2017 - my frugal year

Lonire

Yes for sure! Whoop. Look forward to reading your posts!

SkintTeacher

Plan for the weekend:
Saturday mooch around, possible soft play if little man fancies it. Shop for Sunday dinner (which I'm now planning to cook weekly as oh seemed so delighted last week not to have to cook it made me think perhaps I've taken him an eency weency bit for granted on the kitchen front).
Apparently we spend £110 on household groceries and toiletries and cleaning products a week. I'm a little ashamed to say I had no idea but that seems a fair amount considering we are not living on the breadline and whenever we discuss spending we always agree that food is spending we are happy to keep- we try to eat healthy, balanced meals and barely drink apart from the occasional g + t. Go on about 2 dates a year. Never have takeaways - I think perhaps I'm too harsh on myself about my spending but the way I've been doing it hasn't led to massive savings so there's obviously room for improvement. I think I've always thought that people with big savings were stingy or lucky, or some odd mixture of both. It never occurred to me that they might be making deliberate, daily choices and setting their sights on future goals. I can see that with my current rate of saving (I'll update at the end of the month) I could easily achieve some of the stuff that I thought were pipe dreams in the not-so-distant future.
Aaanyway...
I'm going to try honey-glazed slow cooker pork. With a couple of minor substitutions and changes (canned tomatoes instead of fresh, 2 mushrooms instead of 6) I have scouted every ingredient except the pork in purchasing cupboards and so it will be a cheap meal. Brown rice and veg of some sort to go with.

Staying at my mum's again (oh out on shift work) Saturday night.


Apologies for the waffle. Hope everyone's gearing up for a lovely weekend :beer:

SkintTeacher

Went shopping and stuck to my shopping list. Also donated to a charity so £24 spent today. Managed to create a lovely little birthday present for my niece too - she asked for 'sweeties' so I took advantage of the Asda 5 for £1 and got a huge range of 'retro sweets'. Really pleased with how they look in the bag I bought. No spending at all tomorrow planned, but I will be going online later to get some bridesmaid accessories.

SkintTeacher

Well I must document less successful times too...

Oh suggested a trip to town to clear our heads and mooch around. I didn't have the heart to tell him about my no cafe plan so I justified a trip to Krispy Kreme by buying doughnut and drink for little man and oh but not me!

Also got a gorgeous little outfit for my soon-to-be born nephew in the Debenhams sale for £12 and some socks for my little boy - the 'heels' on his are now nowhere near his heels!

So, mainly planned for and budgeted for spending, but spending nonetheless.

On_my_way

Of course if one person earns less they will pay less towards the wedding. I am just saying the wedding will cost more than you think - most people spend at least 10% more than they thought they would.

SkintTeacher

Too right! especially with a mother of the bride with very fixed ideas! (who knew you couldn't have white flowers with an ivory dress!?... Who knew white and ivory aren't the same colour!?

tightasagnats

Replace half the meat quantity with cooked canned kidney beans (never add dried/raw in a slow cooker, they must be boiled for a minimum of ten minutes to kill of toxins) or other canned beans such as pinto, black-eyed or cannelini and you'll save a few bob and add valuable fibre and vitamins.

So rather than beef stew, think chilli, and look up south american recipes online which often use beans and meat to make it more economical.

Like this: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/139208/feijoada-brazilian-black-bean-stew/

Then PM me when it's done and I'll pop round for a taste

SkintTeacher

Sounds great, I'll give it a go. I am slightly worried that the other half is going to have a heart attack with my new found love of cooking :rotfl:

tightasagnats

The beans will help prevent that. But may increase wind power.

SkintTeacher

One massive change in my recent spending habits - having absolutely no cash on me which means I can't spend it without thinking.