Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

natnat13

Welcome gelmc

slowlyfading

:hello: and welcome to gelmc :j

itsallinthemind

midwinter wrote: »

I know the feeling well..... my ex hadn't worked during 8 of the 18 years we were married... extremely stressful..... and finally, he became ex.!

dizzy_lizzie wrote: »

Hiya iaitm I will definately try the mini challenge. Will probably have to be a challenge were I don't go too far over the £19 odd though. Maybe a £10 limit. Hope you're feeling okay with the partner decision too :grouphug: (another one of those dodgy hugs here)

I'm surprisingly okay actually It ended 8 weeks ago, but there was still a lot of hope. Until 24 hours ago I would have had him back here in an instant, because I missed him dearly and adored him. He was saying all the right things. But something shifted in me and after a convo with a dear friend, I realised that I simply owe myself and my children more. In love him to pieces, but it is not enough. As Patty Smyth sings...:rotfl:

minnie2 wrote: »

Disaster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

total spend - £72.57

overall spent £86.27 this month so ive got £68.73 left till end of this month

i suppose its ok as i have been spending £395 a month and have slashed the budget £155
plus a massive lump of gammon for £6 - other gammon was £4.55/ £5.19/ £5.49 a kg but the lump i got works out less than £1 a kg

but now what to do with it!!!! i dont eat the stuff so itll be meals for 1 for hubby!!!

That does not sound like a disaster to me
I can NOT believe your budget difference to what it was, you are doing so well so far! It also sounds like you got some good special offers. I know you WANT to come under budget this month, but I do believe if special offers(genuine ones, not pretend ones) come up on items you use, then you are wise to stock up. I bet you can still keep to budget though, you sound a determined filly, you can even make lumps dissapear to keep to your budget I should imagine if you look through your cupboards and meal plan using the supermarket comparrison site, you will nail it.

I often buy gammon for the children. You have a wise buy there!

After freezing some, I tend to do the following for the children....

Slow cooker gammon in Cola(They LOVE this!)served with mash and greens
Cold slices with boiled potatoes(or mash) and homemade piccali and other bits
Cold slices in sarnies with with a mustard and mayo mix(touch of honey in it too sometimes). Although the youngest loves with slices of gherkin like you would pastrami or salt beef as they are a bit grim!
Creamy gammon pasta(Either cream or cream cheese, onion, mushrooms)
Risotto with gammon, onion and peas. This uses hardly any!
Chicken and ham fried rice with peas and onions
Pea and 'Ham' soup, so cheap with the boxes of dried peas(If you have a bone in the joint you must use it)
Gammon puff slices(Ready rolled puff pastry in rectangles, with 200g ish chopped gammon, an onion and potato, both diced a cooked in a pan first, bit of cheese if you like, glazed with egg and pierced, 180/200 degress for about 20 mins) served with potatoes and veggies as a meal, some as packed lunches.
Quick gammon/onion/musroom pie, using condensed mushroom soup as the sauce, no bottom, just a top.
And the cheapest...gammon and lentil soup



I am off to make myself look pretty later, as my friend has offered a night of Jack Daniels on them, as my children are not here. YAY!

itsallinthemind

:wave: gelmc

midwinter

gelmc wrote: »

:THi eveyone,

Can I please join? I've dabbled in the past and do get a lot of toiletries/vitamins/foodstuffs from Home Bargains (18 x toilet rolls for £3.49!!!)

Welcome gelmc..... there's certainly a few helping hands here

And....... Home Bargains are my first point of call...... then the big supermarkets..... Just resist the "bargains" at Home Bargains that you don't actually NEED!

natnat13

Hoep you're ok, itsallinthemind, sounds like to have made the right decision and have thought it through. Have a good night x

mooomin

Evening folks!

