Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

Winnie_in_Pooh

Morning all!

Thanks for the haircutting tips, I'm going to have a bash a bit later today - fortunately I have fairly long hair so if it goes wrong then it can just be put up and forgot about

Winchelsea - purple sounds fab, go for it! I've been blue-black for ages and there isn't really much you can do to change that other than grow it out or pay extortionate amounts to have it stripped at the hairdressers, but thats ok because it looks lovely and shiney with an electric blue sheen when it catches the light. Being preggers is also doing my hair the world of good - its fab

F_F - I'd just use white vinegar for cleaning mould. I use it for everything else, mix it with water and a couple of drops of lemon juice and there isn't much it won't do!

tumptyteapot

I could not sleep last night so not going anywhere today, am wiped out but expect it will be a NSD so there are some bonuses. hope to manage a NSD tomorrow but need to make a cake for a neighbour and have run out of sugar, unless I can make do with grated apple or honey, or treacle - any ideas? It is his birthday and I wanted to make him a carrot cake. I have dark sugar but it might be a bit much for it.

Lesley_Gaye

Hi all

haven't been around much lately as my broadband connection is being very unreliable, so have loads of pages to read

will go and read them, but first wanted to tell you all some news. Have won first prize in a WI lucky dip, which means I get to choose £400 worth of course to go to at the WI Denman College. No idea what I will do yet, but will certainly have fun choosing from all the options

secondly, I heard this week that Heathfield will be getting some new allotments and I may well get one of them. Hooray, don't have time to spend loads of time on it, but now have a huge list of all the fruit I could grow there, which wouldn't take a lot to look after.

BTW, I worked out that I saved well over £200 last year from growing edibles in the garden. As I allow £2 per day per person (2 of us) for food, that is 50 days worth of food for us 2. A huge contribution to the budget.

It feels very strange reading posts to and from Lady Lesley, as my surname is also Cooper! What a funny coincidence

23rdspiral

hi everyone, my radish seedlings are up! and chives! and the lettuce is growing away too! woop!
Today was a very spendy day - £198 at the dentist , but i now have some nice shiney bling to show for it (!). £8.00 in Lidl (3 different and good offers on cider), £5.56 in Sainsburys, and i believe the first time i've paid full price for bread this year:o! oh well, it had to happen some time.

Tumpty - that's tricky. how about 1/2 apple and 1/2 the dark sugar? have you googled recipies for diabetics, as i'm sure they'd use less sugar than normal?

Trallwm_Farm wrote: »

Hi Im Lesley
Im not sure if Im too frugal so off putting on here or if its because I have land and how dare I but I thought Id come and say hello to hopefully like minded people !

Hi Lesley, welcome to the challenge. It's really nice of you to join in and also to introduce yourself. Everyone is welcome here, for whatever their reasons or how big / small a saving they need/want to make. Having land wouldnt rule you out - i'm sure you have extra costs and burdens most of us wouldnt even know about.

Personally I'm facing redundancy from local government but have also just bought a house, so am needing to keep an eye, reign in and cut back. I already add red lentils to mince, and to TVP mince too(!) but your oats idea is fab and even cheaper!

I loved your pasta idea, but did think it was a bit of a mad idea to start the series with and might have put some people off.

And PLEASE, if it's not too cheeky, could we have a hint on the apple wine recipie? One of the reasons for us moving is to get a garden, and our new garden has 2 mature apple trees and a young pear tree - we've made cider from scrumped windfalls before but now we've our own supply, wine sounds good too

Winnie_in_Pooh

Well DH being away for a week is starting to pay for itself, spent just £13.14 in Mr A today and £2 of that was cat food! Also treated myself to a box of magnums ooo yummy

rubytuesday

Hello everyone - I probably have a lot of catching up to do! I went to visit my first boyfriend's mum yesterday with my daughter, so that meant spending out on train fare but it wasn't too bad. We had a lovely roast dinner.

I got such a shock when I got home - there was a message on my Facebook from my first foster brother who I have not seen or heard from since I was six! My foster mother is now eighty eight and would like to see me. He has tried to trace me in the past but without success.

