2014 Frugal Living Challenge

lovefullshelves

Managed to not buy a dress in the sale yesterday! And was even careful in poundland, lots of good old soap and shampoo, no treats.
Bought enough Daz to last till nearly xmas as it was £1.99. And as a dermititus(that looks wrong!) sufferer when I find a detergent that doesn't hurt me I stick with it! And its normally £4!
This week, as we have a gammon lump from aldi, it'll be recipes involving ham...
So, slices of ham and 'salad' and pot salad on mon,
Leek and ham gratin (grow the leeks and pots so thats a cheapy) on tues.
Leftover chicken from last week from the freezer makes fried rice on wed,
The rest of the leftover froz chicken from last week , some ham and pastry for a chicken and ham pie on thurs.
And a treat on friday of a £2 pizza with HM potato wedges as DS's G/F is coming round! Leftover-tastic:D
As I grew too much purple sprouting broccoli to sell(little roadside stall, only a few customers) dehydrated it to use later in the year as a flavour with rice, pasta and in quiches. If I can't sell it we have to eat it!
Lunches will be soup this week as I got 2 nice loaves for £1.60.
Homegrown leeks and potato soup:) made with dried milk as its on the shelves! (or maybe celery soup from the freezer if I get fed up with leek!)
Really gotta get my OH and DS used to living on less. Tried talking to OH about money but it goes in one ear then he forgets!
He has now started to pay me back when he puts ridiculous things in the trolly though:D today was a gauge from aldi and batteries! As we left he said 'Have you got your purse', no,I have a money bag so I can't spend more than I want to!!
And I'm not taking DS anymore, he really is bad with 'can I just' items!
Hope everyone is staying warm and dry x

calleyw

only a little spendy day.

Got my sofas and chair today :j Bought the chap I got it off a box of £6 thorntons as a thank you. And furniture was free. But a nightmare to get in the house LOL!!! good old dad scraping the paint off and has taken a door off and left it off as he wants his drill to put the screws back in :rotfl:

Suppose to be off for a date tonight as well need to go and scrub up in a while. So a spend on a coffee or two I expect.

So less than a tenner spend excluding fuel today and no spend yesterday :j

Yours

Calley

Florenceem

No spending here today. :money:
Mr F has told me - £10 Amazoo token on the way - will wait until there is something I really need before using it. :money:
Last token we had - got myself a heavy duty staple remover - certainly know how to have fun here. :rotfl:
DGD came here to use my craft stash - needs an Elizabethan mask for school. Some girls have bought a paper mache mask from Hobbycroft - £3.50 - still need to decorate them. DGD's unique mask is finished - just a bit of my stash used - cost - to her - nil.

Frugalsod

[Deleted User] wrote:

Me too, I love the support on this thread - its great to be able to be in contact with like-minded people. My family, friends and colleagues all tend to shop at M&S which I wouldn't unless it was a very special occasion or they had a great offer on, and think I am slightly mad for trying my frugal lifestyle.

My mum has recently started shopping at Lidl which is just about 3 mins walk from her home. She used to do her weekly shop in M&S which involved a 10 mile drive to the shop each way. She was telling me on the phone how she has found the stuff in Lidl to be good quality and that she thinks its better for her to buy the bag of oranges at 69p per bag in Lidl rather than 55p per orange as she used to. What has produced this change in her I do not know. I have been telling her this for years:D.

Probably someone else saying it. My parents prefer Aldi over Lidl but they have made the switch from the main supermarkets.

Goldiegirl

I did my grocery order today. I managed to push it up to just over £100, so I'll qualify for free delivery on Tuesday morning.

I'll probably need to do another in two weeks, but after that, I might be able to leave it for three weeks until I do another order.

Prior to this challenge I did an order for delivery each week, and never seemed to have a big store cupboard.

Now, I'm starting to spend less, and I'm building up a store cupboard.

My outlook on life seems to be changing - I feel happy to be producing nice food from my own ( and Mr GG's) efforts, which leads to contentment, and it's nice not to want things simply for the sake of the fun of buying it. We still buy things, but after consideration, and generally if it'll help our frugal efforts.

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

NSD yay!!
Ate well today, including veggie sausages, mash and cauli and brocc cheese which was a lovely Sunday lunch. The cauli and broccoli were from the greengrocers last Saturday and were at knock-down prices as they were apparently past their best. Rescue veggies!! They came home with me and are still lovely and fresh. Chuffed with that!

Sat in now watching and old Frank Sinatra film and it's ace. Was he an underrated actor, do you think? He took on some pretty meaty roles and I think he stands his own!

Love your post above GoldieGirl - I think we can all relate to what you're saying

Frugalsod

I used to get a weekly shop and I used to spend £30+ a week just for one. Now I do a large online shop for around £100 two or three times a year. The rest of my shop is probably a lot less now. Possibly only £50 a month.

Skinnylatte

cydney65 wrote: »

Fell off the wagon spectacularly yesterday! I have ordered yet MORE jeans costing £54.99 Tried to cancel it this morning but they have already been dispatched arghhhh. I have such a weakness for jeans probably because I find it hard to get ones to fit my height and leg length (6ft tall and 34" inside leg). I will try them on and if they fit I will have to sell a couple of other pieces of clothing to pay for them.

Dinner is rice and what ever we can find in the bottom of the fridge. Need to reign the grocery spends in as well as have spent over £130 on food this month :eek:

Me too, 5ft 11" and 36" inside leg! It's amazing to find something that fits :rotfl:

Mrs_Cheshire

Can sympathise with the ladies with long legs, I'm 5'10 with a 34" leg, luckily lots of brands now do longer leg lengths!

quidsy

Spent 70quid on shopping this week but most was on meat that at least half has been frozen for later meals.

Yesterday I made a sc gammon, norweigian meatballs & brunsauce, cornbread, sc bbq chicken wings & have a sc mac & cheese ready to go on at 11.30am for tea tonight.

The gammon fed us last night with mash & gravy & me & oh have some for lunch today with salad, the meatballs are for tonight with mac & cheese, there is also a portion in the freezer for next week, the chicken wings were lunch yesterday & oh wil probably finish them off as a snack tonight, the rest of the gammon will go into a ham & potato gratin probably on wednesday & the mac & cheese will stretch with some extra veg for dinner tomorrow.

On Saturday I made 4 pizza bases & hm pizza for dinner. I put 2 in the freezer, so that should be dinner either friday night or saturday again.

I have a portion of chicken thighs in the freezer to make thai chicken thighs in the big sc & my small sc will make a coconut & lime rice to go with it. That should pretty much see us through till sunday where I shall do another batch of sc meals for the following week.