2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

Kerfuffle

septemberblues wrote: »

I've had a very unfrugal month, there has been two important birthdays and I have just been spending like money is going out of fashion!

I'm really going to try and be really frugal in February, I have some soup cooking in the slow cooker, and I am going to try and use this as often as possible to do cheap but nutritious meals. I bought a small slo cooker with some of my xmas money and find this is better to use and not waste food as I am on my own.

I'm going to have a look a weezels site and try and menu plan. I've not been good with menu planning, but I need to get some meals planned or cooked in advance, my mother is going into hospital on Monday for an op for bowel cancer, so that will be a difficult week for food. The hospital cafe food is not nice and it's also very expensive, I can't eat wheat so can't take sandwiches, but I will do what I can to not buy food/chocolate/magazines whilst visiting my mum.

Any ideas on little frugal pressies I can take for my mum? She's 79 and terrified!

Hi septemberblues,

I'm sorry to hear that your Mum is going into hospital for bowel cancer, my first idea for frugal pressies was a hand cream too, my second thought was do take something for your Mum to do. Books and magazines are okay but I think some people can have trouble concentrating on these, plus they can make a person feel even more tired, so I wondered whether your Mum could make something such as cross-stitiching little pieces that could be made into Birthday and Christmas cards for the year ahead.

A pack of playing cards would be good too, a really good noisy game of snap can cause good belly laughs, regardless of age.

<<hugs to you both>>

JIL

septemberblues wrote: »

I've had a very unfrugal month, there has been two important birthdays and I have just been spending like money is going out of fashion!

I'm really going to try and be really frugal in February, I have some soup cooking in the slow cooker, and I am going to try and use this as often as possible to do cheap but nutritious meals. I bought a small slo cooker with some of my xmas money and find this is better to use and not waste food as I am on my own.

I'm going to have a look a weezels site and try and menu plan. I've not been good with menu planning, but I need to get some meals planned or cooked in advance, my mother is going into hospital on Monday for an op for bowel cancer, so that will be a difficult week for food. The hospital cafe food is not nice and it's also very expensive, I can't eat wheat so can't take sandwiches, but I will do what I can to not buy food/chocolate/magazines whilst visiting my mum.

Any ideas on little frugal pressies I can take for my mum? She's 79 and terrified!

I would suggest some of the little travel packs you can get from Boots, Asda, Tesco. They are usually buy 4 for the price of 3 and you can get shower gels, hand-creams, shampoos etc. Small bottles of cordial are also quiet nice. A word search is also quiet handy, a nice bed jacket always comes in useful as if shes in a shared room all the patients will feel the heat differently.(maybe find one in the sales).
It is easy to say not to worry too much but from my experience you are looked after really well.

seriouslyfrugal

Hi

went to lidl & couldn't get half the things I wanted :mad: today

september blues : thinking of you & your mum how about some homemade chocs ( although these maybe a once your home pressie) I know Frugledom posted a wonderful recipe on here this month


hope everyone is ok and ready for frugal february - january has gone ok and I have managed not to go over budget :T even with the car insurance as well

rising_from_the_ashes

stitching_witch wrote: »

We quite often have to run the car on fumes and even though DH is an engineer and DS3 is a vehicle technician they haven't mentioned the fact that the bits in the bottom of the tank will get pulled through.

It's really not good for the enging to let the tank get really empty as muck does lie around the bottom and end up being pulled through.

Could you get a fuel can (even a 5 litre one) and keep it for the end of the month when things are tight?

flying_fresian wrote: »

Rising I found out this week that my department (which I returned to on the 4th) is probably going to be restructured in the first half of the year and we're likely going to be seeing redundancies. As the least experienced staff member I'm fully expecting to end up on that list, so I'm now thinking about stocking up too - I don't have any insurances at all to cover outgoings :eek:

Ohhh no .... ((hugs)) I know we talked briefly about it at coffee but we always try to hope it won't really happen.

If I see any fab offers I'll try to remember to pass them on (I / others do stick them on the GC thread - usually highlighted in bold so they're easy to spot - so it may be worth a flick through now & then if anyone's thinking of stocking up.

Thinking I may stop at Mr T on the way home tomorrow (it's just a small one) and get some tomatoes:)

septemberblues wrote: »

my mother is going into hospital on Monday for an op for bowel cancer, so that will be a difficult week for food. The hospital cafe food is not nice and it's also very expensive, I can't eat wheat so can't take sandwiches, but I will do what I can to not buy food/chocolate/magazines whilst visiting my mum.

Any ideas on little frugal pressies I can take for my mum? She's 79 and terrified!

(((hugs))) I don't know if this helps but one of my friend's mums' (gramma? sorry, I never know what to do with the ' when it's a double s?) recently had an op for exactly this.

She is also in her late 70s and has bounced back tremendously - has put on a lot of weight (she'd lost loads before being diagnosed) and is eating well, enjoying life again and feeling better than she's done in years!:)

On the pressies side, I'd agree with cross-stitch if she likes that kind of thing - or crosswords?

natnat13

Just reading one of my favourite blogs and thought this would inspire anyone new to frugalling -

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.com/2012/01/cash-diets.html

natnat13

Septemberblues - idea for your mum, do you have an ipod or mp3? Could you download some of her favourite music and lend it to her in hospital?

rubytuesday

Sorry to hear the news about your Mum Septemberblues - wishing her all the best.

rubytuesday

Well I am feeling very pleased with myself - I have had a very frugal day.

I had a potter round Kew Gardens (I have a yearly pass) and took a flask and a couple of rolls so no spend there.

Had a mooch in the shop there which I love before I left and managed to purchase nothing except a pretty card for £1.50 for a friend who is starting a nursing degree tomorrow.

Collected some padded envelopes on the way home from a fellow free cycler.

Also didn't have enough potatoes for dinner but managed to dig some up from pots in the garden.

findingmyfeet

septmeberblues- when my gran was in hospital (86) she liked us to do some home baking and take her goodies such as slice of fruit cake, buttered scones etc, she didnt like hospital food and felt this was a treat that she waited for everyday. she also liked ice cold bottles of water saying the hospital stuff in a jug was too warm, pack of hard mints (boiled type so they lasted longer) and one of us always took in a daily newspaper. Obviously depends on what and when she can eat again after the op and how long she is there.

rubytuesday

Rising I don't think you need the ' but I'm getting a bit confused myself now.:rotfl: