The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

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  • Verbatim
    Verbatim Posts: 4,830
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    Eating in cages????
    CCs @0% £24k Dec 05 £19,621.41 Au £13400 S 12600 Oct £11,981 £9481 £7500 Nov £7250 D £7100 Jan 6950 F £5800 Mar£5400 May £4830 June £4660 July £4460 Aug £3200, S £900, £0 18/9/07 DFW Nerd 042
  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    Good Morning :hello:

    Eating out in cafes is something that we rarely do anyway Cheery - simply because there aren't any nice ones round about these parts, and we always end up disappointed. Even our favoured 'greasy spoon' has priced itself out of our budget :( That is my slight worry about taking on the challenge - I'm not sure I have any 'biggie' expenditures to cut out! :rotfl:I'm certainly not going to be the reader that records spending over $1000 one month and only 1 cent the next......... BUT, it's still worth getting involved imho, as I'm doubtless doing 'something' on autopilot that I ought to be more focused about :D Doing the 'homework' prior to the challenge starting should yield focus and some targets to aim for :D

    Tea last night worked out well and I think hits the frugal vibe. I decided to make a carrot and leek pilaf, which was inspired by the 'title' of a recipe from the nu york tymes - unfortunately, I have no idea what the actual recipe involved, as you had to sign up or subscribe or something. So I winged it instead.

    I used brown basmati - cooked up separately with stock. I then thinly sliced and washed the leeks, and peeled and thinly sliced the carrots. I sauted them in a pan with some olive oil (butter would have been good), threw in some caraway seeds and some Lebanese 7 spice, salt and pepper and a splash of water and left it to steam.

    I combined the rice and vegetables when the veg was cooked. Served with a single egg omlette (used up the last 2 eggs), and some steamed brocolli. I put some lemon/mustard vinagrette over the top (you can see my direction was a bit one dimensional :o) and then scattered chopped pumpkin & sunflower seeds and chopped almonds over, with a few sesame seeds.

    Filled a gap and didn't cost the earth to make. The leeks were some of the 10p ones and the carrots were some of the m&$ YS'd ones for 25p. Picture here;

    001_zpshtejivxl.jpg

    Our new kitchen appliance turned up within the 4 hour window (huzzah!), and is now in place, up and running :D I went for a cheap(ish) model - I know you're shouting at the screen, 'buy cheap, buy twice, Greying!', but the model I really wanted wouldn't have fitted in my current kitchen and we couldn't rely on the existing appliance to not fail outright. Food and fire safety are too important to play fast and loose with........And we've been riding our luck too long as it is. I did go through tcb, but it looks like it hasn't tracked...... again.

    Right, best get on.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • Cheery_Daff
    Cheery_Daff Posts: 15,563
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    Eating in cages indeed :o :rotfl: I can assure you I rarely eat in a cage. I do, however, often eat in CAFES and type on my phone with my fat thumbs... :rotfl: :rotfl:

    Not sure how frugal we'll be this month as we may actually be buying a house - the very opposite of frugal :eek: :eek:
  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    I've just been having a sort out of old paperwork/instruction manuals/guarantees - the fridge did 15 years of service and the microwave did over 10. That makes them 'cost out' at about £1 a month and 50p a month respectively.

    Not too shabby.

    And figures I suspect i won't be repeating for these new appliances.

    Actually, come to think of it, we had a repair on the fridge, so it's more like £1.50 a month. I remember being shocked that the repair was half as much as the fridge cost. DH did it himself the second time with a spare part costing a couple of quid........Lasted as long, if not longer than the 'professional' repair.......

    And looking through paperwork for the present oven, we had to have repairs to that within 18 months of each other...... as it was for exactly the same repair, clearly quality parts were used..... not. No surprise that the repairers doesn't exist anymore. It's a very, very high end cycle shop now.......

    Anyway, haven't time for dewey-eyed trips down memory-lane!

