2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Nonnadiluca

Lisa, that's loads to report, well done!!

[Deleted User]

Thanks @Frugaldom and @Bluegreen143 I'm super happy with what I've achieved this month.

The work conversation is interesting. My old job, BC (before kids😂) was very high pressure, corporate and required a certain look, so money was spent on clothes, hair, make up and far too many lunches out. When my second child was born I decided to leave and have a couple of years at home with my children, as nursery would have cost £100 per day both of them. 

I have retrained and now teach in an inner city large secondary comprehensive. I changed my hours to part time this year, so I can still do the school run for my own children. I then cycle to work, get lunch for free at work and there are often bits in the school kitchen leftover that staff can take home after ensuring our most vulnerable families are delivered food parcels. So, thankfully, going to work nowadays costs me nothing but it is that way because I have made it so by reducing my teaching hours. 

I have chopped up another pallet today which is burning nicely. NSD, my shopping list for the weekend is a pizza (no bread flour or yeast so can't make one), mince and I will buy myself a small bottle of red wine. That will cost well under the £13 I had budgeted for this week, so I'll be able to send that extra £200 to savings. 

My goal is to pay a big chunk (around £25k), off my mortgage balance next year to get it down to sub £40k. This is my driver for sticking to the budget, plus I am finding this way of living so much more satisfying than I ever thought I would.

Off to browse Olio now, take care all x

Viking_mfw

Delurking now DS2 is 3 months old. I also downloaded Olio and we got 6 bags of gluten free flour which had been on several days (hence not feeling guilty for taking 6 of what was available!). Some of it was strong bread flour and my husband has made a very passable loaf which is a great saving given the cost of gf bread. 
I have also been using up jars which have been in the fridge too long - finished the sun dried tomatoes and am now working on a jar of 'sweet picante' peppers which have been in four different things to date and were best before feb 2020. Now I'm eyeing the jar of gherkins and wondering if my husband would notice me adding those to random things....

[Deleted User]

Oooh the 2021 thread is on the OS board! Hurrah!! 🥳🥳🥳

fionaandphil

@Deleted_User we make our pizza dough and natural yoghurt, from memory its 1.5 cups of self raising flour and 1 cup of natural/greek yoghurt and you just mix the two together and roll out.  We have it quite a lot and it always tastes good. 

joedenise

@Viking_mfw - chopped up gherkins go well in mince if you make your own burgers!  Not sure what else you could use them for though; although I'm quite happy to eat them as they are with a salad or with cold meats.

Viking_mfw

fionaandphil said:

@Deleted_User we make our pizza dough and natural yoghurt, from memory its 1.5 cups of self raising flour and 1 cup of natural/greek yoghurt and you just mix the two together and roll out.  We have it quite a lot and it always tastes good. 

Plus one to this. You can various things to the dough to make it into flavoured flat bread or home naan instead. 

Viking_mfw

joedenise said:

@Viking_mfw - chopped up gherkins go well in mince if you make your own burgers!  Not sure what else you could use them for though; although I'm quite happy to eat them as they are with a salad or with cold meats.

Thanks @j@joedenise great tip. I like them as they are but just keep forgetting they are there - whereas when I open the fridge to cook they catch my eye...

fionaandphil

@CraftyLittleLisa did you see the free water savings devices article in the MSE mail last week?  The company on there sometimes offer discounted water butts which come with connectors for downpipes, we got on of ours from there.  They are fairly competitive price wise and have the added bonus that it is delivered to your door.  For our area the slimline one is £16 and the big one is £22.

I have tried to download the Olio app but my phone keeps saying it isn't working so I will give up until I get a new phone.  I'm most impressed with all your efforts.

willow_loulou

Hello, lots of lovely wins  to read about today, well done! 

I had a good frugal day, dinner was a slow cooker tin special - I’d been given 2 tins of chunky beef soup so I chucked some diced onions and frozen veg in the slow cooker with them and some mixed herbs. Once the veg was cooked I put leftover mash on top and let it warm through. Very nice and no effort.
i was up early so spent the morning crocheting a hat from reclaimed chunky wool. It didn’t take too long and it looks pretty good considering I’d made it up as I went along! 

I’m in bed feeling sorry for myself now for no reason at all, so better get some study done whilst I’m moping about.