped to the shops to look at washing machines. We've seen one we'd like to get, so we said we'd go back tomorrow. The dilemma is that it's on offer. I could order some discounted shopping vouchers to save more money, but we may loose the offer, so I think we'll have to buy it.

moneysaving task
I thought I'd start adding a few money saving tasks to work towards.

I stock up on birthday cards from discount shops. There is one shop where I can get 3 cards for £1 so I'll start by writing a list of all the birthdays/celebrations and stock up. This is something I do but was reminded about it on another thread. We have quite a few birthdays coming up over the next few months, so I'd better get moving.

chanie

We bought our new washing machine today, but it was an otherwise frugal day. The change leftover from buying the washing machine has gone into the holiday fund.

I completed my moneysaving task of writing down all the cards I need to buy for the year and I'll get them when I'm next passing the shop.

I fancied Yorkshire puds with our roast, so I popped into tesco for some batter mix, which is 15p each. I also smugly bought a couple of extra packets for Shrove Tuesday, which is only a couple of weeks away, as my local store sells our quickly.

When we got home, I baked a cake with the children. Baking is something I said I want to practice, so this was a good start. I had all of the ingredients, althougah I didn't have the 'right' sugar, but I figured that sugar is sugar, so I used what I had. Anyway, it tastes quite nice, so that's the main thing. I'll take the rest into work tomorrow.

chanie

Our old washing machine has conked out, so its a good thing we did buy a new one. Its being delivered on Friday, so we shouldn't fall behind on the washing. At least that's one less thing to have to worry about.

This week, I've bought my lunch to work from home. Before Christmas, I was really bored of my lunches and ended up buying lunch a lot more, so its good I don't feel the same way, for now. Lunch today is a jacket potato with cheese and beans and I'm looking forward to it!!!

I also got 2 x £2 coins when I went to the shop. OH and I collect them and we have a bit of a love-hate relationship with them, in that we love saving them, but when we get too many in one go, we get annoyed. The coins go in our holiday spending money fund.

Last night I ran of 'feminine hygiene products' (sorry) and had to pop to the supermarket to buy some more. I thought it would be cheaper than going to the local shop. OH wanted a bottle of coke, so I bought 2 for £3, plus the other items and that was it. I think it shows good restraint!!!

chanie

I made another batch of my homemade facial cleanser tonight. I'm pleased how well it's been working. My cleanser is based on lush's 'angels on bare skin'. The cost of the ingredients meant it would take 3 months before I would see a cost saving and I'm nearly at that point. I need to top up a couple of ingredients, but I'm saving about £70 a year.

Kitten868

Hope the company will take your old washing machine away. It's too much of an essential to go without. And a good deal is worth jumping on hope it's easy to use! X

chanie

Washing machine arrived and is working well, we just need to get used to the buttons!!!

I have a new moneysaving mission.. OH and I were watching that programme with the bailiffs and we were talking about how sad it was, so we've decided to shop more locally at independent shops. I tend to shop in supermarkets as it's more convenient, but I'm going to try to make the effort to buy some items from smaller shops, starting with some fruit and veg.

chanie

A few small frugal steps....

dinner tomight last night, we had homemade curry for dinner. We have about 4 jars of different curry sauces, so I chose the one with the closest 'best before date. I halved the pack of chicken, so we will be having 'chicken something' for tonight's dinner. When I was making the curry, I added a tin of potatoes to bulk it out and the children didn't seem to mind.

toiletries. OH said he was out moisturiser. I normally stock up when it's on offer, so I thought I'd have to pay full price, as he had totally run out. I checked My Supermarket and luck was on my side as its on offer in a couple of shops. One of the advantages of living in London is that I have most major shops within a few miles of where I live, so it's easy to take advantage of offers. Picked up a couple this morning, so that should last a couple of months.

chanie

I'm now coming to the end of my first month and I have noticed that being frugal is becoming easier. I have lost my frugalness over the past 12 months and its good to see it coming back.

A had a frugal spend this morning - I bought some Xmas wrapping paper that was reduced to 10p a roll, so I bought 10 rolls. The RRP is £24, but there is no way I'd spend £24 on wrapping paper, so I'm going to allocate it as a £3 saving, as I normally spend about £5 on wrapping paper.

chanie

On another diary the post was about eating your storecupboards. I had a look in mine and had 5 tins of tomatoes and about 6 jars of cooking sauces. When we go shopping, I always check our levels of milk, eggs, cheese and bread, but never the tins, so we do end up buying more when we go. I've decided to use December to eat down our cupboards for a number of reasons:
1) the excitement of Christmas will deflect the fact we are eating stuff that we probably don't like very much.
2) New year, New start. Plus, it will stop food going off.

I've managed to do some baking. We had a party today and I made some biscuits to take. I managed to just about scrape together all of the ingredients, although I had to improvise with one!!!

My church is having a Easter cake competition. I don't expect to win, but I've never decorated a cake before so I'm looking forward to the challenge.

chanie

Pay day arrived a couple of days ago and I've paid most of my outgoings already, although it feels like I'm hemorrhaging money at the moment

I OHs niece a bargain birthday present today for £10 - I budget £20, but try to see how cheap I can go without being cheap, if you see what I mean.

I then popped into Sainsbury and bought myself a new pair of work shoes for £14 as old ones were falling apart and it was getting beyond embarrassing. I also bough two pairs of slipper boots reduced from £14 to £4. They were an impulse purchase, but they are Xmas presents and will save me money in the long run.