2014 Frugal Living Challenge

LolaLemon

kb_soma wrote: »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B0040B1C70/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new the top listing, free delivery £3.

ETA This: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Silvine-Keeping-Notebook-Analysis-Column/dp/B002L2261G/ref=sr_1_15?s=officeproduct&ie=UTF8&qid=1389697835&sr=1-15&keywords=ledger+book £1.75 free postage, but no pic of the insides/pages.

Thank you! i actually couldnt think what they where called to go hunting. Again thank you!

kb_soma

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

I have a lot of manky bits of chicken left in the saucepan?
xx

You will need to pick out the good bits, I keep the meat from the bones, throw away the jellyish stuff, chicken skin and cartilage. also, skim as the stock boils as you will get brown scum on the top of the stock - sounds so appealing, doesn't it?

You're better off waiting for the carcass to cool a bit before picking the meat off.

TM6

kb_soma wrote: »

I was hoping for a NSD yesterday, but had to buy cold and flu sachets (yuck) for the OH, got these for 69p (b00ts value health) and paracetamol for my handbag 19p. Had to put in £1 for collection at work, so £1.88 spent.

Took lunch to work.

For tea, we had half a cabbage shredded up with egg stir fried and rice, one of my favourite meals - sounds strange.

Recipe for anyone that's interested:
Chop 1 clove garlic
Beat 2 eggs with soy sauce and white pepper.
Shred half a cabbage (or chop, whatever)

Heat wok
- Add 1 tsp oil
- Fry garlic until brown
- Add cabbage to wok, I put a pan lid over the wok to steam the cabbage a bit.
- Once cabbage wilted slightly, push to the side of the wok.
- Add the egg mix to the wok, mixing around a bit until egg is cooked.
- Stir all together and serve

As I said, I have this with white rice. I keep cooking oil in a spray bottle so that when I use it, I just squirt it in the pan. This is also great for roasted veg and saves loads of oil!

Yummy, I think I will give that a try

TM6

2nd NSD in a row - I'm on a roll - another £5 into my 'pot of dreams' :dance:

miss_empty_piggy

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

so after further reading here


http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/popular-ingredients/chicken/jewish-chicken-soup-08-01-10




I rescued the carcass and it is currently boiling away happily on the hob....


I left everything else in the slow cooker and will add the chicken stock (from the hob) in, am going to end up with LOTS of stock/soup!


xx

I've not read ahead so sorry if this has already been said. I usually shove the carcass into the slow cooker and leave it on overnight/all day. Then fish out the bones peeling off any meat then add the veg and stock and whatever else you want in there and leave it for another few hours depending on how crunchy you like your veg.

hope that helps x

KazLA

So so happy with my first shopping day!!! (First of the year and also since starting spending freeze to replace savings used for planned purchase last yr)

Took back a present planned for nieces bir - it was reduced from 9.99 to 3.99, but it didn't look hardly worth 3.99 and I had already spent £12/15. Instead I got an annual from the works down to £1 and a hello kitty play dough for 99p. Realised I had voucher for 65p from signing up to reward card. I hadn't printed voucher, but they could take it off card, so £1.34 spent instead of £3.99. Normally wouldn't hv worried, but every penny counts!

Bought 5 cards for £1 in card factory, all planned for certain people as I made a list for the year and keep in my wallet, only needed 3 today, so was able to look at the list and decide on the other 2 - would hv normally picked up a couple of 'spares', that may not hv been suitable for anyone in particular & sat in the drawer.

Then look back a girls bike bell to halfords (DD already has one - DH got it free on O2 moments) and changed it for one for my bike.

DH needed a belt & got one half price from Debenhams with his Xmas money, so I got him to use my Love to Shop vouchers from RM Surveys and give me the money. I was able to use that to buy a swim suit from sports direct for 7.99, which I desperately needed, as mine has gone really thin & I swim twice a week.

Went out with £2 in my wallet, came back with £2. Refund of 3.99 on card, and spent £1 on card. All those goodies and I think I am about £3 up! (Some love 2 shop vouchers down, but had had them for ages & ended up using the money for essentials that I needed).

THEN went to Debenhams and both had free hot choc & cream courtesy of twitter offer!!

Finished off by buying essentials, bread, milk, coffee, spread from Tescos with £10 voucher from sun+ offer that we hadn't been able to use online.

And I'm still buzzing!

KazLA

Just noticed I'm up to 99 posts - how many do I need for 2 stars?? This will be 100, hoping that covers it!

EDIT - no obviously not!

KazLA

bassitt74 wrote: »

I got into the habit of always asking for a receipt last year. Found an app called 'spending'. You add the date , amount , category and note, for each item on each receipt, input entries for income, refunds, discounts etc and it'll not only tell you what you have left but you can export the data as a spread sheet.

That helps me work out how much of any one item I use in a year eg cosmetics. I bought 4 each of foundation, face powder and mascara as I use at least that much and are the most often used items. Ordered from boots when they were having a discount and saved 30% for a years supply. I got a costco card last week and each week will start to buy a years supply of 2-3 items. I won't buy too much as I will have already logged how much I use in a year and will be able to make more savings. I don't have masses of storage space so that will be a nice little challenge for me to be creative.

I only have <£100 of debt left so that should be finally cleared in the next 4-6 weeks. Finally will be debt free! For 2014

Like the sound of that app, must see if something similar is available on android

Flutterby83

Hi everyone, haven't really managed to catch up on the thread (will do that later whilst watching a certain baking programme!) but thought I'd check in whilst I'm in between school runs. I paid the first 'extra' payment off c/c 1 today and I have to say, it feels good! I fully admit that I am a shopaholic so my partner hiding my cards was the best decision I could have made as I had an urge to go and spend it again, but instead I gutted my girl's room and carried on with knitting my youngest a tunic hope everyone has had a good day!

Goldiegirl

I did a mega batch cook today


There's just the two of us, and normally I cook 4 portions, and freeze the other 2 for another time.


The meat I used today would normally yield 12 portions. With my batch cook, by adding more veg I achieved 16 portions


So I now have in the freezer 4 x cottage pie, 4 x Bolognese sauce, 8 x chilli con carne ( my favourite )


Good points
money saving
Meals now cooked, so will save time in future
Feeling of satisfaction


Bad points
Veg preparation - next time, I will see if I can remember how my ancient food processor works
Washing up - that was a pain


I went a bit berserk with the chopped carrots - there was enough to feed an army ! The surplus has also gone in the freezer


I'm meeting my friend when she finishes work. We normally meet about once a month for coffee and a toasted sandwich. I'm also eBaying things on her behalf (we share the proceeds). She says she has another batch of stuff, so I'll collect the things from her