Living on next to nought - is that the key?

little_sweetie

Good morning Greying and chums :wave:

I am so glad you had the kind of Christmas you wanted, GP, it sounds wonderful and I am sooo envious...I have never seen a Goldcrest either I do think that picnics are making a come back. Whenever I go out with DD and the tiddlers we always take food with us. The tiddlers are so picky anyway that any bought food gets wasted. It's far preferable to share stuff that everyone will eat and why spend a fortune on fizzy pop when a carton of Valoo juice is better for you?

little_sweetie - I love that you have money left out of your
grocery budget! You've done far better than me this month - I have zero and the kettle has just gone kaput! Because I was looking through the thread for when we bought this kettle - I said over 1 yr, DP said under (he was right), I found your first post to the thread. Do you think you've moved mountains this year? I do I know that there are potentially worrying times ahead for your DD & family in 2015, but I really, really do hope that you've had a wonderful time of celebration together and that good things come along for you all in 2015. Fingers crossed!

Thank you, GP, I do feel much more confident about the future now. This is entirely down to you and the chums who have provided me with so much inspiration that I have made every penny s-t-r-e-t-c-h since I found your wonderful thread. I had saved 'left over' food money in a little pot towards the Christmas splurge but found I didn't need it, hence the £30 surplus :T OH decided that he had a craving for PORK for Boxing Day :shocked::shocked: He bought (to me) a huge bit of leg and I made him cook it himself as there is no way I would eat any of it :cool: DD, SiL and the tiddlers ate a bit on a bap with some homemade stuffing but it left a huge amount to use up. Normally I would have chucked it out today but I have steeled myself to carve it up and put portions into plastic boxes, covered it with gravy and will now freeze it for another day :money: I just knew that other pilgrim-ers would NOT have chucked it! There is nothing in the fridge which needs binning because I bought enough and no more. This is how I mean to go on in 2015. Our bills will be rolling in soon and I know that they will, in the main, have increased although our income has not. DD will need our help too probably and I need to feel that we can help.

Hiya sugarpuss ! Welcome to the most inspiring, practical and funny bunch of pilgrim-ers ever

Big hugs GP, hope your day is super x

in_need_of_direction

Hey sweetie,it's not just gp who's an inspiration. Thanks for posting. Am off to freeze some soup!

sugarpuss27

Hi Supersaver1000:hello: Thanks for the warm welcome.... I like it here do we have to go back to RL:D
Afternoon little_sweetie:hello: you are so right about the followers on here, they sound amazing. :T:T
I know what you mean about buying what you need and making it stretch. OH wanted a leg of lamb the week before Christmas it lasted us several days, used in different ways. Roast dinner with all the trimmings, made a delish stew with some of the leftovers had with mash and veg. The rest was made into a dish based on JamieO, Korean Stir Fried Rice (not the eggs) from his Save with book. I made stock with the bones, some onion, carrot, bay leaves and celery which is in the freezer for future use. I love the challenge of making things last as long as possible. It's what my Mum did for most of her life through necessity, we never went hungry she was an amazing cook and could make something from very little. We may not have had much but we were warm, fed and loved. The older I get the more important those things seem to become and the material stuff matter so much less. Sorry off on a tangent... as I am prone to do!:D
Sun is brightly shining here, have a lovely rest of the day all.

Greying_Pilgrim

Hi sugarpuss - glad to have you along

I have however, decided to start a new diary - I need a slight change of focus for the future.

You can find me at Living richly; simply and debt freely now

If you'd like to hitch along for the ride, you'd be more than welcome.

Thank you to everyone that has supported me on this diary. I greatly appreciate you support. If you make your way over to the new diary, that would be grand.

Greying

satchmo1

I'm scuttling off to new diaryville... wait for me!!!

Busymumofthreeplusdog

On my way!

Firewalker

Hey friend!

GP, it's great to reconnect. And I'm glad you liked the post about my grandmother - she was quite a character and it wasn't all good either. And you know, I think that many of us could start applying some of the points I made in this post.

I probably can't grow my own food (though, who knows; five years ago I didn't understand money either). But I've been trying to simplify my life and reduce our consumption. So on this one I agree with you: what we can aspire to is not consuming more cheaply but reducing our consumption (without loss of quality). I think this is the next thing I'll be tackling over on The Money Principle.

Keep it up, my friend; you are doing really well.

Firewalker

Upsidedown_Bear

Firewalker wrote: »

Hey friend!

GP, it's great to reconnect. And I'm glad you liked the post about my grandmother - she was quite a character and it wasn't all good either. And you know, I think that many of us could start applying some of the points I made in this post.

I probably can't grow my own food (though, who knows; five years ago I didn't understand money either). But I've been trying to simplify my life and reduce our consumption. So on this one I agree with you: what we can aspire to is not consuming more cheaply but reducing our consumption (without loss of quality). I think this is the next thing I'll be tackling over on The Money Principle.

Keep it up, my friend; you are doing really well.

Firewalker

Greying has a new diary
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5142119

Firewalker

Thanks. I decided to post on this one but have been reading the other one with interest.

Firewalker