2014 Frugal Living Challenge

sparrer

Did my weekly shop yesterday which came to pennies over the weekly allowance, but filled up the car using a 6p off/litre voucher which saved me £2.88 so I'm still in pocket.

Went to visit DM today, m-ways were a slow nightmare so my economy driving benefited, used less than half a tank and got average of 49.4mpg. Love my little car.

Had lunch in Zizzi, DM and I shared a pizza which was plenty for us with no sides etc, and I paid with a discount card which saved me 50%

Both the espalier apple and miniature pear are heaving with blossom, hopefully I'll get a money saving crop of fruit this year

Took a top back yesterday, the label said 12 but it was far too tight, even the sa said it looked like a 10. Got a refund and didn't buy anything to replace it

LFS I have around 3/4 'holidays' a year which are 3 day weekends organised by my fellowship for conventions. If it's abroad some of us will book to stay for a few more days to make it a week, and the hotels are always generous and give us the special convention rates. Fortunately they're mostly held in places of interest, some on the coast, but even the annual Birmingham one is fun as we take over almost the whole (Hilton) hotel - well worth staying just for the service . When I was working I seldom got away, now I take advantage of the free time.

Goldiegirl

Ches wrote: »

Loveshelves we have proper holidays in fact we have more than most people we know but thats the reason for me being frugal in other ways. Can only spend money once and after the bills its nice holidays for us.

We like going on cruises. We've been having two a year, or one longer cruise. Last year we were away for a 24 night cruise.

That's why we live reasonably for most of the year, so we can have our holidays.

I don't want to get to a point in 20 or 30 years time when I regret that I didn't take the chance to travel when it was available to me.

Ches

Goldiegirl we also love cruising.

Ordered and paid for the ceramic tiles for kitchen etc, floors today. Also went shopping with GD so she could choose her birthday present (15yo) which came to more than I expected to pay but she is worth it. Put both purchases on the CC so thats a bit more to be paid off ASAP. My money is pretty well earmarked for the rest of the year as I have plans for the house and holidays to pay for. Need to keep my eye on the ball for impetuous spending so there was no excuse for the £20 top I bought myself today. :eek: Will I ever learn.

DawnW

It is great that we are all so different on this thread, but have a common aim

For us, we are frugal partly because we always have been (for most of our lives we had no choice as we were skint :rotfl:).

We have only not been skint for the last 10 years or so because of my stressy, but quite well paid job(s). OH always worked, but not in jobs that paid very well. He took early retirement a couple of years ago and is now self employed doing something he loves, but doesn't pay a great deal.

My aim now is simply to not have to work until the state says I can retire We have savings, and small pensions, and are confident that we can survive comfortably when I leave, though some things will have to change. Anyway, this theory will soon be tested out as this will happen in exactly 22 days :eek:

Spends today were my train fare to work, a muffin , and OH's lunch at his golf club after his weekly game (he only has cheesy chips, which, though not diet food, are at least cheap :rotfl:)

We had gammon steaks from stores with eggs (from chickens ) for evening meal and I took my lunch to work.

One of the things I am looking forward to is having the energy to cook every day and have more varied, healthier food. Currently OH cooks most nights during the week and his repertoire is limited to say the least :rotfl:

alja

I still live at home (I'm 24) and we usually go abroad for a week and holiday in the uk for a week/few days too - however in recent years my parents haven't found anywhere abroad they wanted so we've just been holidaying in the uk really, but we always have a look and go abroad if we can!

I don't have to pay for these holidays, which is quite nice! But last year I went to Ireland with friends and this year we're off to Italy - not cheap!! But this is my one real splash out of the year really.

