50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

In_Search_Of_Me

oh dear, I'm really sorry if I have offended you BMF. Not my intention at all. I am not making judgements about other people and am sorry if I came accross like that. I was just saying that I recognise the need to buy cheaper eggs because of my current circumstances but also find it very difficult on principle because my own feeling is that I am happy to eat meat, eggs etc but dont like being responsible for them living in what I feel are unacceptable conditions. Thats not to say that I jusge others on it - weezl has very cheap eggs and I eat them when I go there - as with others. Am really sorry though if you felt I was judging you or anyone else though...

Seawyn thanks for the info re estate agents. I have 4 coming today with Peter Allan being one of them. When I did the trawl on albany road they were actually the most professional. Wouldnt touch allen and harris with a barge pole...very snooty!

Just had yummy hm white toast which, at last, I made!! Have a good day all.

Elfinwings

Hello all, I'm so glad people are still here. I have to tell the truth, I'm heartily fed up with it all. We've been doing our extra frugal living since 1st January and until the last week or so I have actually really been enjoying the challenge. I have not felt deprived of much at all, and have found a new appreciation of the little lovely things in life. For us (and I think many of the others here) it's not just groceries, we are frugalling everything.
All of a sudden I'm feeling really flat - I think it might be because the realisation came to me that once the year we set ourselves is over, nothing much will change. There isn't much light at the end of the tunnel. I find myself suddenyl craving several real luxuries, specifically: nice ingredients for cooking such as scallops, eating out in restaurants, going to the beauty place for pampering now and again and being able to afford entertainments like concerts or days out. It really *hurt* that we had to decline an invite to go to the Ludlow Food Festival this weekend.

Sorry to be such a moaning minnie, I do know that I have many many blessings in my life, but I don't know how to get out of the slump. Help me to be a fairy cake rather than a pancake, please!

Elfin. x

In_Search_Of_Me

aww elfie sorry you feel miserable....it is really hard and I suspect our weezl is prob the best to comment as she is the frugalista and happy with it. I tend to stamp my foot and hurmph...maybe you feel flat cos oure tired? Frualing is exhausting as you do more...could you put aside a small amount each month for fun budget maybe? Also you can make lots of yummy hm treatments yourself so try a book from the library and get the girlies round for a pamper...also you can make pressies etc and again the library is good..Will have a think but meanwhile big hugs!

tryingtoruletheworld

lightisfading wrote: »

ISOM - you have my sympathies - things are pretty crap moneywise here too and I'm getting fed up of thinking in the supermarket that I wish I ate meat because such-and-such is cheaper! We do have plenty of grain-based meals but also quorn and other vegetarian equivalents which are so expensive! I'm also trying to combine no money and no meat products with a low fat diet and ALL the cheap low fat yoghurts have gelatine in them! Argh :mad:

Free range eggs all the way here too - sometimes a lady in my building at work sells them for 90p/6 (proper happy homegrown chickens too), not recently but I'm hoping they will have them again soon.

I'm not sure if you eat these, but Linda Mcartney veggie sausage rolls are on offer for I think 72p per pack at the moment, and the normal veggie sausages are about 94p, both from sainsburys. I know they aren't exactly diet foods, but thought they may come in handy!

Also, sainsburys basic yoghurts (25px4 1% fat) are suitable for veggies, as is their big pot of plain 2% fat yoghurt for 46p.

lightisfading

jackieglasgow and tryingtoruletheworld - thanks for the tips! I shall be sending OH there tomorrow to stock up (Linda McCartney sausages especially, yum!). re. sausages being diet food - veggie ones are much lower cal than meat ones thankfully, and I only tend to have one or two at a time as I find protein-y stuff very filling. I'm also on the heavier side so my 'allowance' cals wise, to lose weight, is higher than those who just need to lose a stone.. therefore things like that I can fit easily into my diet (things like chocolate, not so much... and yoghurt is dangerous cus I love it and can eat ridiculous amounts in one sitting )

BigMummaF - I do admit to taking the moral high ground sometimes as I think battery farming eggs and animals is a disgusting practice :mad: Sorry but I just do. If we're talking getting a chicken and stretching it to several meals, and still only being able to afford the basics one, then I do kind of understand. However people who get a trolley full of branded goods and luxuries (junk food, alcohol, etc) and then say they can't afford humanely reared meat.. that really angers me. When I was growing up things were frequently incredibly tight (brother gave his paper round money up for groceries every week, frequent trips to the pawn shop, the electric got cut off etc) and we just ate less meat - ie cheap meals like vegetable stew and dumplings or a homemade quiche. If people are GENUINELY poor I understand morals being on the backburner but I don't call branded goods, nike trainers and sky telly 'genuinely' poor, but apparently it is nowadays. If you were/are of the genuinely poor variety, I wouldn't judge you for doing what you need to do to get by.

ceridwen

..and heres hoping I havent offended anyone re ethical stance on which eggs one buys.

I maybe "come over a bit strong" on some principles - because they have personally cost me so much money and I would very much prefer not to have lost QUITE so much. As with vast majority of us - I can/do have "shades of grey" on some things - but some things matter strongly enough to me that I will go ahead regardless and do what I think is right/not do what I think is wrong - but that doesnt mean to say it doesnt hurt financially sometimes. You dont want to know JUST how much money various principles I have stuck to have cost me over the course of my life to date - A LOT:eek: - so its quite a "sore spot" as to JUST how much they have cost me . Just as well my maths is very weak - if I ever sat down and worked out how much I've lost I think I'd keel over at my keyboard with shock right now.

