2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

Thrifty_Sister

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Wow purpleorchard what an early start you had and wow again to all that you have achieved so far today. Wish I could get up that early but usually I've only just gone to sleep at that time and get up when half the day has gone! Perhaps I should set myself another challenge and set my alarm for 'early'.

Erme you seem to have got yourself a good bargain, my first Kenwood I bought second hand in a sale about 1969/70 time when I lived in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe and it eventually gave up two years ago, so they last a long long time. I wonder how long the one I bought myself new will last? I just love them and couldn't do what I do now without it, my fingers are too deformed now and give me pain if I try and use them to much.

I dont always read up to date before I post so forgive me if this matter has already been dealt with. One of you lovely people mentioned using out of date flour, to be honest I don't worry a lot about that so do it all , and I'm still around. I think more than anything its just being sensible about food, if it smells or looks bad it iprobably is, so get rid of it if not eat it up. Wholemeal flour however is one thing I'm careful about because it goes rancid and smells so I dont use it. When my children were small we lived in Rhodesia and got mealy bugs in our flour and lots of other food stuffs, dried beans etc, AND..... asking for forgivness here.... I used to sieve or wash them out, nobody noticed and we just got and ate the food and to be honest if somebody noticed a lump well it was dead wasn't it!
maybe thats why I'm so casual about out of date food stuff, lots of it is just to increase the shop sales somtimes its not essensial to but shelf lives,best before stuff on labels, just use your eyes and nose and if not sure then throw it out. Don't forget we lived in a country were many creatures /insects we here in England would never eat were eaten. I was once shown how to get crickets out of ther holes in the ground and they were eaten by the indigenous, don't worry I didnt' serve the to my unsuspecting family though.:rotfl:In many countries foods other than ones we are familiar with are eaten and all the fuss we put into foods is for survival and not thrown out becase of shelf lives etc.

Your post made me chuckle efc - my Mum used to say a bit of dirt never killed anyone! And she would never throw food away unless she really had to. Think we have become a nation of softies and I'm not sure its a good thing. My Mum and Dad didn't have central heating etc like many of their generation.

purpleorchid

Thrifty_Sister wrote: »

OK Purple no problem - glad of a break actually from the dratted e*ay lol

If you purchase an item at T's which is more expensive than A's are selling it, you can get a JTD voucher. This is obtained through the T's web site - look for price check details (will try and get a link late to make it easier for peeps). And the same applies to A's. these are the 2 main contenders in the game although S's have also started their own version but don't know much about this as I don't use them. So, the main rules to get the most benefit:D

If you use mysupermarket.com to compare your prices make a list (another good excuse to make a list) of the items you need. Divide list into T's & A's to maximise vouchers. MOST IMPORTANT - do not mix your shopping with reduced items, whoopsies etc - Naughty Mr T are known to come up with all sorts of excuses not to compare items. If necessary put JTD items through till first and then use 'this shopping is for my mother/brother/sister/neighbour ruse' or whatever you feel comfortable with so that you get two seperate receipts. The first of which you guard with your life as hopefully this is the one that will produce your voucher. You then enter relevant details on the T's website (or A's). T's are a bit more faffing about than A's but both produce lots of satisfaction when you get the voucher. T's send the voucher via email a day or 2 later wheras A's are instant (I would advise setting up a gmail which is really easy speciafically for this purpose as some peeps have been worried in case T's link to 'real' email and play dirty. HTH

Hope this makes sense - it feels great when you get your vouchers through. And when you get your head round it and submit a wombled receipt - well, its almost as good as winning the lottery! I must get out more, I think :D

If there is anything not clear just ask

thank you TS i think i got the jist of it. im gutted though as i threw my receipt out from yesterday, just went looking through the bin :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:, only to remember that i had shredded it for the cats litter and i certainly wasnt going through that :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
im just going to have to remember now, will take a while of getting used to but i can see it becoming addictive.

Luv P
xx

rising_from_the_ashes

I've copied this from my post on the Grocery Challenge (seemed easier than re-writing it all:o) - apologies to anyone who reads/takes part in both challenges ......

Rant alert .... :mad:

OMG I have just had the most incredibly frustrating couple of hours .....

Went to Mr T armed with voucher - had my 3 chickens for £10 and 3 mince blocks for £10 in the trolley and a couple of other bits and ......

• non Diet C*oke [STRIKE]addicts[/STRIKE] drinkers will think I'm bonkers but other [STRIKE]sufferers[/STRIKE] fans should understand - there was NO DC in the store :eek::eek::eek:

How on earth can they run out? Got a manager who said there was some in the "garage" but when I asked if it could be brought over I was told "no - we're not allowed to do that" .... why? Was told to come back later this afternoon when it would be on the shelves ..... :mad: to which I replied were they going to repay my fuel & time costs ....

Put a couple of other bits in the trolley (she was away getting me a "feedback form") but decided I'd have to go to Mr A anyway - so stomped to the CS desk, left my trolley and left after saying that if I was going to have to go to Mr A, I might as well get all my shopping there.

• I will add that I ran out of DC yesterday afternoon and am obviously suffering from withdrawal ....

