2015 Frugal Living Challenge

rising_from_the_ashes

Has anyone got a good system for keeping receipts?

I'm OK with ones for appliances etc as I staple the receipt to the instruction book & keep them all in an A4 folder ..... it's the others I have no idea how to store

I do keep them & they're all usually in a bag - it's just a bit of a PITA if I need to find one (especially as the year goes on!)


Only thoughts I've had so far are some sort of expanding folder (or similar) but not sure whether it's best to sort them by month or another way.

Downside to that is that I may not remember when I bought something if I need to find a receipt so thinking along the lines of Clothes, Fuel, Groceries, Pets etc etc

Anyone have any suggestions please?

cw18

I don't (normally) keep food only receipts more than a week - often in the bin the day I get them after I input them to my spreadsheet. But I do keep my Costc0 ones to refer back to for some reason - shouldn't really need to if it's all gone into my spreadsheet !!

The only ones I 'put safe' are those with household applicances, pots and pans, clothing or shoes, sports gear or anything else non-food/drink that should be expected to last a number of months. These all end up in a drawer, and if I need one I have to dig through the pile - to which end I started going through them every couple of months to get rid of anything more than 12 months old (unless it came with a warranty longer than that). These days I buy so little that falls into these categories that I just sort through about once a year (more or less a case of bin the majority, and put the remaining 2 or 3 back in the drawer for another 12 months).

Ken68

I put them on a spike, Rising ash. Then do an analysis and compare with previous years.

Frugaldom

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have a packet of basic sponge mix ( te$co basic ) that I bought on a whim many moons ago ( might even be out of date now) is there anything I can make with that, if I make the sponge mix up?

I sometimes use it as crumble over the top of fruit and oven bake it or else mix half a pack, pour into bowl wiyhthth scoop of jam or syrup and microwave it as fruit/syrup sponge pudding.

Eating out is not frugal, fast food is not frugal, homemade chicken nuggets, however, are extremely frugal, quick, cheap and tasty compared to McAnythings. Take a chicken breast, dice it, dip it in egg, roll it in breadcrumbs (plain or spiced) and cook in frying pan with just a little oil rather than deep frying them. I make all my own nuggets, goujons, burgers etc and the grandkids love them.

I am adding my £1 per person per day for all meals updates in my frugal forum. Hoping to get through yet another year at this amount but finding it easier than ever with such cheap prices is supermarkets. Got a £1 delivery slot and have ordered 10kg lentils and 10kg of rice with next order, so that should keep me going for a bit in that department.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Thanks Frugaldom..


will try using it as a microwave pudding...


sent Hubby over to A$da to get some bits totally £8.57.


top ups, as we had run out of cooking oil a few days ago, milk etc


going to go through the kitchen freezer later, and make a full list of what's in there, especially the bottom draw, where I seem to place all the dreg ends of stuff and leave them there ..lol..


hopefully by sorting the draws out in the freezer I can make better use of the freezer space...

happybird71

Thank you Mummy2threeboys for the advice. I have no idea how you get the time! Are your boys at school?

Well done Maria. At least you are clearing the clutter. We have done the same with DVD's & CD's in the past. You gulp when you think of the cost but you learn!

Just back in from a frugally free snowy run. Brrr. Hubby just joined the gym 10 mins drive away which is less than half the price of the swanky local gym a mile away. Insane prices! Hopefully hubby will enjoy going and enjoy his child free time

COOLTRIKERCHICK

We have got one of our pigs going to slaughter on Tuesday..


we have never asked for the trotters and the head back...


so he sells the trotters in his butcher's shop for pennies I think ( don't know what he does with the ears and head)


anyway, was thinking of asking for the trotters back this time...


what can I do with them? have anyone cooked/eaten them??


also as we are not too keen on faggots, we have the inners back and feed it to our cats..

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Just to give you the heads up.


I bought one of these a few years ago in a charity shop, bought it for £5.99, ( which I thought was expensive at the time)


and it is fantastic.....this is more or less all I use now if there is only 2 or 3 of us to cook for..


http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40%7CR40&_sacat=0&_nkw=vintage+swan+divided+saucepan&LH_Complete=1&rt=nc

[Deleted User]

Not a bad day frugal wise. I have had a NSD and I have got in touch with my energy supplier to swap over to a cheaper tariff.

I also chased up a voucher that I should have got when I took out boiler/central heating cover with British Gas - that was back in March 2014 and the M&S voucher has never been sent (or if it was I didn't get one). Hopefully it will be on its way to me soon.

Snowing here and quite cold so my fire is on but central heating isn't. I may out it on for a wee hour later just to heat the house for OH coming in form work.

dramarama

Evening all,
I haven't been oing too much that is frugal/thrifty...but staying away from town unless I really need to go in is saving me some money!
The grocery spends are up this month, need to get back on the grocery challenges next month!! A lot of the money has been spent on all sorts of cough/cold/flu remedies!
Trying to cook 'treats' at home instead of going to the shops.
Inspired by a lot of the posts and boards on here though...woo hoo!