Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

Aril

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Money spent here today at Gnat Bottomed Towers on a jolly to London to meet a friend. Frugal principles still followed though- we used the family rail card from the Daily Mail recent offer which shaved £10 of the ticket price and took our own lunch. Rather than take the tube we walked from London Bridge to Shoreditch and then had a very enjoyable visit to the Geffrye Museum which is free entry. Didn't buy anything from the gift shop but we did treat ourselves to a cuppa and a scone in the cafe which hurt at £11 but we were there to enjoy not deprive ourselves.
Hugs to all
Aril

slowlyfading

Me and H2B have been out for a meal with his uncle and auntie, which they very kindly paid for

I had:
starter: garlic and chilli king prawns with egg noodles and rocket pesto
main: rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes and a rosemary jus
pud: spicy banana with a cinnamon sauce and vanilla ice cream

EVERYTHING was amazing, nom nom nom Clearly my diet is going well Best of all, it means that I've had a NSD today, even though I've been out for an amazing meal!

Can't believe the last day of half term is tomorrow, I'm really not ready to go back to work.

paidinchickens

Hubby nearly caved three times this week in wanting to go out for a meal......I put my foot down and cooked something quick, reminding him you only eat it then s**t it out:rotfl:

Must admit I was really craving a Mc cheeseburger friday and hubby had to talk me out of it

Had granddaughter friday all day and forgot how hard it was having a five year old, I took her to the local charity shop which she loved. "mummy we went to a shop and they sell evvvvvvvvvverything" lol. Daughter rolled eyes as she came home with high school musical outfit and pom poms all paid for by the £5 I made doing a door survey last week which they posted my a nice crisp fiver :T with the £1.50 I had left I bought some brand new tea towels for 50p and the remaining £1 is tucked away in my change purse.

finally made a start on the wine making and bought a kit (to see how i get on) this is bubbling nicely next to the table. After all after the first glass you seldom notice how bad it is (my opinion anyway lol)

Aunt came and we have run up some curtains for the caravan by chopping up some old curtains so did not cost a penny.

Sold a garden feature I no longer wanted.

Done some photos for ebay free listing so should be listing tomorrow.

Fed up with Mr T never having any value items on their shelves so we treated ourselves to some KP roasted nuts and two bottles of wine for being so good all week.

Well all the kids are back tomorrow so I am sure chaos will ensue.

Have a great weekend xxxx

tumptyteapot

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/8549739/The-superscrimpers.html
I am the single parent :-)

rising_from_the_ashes

Tumpty - a lot of great tips for people in that article - without being tooooo extreme like a certain programme that was on a while ago.

!

tumptyteapot

I am going to go and buy the thing and see how bad the photo is :-)

rising_from_the_ashes

Well, having quite a productive morning so far....

Picked chicken that was had last night, bones boiled for stock & now it's all in the slow cooker making a (hopefully) yummy curry for tonight.:D

Also got some frozen chicken pieces from Mr T yesterday (£2.79 for 2kg) which were cooked last night - I get these for the dog as it's much cheaper than fresh chicken but have had the odd nibble as I'm picking them and they taste fine. Have picked these too and also boiled bones so also have a load of stock to freeze.

Had to give in to the air conditioning unit on Friday night:( - bedroom was at 29.5 deg & it was awful. Put it on for about an hour - there was me, the dog & both cats on the bed in direct line of the cool air (shows how bad it was that the cats were in front of it as they usually hate it and like it being warm).

However, it's the first time I've had to use it this year which is an improvement on previous ones - my house is like an oven upstairs (new build). I put an extra layer of insulation in last year to try to help reduce the heat and it has helped a bit (previously it was around 32 deg). I do shut the curtains on a sunny day to try to keep the heat out but it's obviously still an issue and one I've no idea how to resolve.

Any ideas welcomed!:D

Shouldn't be a problem today as it's currently only 10 deg out - the poor plants must be wondering what on earth is going on!

Managed to get a shopping trolley yesterday - bit like this one but it has a really funky purple & jade design on the black background
http://www.shoppingtrolleysdirect.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=HOPPA-ST40-PLAIN-BLACK - they did have 4 wheeled ones but they were around £30 and this one was only £12 - didn't feel I could justify the extra expense for what I'll be using it for!

It also has a loose flap - I've got some velcro squares that I've stuck on but have a funny feeling I may end up with a whole row of them as the flap will obviously be in different places depending on how full it is:).

SoW had some serious updating last night - house insurance budget is totally out the window (paid in full for year ahead this month - as well as paying monthly for the last year up to May) but everything else looks pretty much OK.

Even the pets budget is looking a bit more under control!:D

One final question:o - I've just bought some 4kg of dry cat food for both my cats (different types). Works out much cheaper than the 2kg ones I usually buy and had a £10 off voucher if I bought them.

However, they won't fit into the containers I usually use - any ideas where I can get some large tubs to keep them fresh in? Ideally something like this http://www.petsathome.com/shop/cat-food-storage-container-%28holds-4kg%29-by-contico-25856 but I'm certainly not even entertaining spending nearly £20 on them - not very frugal at all!

Oh my, that's a bit of a long post:o hope everyone has a good day.

minnie2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Well, having quite a productive morning so far....

