2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

happycrafter_2

I have been making my own cakes and biscuits for lunch boxes and just wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction of where to buy large amounts of chocolate chips or similar type ingredients. We don't have a scoop and save near us, if anyone can recommend an online place I would be grateful.

patentgirl

Morning all
Purple he sounds a great find hope all goes well for you
Ruby thats sounds horrendous from BT we have free calls at moment but they must ring us every other day at moment trying to get us to do something different will definatly keep refusing them hope it sorts out for you
Dizzie love the scarf would be nice as a belt too over long tunic or knitted dress

Managed to get a few bargains in Boots 75% sale yesterday but completely forgot about it till lunchtime so shelfs and been stripped
got some xmas cards and paper for 87p few gift sets for presents throughout year spent £24 total savings was £73.50!! although who would pay the prices they was originally
Few top up bits of food but apart form that another frugal day hopefully

brizzledfw

We have been having a pretty frugal fortnight which is great. Several days when I have not spent( but doesn't count as OH has but..)

The things we need to watch are groceries and just little bits and pieces. We are also using AL£I for groceries alongside our veg box ad milk etc delivery which keeps temptation at a minimum. Everyone eating lunches from fridge and I am scrupulous about the meal planner.

The trick for me will be to keep on going.i have been here before..great for a short time and then I crash and burn. This needs to be a new permanent way of life!

Best wishes to all

Brizzle

quintwins

happycrafter wrote: »

I have been making my own cakes and biscuits for lunch boxes and just wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction of where to buy large amounts of chocolate chips or similar type ingredients. We don't have a scoop and save near us, if anyone can recommend an online place I would be grateful.

i buy value milk chocolate bars, break them up then throw them in the food processor, given that there going in muffins and cookies it doesn't matter that there not proper choc chips, works better if the bars been in the fridge and you break it into peices first

not much happening here since yesterday gonna do my ironing this afternoon, this is the one aspect of my life i considering paying someone to make it easier for me i hate ironing

quintwins

SAVVYJADE wrote: »

Same here!

I e bought quite a few presents, some Xmas and some for birthdays in upcoming months. Got a lot of fancy xmas gift bags in tesco otjer day flr 25p an lots of bows and ribbon at 13p pack! Also stocked up on lots of really good meat offers and whoopsies I found, so freezer well and truly stocked! I could prob live without needing to buy anything for months other than milk and bread! Today I got 4 free blocks of clover and 2 free boxes of typhoo tea using coupons. Not feeling too frugal this month but next few months I should be virtually spend free!

Ps bought a cardigan in m & s sale yesterday.. £39.50 down to a £1!! x

what a fab bargain

my sister has wrapping paper for me she works in debenhams and they had loads at £1 bogof, i was not impressed when i ran out and had to pay full price for some this year, i will see if theres any left when boots do there 90% sale aswell there usually isn't tho i'm thinking of doing my kids gift boxes this year to save of wrapping aswell :rotfl:

Erme

determined_new_ms wrote: »

thanks for this - really want this book!

I signed up for the super scrimpers challenge as posted on here at the beginning of the month - haven't been very successful as most of the things she is "challenging" us to do I do on a daily basis anyway! :rotfl:

Tempting but I don't really like takeaways (apart from the odd bag of chips) and like I have enough books already :rotfl:

LolaLemon wrote: »

In my area, students don't pay, same with single person discount, its 25% discount off total yearly charge (pro rata if situation changes at any point) .
Mr Lemon has mentioned before that aberdeen was different.. only the first year was 'free', so they changed the main tenant every year.)

So do you live in the Deen Lemon? Pray do tell? PM me if that's any easier

SandraScarlett wrote: »

You have my sympathy, regarding giving up coffee. I am a coffeeholic, and it's Nescafe Alta Rica. I decided to cut down on coffee, limiting myself to 3 a day, and my head thumped, I felt irritable and I couldn't sleep. I persevered for a fortnight, and then returned to my beloved caffeine and peace!

xx

Try caffeine psychosis Sandra :rotfl: - had that in November from 3 starbucks in one day and one night's missed sleep. Alas I was away from home when it happened so had no idea about as required meds......Nightmare...Never again. Now I limit myself to 2-3 (3 max) strong cups of cheap instant a day. If I want an espresso I have decaf. If not I have tea....I'm fine now but that was scary

Also you are a prime candidate for gastritis. Basically when you start spewing after your first thing in the morning brew or get IBS then it's time to reduce...

But in your own time hun...no pressure...maybe just reduce by one or two cups a day initially? Rome wasn't built in a day.

Anyhow not being very frugal this week. Praise God I have my RDF from the beginning of the month else things would be even more dire....

So yeah not good but could be worse...

Only bargains for me were 4 pints of C Milk whoopsied in Mr S the other night to 50p. Nabbed two cartons. That's milk for me for a week...

E

wornoutmumoftwo

Bad news regarding my puppy. He has hip dysplasia in both hips, on painkillers and supplements, told he can't play ball or have excessive exercise (he's a collie), seems alright in himself. I'm so glad I got insurance as this is a lifetime condition.
Anyway, will update my spreadsheet etc at some point this week, just thought I'd check in.

determined_new_ms

aw wornoutmum - really sorry to hear that. You'll have to excuse yourself from all chores over the next week and just sit with him for lots of cuddles x

Have some frugalness to declare

just bought 4 xmas gifts in sale for oh & ds - cost to me £39 total cost if bought full price £111!

Just "defrosted" bottom shelf of freezer (well used a spatula to scrape it off ) so more room in the freezer :T, better efficiency & have dug out lots of bags of 1 or 2 slices of bread to make a bread & butter pudding later. And also 1/2 a bag of prawns, some salmon & found 2 boil in the bag cod in butter sauce portions to make a fancy fish pie later. Ds doesn't like fish so he is having LO pork casserole from yesterday, with some frozen mash found in there!

Am going to the tip to recycle bottles today and am going to ask if they have any 1/2 used pots of white paint to start decorating - I'm sure they will and will only cost me a couple of pound :T

purpleorchid

afternoon all hope everyone is ok

((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))

i am really impressed with myself today as i finally got my butt into town, have not been there for about 5 months now, (due to my illnesses).i walked home as well so must have done over a mile in total including all the walking i did in town as well.:j

also had some frugal buys, went to asda and got the free clover block and a free rumblers pot, asda wipes 49p, asda nappy bags 88p on packet, went through as 35p and a thick sliced loaf of hovis 50/50 for 55p.:)

then went to clintons and picked up 5 rolls of 5 metre xmas paper @ 37p each. really happy with this as i run out last year so there will be no chance of it happening again this year. still dont have xmas cards though, but am in town again next week so will have a look in wilko as i noticed they had loads of xmas stuff in there. bought a hair dye from there for £1, didnt have enough money to get the xmas cards today. hope they still there next week.:j

to finish off my mothers 60th pamper hamper i bought her a large bar of dairy milk turkish delight which i managed to get for £1 (in my local post office) and in tesco i got 4 options individual hot chocolates for £1. also managed to get her some slippers in the sale for £3.

have also paid another £50 off my debts, and i still have £2.70 left in my purse and i wont need anything now until the end of next week. now this is very rare for me lol.:j

Luv P
xx

Igamogam

happycrafter wrote: »

I have been making my own cakes and biscuits for lunch boxes and just wondered if anyone can point me in the right direction of where to buy large amounts of chocolate chips or similar type ingredients. We don't have a scoop and save near us, if anyone can recommend an online place I would be grateful.

Approved Foods often having baking ingredients for sale - worth a look?? Lots of other good stuff on there too