FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

knithappens

yayyy just sold 4 reusuable nappies, I have not got around to using with LO, so using the money to pay off debt, also cleared out a load of stuff to ebay , took pics last night so will be putting these on over the next week.

Really happy with myself as mamnaged to over pay my credit card by £108 this month mainly from cashback and ebay sales. which is great as my budet is still in tact.
spent my £50 budget or groceries this week , but some of that was bulk buying like my costco Bacon, £6.25 or 6 packs back bacon, but they had a voucher buy 2 get £5 off so I did and have stuck it in the freezer, was also able to make 2 shepherds pies last night and froze one in anticipartion of going back to work in feb, only 3 days but they will be 3 busy days, so i think my slow cooker will be getting even more use. Hopeully I can have a store cupboard week next week.

Toad in the hole today with lots of veggies going to bake a corrot cake at the same time for packed lunches to save on energy bills.

xnatalie81x I love costco for milk 6 pints for £1.45

feeling very positive.

ooh does anyone know where i can find the recipe for twinks hobnobs

thriftylass

Brrrrrr... it's bl**dy freezing. I love this winter and all the snow as it reminds me of home but there I had CH. Almost rather glad to be back at (warm) work. Our bedroom now has 3C and the living room 7C (which increases to 14C after 6h of having the only heater in the house on. I'm sick of it. Can't do much about it though, talked to BF for years (although the last years it wasn't as cold) but at the same time dread to think about all the work (all the floors need to come up) and I don't dare to ask if he actually still has the bonus he wanted the use to pay for his half of the costs (which I doubt, the way he reacted to his car breaking down and maybe costing a lot to repair-luckily it was just the battery). Wouldn't mind just to finally move but I'm not sure how easy it'll be to sell w/o GSH. Grrrr..men.

Anyway, on a more positive note already on 3rd NSD this month, stopped smoking today and gonna catch up on the thread this afternoon, after doing my monthly online Tesco shop.

FrankieM

natalie Just wanted to say I have 3 girls and various combinations have shared beds for longish periods of time. At the moment its my 2 eldest. They are 14 & 15 and share a double bed.

chika

Morning everyone. Wow, its freezing here in Manchester today. Its -9 outside and not much warmer in here. I've finally convinced my housemates that we need to keep the heating on all night. Its expensive as we live in a large house with not much double glazing but necessary to stop us dying from hypothermia! Due to the big freeze and the ice covered paths I'm aiming for another nsd. It's too cold to go out. I have enough pasta left over from yesterday and some hm bread which will do for lunch and dinner. I really need to get some fruit but that can wait until tomorrow when I have to go out to work.

homegrown_life -I did some bread yesterday using this http://www.bakingmad.com/recipes/white-breads/wholesome-white-loaf receipe. It worked very well and my bread actually looks like a real loaf not just a flat brick. I put a tray of boiling water in the oven to make it crusty. It worked quite well and was very cheap.

knithappens

chika - tell me about it, manchester is cooooold, i live on the border with oldham and was due to go to oldham town centre today, but instead am sat here eating a walming bowl of porridge while bubba naps. Think I will go tomorrow, have to o to the postofice though but that is just round the corner so wont be out long.

weezl74

knithappens wrote: »

spent my £50 budget or groceries this week , but some of that was bulk buying like my costco Bacon, £6.25 or 6 packs back bacon, but they had a voucher buy 2 get £5 off so I did and have stuck it in the freezer, ...

so is that 7.50 for 12 packs of back bacon? amazing bargain! would you do me a favour and look at the weight per pack for me? xxx

elaine373

As everywhere, its freezing here in Birmingham. The car showed me it was minus 5 when i took DD to school.Today I need some more staple groceries for my cupboard as although i want to waste nothing and spend less, i am also determind to cook from scratch more.Bunny and guinea pigs need more hay so i will have to try and find somewhere where i can buy cheaper and maybe in bulk as its very expensive.youngest two are still at home until tomorrow so i also have them to amuse .Have a good day everyone.:j

Frugaldom

Good morning to all,

JTB, awaiting news of how your clootie dumpling turned out yesterday, hope it was alright

Knithappens - try the recipes thread in HANDY LINKS in post 1 of this challenge, Twink's recipe should be in there.

CW18, hope things went ok with your dog, old age and the associated problems that come with it are never pleasant to deal with in any species.


My moneysaving plan for the day:

1. Put all the stewed down 'whoopsied' tomatoes into the slow cooker with a little olive oil, mince, onion, garlic, grated carrot, lentils and herbs to make a basic sauce for bolognese, lasagne & chilli.
2. Bake a loaf in the breadmaker
3. Use up last of previous loaf toasted with the tomato sauce & grated cheese as a mini pizza like meal at lunchtime
4. Cut down the Christmas cards into labels for next year
5. Recycling swapathon with a friend
6. Make lemon curd with my duck eggs
7. Make coconut macaroons to use up egg whites from above
8. Repack the freezer to make some space for soup & sauces
9. Upload more photos to my album for making next year's Christmas cards & calendars
10. Fix the cracked part on my freebie sewing machine so I can get started making my patchwork quilt soon.

I haven't been in a shop since 15th December, so I'm planning a trip into town tomorrow to stock up on basic essentials. Since Ald! opened in our nearest town, I've been buying UHT milk at £5.88 for 12 litres but I also had taken advantage of the appr0ved F00d offer on milk powder, which I use for breadmaking, sauces and milk puddings. If it's good enough for the MOD, it's certainly good enough for me.

Edited in - Elaine373 - could you phone around a few of your nearest farmers or local feed merchant or livery stables or riding school and get a price to buy a full bale of hay from them? Even if they charge you £5, it'll still work out much, much cheaper than buying bags from the pet shops.

Edited in again - just heard someone in our LETS group has some pheasants available -
SophiesMum, I'll get us both some if I can.

edaniels1983

elaine373 wrote: »

As everywhere, its freezing here in Birmingham. The car showed me it was minus 5 when i took DD to school.Today I need some more staple groceries for my cupboard as although i want to waste nothing and spend less, i am also determind to cook from scratch more.Bunny and guinea pigs need more hay so i will have to try and find somewhere where i can buy cheaper and maybe in bulk as its very expensive.youngest two are still at home until tomorrow so i also have them to amuse .Have a good day everyone.:j

im in walsall/stone cross and its freezing here too. what part of brum am u if u dont mind me asking. would love to know if any frugalers local to me!

knithappens

weezl74 wrote: »

so is that 7.50 for 12 packs of back bacon? amazing bargain! would you do me a favour and look at the weight per pack for me? xxx

250g 8 slices per pack the offer is on until 17th Jan