Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Iv'e just had a very tasty but frugal soup for lunch made from the left over half an onion, the strained of juice from the tin of tomatoes I had for lunch two days ago, some soup mix that I soaked overnight a sliced carrot and a stock cube dissolved in about half a pint of water. I cooked it in the pressure cooker for 10 mins added seasoning and a pinch of sugar and it was delish and I still have half to eat for tomorrows lunch. AND I have all the odd bits used up and lots of empty containers from the fridge.

rubytuesday

itsallinthemind wrote: »

natnat, there is a few more offers on the free cash back things on TCB. Some are easy click throughs and some can be done daily
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/free-cashback

Ooh thanks a lot for this; I've been using TCB for a little while now but didn't know about the free clicks. Got a pay as you go sim incase I use up my allowance and going to get some free snapfish prints.

Lily_The_Legend

Hi everyone :hello:

Brought in home-made lunch again today. Peanut butter sandwiches... they're the quickest thing to make in the mornings!

This is the ninth day in a row we'll have stuck to a meal planner for dinner :A

But the meal plan ends today so I'm going to make a list of what we have tonight and work out some more meals before going shopping as we have quite a bit in the cupboards.

I'm working until 6pm and I'm bored out of my brain!

TFI Friday!

We're dogsitting at the weekend, so we'll probably go for a walk tomorrow afternoon. My friend is coming round in the morning, she did say we could meet for lunch/dinner but I thought rather than pay to go out I'd offer her tea and biscuits. There is money in the budget to go out probably, but I'm being careful this month so as not to go over, then in the future I can work out how often I can do things like that if you see what I mean! :)

I haven't read back today, so I'll go and have a read now. Hope everyone is well.

Lily_The_Legend

I'm going to have to sign up to a cashback site I think. Don't often buy online but I do for birthday and Christmas presents!

SandraScarlett

Good afternoon everyone on Day 14 . The rain is sloshing down at the moment, and it's very dark and gloomy.:( Is there such a thing as a DSD? That's Dreadful Spend Day. :eek: We pay for our gas and electricity by Direct Debit, and, a couple of years ago it used to be about £60 a month. It's now nearly double that, and set to rise more. B*gger all you can do about it though, and though we only have a 2 bed bungalow, with good insulation, I'm sure lots of you have even higher bills.

Just had a skim through the posts and read that someone had some pear and stilton tart for lunch. OMG, that sounds awesome! Regarding everyone's whoopsied shopping, do you go just as the stores are closing, or do you have to search for the items? I feel I am deficient in my whoopsying skills! Only seen reduced stuff at my Mr S on a Sunday, just before they close at 4.

Have a great weekend everyone.

xx

SandraScarlett

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Iv'e just had a very tasty but frugal soup for lunch made from the left over half an onion, the strained of juice from the tin of tomatoes I had for lunch two days ago, some soup mix that I soaked overnight a sliced carrot and a stock cube dissolved in about half a pint of water. I cooked it in the pressure cooker for 10 mins added seasoning and a pinch of sugar and it was delish and I still have half to eat for tomorrows lunch. AND I have all the odd bits used up and lots of empty containers from the fridge.

Ooooo, yum-yum, that sounds lovely!

xx

Lily_The_Legend

Another thought, my mum gave me her old engagement ring and wedding ring a while ago to do with what I liked. I'm thinking about selling them (my parents are divorced so don't feel like they are really a good thing to keep/wear/melt down into something else).

Has anyone sold any gold? Is it best to go to a jeweller rather than one of these websites? The engagement ring has a diamond in it.

I'm sure there's a section on this site/thread on the forum about it, so i'll go and take a look for that. Just wondered if anyone here had any experience of it.

Lily_The_Legend

SandraScarlett wrote: »

We pay for our gas and electricity by Direct Debit, and, a couple of years ago it used to be about £60 a month. It's now nearly double that, and set to rise more. B*gger all you can do about it though, and though we only have a 2 bed bungalow, with good insulation, I'm sure lots of you have even higher bills.

That sounds like a lot Sandra, I can't remember exactly what we pay for gas and electricity together per month but I'm sure it's about £80 a month, we are in a two-bedroom terraced house though.

Could you go on a comparison site and see if you can switch to get the bill down?

We get Tesco points for everything we spend on our bill.

seriouslyfrugal

itsallinthemind wrote: »

I'd join TopCashBack too. No fee, sometimes they have a higher rate on certain retailers too. They also do top ups, the more you use them the higher the top up. I used to favour Quidco, now it seems to be TopCashBack. Also quidco has denied a few payments or simply delayed them recently, despite following their rules.

Make sure if it is a big cash back and not a few pennies that you clear your cookies and go to the company via the cashback site. If you went to say TheBodyShop, via a link on MSE, had a look at the deal and then logged into quidco, you may find the cashback goes to MSE through their referal.

I joined top cash back and so far so good no real problems and the one I did have I sent them an email ( via website) and it was sorted out really promptly

Lily_The_Legend

redglass wrote: »

There's a tool for comparing cashback somewhere on this site. Also worth looking at is the Nectar site if you have a Nectar card. It's not as generous as cashback but has some outlets you don't see on cashback sites, for example Amazon.

I have a Nectar card, but didn't know that, that's very useful thanks! :T Now I just need to find my card... :rotfl:

flying_fresian wrote: »

You can, but I get mine in-store at Cineworld. I have registered my Tesco Mastercard with quidco for in-store cashback, which means I spend £162 for the annual cinema pass (!!) but get 4.5% cashback via Quidco of £7.29 and then collect Tesco points as well because my credit card is my Clubcard too!

It's all these little things that add up

Note to self: Must get a cashback credit card/Tesco credit card too!

I have got a cashback card but the rate is poor now so I should really get another.