2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Becky_2

lynnejk, hope the MOT goes ok today. We are having ours done on Friday.

DawnW, great news that you don't have to pay the excess to have your car fixed.

We are also currently using up the food in the fridge/freezer and cupboard, hopefully we will be moving soon.

quidsy

Have just signed up for tesco delivery saver £36 for 6 months, I went via TCB & should get £3.78 back then ordered £60.88 of food & with my coupons & a £15 off for low usage customers managed to get the lot of £41.72 with delivery slot of 11am-12pm on a Saturday. The delivery service alone with save me 2hrs+ a week in shopping time so well worth the cost imo.

dizzy_lizzie

Thanks Frizzle I'll seriously consider getting one

Hope you feel okay soon Shortie. That displacement feeling could be down to the shock of it being one of your parents. After all we think of them as being strong and looking after us and it's a bit of a wake up call when it hits us that actually sometimes it's us that need to look after them at times. Just a thought.

So getting a grip on finances after organising and having a big birthday celebration for hubby.
Watching the pennies by writing everything I spend down and eating out the freezer and cupboard to get it down a bit. Have got back into the habit of shopping without knowing what I already have in.
Yesterday I was shocked to add up a nearly £10 spend in various places. I would have thought I'd only spent a couple of pounds! It slips through my fingers too easily at the moment.
So tea is a mixed pepper and tomato risotto and hubby will have some grated cheese on his. All from what we had in already and today I've spent...zilch :j
Didn't realise it was that late! Just to add, wolfed tea down and it was yummy. Recipe on the bbc good food site.

lynnejk

sparrer wrote: »

Wil
Was recently accepted to trial household products, I now have enough cleaning liquid, air freshener and descaler to last the rest of the year
.

Are they looking for any more trialists sparrer ? Sounds like you doing well on the frugal front

DawnW wrote: »

Take care Shortie, you have had a lot to deal with
Hope your Dad continues to improve.

For me, lots of cooking / using up today. I have made:

A peach and pear crumble to use up shrivelling fruit. Sounds an odd combination, but they needed using, and it is yum - just had some with cream

A sponge cake to use up some eggs, which I will fill with cream and HG strawberries tomorrow

Microwave flapjacks, to use up some meusli that has been lurking for ages, and some runny honey that just wasn't runny any more

All bad news on the dieting front :eek::o

Also a huge pan of chilli to use up vegetables mouldering in the bottom of the fridge, and half a packet of pine nuts (not sure why I had those ) which I just chucked in :eek:

And a casserole, which is still in the SC, to use some braising steak I got from the YS section in the supermarket the other day, along with a couple of carrots and an onion which had seen better days. I did add some celery, mushrooms, garlic and red wine as well, so I am sure it will be better than the above description sounds :rotfl:It smells ok, anyway

I also used up chicken stock from the fridge (which itself used up a chicken carcase). It gets complicated, doesn't it?

My fridge and cupboards are looking tidier now, and not much cooking is needed for the rest of the week. I will need to freeze some of this lot later

OH's and my tax rebates have arrived in our account :j
And other good news today - nearly 2 months ago, I was sitting stationary in traffic when a bus, which was coming from the opposite direction, tried to squeeze through a too small gap between the queue of traffic I was in and a parked car on its own side of the road. It hit the back of my car, wrecking the bumper and damaging paintwork on the side. If it had hit the front of the car instead, it would probably have damaged me as well :eek:
Anyway, the insurance company rang today to tell me that the bus company has now accepted responsibility and the excess I had to pay for my car to be repaired will be refunded, and the accident recorded as no fault on my part :T

So a good day overall

Gosh - you've been busy and lots of frugal using up stuff etc.

What good news on the tax rebates. I remember the bus incident and glad that's sorted as well.

Well surprised today as the car has only failed on the electrical fault which we were in the process of getting sorted and decided to get MOT done first so could get all fixed together. WOW can't really believe it !! Now it's just the matter of getting the switch fixed and tra-la-la for another year.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday
Lx

alja

Thinking of you Shortie x


Hope everyone has had a good day just managed to reach my target in sw*gbucks, so I've requested £5 for my p*ypal. I've got over 10% towards my next £5 too I'm going to try to get as much as I can out of the survey websites I use this year, every little helps as they say!


Off on holiday in a few weeks, and I was thinking of buying my own digital camera for the occasion. However, as I live at home I've just decided to use our "family" one as I usually just use my smartphone for every day photos. It seems a bit silly to pay out a chunk of money on something that won't get used much after the holiday!!


I'm trying to be smarter with the products I use at the moment too, using value products where I can as it all really adds up

dizzy_lizzie

ALJA wrote: »

Hope everyone has had a good day just managed to reach my target in sw*gbucks, so I've requested £5 for my p*ypal. I've got over 10% towards my next £5 too I'm going to try to get as much as I can out of the survey websites I use this year, every little helps as they say!

Oh thanks ALJA, you've just reminded me about the surveys I do. Because I use my iphone for my emails now, I forget to do the surveys. I need to log in more on my laptop to do them.
Off to see if I can earn a few pennies...:)

Frugalsod

quidsy wrote: »

Have just signed up for tesco delivery saver £36 for 6 months, I went via TCB & should get £3.78 back then ordered £60.88 of food & with my coupons & a £15 off for low usage customers managed to get the lot of £41.72 with delivery slot of 11am-12pm on a Saturday. The delivery service alone with save me 2hrs+ a week in shopping time so well worth the cost imo.

While the delivery saver does make sense if you use it weekly I do find that it limits your options in terms of using other supermarkets. I will use more than one supermarket but will do a big online delivery and will split the order between both so even though I have two sets of delivery fees the fact that I can still save even more does more than make up for the extra delivery charge. Though circumstances for you may make much more sense than for me.

sparrer

lynnejk wrote: »

Are they looking for any more trialists sparrer ? Sounds like you doing well on the frugal front

If you log on to supersavvyme and join the supersavvycircle that's where all the trials are. Keep your eye out for when there are new items to trial and apply to join in. Good luck

Not a good day, my 93 y/o DM was taken to hospital this morning after a new young GP on a 3 month work placement changed all her meds. Fortunately her own GP did a house call this morning and found her confused, dizzy and unsteady so put her in her car and took her to hospital. Just waiting for news and will spend the next days back and forth to Reading, a 180 mile round trip. Not so good for frugality!

quidsy

I agree, I do like to shop around but I collect the petrol discounts and save vouchers for Christmas double ups so it makes sense for the next 6 months. I also shop to a strict list weekly so it will help reduce impulse buys. That said I'll still pick up reduced meats every few weeks for the freezer and shop at costco for bulk household goods.

Frugalsod

quidsy wrote: »

I agree, I do like to shop around but I collect the petrol discounts and save vouchers for Christmas double ups so it makes sense for the next 6 months. I also shop to a strict list weekly so it will help reduce impulse buys. That said I'll still pick up reduced meats every few weeks for the freezer and shop at costco for bulk household goods.

If you have worked out the pros and cons then that is fine. If you are using all the coupons and benefits then it can be sensible.