Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

redglass_2

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've given up using round ones and only use squares/oblongs now - rounded shapes waste space and right-angles just fit in a lot better (I've got a small freezer.). You can put a plastic bag inside an empty juice carton and freeze the contents into a squarish shape, then take out the bag...haven't actually done this myself, but I plan to when I get through the current batch of containers.

Ceridwen, everything else seems to have been said about the carrots, but have you thought of storing them in damp sand?

itsallinthemind

I thought everyone used old margarine tubs, lined with a freezer bag, then removed and tied when frozen?
I think I mat be odd, I actually caught myself admiring the bright coloured bocks of soup in the freezer last year!

Massive amount of the grocery budget of the year about to be spent, Tesco website is cranky, so today may still be a NSD.

I am so very glad Natalie did not pop up a picture of her dinner, the though was enough to make me salivate!

LolaLemon

nannyboo1 wrote: »

Thank you xx

Your very welcome

I made the dolly mixture ones again, but left them in the oven a bit longer than i wanted, and the dolly mixtures at the edge of the mix melted on the tray so i had some sweet toffee to sook on... they went down a treat with my mums visitors (was over thier for dinner and my family from Worcs was their too.

xnatalie81x wrote: »

I need to get my hands on some sort of weekly calendar for plotting activities as i love routine and want to get some time aside for garden 3-4 times a week (around 45mins a time) for sowing/growing..... anyone know where to look?? I have a diary but i want something i can put on the wall so we can all see what we should be doing at certain times during the day

I bought one from the calendar company stall that pops up in town near christmas time, i got it in Nov, has 6 slots for people, does 1 week a sheet, comes with 2 sheets of stickers and a pocket to keep things in (i now have my vouchers in their) and a dry marker for the clear sheet that u can write on (for things that are repeated every week) and you move it to the front every week. I love it! at the side it has a 'things to do' and a shopping list that are preferated so u can take them off, I <3<3 THIS and im hopeless at keeping a calendar/diary in use... but so far ive filled in every week (it starts in aug/sept till dec '11)
I did want a 'family' one as im hoping toget started with childminding, and my son goes to 2 nurseries, so i need to be more organised.

redglass wrote: »

LolaLemon, Thanks for suggesting crystal rock, I haven't tried that one yet.

Your welcome, i love it, i can no longer use spray ones, just dont feel they are up to much.




for those looking for good moisturisers, try the massage oil that beauty salons use (like sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and add in some essential oils like rose (good for mature skin, but never to early to start protecting hehe) (http://shop1.actinicexpress.co.uk/shops/Just_Essential_Oils/index.php?cat=100ml_Carrier_Oils has a list of massage oils, although im not too sure if these are the best prices, i buy some essential oils from here tho)

savingforarainyday

Hi all

Can you include me in this one. I have done a ball park figure. £13000:eek:. Doesn't include mortgage, council tax, pensions and car costs (essential for dh's work). This is for 4 adults and two dogs.:o

itsallinthemind

NualaBuala wrote: »

Hehe, sorry for going off on a tangent - I'm not sure how spirituality relates to being frugal but I'm pretty sure there is a link if we thought about it.

Must be, all the Thervadas I know are very frugal(still generous though):D

2wildthing2

Wow how fast is this thread moving. Had a NSD yesterday and was heading for the second NSD of the year, when I discovered that my 10 year old daughter had head lice, so a trip to the chemist was in order. That will be another line that I need to add to the budget - medication...........hope everyone is happy and well............more snow on the way here on Friday...............

