Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Hard_Up_Hester

I shall be joining you all with a vengeance if that's ok, my wages are dropping by a third this month, as are my hours, so I'll be squeezing the pennies even harder.
I had a large bag of potatoes that were beginning to sprout so I've made a big pan of leek and potato soup from one huge leek for next weeks lunches and I made a batch of curried potato & spinach pies. I made an apple cake with DGS as well.
I found a jumper that shrunk in the wash & I've cut out three toy cats to make toys for the baby grandchildren.
Hester
Hester

GreyQueen

Back again from the run to the supermarket at YS time. Didn't do it last week as was round a mate's, the afternoon got away from us and it was suddenly 5.45 pm.

Have a bagful of bakery products for £1.37 inc teacakes, fruited bread, regular bread x 2, choc chip cookies and 2 pkts of sarnies. I have opened these up, individually bagged each BLT and popped them in the freezer (along with a note on the inside of the front door not to forget them ). My work lunches for the coming 4 days will be a sarnie, a teacake and a smug grin. :rotfl:

I'm always astonished at how much money is spent by colleagues, usually £4-£5 a day, five days a week. Of course, what people do with their money is their business, I just hope they don't find themselves short of it in the future, as this is such an easy way to economise.

The evening meal here will be some more of my chili con carne, which is 500g of mince really s t r e t c h e d with porridge oats, steamed HG leeks and rice. I don't bother calculating price per meal but my grocery spend for January was £37.23. There's just me here.

Reviewing 2014 grocery spends, the monthly average was £42.60. This budget also holds non-food spends like TP and washing powder/ cleaning materials but not personal toiletries or food and drink bought to feed others, those are separate entry.

Haven't done anything which involves spending money today, just pottered about at home reading library books and doing the odd chore.

Umm, re sprouting potatoes, that's what they do at this time of year. If you don't need to use them immediately, just rub the shoots off and store them in a cool, dark but frost-free place. I'm policing my 2014 HG spuds every other weekend and taking the shoots off. You can eat HG potatoes until the new crop comes in, a whole 12 months, although the nurtrition steadily drops as the months pass.

cheerfulness4

I love both those recipes Viv. The orange chicken will be worked into my menu within the next few days as I have some oranges still from xmas in the fridge.


Princess29 - I would have suggested asking any relative or friend that has a machine if they're lend it to you for a few months, after all us lot on here are testimony that these things can go years without seeing the light of day.
The flaw in that plan is that the very moment you start using the machine and they realise what you're achieving with it, they'll be wanting to have a go themselves.
I've found this also applies to games consoles. They lay idle for months but once lent to you and you're been seen doing a bit of wii fit, you can bet your nunchuck that they're closing in territorially on their property realising how much they miss it.

Got to find my circulars. Silvas getting ahead of me.

cheerfulness4

Crossed your post GQ. I am so envious of your YS bargains! And very well done on that January total. :T

Hester - at least you will have a little more time, if less money. I'm fortunate that I'm time rich but money poor. I think I prefer it that way but not when the car breaks down, which it did earlier. :mad:

Actually, it was just a flat battery which the breakdown guy thinks is because of the extra strain the cold has put on it. Was too embarrassed to say I'd had the radio on for 20mins while DH was running around from store to store.

Which reminds me, Tescos has DAZ 40 washes @ £4 if anyone uses it. I like to aim for 10p a wash.

Must do a few surveys as I need some more vouchers this month for my HM greenhouse project. Be back later.

GreyQueen

OMG, just watched that programme 'Eat Well for Less' on I-player, their 'before' grocery spend is about £3 k higher than my annual income, extraordinary. You'd think they were feeding a rugger team rather than two adults and two young boys.

I was pleased to pick up some recommendations about Smartprice cheese and teabags, will be sure to pop into HASDA when I am next up that way and get both of them. And very interested about the OJ, parents are buying the premium stuff at over £2/ litre, wonder if they'd consider a concentrate, will have to discuss it with them.

I don't think I will need any groceries this week at all, perhaps some milk towards the weekend. Will pay for my archery class on Tues evening (tenner) but that should be it.

