2014 Frugal Living Challenge

skintygerlinky

Evening you lovely people xx

Oh thanks for nice supportive posts due to bad day yesterday! And of course you're right - had a better day today!
Only spent £2.70 today on bus fair to work and got a lift back! Took own sandwiches in, lovely egg mayo and salad. Young people I work with said it was smelly but I don't care they were lovely haha!! Youth of today, what do they know!!

Got my spa day tomorrow, courtesy of lovely friend. Really good chance to catch up with friends and apparently need £6 for lunch. Not buying any health and beauty lotions or potions at the spa "for a treat" as a) I don't need any and b) oh yeah..I can't afford them!! So that's THAT!!

Love hearing everyone's inventive recipes on here. I've got leftover vac packed chestnuts from Xmas and a 39p cabbage from Aldini - I remembered a recipe I had and made for cabbage and chestnut lasagne and I agree - sounds vile but I'm sure I remember it was lovely. Let's see when I make it on Sunday!!

Also got a couple of big bars of choc, a bag of mini marshmallows and a few biscuits knocking around...so, come on fellow Frugalites, how do I make rocky road???

Buffythedebtslayer

Evening Ladies


IT'S FRIDAY!


so 4 servings of soup are frozen along with 3 tubs of stock. I have eaten out of the freezer tonight, fish and chips.


bought car insurance. that was expensive!


Need to get new car tomorrow, and a rabbit I am fostering. Also have a friend visiting in the evening hoping we can eat from the freezer.....was going to bake a cake....


also need to do some marking and clean out animals and tidy up upstairs.


hmmmm. oh dear.


xxx

skintygerlinky

Just signed up to smartswaps. Cheers!!

chirpycheap

Have had a huge bag of TVP stuck in my cupboard for an age so I decided to use some for tea to make a TVP vegetable stew in the slow cooker. It was actually very nice and much cheaper than Quorn which I think has got very expensive!
Still really enjoying my frugal efforts.
Have switched off the TV a bit more (saving electricity) and been reading some of my book mountain. I have saved a fortune by avoiding buying books and magazines, Although I rarely paid full price and often bought books second hand it all adds up. I tend to buy lots of 'good literature' and then end up reading the latest easy read best seller so I am determined to get through the big pile of 'heavier fiction'! I also spend a fortune on magazines and the joy of visiting the discount supermarkets is that the magazines aren't there to tempt me.

Also enjoying how much easier it is to pack and put away your shopping when you only buy what you need. No longer am I trying to shoehorn the shopping into my fridge and cupboards. I can see what we've got and I know exactly what meals we are going to have.

Just_be_2

After missing a few days and a lot of posts I've finally caught up on reading. The frugality has been going great- I haven't been spending! A NSD today and yesterday only spent a few pounds on mother and toddler group, bread, butter and milk and a Take a Break magazine. All essentials and the magazine is 87p a week and has a huge amount of high value prizes which I enjoy doing so that's my 'treat' an one day I could get lucky? No need for a big shop yet as we're still eating out of freezer/cupboards- think we have enough for another fortnight! I've been having a bit of a flap as although I haven't been spending I've been awful at recording my cash flow so really felt in a bit of a mess. I've sat down this evening with a notebook I hadn't used yet and I've set myself up a way of recording every in an out and I'm really happy that I know where I am now. Luckily I got this sussed now that we're only in the first month

vw_campervan_mum

Have been looking out your forums Frugaldom. Enjoyed rejigging my supposed budget - keeps me busy and it is free!

Groceries @ £1200
Petrol/Travel @ £600
Campervan (Ins, MOT, Road Tax etc) @ £600
Holidays @ £600
Presents @ £600
Fun @ £360
Total: £ £3,960

I have not included rent and council tax @ £7000
Nor gas/elec (£1200), or internet/phones (£840). Will have to look at ways of reducing these when contracts end.

I have a campervan and all my family live the opposite end of the country to me so that accounts for a lot of travel/holidays in the budget. Fingers crossed I don't need extra garage costs this year :eek:

Will also be trying to make more presents this year.

Have stuck to budgets so far - thanks for all the great ideas so far everyone :A

vw_campervan_mum

chirpycheap wrote: »

Have had a huge bag of TVP stuck in my cupboard for an age so I decided to use some for tea to make a TVP vegetable stew in the slow cooker. It was actually very nice and much cheaper than Quorn which I think has got very expensive!
Still really enjoying my frugal efforts.
Have switched off the TV a bit more (saving electricity) and been reading some of my book mountain. I have saved a fortune by avoiding buying books and magazines, Although I rarely paid full price and often bought books second hand it all adds up. I tend to buy lots of 'good literature' and then end up reading the latest easy read best seller so I am determined to get through the big pile of 'heavier fiction'! I also spend a fortune on magazines and the joy of visiting the discount supermarkets is that the magazines aren't there to tempt me.

Also enjoying how much easier it is to pack and put away your shopping when you only buy what you need. No longer am I trying to shoehorn the shopping into my fridge and cupboards. I can see what we've got and I know exactly what meals we are going to have.

Feel like your twin here
Have decided to only get books from charity shop or library or swaps with friends. Also sold old ones on Zapper. My kitchen cupboards have never looked so organized as I only have what I am going to use. I have old magazines that I "re-read" as they all just re-cycle same ideas. Since Christmas found recipes for whatever odd ingredients I have so nothing is wasted.

afoolwithmoney

Have been so busy sorting so many aspects of my life I haven't had time to spend any money! Only 17 days into this year but Im feeling far more in control of things than I have for a very long time..Thank you everyone so many tips & advice...Who needs magazines?

Florenceem

Still using stocks here to avoid spending money. Fresh veggies stock getting a bit low but I have packs of beetroot in my food stash.
I have some of the casserole left over from dinner yesterday. I plan to turn it into a shepherd's pie by adding some mixed veg - FF + tin of baked beans. Plenty of potatoes to make the topping.

Frugalsod

Well with a lot of todays veg box, some items from my stock cupboard and some beef in the freezer I am planning to make a huge chilli in my slow cooker tomorrow for Sunday. So that will be a lot of meals prepared.