NST February frugality and frolics

GlendaSugarbean

Mothernerd: that was a beautiful post on giving up something important to make space for something new. I love hand sewing too, I have a bag of quilting stuff ... somewhere ... which I must dig out and start again.

Garden: fairly clear today so I have two frogs: clear the hall cupboard so I can repurpose as a pantry/storage cupboard, and check the flowerbeds and borders to make sure the bulbs have room to come up.

Managed my first NSD yesterday, unusual for a Friday! Hoping to get another one in this weekend, not today as the boys have a haircut booked.

Also chased some money the Council owe me, not holding my breath on that one. Only 50 quid but still v useful.

Enjoy the weekend everyone

GlendaSugarbean

And now have remembered to subscribe...

brizzlegirl

Wonderful post MN..thanks for sharing. Lovely to see so many peeps I know too, hi PF :wave:

No.25 checking in.

My goals are:

Food - as usual we need to rein this in. Although we dont split out household eg. washing powder or pets from this budget it all needs to be £550 max despite the fact we have just bought a pork box for the freezer from a local farm discounting may be fun. I think I will try the Aldi that’s just opened just down the road for that. It’ll be longer walk so more steps too

E - excursions are planned, there may be one to do in Term Break, but will keep that frugal. Perhaps cinema and we take snacks.

B- YNAB is my most used app...faithfully log everything so when it goes red I know I need to shuffle....

R - £550 it is.

U- still pondering about this one, but think it’s about tracking my health wealth and time and making exercise a habit. Also need to severely limit my alcohol intake..

A- this is usually fine but will be tricky over next fortnight as am away for work. Not sure how I can do that one, except maybe buy a stash of fruit etc at the SM and use that to overset cost and risk that I just grab c**p and chocolate

R- I should do this out load more often and commit to ink. I am ridiculously wealthy in so many ways, I should shout my gratitude for the blessings I have

Y - hmm. Tough one. I am following the Barefoot Investor principle of putting 20% against my debt..but it happens at the end of the month. Not sure how to rethink this one, maybe in March.

S - this is gonna be tough :eek:. I can barely manage 2 ..one of us is always shelling out for something. But I’ll give it my best shot

U - huge part of our meal planning since Christmas. Minimal spends on fresh foods and huge stack of pulses, flour etc is slowly declining.

R - love posting on these threads so not a hardship to follow this rule

V- probably away for work so need to think of something lovely but free for this. I may book another free hotel night away with OH for later in the year using my points.

I- aim is for a minimum of 16 runs this month as well as some walks and exercise classes..

V- need to work around being away for work...but won’t be thoughtless...

A - spot on

L - :j and thanks MN for such a thought provoking challenge..

Love and hugs to all

Brizzle xx

Maisie_M

[FONT=&quot]F Food Expenditure – Setting a budget of £200 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
E Excursions and entertainment – none planned but may go to the pictures. If we have days out it will be walks.

B Budgets all set[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]R Reduce your planned food expenditure in accordance with the table below – reduced food budget by £50

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]U Useful leftovers. Will keep on with Frogs from last month as it focussed us to get jobs done that have been hanging around for ages[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
A Aim to take your lunch to work every day – I do this most of the time as there is no where close to buy lunch but will aim to use up some soups that are in my freezer

R Remind yourself of what you have and be grateful. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
Y You should pay to your debt or savings first and live on what is left. Money moved to Direct debit account so I know money in my bank account is for spending/saving

S Spend Free Days (SFDs). 1/18 yesterday counted but today is my shopping day

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]U Use it up. Not doing this one in full as I have just spent January stocking up incase we get snow like last year but will ensure stock rotation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
R Regular check ins are recommended. Will try

V have steak in the freezer already which DH and I will have and we are getting each other the matching Dark and Light Night Furies [/FONT][FONT=&quot]😊[/FONT][FONT=&quot] which we love[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

I Indoors/outdoors. will keep my steps up and must move exercise bike into my bedroom when I have sorted the stuff from DS2’s bedroom that is in there!!![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
V Vending machines, coffee shops, takeaways – budgeted for one takeaway and one McD’s each month[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
A Advance planning. Meal planning will continue[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
L Thanks for the challenge[/FONT]

a_silver_lining

mothernerd wrote: »

Well done on the free greenhouse a_silver_lining. I want a hobbit house inside a geodesic dome (so that it acts as a heat collector and heated growing space) but, due to budgetary constraints, will settle for large shed inside a polytunnel shape greenhouse made from plastic bottles.

