Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - Part 3.

silvasava

Lola - forgot to say you could use them to make some of your own home brew. Its quite easy to do from a Kit & if you do enjoy a glass or three then you could save more than you could sell the jars for.
PAIDIN
Does your senior school have a second hand scheme - kids grow out of so much before they are worn out. Or perhaps a little Wanted on freecycle may pay dividends. I remember when my two were at junior school & they had to wear Ladybird Aertex Tshirts in the summer - they were expensive and looked like they'd been in the rag bag once they'd been washed a couple of times. All of the Mum's hated them! I did once send them off wearing their white shirts with the sleeves cut short - they looked a lot smarter but the boys came home with a letter pointing out that they weren't in regulation uniform - Grrrrrrrr.

LolaLemon

To all with school uniform issues, can u talk to the school, pta or council (& other mums) as someone has said, people are struggling to feed their families without this added stress.

I've only had a quick read through, as got home from work at half 3 n mum foned to sag son was ill and he wanted to come home, still up, watching monsters v aliens... I'm abt to fall asleep in his bed.

KolaKube

Hello all!

Hugs to those with uniform issues, £300 a go is ridiculous! :eek: paidin at least you're keeping them entertained on the cheap..!

weesmiler well done on the job!:j

lola glad your date went well - those demijohns are ideal for wine making, i would give it a go!

Rachel - vegan food can be expensive but surely meat is worse..? Even whoopsie meat i find isnt that reduced any more

tumptyteapot

rachelhen wrote: »

I've been really good at frugal all month but dear son coming home for the weekend(Vegan) work full time etc so had to buy vegan friendly food...no whoopsies or anything other than over priced stuff...could have gone to a shop that I know which has the ingredients much cheaper but too far out of the way!! but love my son so don't begrudge it at all

we eat vegan a lot - it doesn't have to be expensive, veg are cheap, tofu is cheaper than meat, soya milk is 59p a litre in supermarkets...... it is all the fake cheese stuff that is really pricey and we just don't eat that. Things like houmous and bread are vegan, and stuffed vine leaves (99p a tin usually) curries are easy to make vegan, beans and pulses are vegan.......

tumptyteapot

Lola - I have a voucher for the same thing, really looking forward to it! My 8 year old told me to get my feet fished (I had paint on them and he thought it was dry skin! but any excuse...) Glad your date went well and what a treat shopping and getting hair done! That is my kind of day!

alec_eiffel

Our lunches and evening meals are vegan most of the time, we gave up eating meat to save money when we were in debt and I think it really is cheaper - it just takes a bit more planning.

tumptyteapot

Good luck with frugal summer holidays everyone! We are going to the Library today so my 8 year old can get his reading challenge stickers, then not sure what.......... was going to see my parents this weekend but am in negative money until the tax credits go in later this month and the cat is not well so that will have to wait.

rising_from_the_ashes

paidinchickens wrote: »

rising I have stocked up on catfood but can see us eating that all winter if we don't stock up on some other things :rotfl:

:eek::eek:

Have been hunting online to find other "pate" type foods (only ones she'll eat) and it's fine if you can order a load and get free delivery (usually around £30) but to just get a couple to try, the p&p is £4.95!:eek: Typically, each retailer keeps a different type so would need to order from loads of different ones - and unfortunately they don't do the dog's food so I can't use that to bulk out the order.

Sigh .... why is everything so complicated!:(

LolaLemon wrote: »

Morning lovelys,

Spent the best £10 ever yesterday, (£5 each) and got ;
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My feet have never been soo soft. It was £5 for ten minutes, had to keep a hold of wee guy incase he slipped in, as he was just a little on the short side, it was fantastic, and very tickley. The girl left us for abt half an hour!

Oh my Lola, when I was scrolling down the screen and the pic started to appear, i was totally thrown! It took me a couple of minutes to realise they were 2 different sets of feet!:rotfl:

Glad you enjoyed it, nothing like that near me and I'm not sure if I could handle it as I've really, really tickley feet!

Slowlyfading :j:jThat's fantastic news! Congratulations!

Good to hear lots of good news for everyone:D

Tumpty hope kitty is feeling a bit better?

Got the renewal card for my big cat's booster - £45, I have no idea how it's so expensive as they must get loads of doses out the bottles - but I guess it has to be done.

I usually leave them 14 months in between (rather than 12) which my vet says is fine as the vaccines last for up to 15 months - so why do they try to get us to do them every 12!


Well, peas are about ready to harvest and very, very tasty:D Quite impressed with how well they've done. Beans still quite a way to go but signs are promising.

I must try to defrost my "spare" freezer so I can freeze them all once picked.

Re freezing the peas - does anyone know if you blanch them first?


Beautiful day here and airshow on later - can hear quite a few planes around already. May have to take a wee walk up the hill behind me and find a nice spot to sit and watch them!:D

redglass_2

alec_eiffel wrote: »

Our lunches and evening meals are vegan most of the time, we gave up eating meat to save money when we were in debt and I think it really is cheaper - it just takes a bit more planning.

I agree, most of the time I'm vegan (apart from milk for tea) which is very cheap and also means that meat is a lovely treat when I do have it. Today I cooked a big pan of black-eyed peas. I've had some of them with veggies and spices as a salad, some went into beanburgers and another lot will make a vegan shepherd's pie, with spuds from the garden . There'll still be some to freeze to use another time. I haven't had them for ages and the smell of them boiling was a real 'blast from the past' - I first discovered them as a student in the 70s (they were called black-eyed beans, then and we considered them the last word in exotic, sophisticated cookery! :rotfl:).

Slowlyfading, what have I missed? I see you have congratulations but I couldn't find what for..?

It's time to come clean. I can't keep up with my book-keeping, which I suppose means that I'm no longer in the challenge, since I can't tell how much is going out. I'm still doing everything I can to save money (there's a heap of firewood outside that I begged from someone at the council tip!) but although the SoW is a marvellous tool, I can't keep up with it, and can't even keep up with a book of spending. I have to accept that I'm a frugalist but not organised enough to be a proper challenger. So SF, I think you should be taking my name off the list....:o But I'll continue to lurk.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhh no, I think I made a "boo boo" - reading back, I think SF was quoting weesmiler's good news & I though she'd managed to get a permanent job too.

Huge apologies, especially to SF.:(