Another NSD here, which I'm very pleased about. I've also been quite frugal and dyed my hair myself today although I don't really count this as frugalising as I've been doing it since I was 13

The kitchen has been cleaned and I have chicken in the oven for dinner, which smells really good already. I'm serving it with gravy, frozen peas, mash and yorkshire puddings (need to use these up to get more freezer space!)

Tonight I'll strip the chicken and consider making soup (I normally CBA, but I'm trying to be a better frunchkin) and tomorrow we'll have this. It's a favourite in Fresian Towers There should be loads of meat for Mr Fresian to have on sandwiches too.

Other plans for this evening are to tidy up the living room so Mr Fresian can hoover tomorrow. The bathroom needs cleaning too but I have to say I'm not hugely keen on doing that today!

seriouslyfrugal

Evening Everyone


Welcome to Giem & Gelmc :hello:


Well it was another NSD for me :j:j

hope everyone is ok have a frugal day everyone tomorrow :T

saorsie

Was heading for an NSD today however noted that B*dy Sh*p were offering an additional 20% off their sale items on line

Now 3 of their reduced ex festive body butters are heading my way - with free p&p, half price + additional 20% off and via qu*dco for extra cashback and paid for with cashback CC.

Would have done all this anyway before joining the merry band of frugalistas, however as a concession to my new BFF's, {:D} I have made the decision that I shall always use the afore-mentioned delish fragranced butter when I am not going anywhere special or in work thus saving on perfume

Frugal - yet still smelling great - result! (full price would have been £37.50 btw + p&p - I paid £14.40 inc P&P :T)

-s-

minnie2

itsallinthemind wrote: »

I'm surprisingly okay actually It ended 8 weeks ago, but there was still a lot of hope. Until 24 hours ago I would have had him back here in an instant, because I missed him dearly and adored him. He was saying all the right things. But something shifted in me and after a convo with a dear friend, I realised that I simply owe myself and my children more. In love him to pieces, but it is not enough. As Patty Smyth sings...:rotfl:



That does not sound like a disaster to me
I can NOT believe your budget difference to what it was, you are doing so well so far! It also sounds like you got some good special offers. I know you WANT to come under budget this month, but I do believe if special offers(genuine ones, not pretend ones) come up on items you use, then you are wise to stock up. I bet you can still keep to budget though, you sound a determined filly, you can even make lumps dissapear to keep to your budget I should imagine if you look through your cupboards and meal plan using the supermarket comparrison site, you will nail it.

I often buy gammon for the children. You have a wise buy there!

After freezing some, I tend to do the following for the children....

Slow cooker gammon in Cola(They LOVE this!)served with mash and greens
Cold slices with boiled potatoes(or mash) and homemade piccali and other bits
Cold slices in sarnies with with a mustard and mayo mix(touch of honey in it too sometimes). Although the youngest loves with slices of gherkin like you would pastrami or salt beef as they are a bit grim!
Creamy gammon pasta(Either cream or cream cheese, onion, mushrooms)
Risotto with gammon, onion and peas. This uses hardly any!
Chicken and ham fried rice with peas and onions
Pea and 'Ham' soup, so cheap with the boxes of dried peas(If you have a bone in the joint you must use it)
Gammon puff slices(Ready rolled puff pastry in rectangles, with 200g ish chopped gammon, an onion and potato, both diced a cooked in a pan first, bit of cheese if you like, glazed with egg and pierced, 180/200 degress for about 20 mins) served with potatoes and veggies as a meal, some as packed lunches.
Quick gammon/onion/musroom pie, using condensed mushroom soup as the sauce, no bottom, just a top.
And the cheapest...gammon and lentil soup



I am off to make myself look pretty later, as my friend has offered a night of Jack Daniels on them, as my children are not here. YAY!

wow thank you so much!!! wow great ideas!! i dont eat it so its hard to know where to start as i usually just roast it for him - but theres over 6kg of it!!!

we have an over spend of £837 a month so need to do something drastic!! i just had in my head that id spend up to £40 today!! nevermind!!

thanks for encouragement!!