2015 Frugal Living Challenge

flikkerty

I lurk, I have been on MSE for years, I like this thread the most as I feel it helps everyone (and the people are the friendliest.) I have made the dog a toy out of everyone's old socks and put it in to one, when the top one wears I stuff back in and pull out a better one. I am so pleased with it I had to share it with you! No more cheap dog toys that split after 10 mins!

Bambywamby

If someone is being more frugal so they can afford ten holidays a year... or has to be very frugal as it is the only way they can survive from one pay cheque/benefit/pension payment to the next, everyone has something to contribute on here.
I love reading the input/advice/comments from others.


From my point of view, people should be able to include/exclude anything they want within the parameters of the challenge as everyone has such different circumstances.

Anyway back to frugalling and minding my own business ...


I've had a few good frugal days. Decluttering and selling unwanted items on Ebay and Gumtree.


I have been using my herbal tea bag twice (the second time leaving the bag in the cup as I drink it.)


I have had more NSDs this month than ever before... not spending makes the greatest impact on my finances even more so than earning more money.


Banked my birthday cash into the savings pot rather than spending on stuff I don't want.


Cooked several meals in the slow cooker; curry seems to taste better and better with every re-heating.


I have been out for a nice long walk (one to two hours) with wee one every day come rain, sleet or shine. Starting to feel the benefits with more energy... and the little one is sleeping better too.


On the not so frugal side... I ruined a whole batch of loaf cakes when I added half a tub allspice rather than mixed spice. I spotted this error just as they went in the oven and noticed the smell wasn't sweet and fragrant like mixed spice.
To limit the waste, I washed the cake mix off the fruit and nuts and used those in the next batch of cakes. Unfortunately gluten free flour, four eggs and butter were rinsed down the drain. I really most pay more attention... and less time multi-tasking in my head.


Have a lovely day folks. xx

kate_pixie

Morning Everyone,

I've been a committed lurker since signing up, but keeping my head down on the finance front.

Managed to come in £40 under budget for the month, which would have been a roaring success had I not been hit with a £1,000 vets bill . Unfortunately that's just been added to the credit card so my debt repayments will have to increase significantly (they are not a part of this challenge for me).

So we know where that £40 is going!

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Have a great February everyone.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

what a poop re- the cake mix.... that would be typical of something I would do..


well after having 2 pork dinners, and 2 lots of pork and hm herb wedges.. and a few rounds of sandwiches the our pork joint is now ready for hubby to sit down infront of the tv, with a knife and just pick off what is left on it .. so maybe tomorrow... lol


tonight will be a lamb chunk chop dinner..


I must admit... since really trying to focus on being extra frugal, not only have our spending on food shopping been minimal, we are also eating better..


We had to buy some sacks of coal this week, as we didn't have time to cut our logs, so this weekend we will be concentrating on splitting a load of logs we stored to dry out.. its hard during the week, with work, and then hubby seeing to the pigs etc...so will do a load so hopefully will last us the rest of the winter

COOLTRIKERCHICK

morning all


I actually got round to doing a list of what I got lurking in my kitchen freezer ( I have a chest freezer in work with all our pork in)


about 18 -24 months ago I bought a few packs of chicken wings that were reduced down to 50p a pack, I bought them originally for our cats to eat, but I got fed up of them carrying them around the house lol..so I have 28 left in total, any ideas??


was thinking of making a sort of KFC style coating.. anyone know how I can do this, using store cupboard ingredients.


I am trying to only buy bread, until I put in our next home delivery order, which will be Tuesday/Wednesday.


I have plenty in the freezer and cupboards, I know I will not have enough potatoes etc,


I did buy some kebab spices off ebay this morning, as I want to try the fakeaway kebab in the slow cooker sometime over the next few weeks

quidsy

I did some chicken wings in the slow cooker last week, made a honey 2tbs, soy sauce 3/4 cup, ketchup 6 tbs, garlic salt 1 tbs, onion powder 1/2 tbs & chilli ketchup sauce 3 tbs & balsamic vinegar 1/2 cup glaze . After browning the wings I cooked them on low for 5 hrs in the sauce then added 2tbs of cornstarch mixed with water at the end to thicken the sauce & cooked for another 25 mins. They went down a storm with mine, my ds has demanded! I make more tomorrow

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have honey, soy sauce, tomato sauce, haven't got the rest of the ingredients...


I supposed I could 'fling in' other 'stuff' I have in my cupboard, like a bit of curry powder, etc..


how long did you put them in the SC for??


might have a try of these today...

quidsy

use real garlic smashed & then diced instead of salt, real onion pureed instead of powder. Any kind of "acidic" type sauce, can use rice wine or normal vinegar and any kind of "kick" like tabasco, Worcestershire sauce in place of chilli ketchup. I wouldn't personally use curry powder, as it wont work well with honey & soy sauce, want more of an Asian bbq flavor.

5 hrs on low was enough for mine. plus an additional 20+ mins to thicken the glaze with cornstarch.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

agh yes I see what you mean now..


yep got plenty of garlic, will grate some onion.. got Worcester sauce..

Money_Tree_Faerie

Our vacuum cleaner filter snapped off rendering the whole thing unusable. I was shopping around for new and used vacuum cleaners but I simply don't have the money for either - but I do have a lot of DIY dust accumulating. :eek:

After some thought it was glue to the rescue (should that be Glue-per-man?). I don't know how long it will last but the filter is now suspended via a thick layer of glue and everything's operational again. :j

I will update later if it falls apart again immediately... :rotfl: