A frugal (and fairtrade) February (and March)

Owing to Christmas, an excess of book-buying necessitating new bookshelves (as you can see from the picture), having had a break between jobs, an unemployed partner, and the imminent arrival of Lent, I have decided that it's time for another spell of non-essential spending. We hope to buy a house this year, so I have a big incentive to save the pennies. The last time I did this, the support of those who read my blog was absolutely invaluable, and I'm sure I'll need it again as February is such a miserable time of the year. I intend to keep this up from now until my birthday (3rd April) which is Easter Saturday. So, no book-buying, clothes buying, DVD buying...and trying to cook from things in the cupboards where possible (we have a huge amount of food at home, yet still end up buying masses of groceries...however, if we are going to move house then I definitely don't want to move all of my supplies, so now is a good time to start getting things streamlined).

Fairtrade fortnight is also coming up, and one area where I don't plan to skimp is on fairtrade goods (particularly as they are often on special offer during this time). This year, the Fairtrade foundation are running The big swap and encouraging people to swap the items they usually use for fairtrade equivalents. I'm quite conscientious about using fairtrade items where they are available, and we always use fairtrade sugar, coffee, tea, and bananas. It's a little difficult for me to extend this with my current dietary restrictions, but I'm going to see how many extra things I can include (rice, honey, juice, herbs and spices...), and I'll do some fair trade baking for my partner, and hopefully resurrect bake of the week.