2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugalsod

4 NSD and doing well. I am still a long way from needing a big food shop.

ginnyknit

Doing well with the Nsd's mainly because I had DGs to stay for 4 days so life revolved around taking him to school and picking him up etc. Freezers nearly empty but have a £100 voucher coming from Sky after I referred Ds - its for Tosco's so can re-fill the freezer effectively for free. Savings pot to pay my debt is slowly building up and am well on track for the end of year payment. This weeks housekeeping is boosted by a £40 lottery win - Mum does £1 a week for me and sends me my winnings every so often.

As a treat for looking after Dgs Dd bought us an Asd* takeaway - ys of course :rotfl:She was going to have a takeaway delivered but Hubby is in bed mostly and has no appetite so Dd thought this way if the food is already here it may make him hungry.

SarahB1989_2

Went to post some ebay parcels today and remembered that stamp prices go up on the 31st, so I picked up a book of 1st and 2nds so I'm all set for the next few months.

Cancelled online banking last week after a security glitch just as I was about to go away for a few days, now have the pain of having to set it up again - didn't realise how much I relied on it til went to move some money today and realised I couldn't! Overly reliant on technology....

Goldiegirl

SarahB1989 wrote: »

Went to post some ebay parcels today and remembered that stamp prices go up on the 31st, so I picked up a book of 1st and 2nds so I'm all set for the next few months.

I did an eBay run this morning and also picked up some more stamps. I've got a nice little stash now. I often just pop smaller packets into the post box, so I use a combination of first and second class stamps to make up the correct postage. I will have to get some 2p and 1p stamps to make up the correct amount, but it should make a saving on postage - especially as I'll be charging my customers for the new postage rates ! :rotfl:


Quite a nice day today - not as sunny as yesterday, but still got my washing dry.


We've got some really large shrubs in the back garden which need a lot of cutting back. Mr GG originally said he'd be able to do this, but the shrubs are huge, and our ladder isn't really tall enough, and it'd be really hard work even with an electric hedge trimmer.


So I had a man round this afternoon, with a view to getting a quote done. If the price is right, I'll probably give the go-ahead for the works to be done. Sometimes money has to be spent to make life a bit easier.


We had some of yesterdays chicken for dinner. I casseroled it in a gravy, with some left over bacon lardons. It was quite experimental, but it tasted nice. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a chicken soup - my first adventure in soup making!


I seem to be surrounded with lists of things to do. I work though a few bits everyday, but it'd be nice to have nothing at all to do, sometimes!

DawnW

macwah97 wrote: »

Had a day of cooking. Quick question - how dead does veg have to be before you all DON'T use it?

I wouldn't use anything mouldy or slimy (but would cut mouldy or slimy bits off and use the rest :rotfl:) and definitely no green potatoes as they are not at all good for you. They are poisonous if not cooked properly in fact :eek: So I would definitely throw those away. If you keep them in the dark they don't go green but some supermarkets don't keep them properly and try to sell green ones :mad: Don't buy them!

sparrer wrote: »

Re phones, my mobile is good for phone calls and sends/receives text messages - it's also a camera and radio but I have those at home and don't need them in the supermarket, out with friends and so on. I buy a £10 card about once every 7/8 weeks, don't bother with apps, games etc., etc., because I don't have time. Sometimes I think technology can go a little too far. I'm sure I'll get shot down in flames for that one but it saves me money, I find my little basic phone fine for my needs and it's just my humble opinion

I am so over fancy phones too Sparrer, not just because I am old (though that as well :rotfl:) but I used to work in a research team with mobile phone companies and handset manufacturers and we had all the latest kit at that time In fact I still have one of the old project phones (quite ancient now, one of the first smart phones and the same kind of price when it came out as the latest iphone now :rotfl:).

tatabubbly wrote: »

Hi Everyone!


I bought a veil for my wedding online for €6.50. My mum got it yesterday and its perfect!!! Stunning is what she said.. I've only seen it on skype but its a massive saving!