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • Fortune_Smiles
    Fortune_Smiles Posts: 5,012
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    Hi Greying.

    Meals look fabulous and sooooo healthy. We are going to have to buy an oven for the new place (current one is integrated so we can't take it with us). The model I've chosen is also at the lower end of the price range but it has better reviews than the more expensive ones so I feel as though I'm getting good value for money.

    Very excited as I've never had a brand new cooker I've chosen myself - I've always inherited them.

    I'll look forward to seeing the wonderful meals cooked on the new appliance.

    Fortune x
    Mortgage: 86% paid Mortgage Neutral: 100% Emergency Fund: 100%
    A Better View 🌄 'Being on the edge isn't as safe, but the view is better' - Ricky Gervais
  • Ay up Fortune :wave: I've muddied the waters talking about the oven - I just came across the paperwork for it, whilst sorting through. The new purchase was a fridge.

    :mad: Alert :mad:

    I don't know if I'm incandescent with rage, or just plain livid :mad:

    We're nearly at the end of the month. The crappy, amateur building supply company, who's strapline is 'let's do it right', have STILL not refunded my money for the no-show delivery. I ordered the ladder on the 1st June.........:mad:

    I think I'll find out who the CEO is - this has been a snafu from the get-go. As far as I'm concerned, they have my money under false-pretenses, otherwise referred to as.........................:mad:

    In other news, I did OK in m&$ with YS'd items. I got a load of reasonable bananas for 40p, 2 cucumber halves for 10p each and some SCOTTISH :j strawberries for 70p (400g). OK, so I didn't need the cucumber or the strawberries, but it's healthy food, and has cost me 90p, and a total of £1.30. I could have spent that on a can of fizzy pop & a small bag of crisps, couldn't I? At least the whole family can benefit from these purchases. Mind, will they be sweeter/tastier/more delicious than the Lancastrian berries I got YS'd the other week???? Competition's on! :D

    I'm going to calm down. I may be some time.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


  • greenbee
    greenbee Posts: 16,065
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    Twitter GP. Or FB. One of us can do it for you if necessary.
  • Fortune_Smiles
    Fortune_Smiles Posts: 5,012
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    Oh I see Greying - let's hope I don't get the two confused in real life :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

    Fortune x
    Mortgage: 86% paid Mortgage Neutral: 100% Emergency Fund: 100%
    A Better View 🌄 'Being on the edge isn't as safe, but the view is better' - Ricky Gervais
  • Silver_Queen
    Silver_Queen Posts: 824 Forumite
    Greying, you can ask your bank to do a chargeback. I've done it once or twice for stubborn companies who have agreed to refund me but then the refund fails to materialise. All you have to do is ring up, explain the situation and ask them to do a chargeback on the transaction. It's really easy and the money's usually back in your account within 48 hours. :beer:
    Debt Totals July 2019::
    [STRIKE]£350 Natwest Credit Card [/STRIKE]/ ]Now £0 (paid off and closed 04/2017) £15,500 postgrad loan from parents/ Now £7,000 £5,000 sister loan/ Now £0[STRIKE]£500 train ticket loan from parents [/STRIKE]/ Now £0 (paid off 16/02/18)[STRIKE]£2,000 Overdraft[/STRIKE] Now £0 (paid off 09/03/18) £1,967.83 Barclays 0% card Now £0
    Total £7,000
  • Greying_Pilgrim
    Greying_Pilgrim Posts: 5,337
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    I'm supposed to be getting an update by phone this arvo. As I was on to the cc company, I was thinking there was some function like 'chargeback' - couldn't remember the name of it though - but the operative didn't suggest it. I'll certainly invoke it if the company don't get back to me today. Bl0ddy reedunkuless.

    Greying X
    Pounds for Panes £2,300/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023

    Coins for Camping (March) -  £7/£15  (Camping TTD - £45/90)

    Grocery spend March £174.96/215  Charity Blankets completed 1/24


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