You know how I don’t do Valentine’s Day?  Well, what I do seem to do every February is decide to make it a month of frugality and pledge to cut spending more severely than the Euro Zone and the US economies combined.  It’s my credit card statement that does it to me.  It never fails to sadden and puzzle me as to just how I managed to run up such a high spend and have nothing nice to show for it.  Endless deductions for work related expenses, insurance, car repairs and so on.  Necessary but oh so uninspiring and unglamorous.

I’ll be straight with you and confess that it’s not always the most successful of endeavours.  I usually realise this sometime around the second week of the month but this year, I’m going to see if I can make it to the third week of the month with my savings goal achieved.  My goal for this Frugal February is to make just one big ticket purchase for the month and make only one online purchase as well.  I will also leave my credit cards at home with Mr SSG should I be out window shopping.

Just so we all don’t feel too deprived this month, I have conveniently placed a few online orders through late January – to give me something to talk about over these lean weeks.  I am hoping, though, that this post will help keep me accountable and on the straight and narrow.

This year’s planning for Frugal February started with a bit of spending in order to save.  I had to spend $30 at Coles in order to get that 8 cent per litre saving on petrol coupon.  It turned out to be harder than usual to get to $30 because I already have a house fully stocked with everything thanks to the genius of Costco (which did contribute a significant proportion of said ugly credit card statement).  But I got there.

Thanks to this tube of super glue which I needed for my turn as SSG Manor’s home handy person.  I was afraid that I’d not be able to type this to you tonight on account of my fingers being stuck together with the glue but thankfully my little project went off without a hitch.  Don’t forget the toothpicks when using super glue!  It really does make spreading the it easier.  Mr SSG knows some pretty cool stuff.

I really had no choice but to get that bottle of Elvive serum after all.  It took my total at Coles to $30.  What can I say?  I’m a child of the 90s and cannot be persuaded to break my hair gloss routine.  Especially when it gives 48 hours of shine, contains Argan oil and is around $11 to boot.

Finally, some preparation that didn’t involve spending any money.  I have made a beef curry in the slow cooker to freeze and have on standby when the call of home delivery threatens to derail my frugal plans.

Then, I made a culinary leap of faith and served the curry with quinoa.  I hope the Indian curry purists and Spanish grain crop farmers are not deeply offended by this cross cultural use of a curry and a carbohydrate.

For dessert, we had cherries.  It’s been an amazing season for them, hasn’t it?  There weren’t too many around Christmas where I live so it was a very pleasant surprise to be able to find them this late in this weird summer we’re having at the moment.

Wardrobe wise, I’ve risen to the challenge of shopping my wardrobe and making what I have work for me.  My aptly named Red Phoenix Emporium Run For Office necklace has made it with me to work every day this week.  It is only Tuesday but I think I’ll be wearing it for the rest of the week too.

Dress- David Lawrence, necklaces – Red Phoenix Emporium,

Here I was on Monday wearing some serious monochrome print.  It definitely needed that burst of orange too, I reckon.

T- bonds, necklace – Red Phoenix Emporium.

Today the necklace went solo.  I was feeling very monochromatic.

That’s about it form me tonight, people.  I’m off to work out further ways to Run For Office tomorrow.

Have a lovely evening and think frugal!