Picked chicken that was had last night, bones boiled for stock & now it's all in the slow cooker making a (hopefully) yummy curry for tonight.:D

Also got some frozen chicken pieces from Mr T yesterday (£2.79 for 2kg) which were cooked last night - I get these for the dog as it's much cheaper than fresh chicken but have had the odd nibble as I'm picking them and they taste fine. Have picked these too and also boiled bones so also have a load of stock to freeze.

Had to give in to the air conditioning unit on Friday night:( - bedroom was at 29.5 deg & it was awful. Put it on for about an hour - there was me, the dog & both cats on the bed in direct line of the cool air (shows how bad it was that the cats were in front of it as they usually hate it and like it being warm).

However, it's the first time I've had to use it this year which is an improvement on previous ones - my house is like an oven upstairs (new build). I put an extra layer of insulation in last year to try to help reduce the heat and it has helped a bit (previously it was around 32 deg). I do shut the curtains on a sunny day to try to keep the heat out but it's obviously still an issue and one I've no idea how to resolve.

Any ideas welcomed!:D

Shouldn't be a problem today as it's currently only 10 deg out - the poor plants must be wondering what on earth is going on!

Managed to get a shopping trolley yesterday - bit like this one but it has a really funky purple & jade design on the black background
http://www.shoppingtrolleysdirect.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=HOPPA-ST40-PLAIN-BLACK - they did have 4 wheeled ones but they were around £30 and this one was only £12 - didn't feel I could justify the extra expense for what I'll be using it for!

It also has a loose flap - I've got some velcro squares that I've stuck on but have a funny feeling I may end up with a whole row of them as the flap will obviously be in different places depending on how full it is:).

SoW had some serious updating last night - house insurance budget is totally out the window (paid in full for year ahead this month - as well as paying monthly for the last year up to May) but everything else looks pretty much OK.

Even the pets budget is looking a bit more under control!:D

One final question:o - I've just bought some 4kg of dry cat food for both my cats (different types). Works out much cheaper than the 2kg ones I usually buy and had a £10 off voucher if I bought them.

However, they won't fit into the containers I usually use - any ideas where I can get some large tubs to keep them fresh in? Ideally something like this http://www.petsathome.com/shop/cat-food-storage-container-%28holds-4kg%29-by-contico-25856 but I'm certainly not even entertaining spending nearly £20 on them - not very frugal at all!

Oh my, that's a bit of a long post:o hope everyone has a good day.

buy a small bin with lift up lid from tesco or asda only few pounds.

rising_from_the_ashes

minnie2 wrote: »

buy a small bin with lift up lid from tesco or asda only few pounds.

Thanks Minnie - unfortunately these aren't air tight:(.

However, not thought of that so off to see if I can find an air tight bin:)

redglass_2

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

However, it's the first time I've had to use it this year which is an improvement on previous ones - my house is like an oven upstairs (new build). I put an extra layer of insulation in last year to try to help reduce the heat and it has helped a bit (previously it was around 32 deg). I do shut the curtains on a sunny day to try to keep the heat out but it's obviously still an issue and one I've no idea how to resolve.

Any ideas welcomed!:D

.....

One final question:o - I've just bought some 4kg of dry cat food for both my cats (different types). Works out much cheaper than the 2kg ones I usually buy and had a £10 off voucher if I bought them.

However, they won't fit into the containers I usually use - any ideas where I can get some large tubs to keep them fresh in? .

I have a hot bedroom in summer too, and hate it. Some low-tech tips, which you may already be using: don't let any sunlight into the room during the day - once it's in there, you're stuck with the heat. If the curtains are dark they will just get hotter and transfer that heat into the room - have you tried either very pale curtains or putting up a sheet on the window side to reflect the light back out again? Also, you can put a BIG bottle or bucket or whatever (or several!) of very cold water in the room (preferably on the sill between the window pane and the curtain, if you can fit it in - you could use several smaller bottles if space is limited), let the water absorb warmth and heat up, then empty it/use it for dishwashing, whatever. I've seen people who had a real system going, cooling down a room by capturing heat in this way. If you re-use the water it doesn't even have to be wasteful...

Containers: Oxfam online have got some big multi-purpose containers with spigots for about £6, I think. I sometimes buy plastic sweet jars (from old-fashioned sweet shops) and use them for storage. They don't last forever, but they are very cheap. Or you could 'repurpose' something. I have some huge containers that originally carried sauces and soups from Approved Foods.

I was amused by Tumpty's link to the Telegraph and the pensioner who used flannels instead of towels. My mum brought us up to scrape all excess water off our bodies with a flannel before using the towel - this was her way of avoiding sopping wet towels in a house with no heating in the bathroom, not even a hot towel rail. I gave up the habit as soon as I left home, glad to escape what I saw as pinching and nagging, but it's interesting to see it surface again. I can confirm that it does save on drying and laundry, but of course it doesn't go with the image of bathing promoted by advertisers (gallons of scalding water, shelves full of luxurious potions, mountains of thick new towels). I often wonder how many 'folk-ways' of coping on very little our ancestors would have known about. Just living within your income was a highly skilled occupation for most of them.