Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

ceridwen

Aril wrote: »

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Well I am mightily confused as my post from this morning has disappeared- I wasn't aware of any racy comments- only the current offer on sugar in Mr T and a link for an uncopywrited recipe for wallflower wine. Ah well. How curious!

It's been a successful frugal day here today- weekly shop done with lots of bargains and stocking up for £44 and we invested a princely £3 on a glass pie dish from the CS which will come in handy for all our hm goodies. I've also foraged nettles and wild garlic which has been turned into soup for tonight's supper [added some of the garlic flowers aswell for a change]

This evening I shall be using my jumble sale shredding scissors to shred all the receipts before adding them to the compost [I get a strange satisfaction being able to do this without using the electric shredder:rotfl:]
Shall crack open a bottle of rowan berry wine shortly and enjoy a glass

Aril
PS Hugs Lola

Mistakes are made sometimes - I know I've had a couple of posts deleted before now that I knew very well had gone by mistake - ie links to someone ELSE'S blog and just put them up again and emphasised that it was to someone ELSE'S blog (ie not breaking any MSE rules) and said openly on the board that a mistake (or "mistake" maybe....??) had been made and someone had mistakenly or "mistakenly" had my post deleted and the post then stayed in place and wasnt deleted.

Sometimes mistakes or "mistakes" can happen...

- so it is a possibility to put the facts up again and point this out - if you know you havent broken any rules..

SandraScarlett

Oh what a great time I had in Jolly Ol' London! The atmosphere was fantastic and I have nothing but admiration for the hardy folk who are sleeping out! I'd need my own personal loo strapped on my back! I talked to Happy Campers from the USA, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium and all parts of Britain.

After walking (and talking!) for 3 hours, I treated myself to coffee and cake in a delightful cafe on Whitehall by Trafalgar Square. Not just an ordinary cake, but a symphony of chocolate profiteroles, bound together by cream, chocolate and er, um, more chocolate and cream!

But the bill! Definitely a William!!! Not frugal I'm afraid. One cake and one coffee ................£11.47!!!!! :eek: I know that they are being enterprising and putting the price up, but the service charge was 15%!!!!! But I didn't care one jot. And I did have a wee there, before and after!!!!!

The area opposite Westminster Abbey is quite a narrowish pavement, made even narrower by the jam packed tents, chairs and photographers. Added to that were thousands of people walking in both directions, single file, but it was all very good natured - though for the life of me, I cannot understand why people bring babies in pushchairs?

It was easier walking through St James's Park, and along The Mall, but Buckingham Palace's area was jam-packed. I then walked to The Goring Hotel (I'm sure Kate was peeping out from a window, and saw me and waved, though it might have been a maid!!!), then got the tube from Victoria back to Westminster, just 2 stops, and then walked down Whitehall, where I had my cheap cake.

I got a bus from there to Liverpool Street and the City was deserted, probably because so many people who work there had taken 3 extra days leave so they could have 11 days off.

We had a frugal dinner though. I got a packet of £3 sausages in Mr S, marked down to 42p! :cool:

xx

Aril

Hello fellow frugallers:j
I've been making chicken liver pate today- it's very tasty [the recipe came from the OS board] and price wise we reckon it's a third less than the supermarket one.

Other frugal activities- the wm has been run whilst the solar panels have been busy generating and two loads are now blowing out on the line and we eeked out the nettle soup for lunch today aswell. Am currently working my way through a pile of mags I was very kindly given by a freecycler last week so free entertainment:D

Arilx

tumptyteapot

wow, I have money in the bank and it's the end of the month!

kittiej

Well done tumpty.

Welcome back Lady Lesley :wave:


I'm going to do an inventory of my freezers this morning to see what's lurking at the back. I am determined not to spend any money unnecessarily this month, Frugaldom has given me some inspiration tbh. Congrats with the cottage you lucky thing it must have been meant for you, well done.

See you later xx

rising_from_the_ashes

Just updated SoW and nearly had heart failure - all my totals have gone red.

I was trying to work out what had gone so badly wrong when I realised it's only the 30th today and I've been mega organised & added in May's regular payments:o!

Kittie I must also do a proper inventory of the freezer, I know there's a whole chicken and 3 packs of mince in there along with some apples/blackberries. I'm sure that with the other frozen meals lurking in it I could last the month with just buying fresh fruit/veg/lunch stuff/milk etc. That's my challenge for the month!

I wish I could get my milk somewhere local (only Mr T and A sell it) as I always see something on offer when I'm at the supermarket and end up buying way more than I need!

Have stocked up on pet food during April & dog's medication has arrived & should last 2 months - should only need cat litter.

Here's to a frugal May to get myself back on track after a very expensive April (lots of birthdays). Did manage to keep the OD under £900 for the 2nd month but didn't reduce it at all - unlikely to reduce during May as have huge cc bill to pay & clearing that in full is my priority over the OD. Aiming for small cc bill during May & will be able to reduce the OD at the end of the month hopefully.

tumptyteapot

Thing in the guardian today http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/apr/30/family-four-fed-50-week
Can a family of four be fed for £50 a week?

alec_eiffel

Hi everyone,

Just dropping in to say hi. Drained the last of our "pet" savings to bring grey bunny back from the brink, so we now have a healthy but very very grumpy bunny. Relieved to have the fund though! Everything is going not too badly, rejiggling the budgets month by month to fit our changing priorities. Petrol is the budget killer as ever.

Hope everyone is ok, keep up the good work!

inspirespirit

Hi. Not been around lately. Dropped my laptop about a month ago, and been going through insurance to have it replaced. Also had son in hospital having his hip replaced.

I'm still trying hard to be frugal. Been difficult as had to stay in Oxford when Scott was in hospital. Also had the car M.O.T (Cost over 100 pounds to get it through).

So, I'm now down to my last 50 pounds which needs to last until a week on Monday. aaarrggghh.

Yesterday bought the 18p jars of pasta sauce from Te$cos instead of the £1.29 passata to make spag bol and my sons didn't even notice the difference. Bought their blue striped cheap mince too. Going to make beefburgers today with those.

So still trying but struggling.

Kerry_Woman

Am planning as from next week to get the weekly/monthly food bill down. I have saved money compared to last year. This month has been an overspend. Looking to do some home cooking. Not a great cook, but am aiming to try. Going to take small steps. Baking cakes/scones I am fine with.

I did save money on travel this morning(£1.30), by walking into town - half a hour's walk. Took the bus home with the shopping.