Simple living in our tiny 500 sq ft cottage, on our way to becoming mortgage free.

EchoDelta

Good luck GemDoll! Congratulations on the over payment. Will be subscribing

GemDoll

Thank you for the welcomes/congratulations!

Me and DH are eating once the children are in bed tonight and it will be a frugal dinner. I made a loaf of bread yesterday evening, which I will be using some of to make cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches with cucumber etc and a hard boiled egg. The tomato and cucumber came from my sister green house. We've also got some strawberries to finish up which were given to DH from work and some chocolate which was bought back from France. So all in all, a pretty frugal evening. It seems a bit chilly tonight and looks quite dusky outside, so I've got my quilts and blankets on the sofa and plan on making a hot water bottle to stay cosy. I have my book to read and I'll probably watch something I've taped on the telly!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Sounds like a lovely evening and quite similar to mine. Good luck on your journey from a fellow minimalist,

Squirrel

Crumpets

Hi Gemdoll, welcome to MFW and good luck with your journey. I'll be following your diary with interest as we're also interested in streamlining our house and getting rid of a lot of the stuff we have acquired. I'm also interested in how you manage to eat organically frugally.

Crumpets x

GemDoll

Hi everyone!
Just over payed that £50 DH promised me for September to go on top of what we have already over payed. I paid cash over the nationwide counter so the lady said it would come straight off the mortgage. :j

I popped into Neal's yard to try and get six organic eggs for £1.80 but the Neal's yard farmers who supply the eggs are on holiday :mad:
They're cheaper to buy here than Waitrose. Instead I got them for £1.90 from Sainsburys which is still cheaper than Waitrose. Also got organic chopped tomatoes from Tesco's. I lucky that our terraced cottage is an old workers cottage so is very central in town and close to all the supermarkets so we can shop around. We've never looked at mark downs though late a night because I've assumed it probably wouldn't be on organic produce...

Also got organic self raising flour from Tesco's, again cheaper than Waitrose.

We will do the rest of our shop in Waitrose tomorrow, their best of British organic apples are reduced at £1.66 a bag, I hope I can get some!

Another frugal meal tonight, I'm making a 7inch quiche for the four of us with tomatoes from sister's green house. Potatoes and runner beans from FIL allotment and some carrots from last weeks shop. Still practising with baking quiches and learning to bake blind etc so it doesn't have a soggy bottom! This morning at 7am I made a big batch of flapjack for us and the kids, half of it got chomped at lunch so we'll have the rest for our lunch time 'pudding' tomorrow. Next time I bake it I'm going to reduce the amount of sugar/butter/golden syrup as I don't think it needs so much so that will make the recipe more frugal.

Once the children are in bed we're watching a Love Film DVD 'beautiful creatures' looks a bit like Vampire Diaries or something like that...il be under my quilts and sipping herbal tea like usual and relaxing...:)

Off to make pastry...

GemDoll

:DForgot to say, while I was in town I got a 'standby' haircut for £14.00. I used to pay £40, not anymore!

newgirly

Hi gemdoll just wanted to say hi and welcome. sounds like you are off to a great start already! I am guessing you have already looked into it but have you thought of trying a veg box, I am veggie (rest of family not though) and did have a riverford one for a while. The seasonal one was around £13 a box and was not a bad amount for the price paid and its all organic.:D

nattypants

racing_blue wrote: »

I like you already!

What do you think of this sort of approach to personal finance?
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/09/20/wealth-advice-that-should-be-obvious/

GemDoll wrote: »

Thank you
I loved the article by the way. So many good points. We gave up playing the lottery several years ago... I was nodding my head the whole time I was reading it.

Dark_Star wrote: »

This dates from 2007 but even more relevant now....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/spend-spend-spend-its-no-way-to-happiness/2007/09/25/1190486307021.html

For those pondering...a doona is the Australian for duvet cover

I'm not against the lottery IF done occasionally for fun using lucky dip numbers. That way you can buy one perhaps to add in to a birthday card & not worry if you don't buy it week in & week out.

Happy living everyone

Such interesting articles - thank you for sharing.
Re the lottery, my parents played the same two lines from the first Saturday draw back in 1994 (made up of birthday dates, house numbers, years lived in house, number of years married etc. etc.) Unfortunately both parents have passed away, however every Saturday I have religiously 'played' the lines and guess what? Other than a random £10 win I have estimated that approximately £3880 in total has been gambled away - not including the years of thunderball included games - the giant finger has pointed nowhere near my family, or my friends, or anyone I even remotely know.
Guess what I will be no longer spending my Saturdays doing;)

All the very best GemDoll, your life sounds idyllic.

NP

ajmoney

Welcome, I am looking forward to following your diary. I am not nearly as frugal as you but I am gradually working on it.

I love those articles.

GemDoll

Hi everyone!

The food shopping was a frugal success this weekend, managed to spend under £50 for the weeks shopping and managed to get staples like organic peanut butter and honey, two jars of Nutella ( that one isn't organic I know...) some organic plain flour for store cupboard today etc etc, I was happy to get the best of British organic apples for £1.66 that I was after...so as we put £70 cash in the 'food purse' for the week I am hoping to overpay £20 on the mortgage once we step into October to get the ball rolling :T

Our frugal meal tonight was roasted cherry/plum tomatoes and lightly saut!ed sliced courgette and garlic mixed in pasta with grated cheese and basil and a (non organic) cheap garlic bread stick from Tesco's which are amazing value at approx 30p. Tomatoes were from sisters garden yesterday and the courgette was from FIl. Enough tomatoes/courgettes left in fridge for the same again another night this week. Even the children ate it:D we buy our organic pasta from Waitrose at 99p for 500g.

I popped two loads of laundry outside for a good blow today and am finishing it on in the dryer now as we speak as it was still damp in places.

While I was at my sisters yesterday, she let my pick some apples of her tree so I might attempt an apple pie this week. Still haven't got the pastry totally worked out yet though, my quiche the other night had a soggy bottom :mad: don't know what I'm doing wrong. We still ate it though! :rotfl: refuse to throw away food. I'm going to keep on trying!

The film last night with my husband was great, because it was about witches etc we turned out the lights and it was so cosy and nice watching it together

Once the children are in bed (in an hour and ten minutes...not that I'm counting ) I'm planning on listing something on ebay, reading my book and watching an episode of something I've recorded...maybe Grand Designs or 90210 or something...before going to sleep at 9! I need a lot of sleep! I love. Beverly Hills 90210.... I sound like a teen...I actually in my early thirties...:o