enjoyfinancialchallenges

I made a comment when I write yesterday morning about everyones no spend days and also felt pleased about mine even though it was then mid morning....but it was short lived... I went out for lunch and came back in about 6.30. I hadn't seen my cat Poppy before I left, well I knew she was in the greenhouse as I could see the top of her ears when I whistled her but we didnt speak IYNWIM. When I came back she was indoors and I got on doing something then noticed her right eye was watering, so I had a good look and it was very swollen and bloody. I thought wonderful its New Years Day and the vets will be closed but I saw an online vets service so described Poppys eye to her and she was a bit concerned and advised me to phone my vet. We met as the surgery and the vet also was worried as Poppy has a torn extra eye lid and an abrasion in her eye. Anyway to cut a long story short....ish, she is now on antibiotics, anti-inflamatories and a cream to be used 3 times a day.... and yes £ signs are flashing across my eyes but if you have an animal you have to be prepared for times like these. I don't know yet what the cost will be as we have to visit the vets again on Tuesday.:eek: I have pets insurance but they won't pay all the bill I'm sure but it should help. Whilst at the vets I remembered I had very little petrol in the car probably not enough to get home in fact so I filled up whilst I was out. I'm about 5 miles from town and petrol so its uneconomical to go and fill up without using the journey to do something else so I had used the trip to the vets as best as possible but never the less yesterday was a costly day what with the online vet £13.00 the petrol £33.31 and the unknown total of the vets bill. I had better shut up joking about NSD in future yesterday was a very HSD.

I needed cats food today so went to Mr A*** and used my vouchers to buy enough tinned food for Poppy for the next month, I have plenty of dry food stockpiled for her. Her eye looks much bettter today but I don't think I would have slept if I hadn't taken her to the vets.

Something else I want to share with you is I have found the solution to my curser with a mind of its own. The online vets service has other experts to ask different questions of and the £13 fee allows me a months usage so I asked for help from a computer expert who said just try to put a credit card or piece of cardboard over the touchpad and see if that makes any difference so I did and it has. My hands are deformed from arthritis and I look as if I'm permanently thumbing for a lift and its obviously (now) that thumb that keeps on touching the pad accidently and because of the arthritis I don't have much sensation in it. So problem solved I have a piece of card sellotaped on one side so I can flap it over when I need to use the touchpad and can then flap it back again to protect it from straying digits. I'm very pleased it was a simple solution because I really dont understand all the computer terms and am unsure I would be able to follow instructions about it although I did manage to do as NualaBuala told me to do.

Think I had better wash up now and go to bed....after I have given Poppy her medication of course. Goodnight everyone.

thifty

Progress so far today: 2 nsds on the trot

• Found out my eco balls and did 2 loads of washing- miss the nice smell though but the washing looks clean.
• Made a loaf in my breadmaker (wiped the dust off) the house smelt lush and my DS ate 2 slices with no butter, "this is lovely mum!" I used my new electric carving knife to cut it too so managed to get loads of normal slices instead of the huge doorstops if I use a normal knife:rotfl:
• Took drinks and biscuits for us to eat in the car after our walk around the park instead of going to the cafe.
• Cooked the all day breakfast when we got home instead of buying that in the cafe too
• Remembered to get the meat out of the freezer for tomorrows lunch which I always forget to do and then we end up spending £9 at the chippy

Note to self read page 7 onwards.

Someone mentioned baby wipes- I use a face flannel for faces after meals or take one in a plastic bag for when out and when DD was in her washable nappies I used to use fleece squares with flannel on the other side which I bought off the net somewhere. Saved me a fortune and they got the poo off better too. I used to use a squeezy drinks bottle , filled it with warm water, squirt of baby bath and few drops of lavender oil to dampen them and kept them in the free Pampers wipes box you get given in your bounty pack hth someone.

cw18

23rdspiral wrote: »

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

Value is the normal shelf price for the item (if you put an 'n' in the column headed W? it will carry over what you paid)
Real value is the shelf price multiplied by quantity - and is auto-filled for you as soon as you put an 'n' or 'y' into the column headed W?
W Sp is whoospie spend - ie. what you paid for reduced to clear items
W val is the shelf price value of the whoopsie items

The column headed W? is where you indicate whether is was a 'reduced to clear' item ('y') or not ('n')

You can ignore all columns from W? onwards if you don't want to keep track of savings due to buying reduced to clear (Whoopsie) items

whitewing

2wildthing2 wrote: »

Wow how fast is this thread moving. Had a NSD yesterday and was heading for the second NSD of the year, when I discovered that my 10 year old daughter had head lice, so a trip to the chemist was in order. That will be another line that I need to add to the budget - medication...........hope everyone is happy and well............more snow on the way here on Friday...............

I find that a nit comb and plenty of hair conditioner done daily was the best way to get rid/keep rid of nits.

Sometimes you pay a fortune for a particular nit lotion and the sarn critters are resistant to it anyway (always worth asking the chemist).