Frugal February began in 2011 as a way of saving money and stopping unnecessary expenses. I was planning a holiday and needed to kickstart my saving, plus I thought it’d be interesting to see just how much money I could save in a month if I thought consciously before spending money, even on the little things.

If you have trouble saving money, Frugal February is the perfect way to kick-start your saving. This goes for absolutely everyone regardless of what you tend to spend your money on, but because I’m a fashion writer there’s obviously a fashion spin on my challenge. For me, it’s time to stop shopping and start wearing!

Around 40 bloggers signed up to take part in the first Frugal Feb. There were varied results, but overall the challenge was a huge success!

So big, in fact, that I decided to make it an annual event for anyone looking to save a few pennies and creatively challenge themselves. The idea is to cut out all unnecessary expenses for a month. That means you pay for only what you need – rent or mortgage, travel, food, bills, any ongoing expenses (gym memberships, subscriptions etc) but nothing else.

That means no beauty products, no DVDs, books or magazines, no ‘treats’ and no big nights out…but most importantly, no new clothes! It’s easy, especially when fashion blogging, to buy loads of stuff so you have something to talk about. But we all have unloved and unworn things in our wardrobe that could easily fill February’s blogging quota, and now is the time to bring them out of retirement. Consider it a bit of early Spring cleaning!

Frugal February participants stick to one simple rule, which is…

I vow, for one month from 1st Feb, to avoid shopping for anything other than essentials.

Food and drink don’t count, but do consider what you’re spending your cash on there – a lot of people cut out takeaway and convenience food and indulgences like chocolate and alcohol and try to clear out the storecupboard instead. Essential beauty products (toothpaste, shampoo etc) can be replaced, but just the stuff you really, really need (and no, you don’t need a new bottle of perfume – testers are everywhere). Finally, there’s the social life; I’m not going to give up seeing my friends, but I might suggest we meet at each others houses or go to a cheap pub rather than going out for cocktails or a posh meal.

If you’d like to take part in Frugal February this year, fill out the form below and I’ll add you to the list. Sorry for the slightly sucky form processing format, I promise it’ll get to me though!

If you’d like to send other people to this page to join in the crusade, pop one of the banners below somewhere on your blog. You’re under absolutely no obligation to use these but when you talk about Frugal February I’d love if you could let people know that you found out about it here on Big Girls Browse!

A list of 2012 participants can be found here