Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

cw18

Congrats to Grandma247 (and family) on the two new arrivals

well done to diddly74 on the bread making :T

((hugs)) to those who are under the weather one way or another


sounds like everyone's doing well with their budgetting and spaving

Me - well, I'm still weeks behind with my spreadsheet. But I'm confident I'm not doing badly as I'm rarely using my debit card, only using my credit card for on-line transactions (with the small bill being paid in full each month), and seem to be taking cash out of the bank a lot less frequently than the latter months of last year (despite no longer having my DD passing over £40+ in cash each month to cover one of her bills after the HP company messed up - needed me as guarantor, but took the money from my bank account instead of hers!! was only a 6 month thing, so didn't seem worth spending months trying to get it moved.....)

I'm still making very good use of the bolt-on I added to my mobile phone contract (very happy with the deal, as it's definitely saving both of us a small fortune), and still managing to pick up heaps of grocery Whoopsies Only problem being that I don't seem to be making any space in my freezers, with regular games of 'freezer squeeze' still being played

Also working a lot of extra hours at the moment. One of my colleagues is off following an operation, so they're pulling me in to cover some of her hours. First week was an extra 10 hours (the most they'll let me do, as I go onto 1.5x pay after that), last week was an extra 8, this week is an extra 8 (5 down, 3 to go tomorrow), and I've at least 3.5 extra next week (though that's a close and clean shift, covering someone else's annual leave). Really starting to look forward to the week after that as I'm off myself, but suspect I may be to tired to do much of what I had planned in terms of exercise and (more) decluttering

rubytuesday

Afternoon everyone.
Well I have just had the results of my blood tests and they are fine so that means I must have turned into a moody, miserable cow of my own accord! Oh dear!:rotfl:
Trying to psych myself up for a swim in the outdoor pool but I'm already feeling a bit cold in the bones so not sure if I'll manage it!
Bought a few bits in Mr T and want to buy some minced lamb from the free range butcher for a bolognese, we do it with lamb rather than beef and they had no organic in Mr Ts.
Rarely eat red meat so I get organic when I do.

Erme

LolaLemon wrote: »

Congratulations again, 2 babies in a week? im jealous! (although if my 3 year old came in with that news, id be somewhat very shocked)

Twiglet, i have that same poem on my old bebo page... just logged in to see how much more i have, and am now being serinaded by Habib Koite & bamada - Din Din Wo (little child).... fantastic song... one i got free on my fone....

anyways heres what i had on my bebo from that poem
The Reason My House Is A Mess!ღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღღ
I hope that my child looking back on today,
Remembers a mother who had time to play,
Children grow so fast when you're not looking,
They'll be years ahead for cleaning and cooking,
So hush now cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.
ღღღღღღღღღღღღღღi think i read it on someone elses bebo page and 'stole' it, so have no idea who the author is to gove credit...


hope everyone is all ok?
sorry im hopeless at remembering names and posts that i was going to comment on, unless i tick them all


i felt a lot better today, took wee man a 'run' to our nearest pets at home store to have a look at the animals whilst i check out chicken coops and price chicken wire, feed etc... and they only had the food n some egg boxes. 1 chicken coop which is reduced as broken - it was wooden and i need plastic, as i know i wouldnt take as good care of the wooden one as i should, whereas a plastic one is easier to maintain. bought a chicken book, that ive been looking for for a while...
wee had a look at the fish and decided to buy some apple snails (2 for £3) for our fish tank, then seen some crabs, so wee wanted them (2 for £7), then we seen the frogs. cue the snot n tears when i said we would have to come back another time (this is a recent thing that he has started to try out, mostly happens after he comes home from his dads -grr- doesnt wash with me tho). we didnt get anything, as the girl wouldnt sell us any as i dont have a filter in my fish tank, which is stupid, as the tank i have they sell, so how can they sell them without allowing customers to buy the live animals?

On way home, went to Mr T to get milk and batteries (for my wii fitt board)... came out with 3 bags full, got dinner at 35p each (chicken bacon pasta salad layer thing.. my son loves that pasta) everything i had in my trolly was reduced! apart from gthe clothes, BUT that was even reduced due to spending over £25 on clothes (new 3 in 1 jacket for son, £18 so got him a shirt with hoodie underneath too at £10 and got £5 off)
load of perfectly good fruit all under 79p a bag... picked up some goats butter, couldnt get any hard goats cheese wanted to make a cheese sauce for some pasta too .... the food came to about £10, £3 on a new scooby doo dvd, rest was on the clothes, all under £40, which was what i had with me.... and i forgot the blimmin batteries!
want to see how much weight ive lost from this illness.... cough came back with a vengance its making me dizzy when coughing, and feeling very sick at same time too defo's goingto drs tomorrow, wether i feel ok in the morning or not.



hope everyones good.... and doing better at being frugal than me! catching up on 'my big fat gypsy wedding' really feel for them ... too much prejiduce in this country for my liking!!

