2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Daisychain1

Good morning. Hope everyone is well.

Today's frugal activity will be

Breakfast, lunch and dinner all from food already in the cupboards.
Walk to bank at lunchtime and rearrange an appointment.
Check all banking (it is my New Years resolution to check it everyday)
Lovely evening in with wood burner lit to keep us snuggly and warm.
Watch electric usage, trying to reduce this.

Have a great, frugal day

DC1

hollieinbloom

Morning, frugal things to do today are:
*Sort out Christmas cards and cut out to make tags for next Christmas.
*Try to get DD to do some crafty things or play with the guinea pigs so the TV can be turned off for a while.
*Make flapjacks
*Make a large nut roast to use up the carrots.

Does anyone know if stamps will be going up in April? I'm tempted to buy a few books of them!!:D

Hope you all have lovely frugal days" xx

Kantankrus_Mare

On the plus side my first bulk buy of the year arrived. 24 kitchen rolls paid for with amazon vouchers earnt from various sites.

On the down side I will lose a days pay as have a bad water infection. Only two months into new job so won't get paid.

hollieinbloom

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

On the plus side my first bulk buy of the year arrived. 24 kitchen rolls paid for with amazon vouchers earnt from various sites.

On the down side I will lose a days pay as have a bad water infection. Only two months into new job so won't get paid.

Sorry to hear you are unwell! my 4 year old daughter had a urinary tract infection on Christmas eve and had to rush her to the out of hours doctors. We were there til 2.30am Christmas morning and she was so worried father Christmas wouldn't come because she wasn't home! Never seen her in so much agony hope you feel better soon! which kitchen rolls did you go for on amazon? I need to get some! xx

Nicki_Sue

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have ear marked these ones, which are new


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360818610838?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649


But if you tap in sweet jars in the ebay search bar, all sorts of ones come up, there are used ones for sale too.

I haven't done an indepth search yet, so I don't know if there are any cheaper new ones out there... so worth checking..

I really shouldn't have looked on Ebay for empty sweet jars. My pantry is crying out for lots of these!

Mrs_Cheshire

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I am sitting on my hands and not pushing the buy it now button.. as I wanted to phone local sweet shops first to see what they do with the empties, might be worth sitting down with a nice cuppa and having a think what shops are local to you, an in local areas, that might have them...and give them a ring.


I am hoping that they will give them away free


I know there are traditional sweet shop sellers in our local indoor markets, some corner shops near schools etc..

Was thinking the same thing, will have to have a wander next time I go into town! I also need to wait till DH has sorted my shelving as that will depend on how tall the space between the shelves are!

Kantankrus_Mare

hollieinbloom wrote: »

Sorry to hear you are unwell! my 4 year old daughter had a urinary tract infection on Christmas eve and had to rush her to the out of hours doctors. We were there til 2.30am Christmas morning and she was so worried father Christmas wouldn't come because she wasn't home! Never seen her in so much agony hope you feel better soon! which kitchen rolls did you go for on amazon? I need to get some! xx

I feel for your daughter. And you! What perfect timing.....not. Off to docs at 11.30 so will hopefully get sorted.

I got the fiesta kitchen rolls. 24 are currently £11.71

Had them once before and they last us months.

Toilet rolls will be next to order when I have earnt more vouchers

his_missus

Shortie wrote: »

Feeling really antsy this evening. I suspect it's because I have lost all track of routine - I worked from home the Mon & Tues before Christmas with the bad weather, then had Christmas and Boxing Day off. In work for one day and then hit the weekend. In for two days, off today for one day, back in for the next two days before we hit the weekend. I'm not really sure what is up and down at the moment..

Agree completely, I don't feel like I've actually had a "proper" break this Christmas. Roll on next week and back to the old routine:D

InClover wrote: »

Hoping to make today a no spend day. Back to work which helps. I'm taking soup for lunch from the freezer which I made from excess veg last week. Not doing anything tonight so I think a good rummage through my food cupboard is in order. As a recent empty nester, and single, I am still struggling with buying family sized amounts of food then remembering it's just me! Cooking for one is a bit of a challenge. Trying not to waste anything which means I've ended up with a lot of soup in the freezer, lol. Must get more creative with it and also use up some of my tins. Any tips for cooking for one greatly received.

I would definitely batch cook. I do it for the two of us as it's easier than having to cook from scratch after work every evening. Just make a pot of bolognaise (or whatever) then freeze in portion sizes. You could even buy a roasting joint, cook it, slice it and freeze it in portions.
Add some veg or left over meat to your soup to make a sauce for pasta, add some curry powder too to make a quick curry.

I find batch cooking once I've been shopping also means I throw away less as the veg etc isn't hanging around in the fridge and forgotten about

Made some pastry this morning for tonight. Using up a beef stew from the freezer (which was a bit tasteless really) and making it into a pie for tea then going to make a quiche to use up the 2 slices of gammon and soggy mushrooms lurking in the fridge.

Today's lunch is courtesy of MIL who sent Hubby home with a "doggy bag" plate of food from SIL's birthday (wasn't up to being sociable yesterday:() but I'd already had something to eat.

summertea

Work is having a poster competition and i get to open all the post, already gleaned 10 unmarked 1st class stamps to reuse

SarahB1989_2

Usually end up buying a new magazine or book for train journeys, got over twelve hours on trains this week so would have added up a bit - instead opened the book app on my phone and found three books I don't recall downloading! Lots of new reading to do and not a penny spent!