Ooo, I would love a hobbit house.

It's wall standing mini wooden greenhouse. A few panes of cracked plastic windows, but I have some polythene I will try and attach to fill these gaps. And the frame for the roof but no plastic panes there. Few chipped sections of wood, but on the whole it's a beautiful, normally very pricey one we retail for a fair bit at my workplace. So well worth some TLC.

shabbychic12

'Anything you keep should be for the person you are becoming, not who you used to be.' So I'm letting it go.

Love this saying mothered l'm gong to try this mantra for February at least and see if this helps the clutter. X

thriftylass

spekysquarehead I just cooked a couple of portions of veggy stir-fry, prepped some filling salads (included kidney beans etc to make them filling) and boiled 5 eggs. This week I'll alternate the stir fry and salad, with egg, almonds and a piece of fruit for snacks.

I'll report back on Monday when back on a computer.

Have a nice weekend

aimeemum

Lovely post today MN! So inspirational.

SFD today- 1st of many hopefully

Meals today - Pizzas for the boys, Bean and Veg stew with bread for me and hubby.

Tomorrow I'm batch cooking a sausage casserole - hoping to get a couple of lunches for hubby out if it on top of dinner for 5!

For lunch the boys and I had crisps, cheese and some leftover hot-dog sausages that I quickly cooked and chopped into chunks. Went down very well!

I'm struggling with my patience today - not with the kids or anything but with having to wait for everything to happen. It's only the 2nd of the month and March feels like such a long way away!

Today I'm grateful for my home and my family - my three boys and I did some household jobs and then played a game afterwards to wind down - I love Shark Bite!

Acheivements for today - I cleared some of the rubbish in my kitchen (my younger two boys emptied all the recycling out looking for modelling materials and there was A LOT!) It's now all packed into boxes ready for the collection on Friday next week. I also cleared my kitchen table of everything other than hubby's engine stuff, swept all my floors, vacuumed, rebooted my washing and my dishes and the boys purged downstairs of all their toys and sorted their rooms. I need to put my clean laundry away but then I'm done!

System

I love this about your sewing machine and sewing mothernerd, it’s warmed my heart and gave me that hygge feeling just reading it. Love it!

dolly84

lovely post mothernerd. I think many of us are guilty of keeping things for the person we were, the person we want to be or think we should be, I know I am.


No NSD's for us yet, £1.50 spent yesterday and today we have been looking for storage solutions in the charity shops and the tip shop but have bought other stuff instead. I now own 8 energy light bulbs for £2, a Wedgewood Beatrix Potter Mrs Rabbit bowl for 50p, a tweed bag for £3.50 and a lovely striped sweatshirt for £4.50.


For breakfast today I had a huge bowl of hm porridge topped with a huge pear, seeds and date syrup, I then had another bowl of porridge, a crumpet and 2 coffees, I'll be honest, about half an hour later I felt a bit ill. Anyway DH & I took the dog for a 1.5 hour walk in the woods which were frozen solid so he stayed nice and clean, felt much better after that. Beans on toast for lunch and burgers for tea. I will make some nachos for supper using basic brand tortilla chips, salsa, taco beans and cheese instead of one of those kits.


Going to apply a deep conditioner to my hair whilst I have tea then wash it out in the shower later, then it will be pj's and a glass of red.


Ooh I forgot my other purchase today, a BN pair of fairisle slipper boots for £3, faux fur lining and pom poms.