Another 20 Things I did in February to be Frugal

Here’s 20 additional things I did to save money and stick to a low budget in Frugal February, as well as continuing with the 15 from January:

1. I set a budget of £400 for the month and divided it in to the 28 days. It was intentionally double my January budget. For easy maths I allowed 650 lira per day.
2. I continued to write down every single thing I paid money for, every lira I spent, including bills.
3. I stopped buying small waters in plastic bottles and used topped up water from the big water cooler at home.
4. I changed the date of my credit card payment to coincide with my pay day and continued to pay off in full to avoid unnecessary interest, paying little bits off throughout the month too.
5. I made sure that I had no subscriptions, recurring bills or Direct Debits that I didn’t absolutely need.
6. Instead of buying new clothes I wore donated clothes from friends which fitted and suited me better.
7. I accepted more invitations to dine and drink with friends at home rather than going out and I took a contribution/wine.
8. I made sure I shopped around for the discounts on what I did need, even if it meant buying from more than one supermarket. Conversely, I didn’t buy anything I saw on offer that I wouldn’t need or use in February.
9. I reduced/stopped any unnecessary phone credit by changing my plan to match my usage and used more WiFi instead.
10. I decided against a trip to the UK to see Captain Caveman, despite cheap flights, knowing the trip would still cost more than being in Turkey.
11. For every day that I managed to spend less than the budget, I put the money to one side to pay off debts or add to savings, no matter how small the amount was.
12. I didn’t order or buy anything without knowing the price first.
13. I limited eating out in a restaurant to just twice in the month, none of which were for evening meals and didn’t include alcohol.
14. Cabbage, lentils and chickpeas became my best friend for cheap additions to meals as well as in batch cooking.
15. All my meals were made from scratch and I limited any imported or luxury items.
16. I said no to a lot of things, including joining friends on a holiday, because it didn’t suit my budget and I needed to be sensible.
17. I made a list of all the food items I already had in the cupboard, fridge and freezer and planned meals using those up first.
18. I didn’t have any beauty/hair/massage appointments.
19. I took advantage of free or low cost hobbies and activities like Fat Club, language classes, walking, online courses and training etc.
20. I used my time much more wisely so that I could make improvements to my life and work on earning more money in the future.

I know some of these tips have helped a few friends out already and hopefully you have some ideas of your own. It’s been a good exercise for me and I will continue to be money minded as I go through the coming months. I’d challenge anyone to do something like this for just one month and see how much it benefits you.
I think, even if you have money to spare, it’s still a good way to live to enable saving for something special or using your money to prioritise it better without being blissfully unaware. If I’d followed this plan when I earned loads of money, I’d be retired by now.