2014 Frugal Living Challenge

mummy2threeboys

Hi all hope alls well? Yay its friday!! I have 2 social engagements tonight is craft night at a friends , and tommorrow is fortnightly knitting/crochet club ..both are free or as near as

GOLDIEGIRL (hope thats right) you do not need to buy the yogurt sachets you can make your own yogurt using uht carton milk ..whole is better as it comes out thicker. Plus its a lot cheaper and healthier than the easyio sachets..i also found the sachets stuff had a weird kibbled rubbery stringy texture like slightly drying pva glue ? To make your own keep a carton out of the fridge room temp or heat it a little if you like , and add a tablespoon of live yogurt mixed in as your starter..leave overnight and vola natural yogurt ..takes up to 24 hours ..and save a tablespoon of this mix for next batch as its now live ..if its a bit runny heat it a little more again and leave it on the side it should thicken up more xx

Mrs_Cheshire

May have to give your yogurt recipe a try, as my boys love yogurt!

nannygladys

Feeling like Im starting to get the hang of this frugal life. I have been paid today and allocated monies to various pots, then went to Ald@ for a few bits and only bought what was on my list, I don't usually shop there and was pleasantly surprised!!


Washing all done yesterday and dried on the dryer as it was too wet outside and decided not to do any ironing unless necessary!


Having DGD this weekend to stay whilst her mom works so I will enjoy that and have a few freeby things to keep her occupied, and will pop her over to DD3 so she can see her newish cousin.


So on the whole its going really well and to be honest I haven't had to change too much yet, Ive even got my car ins renewal down by over £100, so Im paying cash and putting some away each month for next year, anyway off to reheat my bean stew up for tea, I made it yesterday and it will last me a few days, gone are the days of having different meals every night
nannyg

hollieinbloom

Evening all, been awol for a week or so!. Ordered from Tesco and will arrive tonight. Spent £65 but paid £50 as I had a £15 off a £60 shop. Stocked up on bread flour and peanut butter (it's like gold in this house! lol). Also got some bits in to be able to make our own pizza as we now how the bread maker to make the pizza dough in. Will try it out next week!.

I'm going to town with a friend tomorrow for a coffee so I will be hitting the 99p shop to find some storage boxes. I want to re-organise the airing cupboard and my kitchen cupboards. I've been looking on pinterest for ideas and it blows my mind with ideas. I lose about 3 hours of my day looking at pictures on there! lol. Got DD a chippy tea tonight. You can get a tray of chips, a fishcake and beans for £1 here so she had that for a treat. Me and OH are going to wait for the tesco delivery to come before we have dinner. Got to wait for it to come between 8pm-9pm!! We'll probably be ransacking the cupboards before it comes! lol xx

Mint1955

Omg talk about light bulb....... I have a prescription pre payment certificate so far so good as I have oesteoporosis and high cholesterol so three lots of meds all the time. Well I have just realised that in my laziness I haven't taken any tablets at all for ages which in itself is not good but that I am paying £10.40 a month for the privilege!!!!!!!

Also managed to spend in Costa and buy a book already which goes against what I had decided so I really need to get a grip.

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

Friday!! And oh good god I've got a weekend off!! No uni work, no work work either - so am going to catch up with myself, sort few bits out and read!! Not been able to read for pleasure for a while as had head stuck in uni books. So this will be a lovely change. Hoping to spend NOTHING this weekend.

Nice tea tonight - leftover rice and noodles from last night which I'm going to stir fry and have with a veggie jalfrezi that was yellow stickered in Arseda and frozen a couple of weeks ago. Also still got lots of Chrimbo booze knocking around this house so think I'll crack open a bottle of red too!

Out of interest - in my town, we have two shops that sell items for a pound - one is a 'world' and the other is a 'land'. I've deffo used these type of shops before, thinking I was getting a bargain but I'm not so sure. Are PoundUniverse/Land/World shops a Frugal 14 saviour? Or is it still best to shop around, do you think??

Goldiegirl

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

GOLDIEGIRL (hope thats right) you do not need to buy the yogurt sachets you can make your own yogurt using uht carton milk ..whole is better as it comes out thicker. Plus its a lot cheaper and healthier than the easyio sachets..i also found the sachets stuff had a weird kibbled rubbery stringy texture like slightly drying pva glue ? To make your own keep a carton out of the fridge room temp or heat it a little if you like , and add a tablespoon of live yogurt mixed in as your starter..leave overnight and vola natural yogurt ..takes up to 24 hours ..and save a tablespoon of this mix for next batch as its now live ..if its a bit runny heat it a little more again and leave it on the side it should thicken up more xx

Thank you !


We are using the sachets to get us started, but it was on my agenda to start 'growing our own' so I have made a note of what you said to try


I've been thinking of what else I might need to help with the frugal life, and I thought a stick blender would be useful, especially when I start making soups. I was completely surprised to find out I already had one! A few years ago, I bought an electric whisk thing, and the stick blender is part of that. :j


No other real news, as I've been at work, but I've had 2 NSD's

pinkglittery

Hi! thought I would join in as I am also trying to be super frugal!

@skintygerlinky I dont recon much to all the pound shops, seems you get less or worse quality stuff,.. im sure I heard once that there are a gazillion factories in china that make the "branded" stuff, so in fact you don't get branded things at all! not sure about that though!

yay friday! staying in all weekend to save money just me the man and netflix I think maybe a cheeky bottle of red tomorrow.

DawnW

Thank goodness it is Friday - nightmare day at work, and I got soaked walking back from the station this evening

Succumbed to a blueberry muffin this morning to cheer me up

OH paid the window cleaner and had to get some cash out for his various pursuits today, so not a NSD.

Looking forward to the weekend as I am shattered. I have some bits to do for my small business tomorrow, and I suspect, look after baby GD for a while to give her mum a break as she has been poorly after her jabs and wouldn't sleep at all last night

At least OH did some housework today, and there was ham, egg and chips for tea Not very diet conscious, but comfort food!

littleskintdragon

Needed to spend today on toilet roll & deoderant! Couldnt really go without either.

Made chicken biryani for tea, really simple and used up some curry paste i had on half, probably have enough left for another meal. It was really yummy 2!

Trying to get ds to sleep now, think he will be starting solids soon so thats a bit more cost. Luckily i have the soup maker which will be perfect for making portions of baby food and can be used as a blender 2.

No spendy plans for the weekend, dont need any food etc or anything for the house so fingers crossed itll be a ns weekend! Been invited to a party in my parents house tomorrow night, and sunday is breakfast with one set of parents and dinner with the other so always day i dont need to buy for

Have had a fairly expensive week, despite only being at around £30 for food (will total on sunday!) needed to pay dd's gymnastic fees and a few expensive bits. Have decided to keep weekly totals and mothly totals of spends. I need to use the first few months as a guide of where i spend mostly. Then i can hopefully cut back some more!