I guess one of my personal financial priorities is being able to feel (passably) happy with myself - even at the cost of gawd-knows-how-much-money. The money would be nice as well though....

gin

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Seawyn thanks for the info re estate agents. I have 4 coming today with Peter Allan being one of them. When I did the trawl on albany road they were actually the most professional. Wouldnt touch allen and harris with a barge pole...very snooty!

Just had yummy hm white toast which, at last, I made!! Have a good day all.

ISOM I have (touch wood) just sold my house through Peter Alan, the Canton branch. They have been so fab, I couldnt recommend them more. They gave the lowest quote on the house, but to me they seemed the most clued up.

Lesley_Gaye

Elfinwings wrote: »

Hello all, I'm so glad people are still here. I have to tell the truth, I'm heartily fed up with it all. We've been doing our extra frugal living since 1st January and until the last week or so I have actually really been enjoying the challenge. I have not felt deprived of much at all, and have found a new appreciation of the little lovely things in life. For us (and I think many of the others here) it's not just groceries, we are frugalling everything.
All of a sudden I'm feeling really flat - I think it might be because the realisation came to me that once the year we set ourselves is over, nothing much will change. There isn't much light at the end of the tunnel. I find myself suddenyl craving several real luxuries, specifically: nice ingredients for cooking such as scallops, eating out in restaurants, going to the beauty place for pampering now and again and being able to afford entertainments like concerts or days out. It really *hurt* that we had to decline an invite to go to the Ludlow Food Festival this weekend.

Sorry to be such a moaning minnie, I do know that I have many many blessings in my life, but I don't know how to get out of the slump. Help me to be a fairy cake rather than a pancake, please!

Elfin. x

Elfin, so sorry to hear you are feeling the strain. Being broke can be pretty demoralising sometimes can't it.

I have a few friends that I really treasure, there is a core group of 8 including us that have really gelled. At times like you describe, I try to get together with as many of them as possible because they unfailingly lift my spirits. When all 8 of us are together, we giggle, there is a bit of dark conversation, a bit of light and if I have to get something of my chest, they help me share the sorrow or whatever, and just being listened to and having someone on my side really really helps.

Can you do something like that? We are all foodies so food is always involved. We all like to cook, and meet up often to eat with each other, which on its own makes me feel loved. If one of us is particularly broke, we each contribute to the meal.

Or.... concentrating on the positive, sort of faking it until you make it. Thinking of 3 positive things, and writing them down, can help sometimes.

Or.... being EXTRA frugal to save a bit to have a treat. Sometimes we keep it down as much as we possibly can, and use the difference between what we've spent and the usual budget as treat money. EG we saved £30 one month and used that for train tickets to London and went to the Lord Mayors parade (free) and cheered our boys and girls, watched the fireworks (free), walked all round the South Bank (free) and had a lovely picnic in a park. Felt really refreshed afterwards.

I have joined the local WI and made good friends there who help me forget the daily grind, and the local U3A and go to a Science group and a Food group for much the same reasons. There is barely any expenditure involved.

Sometimes I think about what is REALLY bugging me and try and solve that one thing. So, if I thought that it was having nice ingredients, I might squeeze the budget to enable me to have the scallops or the crab that month. It might mean having veg and lentil soup with HM bread for dinner for 10 days that month, but if it means I had something that meant a lot to me to look forward to, it helps to keep going without feeling despondent about it all.

The same method would work for any other specific treat. If you could generate a little extra cash via babysitting, dog walking or whatever, you could ringfence it for a treat.

Re pampering - a skills swap might get you a pamper session; either directly or via a LETS group if there is one near you, or maybe from the trainees at a local beauty college? Maybe your friends could brainstorm solutions for you?

I hope you can find a way to feel happier soon, good luck and I'm thinking of you, I've been there too

Lesley

In_Search_Of_Me

Thanks all...if there is one thing that the whole nightmarish situation I am in at present (ie nightmares even when I sleep kind of nightmare situation) is that material things are nothing my flat is plundered and it feels great! honest!! hard to believe when I think of the "joy" of filling it...important to look at what it is the shopping replaces in my case...very complex but fascinating at the same time!
3 estate agents been, all different, with different pricing but I need do more reality research - ie sift the bull!! One lovely genuine guy but wasnt sure about the strategies, another more direct and a third more researched so all different but need to investigate the realities of selling with no equity after fees etc...meanwhile a no spend day for me!

ceridwen

In_Search_Of_Me wrote: »

Thanks all...if there is one thing that the whole nightmarish situation I am in at present (ie nightmares even when I sleep kind of nightmare situation) is that material things are nothing my flat is plundered and it feels great! honest!! hard to believe when I think of the "joy" of filling it...important to look at what it is the shopping replaces in my case...very complex but fascinating at the same time!
3 estate agents been, all different, with different pricing but I need do more reality research - ie sift the bull!! One lovely genuine guy but wasnt sure about the strategies, another more direct and a third more researched so all different but need to investigate the realities of selling with no equity after fees etc...meanwhile a no spend day for me!

ISOM

Have I missed something somewheres? I see you're moving on the one hand (hope all goes well) and noted the "flat is plundered" comment - have you had a burglary? (and thats why you're moving). Are you okay lass? Whats happening in your life? (I guess you put it on another Board - so I've missed seeing it...)

Take care