I'm so with you on the pet store thing...when I enquired about gerbils and rats they said they needed a £50 and £75 cage respectively because like they like to climb....go figure?

Anyhow anyone else heard there's a shortage of purple sprouting broccoli this year which is 'supposed' to be in season right now....though judging by the price of tatties (potatoes) you wouldn't think they weren't in season either...

I'm done with the ward...Only allowed a 'pass' (stay at home but still an inpatient) cos I made myself sick last night and cos I hardly ate a thing yesterday (but drank a tonne of orange juice) and see about discharge Monday but I NEED to get the conspiracy to stop and I am overweight according to the BMI etc....I don't care how fast it comes off (though sooner rather than later would be nice) but baring in mind I felt sick over a salad with the tiniest portion of tatties you can understand how food phobic I am right now....I so need to do this? Why all the fuss. And all folk say is that I'm unwell.

Alas missed out on the R fleece and waterproof jacket yesterday at charity shop but did just manage to barter (I said I collect them - semi true) 4 shoulder/handbags - all decent for £2...they did try to sell me them for £1 each but they were 50p each yesterday...then they looked at me like I was lying? :mad:...so these will go on ebay at some point

Nice little bit of pocket money for me

And now I'm off to get either tomato juice (possibly) and ?espresso then go on a wee hike (min 3 miles) to get weight off

Feeling so scared of everyone it's unreal and thanks rubytuesday for adding me as friend on facebook

E

natnat13

Just popping into say hi, still frugaling away, just been busy. Will catch up on posts later, hope everyone's ok xxxx

Lesley_Gaye

did a LOVELY soup yesterday using cauliflower bits from the greengrocer's cheapy box, plus all the stalks, including the green leafy parts, from a 'proper' cauliflower

1 cauli, or equiv in stalks
1 lge onion, chopped
1 med potato, chopped (didn't peel it)
2 cloves garlic
2 sprigs parsley, a bay leaf, sprig thyme
30g butter (I used butter, but any oil would do, didn't think of it until after I'd finished making it)
1 litre stock (veg water, stock cube etc)
100g cheese
100g red lentils
good tsp smoked paprika


sweat all the veg, garlic, herbs and paprika in the butter/oil for a few minutes.
add everything else except the cheese and simmer gently for 20 minutes. remove the herbs and whizz

stir in the cheese, don't allow to boil after the cheese goes in or it will go all stringy

you don't HAVE to have the herbs or the paprika, they do give extra flavour tho

serves 4-6 and is quite filling and very delicious

pennib

Hugs to those going into hospital/appointments/illness's/down at heart.

Woke up to a lovely sunny day, havn't poked head out of door yet but from inside it feels great. So as we need to empty contents of the freezer before buying anything more and bolstered by the sun streaming through, yep, I defrosted the freezer (shudder). Yesterday hubs found a 6 month packet bacon which he ate and is OK. Found some bits and bobs that were forgotton about and over the next couple of days we are going to have some very strange meals! BUT at least the freezer is cleared nearly. Determined not to go shopping til Monday so I hope I can keep to that as I wan't to be ultra frugal!

NualaBuala

Lesley, thank you so much! :T That recipe couldn't have come at a better time for me - I have a forlorn-looking cauliflower that I got cheap just before the market closed last week. I couldn't think what to do with it and now I know!


I'm trying declutter (and make a little money if possible) by ruthlessly clearing out the house. If I don't post for a while, I've probably decluttered myself along with all the rubbish! I've got several things listed on Gumtree. I have never tried Ebay, am a bit nervous of it to be honest and at least Gumtree is free and no hassle posting things. It's slow going but I am getting several enquiries ... a few even seem genuine lol! I wish we had sites like musicmagpie in Ireland, last time I checked they were all for UK residents only. I have tonnes of books and CDs to get rid of but I might just give them to charity - I can't afford to donate much money these days so this would make up for it.

Hope everyone is doing ok - and hugs to those of you who are having a bad time at the mo. xxx

slowlyfading

Evening everyone

Another NSD for me today which is good. Feeling a bit under the weather today, so glad it's the end of term tomorrow! Hope everyone else is doing okay, hugs to those who need them x

miss_empty_piggy

slowlyfading wrote: »

Evening everyone

Another NSD for me today which is good. Feeling a bit under the weather today, so glad it's the end of term tomorrow! Hope everyone else is doing okay, hugs to those who need them x

Am so glad that it is the end of term - I am exhausted and half of my classes have been away on work experience - but feel like i've been busier than ever as everyone's been giving me "extra" jobs to do as I've got so much time on my hands!! Can't wait for a lay in!!! and actually get to spend some time with MY kids istead of someone elses! Enjoy the week slowlyfading and everyone else. x:rotfl:

Lesley_Gaye

NualaBuala wrote: »

Lesley, thank you so much! :T That recipe couldn't have come at a better time for me - I have a forlorn-looking cauliflower that I got cheap just before the market closed last week. I couldn't think what to do with it and now I know!

oh brill, hope you like it