I still have a wristwatch which isn't wearable (integral strap snapped) but am managing perfectly OK with it carried in my pocket. I shall wait until I see one I like at a reasonable price before buying.

Does anyone else here feeling totally meh about the prospect of shopping? I was never a shopaholic, although I enjoy a bootsale rummage or chazzer trawl, but even they are losing their allure.

And I am so going to brave cutting my own hair. My last cut was only two weeks ago and she took ages and it's just so mediocre, I'm sure I could do no worse myself and save time and money.

cheerfulness4

I wish I didn't like shopping but alas I still love it. I love the hunt for a bargain, but I'm getting the balance better these days.


Go on, cut your hair. It is the most liberating feeling in the world. You will be free from the bonds of a hairdresser treating you like a delinquent child if you dare to trim your fringe between trims.
Mine had been cutting my hair for 27 years when I stopped and never condemned me but would humour me with, 'have we been having a little go with those scissors again,' in what seemed to me a scornful tone. (probably just me being sensitive with guilt).
Anyway, I love doing my own. Cutting, colouring and even highlighting when the fancy takes.
Hubby's not having a go on it again, though. That WAS a big mistake!

vhalla1478

Thank you for your kind comments about the recipes, everyone - I do hope you enjoy them; I will only post the 'tried and tested', hence the delay in giving you the pear dessert.

Just an update on my plan for February. First of all I didn't go and do a big shop before I started; I just spent £9.31 at Lidl's; in fact it wasn't until I got home that consumer guilt set in (after buying my cafetiere) and then I decided to try and manage on £10 this month. My freezer isn't stuffed with food either and is only the size of an under the counter model, as is my fridge, but by the time I've sorted, transformed and boxed all the leftovers the freezer could well be full (I hope) - the fridge has never seen so much food since I got back from Venezuela almost 2 years ago.

I actually started on 31st January (Saturday), when I found some liver languishing in the freezer - bought for my daughter-in-laws dog who unfortunately died before she could give it to her. I made a recipe called,' Liver in the Venetian Manner' (please ask if you'd like any recipes I mention here), cooked the rest of the brown rice I had in the pantry and steamed some savoy cabbage. Good and filling. The left-over browned rice is boxed ready to stuff a pepper or two with other bits and pieces I'll have leftover by mid-week and the leftover cabbage was chopped up and put in the steamer above the potatoes with a knob of butter and some black pepper as an extra vegetable at lunch today. I was a little uncertain about giving a guest leftovers, although all the rest of the food was freshly made, but it's the first time I've had a compliment about cabbage! I've found a Chinese recipe online for liver with ginger, so will have that as my main meal tomorrow evening and I'll eat the leftover soup from today for lunch. The chicken juice left from today and all the sticky bits will go in the next batch of soup that I'll make and freeze from the oap vegetables tomorrow, the sugar syrup from poaching the pears will either go over some frozen 'fruits of the forest' when I feel the need for something sweet or I'll add it to the next batch of lemon or orange barley water I make; it's sitting quite happily in a screwtop jar in the fridge. The two remaining chicken quarters that I didn't use for today's lunch will be dissected and turned into the puff turnovers that I posted the recipe for, when half of the packet of puff pastry I bought on Friday is defrosted which will give me several meals to put in the freezer. The chicken bones will go to make a stock along with the potato water from today. There are a few cooked carrots and potatoes left as well so I'll probably puree them and see if they are as successful as the cabbage. I also had some leftover topping from the pear recipe so will combine it with an additional crumble to use up a couple of wizened apples in my store. I've also made a boxful of coleslaw with two of my 'old' carrots, a stick of celery and half an onion and some home made mayonnaise. And I have half of a large orange left from the chicken recipe to eat if hunger strikes between meals!

Wish me luck!

Viv xx

Effyb4

I'm seriously considering cutting my hair. I generally only get it cut when it gets caught in the backs of chairs, when I'm sitting down. It is probably down to the bottom of my shoulder blades and has long layers. I have been youtubing the ponytail cut, which looks dead easy and would achieve the same effect as the hairdresser does. Wish me luck.

celtic_moon

Another busy week is over - including 12 hour round trip for a friend's funeral! Was so goosed that when I got in from work yesterday, I had a nana nap which lasted 3 hours!!!!

Today, I have made potpourri from some roses my DH bought me for new year - they have been drying out in the kitchen. One of my bargain gammon joints is resting, awaiting the roast veg from the freezer and some roast spuds - now feeling very :A

I have finished putting all of the wedding keepsakes into their album and done a load of housework - goosed all over again

I have discovered a fantastic recipe for white sauce - used it loads in my day of cooking and it's just fab! Will post it after tea. Thanks to vhalla for the recipes - I am collecting as I go and can't wait to try a few of them

I found it funny that a couple of you said that you are enjoying being OS again. I had the exact same convo with my Mum! I truly will never leave this lifestyle again - I am enjoying it too much

To the lady asking about sewing machines - you can easily pick up the singer ones in a brown box - they weigh a tonne (well not literally but ya know what I mean ) and they only really do straight stitches but they are brilliant as they will go through denim and the like plus rarely need servicing or have problems with the tension - all the things which result in the air turning blue in the craft room (well in mine anyway :rotfl: ) I have one and a 'new' one which does do other stitches and is good for taking to craft clubs etc. It was an ownbrand from Littlewoods catalogue around 1999 and cost about £70 then so.......... If you have any friends that have sewing machines ask for a 'play' and see which one calls to you.

elaine241

Hello All

Just catching up!

I must confess I dont keep track of grocery spends etc. Before everyone goes :eek: let me explain!
I dont need to worry as I have been living the frugal grocery spends/ best value/cheapest etc for so long it is a way of life! I buy Xmas things late Jan when they are as low as they go, Halloween Costumes again when reduced by 70%, if I havent made them etc. I buy most of my groceries with YS always looking out for bargains or clearance where I stock up for anything up to a YEARS WORTH! My main shop has always been Aldeees but now its getting trendy Im not sure I can cope with the crowds. We dont have a market in town but we do have over 6 supermarkets so I shop around to get the best deals. If I need anything specific I always check MyS*permarket as I have saved many £'s that way.

I seem to be someone that people give things to! LOL I get given more clothes than I will ever need or wear out by my stepmother who is a shopaholic, that goes for shoes, bags, coats, accessories, homewares, my fathers clothes for my boys, many of these items have never been worn. I sort out what I want, cut up any cotton items for sewing/patchwork and take the rest to local CS. I also get given kitchen appliances, lights, rugs etc etc and have furnished my house very frugally. I have several City & Guilds in Interior design including many skills for paint effects, upcycling etc so a lot of my furniture is a one off!
Oh I am a terrible skip diver ( with permission) I cant help myself, I can not pass one by without having a good nose in!

A lot of my home furnishings are very good quality , L Ashley, hi count egyptian cotton etc that I keep an eye out for when in CS, Boot Sales etc

I grow a lot of my summer veg, herbs and fruit but Im lazy when it comes to growing the winter veg or things like main crop potatoes and carrots, swedes or parsnips. I find I can usually pick these up very cheaply YS and I concentrate on stuff that is expensive or that I eat all the time in the summer. I am also a forager picking fruit, mushrooms, sloes etc and making all the pickles and preserves we need. I run three freezers, two large chest freezers and one american fridge freezer. These cope (just) with all my bargains, veg, foraged fruit and the occasional lamb(s) that dont make it to market for one reason or another.

I am still learning new skills, trying to sew with mixed results and Im due to start a bee keeping course next week.

Due to this thread I am now thinking what can I use to make.... rather than adding it to my list of items to look out for. Dog beds are my next challenge , Im going to cut an old single duvet in half and use a sleeping bag with a broken zip to provide the two dog beds with a washable outside. Well thats the plan anyway!

I have rambled on so going to finish with a thankyou to you all for not making me feel like a weirdo! (most of my family think I am!)

P.S I live on a farm so the lamb is our own not ones snaffled off the hills!