Very exciting too as he has some cine 8 film of me which he will put on to DVD. I have nothing from before the age of six except one photo so this is great. We love photos in our family!

Today has been a NSD. I was about to leave for the shops to buy a chicken as I now have the gas back on but it started pouring, so I have made homemade chips and fish from the freezer.

I emptied out all my cupboards and sorted out the airing cupboard ready for pipes to be laid and a new gas man has decided the leak was coming from the seals around the meter! I am half relieved, half cross! One cupboard had been left went I was on my mad kitchen tidying spree so I suppose it's not too bad but I have been too tired to put the stuff back today. I had to take to my bed for a few hours.

rubytuesday

23rdspiral wrote: »

hi everyone, hope you had a good wknd? i'll catch up later, after the dentist, but just wanted to note Friday and Sunday were a NSDs! Friday was spent stripping wallpaper and chipping off old bad plaster - what a way to spend an annual leave day! and being out dancing Sat night till 5am Sunday morning, then not getting up till 1pm means there isnt really any time before the shops shut to spend money!:rotfl:

That sounds like fun! (The dancing I mean!)

dizzy_lizzie

slowlyfading wrote: »

I've been to Meadowhall today - met a girl friend there for the day for a catch up and some retail therapy I have spent a bit - got a big cardi from Top$hop, a dress from Republ!c and a dvd too We went to Wagamama$ for lunch which was yummy, and overall it was a lovely day. An added bonus as that Gino D'acampo was cooking live there! So stood and watched him for a bit - making some pasta dish to promote his new book. I must admit, he is good looking!

I'm staying at my grandparents tonight, so just chilling. A great start to the holidays, I must say!

Sounds like you had a lovely day and I agree about Gino D'acampo

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

Hi all
haven't been around much lately as my broadband connection is being very unreliable, so have loads of pages to read
will go and read them, but first wanted to tell you all some news. Have won first prize in a WI lucky dip, which means I get to choose £400 worth of course to go to at the WI Denman College. No idea what I will do yet, but will certainly have fun choosing from all the options

:T Well done Lesley. Enjoy using them :T

And to Rising From The Ashes...

Sorry I missed it. Only just catching up with everyone's posts.

Luvz Dizzy x
♥

Frugaldom

Good morning, squeezing in a quick post between jobs.

Congratulations CW on your bowling strike - I have never set foot insode a bowling alley of any descriptions. LOL And congratulations to Lesley Gaye for your WI win.

Progress being made towards the move, but I still haven't organised for telephone line, Internet connection, electricity, water... I'm hoping to pick up the keys this Friday.

Managed to get the cat to the vet's on Thursday, so she's now been dressed and had her first vaccination. They have a cat neutering scheme here, so that part was free, the vaccination course cost £30.

Had to pay for buildings insurance which, I know, wasn't included in my original budget because we rented but times change - it's in my budget now and I'm not earning any more money, so it has to come out the original budget. LOL No cashback available but I did find one quote UNDER £150! Pretty amazing, considering some were quoting OVER £1000! :eek:

Extra spends are being compensated by the sale of some of my hens, which are being delivered to buyer this week, as they stay less than a mile from my DD and it gives me the chance to stop in for a quick granny-visit with baby.

Spending has been severely curbed, owing to the recent outlays, but we're doing OK for food and have spent £237.02 in total from start of year. Meals are varied and interesting - we're eating our way through cous cous mountain and I haven't shopped from App Food, F00d Bargains or BigBrand$4le$$ this year at all. I can't, there's no space until cous cous mountain disappears.

So, who would like to do me a summary of how everyone is doing? Who has all reached their debt free status? Who has reached their savings goal? Where is everybody 'at'? I promise, it won't be much longer before I can get a bit more time to spare. The ups and downs of the past 6 months have been ridiculous but that's life, so we keep on frugaling.

tumptyteapot

Trallwm_Farm wrote: »

The apple wine recipe is on my blog for whoever wanted it. I cant post the link but its the scrimping and scrumping blog

I tried to google it and couldn't find it - please can you set it as your home page in your control panel, then we will all be able to see it :-)