Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

NualaBuala

ceridwen wrote: »

Ugh! As in a "not much of a spend Day" - only my morning newspaper. But - a bit of a waste day. Have just taken a cautious bite of some carrot muffins - made with DRIED carrot. About to throw the rest of them in the bin...

Errr....I've made the exact same recipe before with fresh carrot and it was nice. Its the first - and last - time I will be using DRIED carrot though....yuk.....well there WAS only one way to find out if I could ever like dried carrot...:(

Aw, we live and learn Ceridwen ... but don't throw them out! Feed them to the birds, they will be delighted with them!

twiglet98

My lot (DD24 and her BF29, DD19 and her BF22, DS22) go on and on about wanting Sky. I've always said they can please themselves about it as long as it isn't coming out of my bank a/c. They can't agree reasonable proportions that each should contribute, and don't trust each other to pay the one whose account it would come out of, so we still don't have it. I think Freeview gives more than enough channels, and they have televisions in every room.

I've also said they can waste as much electricity as they like if the direct debit is changed to go out of one of their accounts. All the time it comes out of mine, I shall nag constantly about lights being left on, the electric oven being used unnecessarily, and I will not get the tumble dryer mended for them to use and abuse!

Pleased today has been a NSD other than taking some boxes of stuff over to work, 5 miles away so I used diesel (already in the tank, I didn't buy any today).

slowlyfading

Budget - this is for two of us:
Groceries: £1400
Toiletries: £80
Cleaning products: £50
Electricity: £280
Mobiles: £360
Telephone and Internet: £216
TV licence: £156
Clothing & footwear: £300
Christmas Savings & Gifts £350
Insurances: £? [I need to check this]
Everything else: £308
Total: £3500

I need to check how much our house insurance is and the wedding insurance that we're paying for is, and I'll add that on. The clothing and footwear budget is quite excessive, but I need lots of work clothes and I also need to wear suits for work, so they cost me a bit.

For the record, the only debt that both me and OH have are student loans, which are paid off through our pay anyway. So that's being left to the side for now, as they're at such a low rate. We don't have any other debts, or CC's or anything.

The christmas savings and gifts is also high because between us, me and OH have a biiiig family, so there's always lots of people to buy for. Hopefully this will cover this!

But, if we can manage on this for the entire year, we'd be able to save a hefty sum, which is the aim! This obviously doesn't include our rent, council tax or water rates which add on quite a bit each month, but even so, we should still be able to save.

Kerfuffle

ceridwen wrote: »

Ugh! As in a "not much of a spend Day" - only my morning newspaper. But - a bit of a waste day. Have just taken a cautious bite of some carrot muffins - made with DRIED carrot. About to throw the rest of them in the bin...

Errr....I've made the exact same recipe before with fresh carrot and it was nice. Its the first - and last - time I will be using DRIED carrot though....yuk.....well there WAS only one way to find out if I could ever like dried carrot...:(

I've never heard of, let alone seen, dried carrot so I'm not sure it would work but how about soaking the dried carrot in orange juice before baking. In the same way that dried fruits are soaked in cold tea before being baked in a cake. Then failing that, throw them to the birds! :rotfl:

oldestgnome

The birds will definately appreciate the carrot muffins :D

Twiglet98 your post really made me smile, your family should consider themselves lucky!

I've just been reading through the last posts since yesterday -it looks like everybody has been busy. :beer: 2 days in and so far so good, 1 NSD and my weekly shop done - £11.77 in Lidl I have a freezer full of whoopsied meat so don't need to buy any. Made a chicken, veg and bean broth which will see me through the start of this week and some has gone in the freezer.

I have run out of plastic containers - does anyone have a suggestion for cheap freezable storage or do I just need to buy some more?

Lily_The_Legend

Blimey, this thread is zooming along! :eek:

Took me ages to read through since my last post! Oh well, back to work on Tuesday, so I'll be able to keep up then... :rotfl:

Kerfuffle

oldestgnome wrote: »

I have run out of plastic containers - does anyone have a suggestion for cheap freezable storage or do I just need to buy some more?

Just the usual margarine tubs, cream cheese tubs, etc bags doubled over. Depends what you're freezing and how quickly you want them :rotfl:

If you have something frozen in a tub already, you could transfer it to a sealable bag and re-use the tub. Just be careful when you then thaw whatever is was, in case the bag leaks.

the_cat

oldestgnome wrote: »

I have run out of plastic containers - does anyone have a suggestion for cheap freezable storage or do I just need to buy some more?

Try lining a bowl (any sort will do, even an old marg tub) with a freezer bag and popping in the freezer. Once it has frozen into a block, remove the bag, tag it and the bowl is ready for reuse

I do this often as it saves space and means buying less bowls

NualaBuala

oldestgnome wrote: »

....
I have run out of plastic containers - does anyone have a suggestion for cheap freezable storage or do I just need to buy some more?

I know some people use plastic or crockery containers to freeze stuff in and once frozen they pop them out of the container and into plastic bags. The food can then be put into a suitable dish for defrosting/heating.

Edit: meant to say that I haven't tried this myself yet though as I have a mountain of old takeaway containers I use. I do NOT recommend getting more takeaways to stock on containers though! :rotfl:

Another edit: Looks like great minds think alike!

23rdspiral

ValueReal ValW SpW val

hi, i've been reading over this tread challenge with real interest. i usually manage to keep a record of spending for a few months at the start of each year, but this year will be far tighter so i need to keep it up and keep on track.

could anyone please point me to a more detailed intro to the excell spread sheet? i'm afraid i'm a bit confused... or pehaps could you explain these shortenings? thanks!

ValueReal ValW SpW val