2014 Frugal Living Challenge

lovefullshelves

TM6 - the 6 in a row was pure luck and not going out at the weekend doing the aimless buying thing! And I 'spend' at the beginning of each month into money bags for nearly everything. Then I know where my pennies are going!
And Goldiegirl is right, the craprollz is from the SHTF thread I like to be prepared for most things!
Today was spendy though as I went 'over baggy'. It has to be guilt of some kind or overcompensating as I feel the need for OH to have treats, alot more than I allow myself.
£39.34 in two supermarkets (when my baggy held £25). Its asda thats my downfall, too many special shelffillers.
But I still don't own new solar lights and I did put £100 in my emergency tin
Two birthdays in the next 4 weeks, OH then DD. £30 for OH already on the noticeboard for him to spend at a toy fair (not romantic I know) And DD is getting cash towards her next tattoo, now thats a permanent gift!
DS birthday in April, 18 bless him and all he's asked for is £30 converse! Yay!
Onwards and upwards

DawnW

happybird71 wrote: »

Ooh. Do you have the recipe for cream egg brownies please?

My DD got them from a charity sale - I daren't google :eek:

TM6 wrote: »

I keep on seeing 'C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z' in people's signatures - what does it mean please?

It is a joke to do with the SHTF thread on the old style board (brilliant thread by the way).

abby1234519 wrote: »

My conundrum today is...Dad is coming to ours for tea on his way home from Cumbria to Nottingham. I've defrosted 8 lamb chops (little ones from Co-Op). They are tiny but 2 per person should be okay? Only issue is there would be 2 left over so do I cook them and reheat tomorrow for OH's dinner or do I give him and dad 3 each.
Tonight I will be eating lambchops as the protein and fat are okay to eat, I could not but then I'd have more cooked lambchops in the fridge. I mean if they were okay to have in fridge for a couple of days I'd do that but I have a feeling OH and Dad will be disappointed. I'm not sure what to serve with them though. I don't have any potatoes so I'm left with things like pasta and cous cous. I don't want to buy potatoes!!

I would give them 3 each, as your Dad is visiting and you should have some as well, as you can't live on coke bubbles :eek:
You could always have a veggie meal the following day, perhaps pasta with tomato or cheese sauce?

NSD again for me today :T
Took lunch with me to work.

I have just chopped up and frozen some mushrooms, a yellow pepper (does anyone else always have the yellow ones left from the multi coloured packs?) and some slightly soft onions that I thought would not keep in the onion bag and might spoil the others. So, a mince meal that needs onions, pepper and mushrooms coming up at some stage

We had jacket potatoes with salad and tuna mayonnaise this evening, which was very nice. Used up some bendy spring onions

Washing dried on line outside again today

Payday either tomorrow or Friday :D

And lunch provided at work tomorrow due to a function - and a much nicer one than the usual dried up sandwiches

Florenceem

Another frugal day here.
No spends.
I finished sewing my second apron - no cost to make. I have a third apron half made - used recycled fabric this time - so again - no cost.

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

NSD hurray!! Also, have scraped together and set aside tomorrow's bus and train fare to uni plus Friday's bus fare to work...and then will exhale on Friday as it's payday for me :T

Will evaluate my 'frugal Feb test month' on Friday, looking forward to seeing how things have gone! I know already that the next few months are going to be expensive so I just need to keep on track!

afoolwithmoney wrote: »

Well my cupboards & freezer are almost bare. Been very inventive with meals & OH has been eating things he has never touched before lol Candle light works!! The problem is that a lot more pastry, crumble & bread have been consumed (not good for my diet). Not saved as much this month as OH hasn't had as much work but we will end Feb in credit
I get paid mostly in cash & Ive found that it helps me to put every penny in the bank & treat it like a prisoner. I love seeing the balance rise & really really think before I spend any lol Never bothered me before!! Another one is as Im on minimum wage I work out how many hours I have to work to pay for something again it really makes me stop & think. Interested what works for others?

