Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

diddly74

Update = did that River Cottage receipe tonight = long winded but lovely bread. Thanks everyone

dizzy_lizzie

diddly74 wrote: »

Update = did that River Cottage receipe tonight = long winded but lovely bread. Thanks everyone

:T Yay, well done
Luv Dizzy x
♥

slowlyfading

grandma - congratulations :j :j :j

Another day done, and my first parents evening survived. Woo!

Kerry_Woman

grandma - Congratulations on your news.

slowlyfading - Pleased that your first parents evening went well.

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Hi grandma247+2 your new baby's seem to be arriving like buses, when the next one due then? I have to wait years for mine and from what my DS39, DDIL, DD40 and DSIL say I wont be seeing any more. People don't seem to get late surprises these days everything is carefully worked out and planned, well for most youngsters nowadays that is and there are sure to be exceptions of course. If I hadn't had surprises I probably would not have been blessed with four lovely children and what a loss for the world that would have been.

I've done a lot of spaving today....well actually its overspending but also known as spaving :rotfl:I bought lots of sugar and fruit and will get one lot of oranges soaking overnight to make up into marmalade tomorrow. Despite not buying any food for me to eat my credit card is at its fullest....I haven't worked out the total yet though.:D At the end of this years car boot season I must be sure to keep back about £200 to use for purchases at the beginning of the next year. With what I'm preparing to sell I have to have money upfront to buy ingredients and this is whats causing the old CC to go over my self set limit. I still have plenty of credit on it but I couldn't possibly use it up to its real limit AND pay it off.

I hope all you ill people are getting better, sunny days ahead now, after this weekend of course.

Aril

Evening frugallers:D
I've just thoroughly enjoyed this blogpost...for some reason it reminded me of some of the things I do ...can't for the life of me think why:rotfl:
http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.com/2011/02/inflation-to-rise-by-5.html
I believe that FQ is a member of MSE

Frugal update here...OH has bought some sort of box thingy which should help us with save with our heating water in the summer...it will take a little while to pay off but because he's a scientist he works out all these things properly. Have to laugh because he has all the big frugal ideas and I have all the little ones like watering down the milk etc but as he says the different approaches work well together as ultimately they save us money. We're now working out if we could get some sort of black bucket [we'd cover it] to fill with water and then warm it in the summer out in the garden so we can use it for washing up. The solar panels generated 40% more power than the average for last month so good news:j

Have not spent a great deal really....benefitted from my Mum's craft clearout on Monday and now have lots of lovely wools, some fabric and some new to me needlework books which should keep me out of mischief. Also tracked down the Economy Gastronomy book in the library so shall plunder that for possible tips. I've dug out my Tightwad Gazette aswell as that always gives me a frugal kickstart which I feel I could do with at the moment.

Hugs to all...am off to read back to see what mischief you've been getting up to whilst not spending:rotfl::rotfl:
Arilx

PS Lots of good things to do with small people over half term here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/handsonhistory/download_ancients.shtml
There appear to be links for activites to other historical periods aswell

NualaBuala

Grandma247 - delighted to hear your newest grandchild arrived safely! Congrats to you and all your family!

redglass wrote: »

Yes, how silly of me! :doh:They do have international sites but not an Irish one (just checked). Sorry about that.

Not at all Redglass, it was kind of you to think of me. The house-swapping sounds fab .. especially as it's not yours being swapped. I would be worried about getting the place clean before I went and worried it was being trashed while I was away!

23rdspiral wrote: »

Nuala - hope you feel more yourself soon hun. i'm a bit disheartened at the mo too but know it will pass.

Aw, thank you pet- youj're so good to think of me when you've your own troubles. Hope you're ok with all that R stuff going on. HR sound annoying, you are being very calm and gracious!

Diddly, glad your bread turned out nice - enjoy! I made bread using a wet dought once and I lost a lot of it as it was so difficult to handle (I did it by hand). Did you do it by hand or in a machine of some sort?

I have been advertently saved from spending money on clothes. In a moment of weakness I decided to buy some stuff online from Debenhams sale - but they cancelled the order as I failed their internal security checks! :eek: I was really annoyed as I'd had loads of problems with the ordering process -the site kept hanging and the whole thing took ages. My credit card company couldn't understand it either as they had authorised the transactions. Anyway, I sent a complaint and got the most annoying automated response addressed to Dear Customer - hardly indicative that they were giving my complaint personal attention. So if I do spend money on clothes it certainly won't ever be with them. :mad: On the plus side, my clothing budget is intact! :A

Hope everyone is doing ok, sending hugs to anyone who'd like one. x

NualaBuala

slowlyfading wrote: »

grandma - congratulations :j :j :j

Another day done, and my first parents evening survived. Woo!

Well done SF!!!! That's a bit of a landmark event! :T

slowlyfading

NualaBuala wrote: »

Well done SF!!!! That's a bit of a landmark event! :T

Thanks! I was pretty nervous beforehand, but it was fine. Went very quickly!

twiglet98

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Somebody posted about weevils which made me laugh because......... I lived in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe for nearly 20 years, and found plenty of weevils in dried foods but they all die during the cooking. I can now hear the shock horror gasp of breath around me but most floated to the top first anyway and could be scooped off. My children never asked what the bits were. :rotfl:Most people eat meat anyway so whats the difference and they don't transmit disease.

Nearly forgot to say yes, freezing foods is a very successful way to prevent weevils spreading and they will if not prevented.

DD24, in a strop: "WHY is all that flour in the freezer?"
Me: "Bought more than usual as reduced, a bag in the cupboard and the rest in the freezer to prevent weevils - not that weevils are a health hazard. If you sieve the flour they can just be tipped out of the sieve.
DD24: "OMG Mum, your hygiene standards really are in a different league, that's utterly disgusting...".

Oh well, I guess she won't be eating any of my bread, cakes and crumbles again!:rotfl: