2014 Frugal Living Challenge

littleskintdragon

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

Hi, just delurking for a minute . . . .

LSD - the aldi mamia nappies and wipes are quite good and the asda little angels ones are too - I find that they work out much cheaper than branded nappies.

I only buy branded nappies when they are on special offer and I have a coupon, making them cheaper than own brands.

If you haven't already, sign up for online baby clubs as they send you free coupons (pampers/heinz/ellas kitchen etc) I have used the cereal coupons the most now I am weaning my daughter, but find it much cheaper to make my own meals for her.

Random, but the heinz baby custard pots are re-usable too. I wash them out and use them to put baby portions in the freezer.

Yep i agree the aldi nappies are great, if im paying id buy those, or boots if on 3 for 2 as they work out cheaper again.

The last ones i bought were with clubcard so they were free.

Havent got to weaning yet (he's 17 weeks) but will have to join those clubs for the freebies. Thank u

Goldiegirl

sweetpea26 wrote: »

One cannot swallow tablets as she would actually choke and she is now 20 years old.

Actually, I only learnt how to take tablets in the last few years!


I'd been lucky before that, and never needed to take tablets and had lemsips if I had a cold.


But then I was prescribed some tablets, and I had to learn pretty quick. It was a nightmare at first but now I can just gulp back tablets with no problem.


I had a good eBay weekend with 23 sales over my private and business accounts, so have been busy parcelling everything up, and getting them posted. I've also been carrying on with my re-organisation of my cupboards - I think I'm nearly there, should finish tomorrow. It's very physical work and I ache at the moment.


Got the grocery delivery coming later, so will have to pay out on that. I'll also admit to a Kindle book at £1.03. I wanted it ages ago, but couldn't find it again on amazon. Well. I found it again today, so went for it! I have been cutting back on Kindle books - I won't need any for a few weeks

Frugaldom

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

I'm also in the middle of spray painting some wine bottles for my friend's housewarming pressie. When they're dry I will tie some twine around the bottom section (about two inches up from the bottom) and an inch down from the top. The space inbetween I will paint a section with blackboard paint (my fav thing at the moment) and write her messages on that she can change on the occasion she is using them. E.g. Live, Love, Laugh is her favourite at the minute.

Miss Empty Piggy - I have a can of gold spray paint that I use for things like dried pine cones at Christmas, have you tried it on glass bottles? I think this is a fabulous idea and had never thought of adding blackboard paint. I also love that and have a handmade wall board for writing down my shopping list. I also saw an old table revamped into a chalkboard table and then used in childrens' bedroom - it looked great!


Sorry I haven't been about much but time just seems to be slipping away without getting anywhere. Keeping the fire and the stove lit while keeping up with life as a frugalers just doesn't seem to leave enough time to keep up on here!


Started my frugal fitness regime this week and have now vowed to eat less (again) plus I have really driven down the energy use by using the stove for cooking, boiling the kettle and for heating the room. No major spends yet, but I paid the year's BT line rental up front to save about £50 over the coming 12 months.


Got loads to use up this month so we'll probably be living mainly on porridge breakfasts, soup lunches and wacky-combination dinners with some homemade sorbets, ice creams and milk puddings for dessert.


Nothing planted for the garden yet!

mummy2threeboys

oh this reminds me someone said about buying firelighters, ive heard pinecones make good firelighters, but havent tried it yet x

CT19720

Definitely not a nsd for me Took my youngest and his friend bowling this afternoon. They had 2 games each and it as £16.00 :eek: - I was shocked, and that was off peak prices.


Sorted out uniforms for tomorrow, and my son's school trousers are missing, so had to buy another paid from asda. He is quiet small for his age, so got away with buying the smaller size for £4.50 instead of the next size up being £6.50.


Should be a nsd for me though for the rest of the week as I'm back at work tomorrow, always take my lunch, and we have enough food in the house to last until at least the weekend.


Thanks for the info about Historic Scotland, I'm going to see if there is an England version. We used to have merlin passes but have not renewed them this year, mainly due to the cost and because last year we didn't really use them much. But I still love the idea of paying for a membership of something, and having days out as a family.

Frugalsod

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

oh this reminds me someone said about buying firelighters, ive heard pinecones make good firelighters, but havent tried it yet x

I think that they are good once the fire is going. They can be good just before the logs.

Goldiegirl

CT19720 wrote: »

Definitely not a nsd for me Took my youngest and his friend bowling this afternoon. They had 2 games each and it as £16.00 :eek: - I was shocked, and that was off peak prices.


Sorted out uniforms for tomorrow, and my son's school trousers are missing, so had to buy another paid from asda. He is quiet small for his age, so got away with buying the smaller size for £4.50 instead of the next size up being £6.50.


Should be a nsd for me though for the rest of the week as I'm back at work tomorrow, always take my lunch, and we have enough food in the house to last until at least the weekend.


Thanks for the info about Historic Scotland, I'm going to see if there is an England version. We used to have merlin passes but have not renewed them this year, mainly due to the cost and because last year we didn't really use them much. But I still love the idea of paying for a membership of something, and having days out as a family.

I'd suggest either English Heritage or the National Trust

I'm a member of both, but ifI'm honest haven't recently used my membership much.

But it is slightly cheaper now as DH is over 60, and we do intend to use it more when we stop working.

Florenceem

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

oh this reminds me someone said about buying firelighters, ive heard pinecones make good firelighters, but havent tried it yet x

They do - when I had an open fire - kept orange juice boxes - waxed so good at burning. Also dry out grapefruit/orange/lemon shells to burn. Lovely smell too.

happycrafter_2

evening all

nipped to the shop to pick up milk and eggs and thats all we bought :j

pork chops carrots and potatoes roasting together and broccoli for tea. the stalk is in the fridge to make Stilton and broccoli soup later on.

done the banking moved over the odd change in to my savings account now to crack on with swagbucks and some crafting

23rdspiral

Nicki_Sue wrote: »

Random one..... has anyone else bought "classic" stardrops recently and thinks it has changed? The scent isn't quite the same and it doesn't seem quite as effective cleaning-wise. It was newly put out, a new design so not something that has been in a warehouse for six years

I stocked up so havnt bought new for a while, and my stock is so old it's turned to jelly! But I do remember someone saying the same as you on the OldStyle Forum here, probably the 'stardrops...ive seen the light' thread.

DawnW wrote: »

Well, a use-up fail here today :mad: I had planned beef and stilton pie, but cooked the beef with an onion and some frozen mushrooms in the SC, made the pastry, put it together - and forgot to put in the bluddy stilton! Grrr! It was a very nice HM beef and mushroom pie, no complaints at all, but I completely failed to use up the ingredient I bought the stewing beef for

sounds lovely, but i understand your annoyance.
I buy stilton when its woopsied, chop into inch or 2 inch chunks, wrap tightly in cling film and then freeze in a takeaway tub. After being frozen it's not good on crackers but it's fab in soup and in pies etc. So perhaps you could freeze some of your excess?

pm2326 wrote: »

Just working out if I buy this lot it would mean a maximum £15 top up every 2 weeks as buy a lot of 'fresh' when its reduced in price, buy 4 pint milk and freeze half, always bulk cook and freeze.

Think I'll take the plunge and see how I get on.......

Your total sounds good to me... but i will ask if the cleaning products etc are on offer? I am quite stuck on the oldstyle cleaning things but do like easy floor cleaner and dishwasher tablets etc.. which i stock up on when somewhere like AS*A has a 'cleaning special', which they often do in early spring. So it might be worth waiting if you are only buying for the cupboard?