Love your approach, foolwithmoney, especially the candlelit meals! I'm similar in that I want to make every penny be accounted for, so I write down all spends and keep receipts. This, along with posting and reading here, is helping me become more aware than ever of my spends.

We're doing OK folks!! We've got a way to go but....well the song speaks for itself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lwlr5ZAoQ4

SarahB1989_2

Disgusted my flatmate by taking out of date eggs off her when she was going to throw them out - have tested each of them in water and they're all fine, despite being about 10 days over the use by date. Looking forward to a fried egg sandwich for breakfast!

Shortie

Evening all

So a spending day for me but a good one all the same

Am doing my late night shift again today so I had the daytime off. Finally feel like I have a bit more routine around this shift thank goodness!!

Mr Shortie and I had a good blitz of a messy unit in our dining room and make that look loads better, plus put loads of recycleing out as well as having two bags of shredding readi to be done.

We did a trip run, found a lovely local butchers on the way back - picked up 15lb of minced meat and offal for the dogs, already bagged up into mini bags, for £5 - stonking bargain.

All chooks in one run/bedding area now, more kindling sorted for the fire tonight..

I was supposed to get the further advance on the mortgage through today but it never went through and the mortgage adviser couldn't suss why. So, his boss is checking it out tomorrow as he is off himself tomorrow. Hope that comes through soon as I want to pay my Dad off asap, and look at getting the heating sorted asap too

Had the builder round tonight - the work is going to cost more than we originally thought but he threw some very good ideas around so while we may need to save more now than first thought on top of the loan, we also have designs that seem much more flexible AND will potentially give us an extra room too! Gutted that it will cost more that we first thought, but surprisingly more upbeat about it at the same time

Oh, and I'm due £6.66 back from a super old credit card account where my last payment ended up an over payment somehow. I've only been meaning to close it properly for... oooohhhhh... 9 years? :rotfl:

sparrer

Two nsd/npd's and another tomorrow.
Made a tie-back from the left over fabric cut off the too long door curtain
Neighbour went shopping and brought me back 2 packs of 10 mini panini's rtc to 9p a pack and refused to take the money for them. Will do similar for her next time I go ys shopping
2 rhubarb plants already growing like triffids so lots of crumbles etc this year
This weeks grocery bill came to £11, £4 under budget. I have enough food to last at least two weeks for both me and the dog
Service/MoT coming up in ten days so my belt will be drawn in even tighter than usual!

tatabubbly

So OH is getting paid today which leaves it up to me to decide on the household budget for March! We have one ball coming up which I have paid the tickets for and already have an outfit so I'm hoping dear OH will pay the taxi fare and make it a NS outing!

I'm busy busy with tutoring the next month..

Don't have any real bills to pay this month coming apart from food and dental bill which I'm slightly freaking out about but I'll get it paid. Hoping the OH is okay with a pretty lean month, I really need to kick our wedding savings into action! Kinda imperative that I do it this month.. Gah..

lhead123

Hi all!

Just been reading through most of this thread -its huge! However ypuve all been giving me some great ideas.

I'm currently 7 months pregnant so we will be on reduced income soon when I start maternity leave, plus my OH is getting seriously stressed at work and wants to find another job, which will almost definitly result in further reduced income!

With a very fussy DD who is nearly 4 I find it hard to use leftovers as none of us like curry....I'm thinking soup may be on the agenda

So I'm trying to get us used to living on a smaller income before it happens and pay off some debts too. Hopefully I can become as frugal as the rest of you.

Oh's payday today so time to sort out the budget

his_missus

Morning all,

The fishcakes were ok but a little soggy, think it was the old spuds I used for the mash.

Lunch today is a free lasagne courtesy of a Mr T's Orchard Healthy living voucher. Also received a voucher for a free pack of their finest dried pasta - £2.40 for a pack of pasta??????? I'll just have the free bag please and go back to basic pasta afterwards!

Need to a fridge & freezer inventory tonight before I plan next week's menu. Both still seem fit to burstnig so shouldn't need to buy much this Saturday.