2018 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

Evening all

NSD here today - mostly due to being too poorly to go out. Have made very good use of my store cupboard today and used up a few things that were on/past their dates or been hanging about for ages,

I got rid of:

Old pizza bases, leftover hot dogs, roasted peppers, half tin of tomato puree, knob of cheese (homemade pizzas for smalls tea)
Bacon, cream, rest of cheese, sprouting spuds. (Dauphinoisse potatoes for tea)
Manky bananas, dregs of flour and sugar, 8 squares of chocolate left from xmas baking (banana and chocolate muffins)

Also got some filo pastry and some more chicken and bacon out of freezer to do some kind of filo parcel/pie type thing.

Nothing mindblowing or exciting but happy with what i made and glad that I'm starting to see space in the cupboards now and one of our 3 freezers is nearly empty - also I like the oven to be full when its on to make the most of the heat.

In other news - contacted student loans today to ask for a refund of what I paid while on maternity - thats £77 on its way back to me and the debt jar.

Sold another bag of baby clothes online - £12 to debt jar

Had my first go at making laundry gloop - only made a quarter batch in case it was awful but actually was quite impressed - it even removed paint from my favourite top. Will see how it copes with the filthy smalls clothing before I declare myself truly converted but considering I worked out it costs less than 10% of what I spend on commercial wash liquid I really hope I am.

Been a fairly spendy week since Friday but am still £40 ish under budget and will try to keep it that way. Next week likely will be very frugal by necessity as DH has taken today off sick and talking abouf taking tomorrow too. Not only does he not get sick pay but he gets under my feet so hoping he has a change of heart and goes back tomorrow.

FrankieM

Morning All

Just fuel bought yesterday and my purse has now been taken out of my handbag!

I had some of my daughter's leftover pizza with salad for tea tonight and tea tonight is jacket potatoes.

I've not done a menu plan this week. I'm just seeing what I feel like eating and using up anything I need to and then eating that meal for a couple of days. It's working so far. Though I can imagine going back to menu planning and swapping it about.

Mooloo wrote: »

Does your 19 year old contribute to the cost of living at home?

Hi Mooloo, yes, my daughter contributes towards food. She has a temping job due to some mental health stuff and so I made it clear that contributing towards food and paying for her own outings were the priority (no borrowing money from me!)
Interestingly she's been talking about trying to find something for 25hrs a week that's permanent so I imagine the board money will go up a bit when that happens!

In regards to the laundry gloop: do you put a fragrance in it to make it smell nice? And do you still use softner?

Off to work, hope you all have a good day

Savvy_sewing

I managed a no Spends day yesterday, actually because Dgd was ill we had two more last week too. I missed my main food shopping last week and so we are scrabbling around today for school packup. I will need to shop for lunch tomorrow or I will have nothing Dgd will eat. Annoying as tomorrow is my day off and I go to see my Mum, there is an Aldi in her town so I like to shop there.
Today I also have parents evening to squeeze in, so I will end up at Tesco Express.
We had what I call a freezer dive for dinner. Two tubs of left over chicken and rice stir fry for tea.
Still not started selling any of my excess stuff on eBay or Facebook etc
Really not motivated. Maybe I will find time this month.

spudsmum

FrankieM wrote: »

In regards to the laundry gloop: do you put a fragrance in it to make it smell nice? And do you still use softner?

I didnt but I did use a soap with a nice scent (rose and jasmine from HB) and it was fine. Might look at getting some essential oil for the next batch. I've personally not used softener for years as it nearly killed my last washing machine (cant say I've really noticed the difference either) I know some people swear by a couple of capfuls of white vinegar but not tried it as yet.

CosmicZebra

Distilled white vinegar works brilliantly instead of softener. Even old sports kit and dog towels come out smelling fresh. There’s no vinegar smell at all. I wouldn’t use commercial softener again.

Nonnadiluca

Another vote for white vinegar instead of fabric softener, it also has the added bonus of keeping the washing machine clean.

Tanya12345

Evening Fruggles, sorry been a bit quiet ! Thawed out here now and today was a lovely gentle day. Big hugs for all those still under the influence of the ice queen !
Grocery budget going well, haven't found any more extreme 25p bargains despite skulking round the aisles in Sainsburys........ Trying to eat out of larder and fridge/ freezer but ran it of rice tonight so I will have to venture into the danger zone tomorrow - armed with a list of course !!

EmergencyNurse

I'm on No Spending Day 8

PennyGrabber

I've had to spend £144 today, to get my car fixed. That's not as bad as it could have been, and I'm pleased about that. I have enough in my car account to not have to use my savings, but they'll be hit when I get the bath done...

No unnecessary spends so far this month though, so pleased with that.

PG x

EmergencyNurse

hazelisok wrote: »

Day 8 of no spending. You have a lot of determination. :T
.

I wish I did, what it really is; is that...

1. I've no longer got a car
2. Too lazy to walk!
3. Snow!
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: