I hadn't planned on being frugal this month but thanks to a post Christmas credit card bill that needs my attention, and a seasonal slump in invoicing, I need to be super careful with my pennies for a while.

I really enjoy being self employed but it means I can't rely on a set monthly wage. I don't want to dip into my savings, and whilst I can always lean on my husband if I'm strapped for cash, I find that my independent streak doesn't allow me to ask for handouts, not even from him. That said, if he offers to take me out to dinner I won't be saying 'no'.

It doesn't hurt to tighten my belt once in a while, and practice being a little frugal.

My monthly bills are covered, it's just the disposable cash that's limited this month. I've pushed my allergy follow up appointment and my next haircut to March, and I plan to spend the rest of the month doing things that cost nothing.

Reading will be my saviour. I've well and truly found my reading groove this year, so a lot of my free time will be spent with my nose in a book.

My to-do list is a mix of things that will cost me money, and things that won't. I have plenty of the latter to keep my occupied. I'll be setting about my mending pile, completing all those little repairs and alterations that I've been meaning to do for ages. And there are some small DIY projects that could fill some time.

Weather depending I might have a car boot sale, if I can't spend money I might as well try and earn a little extra.

Of course there is always the de-cluttering that seems to be never ending, and invariably there is always some housework that can be done. It might not be an exciting way to spend time, but it does feel great to have a really good deep clean.

I could do some needle felting, or crochet. I can wander the in the woods, or drive to the coast and take a walk along the beach. I'm sure I can stretch my budget to a bag of hot salty chips.

One thing I've already done to help my pennies go further this month is to write a meal plan using up everything in my freezer and pantry.

How do you spend time without spending money? What do you do to make your money go a little further?

(Let's just gloss over the fact that I should've posted this at the beginning of February 'k? Cool.)

I often look back over blog posts and see what I was doing a year ago, two years ago... February always seems to be a month when I try to be frugal. Frugal March doesn't have quite the same ring to it does it? Being frugal while trying to plan a wedding is laughable. Necessary spending is allowed but at what point do 72 tealight holders become a necessity? I'd hazard a guess at never...

Still, I like to revisit experiments on this here blog and I see no reason why February this year shouldn't be frugal too (wedding aside).

In Feb 2012 I styled up my most recent purchases in three different ways and I really enjoyed it - see part 1 / 2 / 3 / 4.  So as well as cutting out any unnecessary spending this month, I'll also be revisiting this little wardrobe challenge.


Four of the 10 items I styled back then remain in my wardrobe - (above l - r) the Zara jeans, the Dorothy Perkins boots, the pink Custard Designs bag and the Very riding boots. I don't wear / use any of these on a regular basis anymore so I think it'll be fun to style them up again. First off I'll try to recreate these outfits and then I'll find new ways to wear them.

Do you ever look back over old blog posts?  Do they inspire or make you cringe? Make you wish you still owed an item of clothing or make you dump something in a charity bag? I'd love to know.

Dear Blogger, it's been one month and one day since my last post. Work has been all consuming recently and so March managed to slip by without me really noticing. Even on the first sunny day of the year I was at my desk, trying to tick off tasks on my to-do list faster than I was adding them.

It would be nice to have a few days that are entirely my own sometime soon. A few weekends ago I ran my first clothes swap of the year. It was great fun but it's a lot of work and my house is still peppered with bags of clothes waiting to be sorted for the next one in June. Other than that I've been working the weekends, with the exception of last weekend when my hand was too sore to do anything.

I was attacked by a cat. Not one of mine, but a large black tom that has been hanging around and fighting with Socks and Tink. Friday night they'd both been chased in through the cat flap. The tom doesn't come in, or even try to, but he sits outside growling and it really upsets my cats (and me) so, without thinking, I stuck my hand out of the cat flap to shoo him away. Only he didn't go anywhere, he grabbed onto my hand, digging in with claws and teeth, and sat perfectly still, growling, leaving me with my hand stuck out the cat flap with a cat attached to the end of it. It makes me chuckle to think of it now, what a ridiculous position to put yourself in, but at the time it was a bit of a shock.

Tink, who had been sitting in the kitchen doorway came running over, fur puffed up, growling and yowling and making all sorts of noises that I had no idea she was capable of making and at a volume I found rather shocking. With this, the tom let go and as soon as he did, Tink stopped. How's that for a cat bodyguard? Yup, Tink's got my back.

After A&E on a Friday night and not getting home until 4:30am, Saturday was a write off and Sunday my hand was still too sore and swollen to hold my mouse, so work was out of the question. It was very frustrating not being able to work when I had so much to do, so I busied myself with some left handed housework, with varying degrees of success. The upside was that Andy took to cooking for most of last week. My hand is on the mend, I still can't grip very well but it is getting better.

I've been finding a little time here and there to add to my new obsession, my patchwork quilt. Although this past week I haven't found the time to pick it up once. Today I wanted to quilt and do very little else, but my hand isn't quite up to sewing just yet. I've managed one full hexagon flower and that's it. I'm doing a Sunday patchwork quilt update on Instagram, so you can follow my progress, y'know, if you like... The cats seem to love it, every time I lay it flat one, or both of them stretch out on it.

Isn't the year flying by? February went by in a flash too. I didn't really notice that my Frugal February 'essential spending only' rule had actually begun before it was all over. It went pretty well, my meal planning helped to cut down my grocery bills and I stayed away from town (charity shops) and ignored my desire to go internet shopping (eBay). The awful weather helped too by making me want to stay tucked up at home. Nothing says 'stay at home' like the driving rain!

My Wearing It All Again wardrobe challenge sort of, well, stopped. I have to admit on my busiest days I didn't even get dressed. But, I've been slowly sorting out loads of things for a blog sale (when I get the time to photograph it all), and have promised myself that I will wear my favourite outfits more often... And to get dressed everyday, it's so easy not to when you have nowhere you need to be.

At the beginning of March I visited a local wedding venue, Easton Grange - not that I'm getting married - I was asked along to go along to an open day and to write a post. Which I will do soon, it was a gorgeous place! Andy went pale when I showed him the brochure and he received more than a few not-so-subtle hints about getting hitched, and more specifically, getting hitched there. It was really, really beautiful. And thanks to Sophie for putting them in touch with me x

So, that was March. April is shaping up to be a good one, how's yours going?
Love

I'm not sure where the idea for Frugal February originated but having successfully taken part a few years ago (inspired by Big Girl's Browse) and with a wish to save money this year, I've decided to do it again.

You all know the rules by now - only essential spending is allowed. Although I have to own up to having two rather fun outings already planned for this month. What's a girl to do? I'll just have to spend wisely on those days.

To help me spend less I'm going to plan my weekly meals by using more of what I have in the pantry and ban myself from buying any clothes. In January I spent just under £130 on clothes so I can't pretend I need anymore.

Since taking part last time, I've cancelled three magazine subscriptions and unsubscribed from almost all of the emails I received from online retailers. I realised that I was just flicking through the magazines before putting them to one side and forgetting about them, and my online impulse spending diminished because the I'd removed the temptation. Admittedly, I've swapped online retail therapy for a hefty Pinterest addiction instead, which is at worst a waste of time, at best it's free!

Have you taken part before? Did it change your spending habits? Any tips for saving a few extra pennies would be greatly appreciated!

Love

I kept a record, month by month, of my clothing and accessory purchases for 2012 (you can see all items here). Taking part in Frugal February made me wonder how much I spent and I was interested to see what I buy and what I wear and use. I'd say it was a typical year of spending although taking part in Frugal February and Only Once August stopped my spending temporarily.

M spending was as follows - Jan £181, Feb was frugal, March £272, April £50, May £86, June £180, July £293, August was Only Once, Sept £309, October £178, November £128, December £74.

Which is a total of ...



Wowzer! I purchased a total of 138 items of which 42% are pre loved, 9.4% no longer belong to me (mostly donated to charity) and 33.3% have been worn / used once or not at all (yet) but this does include a lot of recent purchases, and, just so you know, I'm not counting my ritual of 'wear around the house immediately after purchase' as 'being worn'.
Percentages courtesy of this neat little website, maths is not a strong point for me.

The most expensive one
Kurt Geiger shoes, half price at £105.00. Sadly these are in the 33.3% of 'unworns' but I will remedy this and be back to share the photos.



The most worn one
Simple above the knuckle ring from The Bohemian Collection (previously known as Wired Jewellery). This rarely leaves my finger, silly, simple little thing.



The one I wish I hadn't bought
Stupid, dumb, silly hat. It looks huge on my head, I'm never going to wear it!



The best of the pre loved
It's hard to pick just one item, but at the moment this bag is getting a lot of love. It's Monsoon but I won it in an eBay auction in September for £13.93



The one I was most surprised by
When the peplum trend first emerged it made me shudder. I couldn't think of anything worse than something that flared out over the hips. But I tried it and liked it, once again reminding myself to never say never.



The one I wish I still had
This H&M cardigan just seemed to work with everything. Why don't I have it anymore? It got kittened, thanks to Tinker and her penchant for digging in her tiny, pin sharp claws, I ended up with a big hole on the right shoulder. Shame.



Have you ever kept a tally of your purchases? I've really enjoyed keeping a record and looking back over what I have, what I love and what I no longer own.

What would you do with £1,700 if you couldn't buy clothes?

Love

Frugal February was about cutting out all non essential spending.

I found this to be a really positive exercise. For the first time, in a long time, I had money left in the bank when payday rolled around again. It felt so good that I am tempted to try and match it this month by following the same rules.

I will be doing some shopping though, I need to buy cleanser, moisturiser and mascara but when it comes to the mascara I've decided to try Boots Lash Adapt. I've read some really good reviews about it and it's half the price of the one I have been using (see, still got my frugal head on).

At the end of the month I have wedding reception to attend, it has a black and white dress code so I will be buying a frock for that. In fact you can help me decide what to wear here. I'm rather leaning towards the Oasis rope print shift dress, what do you think?

Hope you're all having a great week, despite the dreadful weather!

Frugal February has got me a wonderin'... just how much do I spend a year on Clothes, shoes and accessories? £300, £500, £1,000, more? I Googled it but the results varied between £250 to over £1,000.

In January alone I purchased four jumpers, a cardigan, a dress, a shirt, a pair of ballet pumps, a pair of gloves, two bags and a scarf. This seems a lot when written down, I haven't ever kept a tally but I think I should.

I'll be adding a page so that I can keep track over the course of 2012 (I'll be keeping the total spent to myself until the end of the year). Will this figure scare me? I fully expect that it will.

How much do you think you spend on clothes each month? Do you have a budget or no clue at all?

I'm intrigued to know.

Essential spending only. Just three little words, to which I've applied three simple rules.

Use existing products.
My moisturiser, cleanser and favourite mascara ran out, and although these could be seen as an 'essential', I decided that it was time to use all the samples I have, items from Glossybox and travel size items. I'm actually rather enjoying seeing the stock diminish but that's just my inner neat freak.

Make a list and stick to it.
I pop to the supermarket on a daily basis to buy ingredients required for supper but often buy a magazine or treat of some kind. I've banned myself from doing this and to help I write a list, including my lunches for the week - if its not written down it ain't getting in (to my basket).

Avoid temptation.
I've unsubscribed to emails from high street retailers (I wonder if they've noticed the dip in sales). It has stopped my lunchtime browsing and I've avoided going into the town centre as I am physically unable to just window shop.

All of these things could be applied year round really. I think with a little planning a lot of hidden expenditure could be avoided. Taking lunches to work for example and writing a shopping list, it takes a few minutes but saves £'s.

Have you been taking part? How do you cut back?

Check out how everyone else has been getting on during Frugal February.

Love

On Sunday I signed up to Frugal February, the brain child of Gemma over at Big Girls Browse, the idea is to stop all non essential shopping for the month of February.

I was a little late to the party, so I have decided to tag on the days missed at the beginning to the end. So, I'll finish on March 5th.

This will give me ample time to complete my current project - Shopping My Wardrobe - and allow me to make a big dent on The Mend Pile before I embark on my big challenge of 2012, not to mention saving me a few pennies along the way.


Have you / would you signed up?

I have a feeling this is going to be harder than I first thought.