Anyone fancy joining me in a challenge.. Champagne lifestyle on a lemonade budget

lessonlearned

Thanks for that - will check them out.

Jodielee

I was in my local Boots today & they had a clearance section - got myself some new bourjois foundation and bourjois blusher for £1 each! check your local boots, they might have a similar offer!

delia0427

Love the title of this challenge it is the story of my life so far.

Due to be in dire straits with my finances and son just started university. I have started going to mr t's shopping at late as i can on a thursday night and it has resulted in some great bargains. But i am glad to say that i never on my own shopping at that time of night everyone is trying to get a bargain.

When my son comes home is asks why does everything in the fridge now have a yellow sticker on it reduced. But it is not doing us any harm and our pockets are feeling the benefit, so i will continue doing it.

My best bargain so far has been pork ribs reduced from £4.59 to £0.26 and they were absolutely gorgeous. A full cooked chicken reduced from £4.40 to £1. New jersey potatoes reduced from £1.99 a bag to £0.20.
Every week is a surprise and so i will continue for the thrill and the comfort that i still have a bit of money left in my pocket at the end.

Will be following this challenge with interest.

nannyboo1

Skintslimmer wrote: »

First >50% saving mader today - 100% saving on not buying ant killer. We had one or two so I duly wrapped up anything vaguely sugary in the cupboard, wiped everything down and thought no more of it. My normally clean freak housemate left the kitchen bin overflowing last night and on the very top was an empty desert packet, which had attracted them in hoardes. I googled for a solution instead of just going out to buy it, all of the ingredients I already have at home. Basically I'm going to mop the floor with bleach, wipe the surfaces with vinegar (well, probably use a mixture of both on both!) and put talc and neat bleach down where I think they are coming in. Result!
.

Another good thing for ants is cloves apparently

Good luck with your challenge

Spendless

Get to know your own town/city. Mine has an independant clothes shop that sells seconds/end of lines and overstocks on baby, children and occassional adult wear. In the past I have bought clothes originally sold in BHS, Gap and Debenhams and paid less than half the price.

My local Mr T has a charity book stall where you can donate any books, if you want to buy one then you put something in their charity box. I have had hard backed books from there before.

Also look out for coupons. Today I had a facial in Lush for free. :j because I spotted a coupon in my local weekly paper that i always buy. I wasn't pushed to buy any products either. I've jsut been looking at the discount coupons board on this site and there's a printable coupon for the restaurant in BHS. Some of them are for a free meal (on a set day) when buying a hot beverage.

Skintslimmer

Hi all, and thanks for showing interest in the thread. Thought I was overdue to update you all.

I have made a beef stew, based on the recipe used in the hotel I work in. Theirs cost £15.99 per portion.

Ingredients I used:
A half price veg stew pack (50p)
A 10p reduced pack of chopped swede
3 packets of reduced from half price to 75p meatballs in the co-op
2 beef stock cubes (about 4p as they were in a reduced to 10p packet via approved foods)
pepper (pennies)
The insides of a celery, a bit of frozen garlic and a sad carrot
A marrow bone from the butchers

I boiled the veg, cooked the meatballs in the oven when it was on for some burgers, and used the veg water in the slow cooker with the marrow bone, celery garlic and sad carrot for 24 hours. Cooled, skimmed off fat, strained. Cooked veg, meatballs and some reduced button mushrooms in the stock, as well as adding a bottle of wine (3 for £10) simmering it all down until it was thicker. Voila: beef stew, the stock made with the bone makes it taste superb. it has been portioned up and will be chilled for 24 hours to develop flavour before freezing.

What else have I been up to.. Oh, bought Mr Kipling individually wrapped lemon slices 2 for £2 to take one to college each day instead of the cupcake I tend to buy likewise flask of coffee instead of nice but £1 a go latte.

Invited a friend who does massage over, and we swapped massage/reiki treatments, and had a gorgeous facepack (a birthday gift I hadn't opened). That was a lovely spa type evening for free.

oh, and ants update: Mopping the floor with bleach works... thank goodness!

System

oh, and ants update: Mopping the floor with bleach works... thank goodness!

It does, however, be warned you will have to replace your mop head a lot sooner than you do normally.

I love cleaning my floor with hot water with bleach in but i was buying mop heads every few weeks as the bleach made them disintegrate quicker.:o

[Deleted User]

I have been using the Sainsburys basic shampoo and conditioner for the past year and its very good value and works fine for me My hair is always squeeky clean and shiny I decant it into a couple of 'smart bottles' as my DGD goes nuts if she sees anything with 'basic' written on it and would go out and buy a big bottle of something more expensive(even though she's a student, she always has a look around when she comes to my house at what I've bought :))

blackandwhitebunny

I think we already do this in some ways. I definitely have champagne tastes in fruit and manage this on a lemonade budget in two main ways. I use our local market 6 peaches for £1, large watermelon for £2, seedless grapes £1 and I shop in siansbugs at 2.30pm on Sundays. I frequently come away with a bag full of exotic stuff at 25p an item. I think these are often left as people don't know what they are or how to eat them and aren't going to splash out £2 or £3 to find out. A lot of it is labelled ripe and ready to eat but still needs a day or two before it really is.:D

mineallmine

This is an interesting thread

Toileteries et al
I know my weaknesses are toiletries/cosmetics and stuff for the home. I did the Challenge on here to use up my stash/stocks of toiletries and popped a quid into a tin every time I did so. So if you have too many of anything - perhaps that's a useful challenge. As you don't need to spend but get to deliberately pamper yourself with stuff you already have

Cake!
On the Mr Kipling cake thing (cake!!) - I used to buy Tesco's 4 pack of Chocolate chip muffins (about £1.20p ish I think). Then individually wrap them in a plastic bag and freeze them. Then on the day I needed them took them out with me to work (or wherever) and they defrost superquick. So that may be a good idea - you get to enjoy nice stuff but not at say Starbucks prices Or clearly better still make some yourself (the recipes on the site are brill). I also use the BBC food site too for ideas. Or of course you could join your local library and get books out for free to source some lovely recipes for cake.

Stew - butchers
I grew up on stew, there was always something bubbling away! And I've found that it's cuts like neck of lamb (with bones still on) that give the best flavour. And from my local butchers I buy about £3s worth for a stew. Now in Mr T/Asda etc, they often do meat stewpacks but the meat isn't as good value for money. Do you have any butchers near you? My tip is to get there early say on a Saturday morning and you'll find they're more accommodating.

Best of luck :A