That was a brilliant buy Tatabubbly. My DD bought her wedding dress from ebay for around £60 delivered. It was brand new, beautiful, yards of cream silk with little beads and embroidery on the bodice, and a lovely train It was made to order for her by a company in China. The customer service was very obliging and yes, they did speak English. They got the measurements a bit wrong, so she had it altered a bit, but it was a bargain, and looked beautiful. She reckoned it was worth the gamble given you get a certain amount of protection on ebay and it was only £60. It looked really expensive.

She didn't have a veil (though they would have done one to match had she asked) but had her hair up with flowers woven into it instead. So worth keeping your eyes open!

Busy at work today, and didn't manage a NSD as we needed fruit. Not much to report due to work, except lunch taken in and leftovers for supper - oh and free cups of coffee and washing up water as my kettles are singing away on the top of the woodburner

macwah97

SarahB1989 wrote: »

4 crumbled weetabix, 50g sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa, 100g butter, 1 egg, 100g dark chocolate.

Melt butter and chocolate together, add dry ingredients and beaten egg. 30 mins at 180c/ gas 4.

Can't find the original post but it was another MSE person who posted the recipe a little while back.

SarahB1989 - many thanks you are a blessing!!!

1. for the recipe and
2.solves my problem about dessert for tomorrow night.

Made a microwave choccie cake for tonight and forgot to put the egg in!!:eek: BUT now I have a recipe and an egg left for tomorrow:T

Trying to make main courses & desserts costing less than a fiver for this brood to convince them that they can eat well cheaply

Busymumofthreeplusdog

I made this today and it's disappearing fast!

cw18

Spendy day today after a D/Debit went out of the bank.

Big grocery spend - most at Costc0, second highest at Mr T with some stocking up so I spend £40 to get £6 knocked off (DS1 got me to pick up over £4 of stuff for him which helped), less than £2 at A1di, and just over £1 at B'n'M.

Dry bags for packing things into my backpack for the Camino (been researching these for a couple of months - still not got enough of one size so will have to check a specific chain of stores when I'm near one to try and avoid postage charges from their website).

Tweezers and hair elastics (again B'n'M).

Then £57+ to my car insurance company to add DS1 to the policy from Thursday (his 25th birthday, which means huge reduction in both the additional premium and the excesses applied to him).

And I'm just about to order the photos taken when DS2 graduated last year - I've had the money (£75) tucked away since then so I'm not counting them against this years budget, but I'd not got around to ordering them (the website wasn't letting me see his pics and I hadn't remembered to contact them about it). Got an email reminder from them this afternoon, and with it came a link and reference code combination that actually works

I know there was something else I wanted to research and possibly order today, so I've got less than an hour to try and remember what it was before I switch off my laptop for the night.............

TM6

Tesco Fuel Save

With thanks to barafear799 over on PTS

Tescos are launching a new promotion tomorrow nationally having trialled it in Wales and Norwich.

Quote from barafear799 - training rec'd in Tesco at the weekend.
It was very much stressed that this is not a promotion but is ongoing and is costing Tesco a huge investment.

So what is Fuel Save?

For every £50 you spend at Tesco, you’ll earn 2p off a litre of fuel when you fill up at a Tesco petrol filling station. Build up your savings over a number of shops, and you'll get an even bigger saving on your fuel

So how does it accumulate?
Every shop counts, even the smallest ones. Anything from a pint of milk to a weekly shop can save you money on fuel. So if you spend £100, you’d get 4p a litre off, if you spend £150, you’d get 6p a litre off and so on. As long as you scan your Clubcard, each shop adds up to save you money on fuel. Your savings can also be combined over a number of shops so you can get an even bigger discount on your fuel – as much as 20p off a litre.

How is it different from other fuel offers?
Tesco Fuel Save isn't a one off offer; it's an ongoing scheme. Every shop you do can earn you savings, no matter how small.

More info here

http://www.tesco.com/fuelsave/

For those of us that buy 3V cards for 150 points, this is a no brainer as we will not only get 150 clubcard points but also 2p off a litre too.

With careful planning, I can see myself buying a minimum of £500 of 3V cards a month which will give me 20p off a litre of fuel AND 1500 points. :dance:

Will put it into my YNAB for budgeting

cw18

Typical! I rarely spend in Mr T these days, but spent enough to use a £6 off £40 voucher yesterday (took a lot of work to get to that big a figure too!)