So ... on to Mr A - not the best use of fuel but cheaper than getting the DC at the local co*op (£2.29 / bottle, I'm not paying that!)

And ... it's a nice drive across country.

So I get there and get a few bits (incl 3 packs of 2 x 450g mince for £10 which is better than the offer at Mr T)but discover there's no beeping cat litter :mad: and got the same story that it'll be in tomorrow - OMG what is it about sm.....

Rant over

So ... now home and into one of the bottles of DC working my way through a choc muffin:o (4 for £1 so just had to have some!) - Cassandra Crossing has just started on TV so will sit down and watch that.

*sigh* at least I can now have Lasagne for dinner (which I've fancied since I got up) and also have 5 packs for the freezer:)

rising_from_the_ashes

So ...... feeling a bit better now (the DC has obviously hit home!).

Must do a bit of tidying up and get the bed changed / washing on (it's gone really dull and rainy here so no chance to get it out) - I started to record the film so will sit down and start watching once I've done the housework!

purpleorchid

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I've copied this from my post on the Grocery Challenge (seemed easier than re-writing it all:o) - apologies to anyone who reads/takes part in both challenges ......

Rant alert .... :mad:

OMG I have just had the most incredibly frustrating couple of hours .....

Went to Mr T armed with voucher - had my 3 chickens for £10 and 3 mince blocks for £10 in the trolley and a couple of other bits and ......

• non Diet C*oke addicts drinkers will think I'm bonkers but other sufferers fans should understand - there was NO DC in the store :eek::eek::eek:

How on earth can they run out? Got a manager who said there was some in the "garage" but when I asked if it could be brought over I was told "no - we're not allowed to do that" .... why? Was told to come back later this afternoon when it would be on the shelves ..... :mad: to which I replied were they going to repay my fuel & time costs ....

Put a couple of other bits in the trolley (she was away getting me a "feedback form") but decided I'd have to go to Mr A anyway - so stomped to the CS desk, left my trolley and left after saying that if I was going to have to go to Mr A, I might as well get all my shopping there.

• I will add that I ran out of DC yesterday afternoon and am obviously suffering from withdrawal ....

So ... on to Mr A - not the best use of fuel but cheaper than getting the DC at the local co*op (£2.29 / bottle, I'm not paying that!)

And ... it's a nice drive across country.

So I get there and get a few bits (incl 3 packs of 2 x 450g mince for £10 which is better than the offer at Mr T)but discover there's no beeping cat litter :mad: and got the same story that it'll be in tomorrow - OMG what is it about sm.....

Rant over

So ... now home and into one of the bottles of DC working my way through a choc muffin:o (4 for £1 so just had to have some!) - Cassandra Crossing has just started on TV so will sit down and watch that.

*sigh* at least I can now have Lasagne for dinner (which I've fancied since I got up) and also have 5 packs for the freezer:)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
sorry rising i know i shouldnt laugh but im not laughing at the situation, im just imagining you in Mr T. hope you have chilled out now hun, enjoy the rest of your day.

Luv P
xx

rising_from_the_ashes

purpleorchid wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
sorry rising i know i shouldnt laugh but im not laughing at the situation, im just imagining you in Mr T. hope you have chilled out now hun, enjoy the rest of your day.

:rotfl:Yup, I'm much more mellow now - the headache I've had since I got up has also gone .... (I have been working on lowering the DC consumption but cold turkey just isn't good :eek:).

Have new found energy - bed's been changed, washing is on and about to go an split the packs of mince for the freezer ... things are looking better already!:)

Thrifty_Sister

For thos ethat were asking about the T's & A'S JTD & Price check vouchers here are the links.

https://www.asdapriceguarantee.co.uk

https://www.tescopricecheck.com

As I said earlier I prefer A's as the vouchers are instant - with T's you get the voucher 1-? however many days later HTH

Thrifty_Sister

purpleorchid wrote: »

thank you TS i think i got the jist of it. im gutted though as i threw my receipt out from yesterday, just went looking through the bin :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:, only to remember that i had shredded it for the cats litter and i certainly wasnt going through that :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
im just going to have to remember now, will take a while of getting used to but i can see it becoming addictive.

Luv P
xx

Its a shame that you threw the receipt away but we've all done it - before we saw the light lol

At least it didn't go completely to waste:D

seriouslyfrugal

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

:rotfl:Yup, I'm much more mellow now - the headache I've had since I got up has also gone .... (I have been working on lowering the DC consumption but cold turkey just isn't good :eek:).:)

Oh rising it wasn't your day was it hun but I do know what you mean they put somthing on offer and then they don't order enough in :mad: :mad: as for the D.C. problem I too have that problem my vice is P. M though - but along the same lines if I don't have a bit each day I get the most horrendous headache & I carn't do anything of any use



Today I have been out and about for a walk around Winchester it has been like a spring day here not at all like february & I managed a nsd :T:T:T

hope everyone is ok - right time to put the kettle on

Erme

Anyone know of a good noob thread about kenwood chefs/food mixers...

Made mashed potato just now (alas the tatties weren't cooked properly - half disaster) and only put it on a low speed (max 3) but it made a chug chug chugging noise.....like the motor was straining...was it my potatos or nothing to worry about?

E