Frugal February

Well well - here we are again! Seems like ages since I last did this and sure enough, looking at the tag on my blog it looks like the last time was 2014 - so more than time to give myself a kick up the backside and take another month-long look at the small stuff on the Frugal Home Front.

In all honesty we're still pretty good on the bigger stuff. I keep an eye on things like the cost of our electricity and gas - we still use electricals overnight where possible to make the most of the lower electricity cost. We don't sit around in short sleeves with the heating turned up higher than it needs to be in midwinter. Sky get a phone call when the cost goes up to bring it back down to a level that we feel means we're getting decent value. We still shop with a keen eye to prices and know what we expect to pay for particular items. We use the credit card for purchases where it's sensible to do so, collect a small amount of cashback on those purchases, and pay off IN FULL (channeling my inner Martin Lewis there!) every month without fail. We save for planned expenditure, and shop around for the best prices on things. We meal plan and shop to a list. BUT...I'm pretty sure there are bad habits that have crept in *almost* unnoticed, and that is where I'm looking to make savings.

We agreed when the mortgage was paid off that we would increase things a little. The flat is now kept slightly warmer than it used to be, we've increased food spending a little. We're signing up for slightly more pure "fun" stuff - albeit we're planning carefully how that will be financed. For me personally, necessity has played a part - with a substantial weightloss over the course of the past year I've had no choice but to replace most of my clothes - pretty much the only stuff from older than a year ago that I'm still wearing are shoes and socks! There *are* things I still need too - so I have a list of items that I need to purchase as and when I find the right thing at the right price. One of my plans for this year is to set myself up a savings account which will get fed with a small sum monthly to budget for clothes purchases.  All of the above is stuff that we're aware of, and conscious about - the things I want to target are the unconscious habits and frittering - things like the tendancy to pop into a charity shop or two because I'm nearby, not finding anything useful (clothes) but leaving with another couple of books; the purchasing of bargains that are excess to the level I/we need purely because they ARE bargains; going to Aldi for yogurt and items from the Super-6 and leaving with a few other odds and ends that tempted me. This month will be about retraining myself to not just routinely use ApplePay on my phone to pay for something because it's easy - but to think about whether I'd be better using cash for that transaction, and about returning to being more mindful about spending.

I'm not intending to set any hard and fast budgets this time round - it's more about thinking about keeping spends down and not spending unnecessarily. As we no longer have our ClubCardPlus account we're less tied to ThaT supermarkeT than we used to be (hurrah!) and I've been making the most of that by shopping about more and keeping my eyes on offers. I've got £12.50 sitting in my Nectar account ready to use which I will probably spend this month. Clubcard points will as ever get saved towards converting to deals - our railcard will need renewing later in the year, and we usually use points for the Good Food Show tickets too. We don't currently have enough Morrisons points to do anything with. Should I need anything in the toiletries line, my Advantage Card has £11.54 on it to spend. I want to return to keeping an eye on the Aldi & Lidl "Super 6" and "Pick of the week" fruit and veg deals and then think about planning meals around what is best value - however we will still be keeping to our principles of where possible buying British produce, and keeping meat British and high welfare. As I have done before I'll post weekly with spends, thoughts and any confessions - I'm sure there will be a few!  On a personal level this will apply as well - I intend to return to my old habit of starting the week with a set amount in my purse, retaining notes of £10 or above value from the previous week but feeding anything smaller into my Airshow Savings tin. (Change below £1 coins will continue to get fed to the pigs - and the sheep - as ever.) I'll also be going back to paying cash for the gym each week to see if it suits me better than using ApplePay.

Planned Spendiness: 
- We have a weekend away later in the month - spread over 2 locations, Derby & Norwich, for me and one (just Norwich) for MrEH. Travel for me to the first is booked, travel between that and the second is being covered by a lovely friend who will be driving between the two places and is giving me a lift. Accommodation for both is already booked - including a superb £19.50 bargain for me on my overnight in Derby - but there will be spends at both locations on food and drink...possibly mostly drink! MrEH will in turn be taking our car to Norwich - there will be a £4 spend for parking there plus obviously the cost of the diesel.
- I intend to travel to Scampton to photograph those Little Red Jets at least once during the month, possibly twice. Diesel and food costs will be involved - but I will price check fuel at home and up there and fill my tank there if as is so often the case there is a good saving to be made.
- There may be some Airshow tickets and/or hotel bookings to make - anything on these lines will come from my "Airshow Savings Account" though as usual.

As ever if anyone wants to join me on this I'd be utterly delighted!

So - only one thing left to say then....LET'S GO!

Robyn.