I've never been that skint as I've been able to live cheaply at home thanks to my parents. They've always been sensible with their money and I guess that's why I started to save! I save money in the hope that I'll always be relatively comfortable, have a safety net and able to get on the property ladder at some point. I just hope it all goes to plan...

lovefullshelves

Oh Goldiegirl I'm so jealous, my OH hates water and I've been looking longingly at the cruises!
Frugal for me today, everything was homegrown or leftovers!! Mash, PSB and pasties..alot of pasties made!
Now all I want is my beddy!
x

lynnejk

Just_be wrote: »

Anybody got an alternative recipe to pasta bake from a jar? I tried with passata and a few other things but it just didn't have the same consistency. My little girl loves a pasta bake but I hate paying on average £1.50 per jar (and that's on offer!) that's before I factor in chicken/tuna and veg/salad! Any advice appreciated!

You can them cheaper if you punt around the pound stores/Home Bags/Al*i or Li*l but I only keep one in stock for emergencies. I buy CHEAP passata bricks from Al*i and CHEAP tom puree.


Easy tomato sauce is
glug of 'cooking' olive oil in pan
soften finely chopped onions
add chopped garlic, brick of passata, good squeeze tom puree and teaspoon sugar to bring out flavour and a good couple of glugs of red wine.


Then you can add basil/oregano/salt/black pepper whatever to taste and your mince or chopped meat. Depends how much meat you might need some water/more puree.


For 'white sauce' pasta
I just make a quite runny basic cheese sauce and add cooked, chopped onions and garlic and some black pepper.


With chicken etc left-over crispy bacon pieces are nice as well.
With tuna/other fish I add dash white wine/lemon juice/chopped dill and parsley (dried is fine).


This is making me hungry - think pasta tomorrow :laugh:
Lx

[Deleted User]

Last day of our short break in Aberdeen today. Just about to get packed up and head home. I always look forward to getting away but its always nice to get home again too. That said I would love to move to Aberdeen but looking at house prices we will need to save for a while!


I am on holiday now until April 22nd so looking forward to getting some bits and bobs sorted in the house.
Plans for the next few days:
1. Cases emptied and washing done. Clean clothes put away.
2. Iron bedding.
3. Start daily walk/run programme.
4. Open a new ISA.
5. Food plan and shop.

cw18

Yesterday I did a full stock take of my freezers, and even shocked myself with how much I have of some items (177 sausages for starters!! at least there's a variety of meat types and flavours amongst them, but as most of them are 2 per serving that's 85 portions worth!!!). I've now meal planned for the rest of this month and most of next (which I plan to finish off later today - other than the 3 meals I'm away with OH and 2 youngest GDs for), but there are a couple this month may need to change as under normal circumstances I'd only be cooking for me and there's now a strong possibility OH will be here as well.

I'm determined to run my freezers down, as I'll then be able to get everything into my standalone while I replace my built in (the freezer isn't as good as it was, but the fridge part is definitely on the way out), and then I'll hopefully be more organised with what goes into it / keeping it stocked up with homemade 'ready meals' that I've labelled (I've got a couple of dozen at the moment that don't give any clues, so I won't know what I'm having for tea until I've defrosted them - that'll be UFO roulette for me on days I'm on my own then )

But I'm still going to have to buy some meat as I go on, otherwise we'll be eating nothing but mince, beef stew and sausages - though I've a fair amount of fish for when it's just me (or me and OH). I've only got enough chicken breasts/thighs left for a couple of meals, ditto lamb, and only one meal worth of pork steaks, but need to use up some stuff before I have space to top up supplies of these...... And whenever I pull mince/stewing steak to make a meal I always end up with several portions that need to go back into the freezer!! I can see it's still going to take a while to run them down as much as I need to :rotfl:

Merrylegs1

Good Morning!

I know i've kind of missed the beginning of the year but would love the chance to join in with all frugalness on this thread.

A little about me...i'm a single girl working shifts full time in a reasonably paid job. I have a 0% cc dept of £575 which i'm chipping away at. The main aim at the moment to is to raise a lump sum to put towards a house deposit...currently seeming like a never ending task!!

Points I need to improve....
forward planning meals to cover shift work
spending on home wear (cushions/scented candles/kitchen gadgets & the like)
buying books (esp. cook books)

Many Thanks
Merry