2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugallife

mumtoomany wrote: »

Hi all, an eventful few days here. On the 2nd DS2 and his partner arrived for a few days. On 3rd DH fell through the barn roof! Luckily he's only battered and bruised, nothing broken except his glasses and his pride. He fell around 8 feet onto concrete! (The part of the roof he was fixing before Christmas is around 15 feet high!)
.

Scary stuff! Thank goodness he was okay!

Frugallife

Had a busy today with kids back at school and a huge to do list.
Managed to also make banana bread as had three old bananas that were quite black. Made two good sized loaves and chucked in some choc chips and left over mini marshmallows (mainly to stop me putting them in my hot choc!) They’re good for breakfast for the boys.

Chicken and bacon pasta for dinner using left over from roast yesterday. Am also planning on adding the chicken to a quiche as need to use up some cheese and some Philadelphia. Did you know you can buy cooking bacon at L1dl? It’s about a third of the price and tastes just as nice. I used it in loads of dishes over Christmas and it was lovely.
Also planning on doing a pie with remainder of chicken, some bacon, a leek that needs eating and got some mushrooms today. So not a NSD, but I did resist booking a holiday. Need to completely prioritise frugal life to pay off debt.

[Deleted User]

Kerry_Woman wrote: »

Am joining again in the challenge this year. Budgets set for the year. January is always an expensive month as the service charge for the flat is due(I pay the full amount for the year), home contents insurance is due and I pay for the prescription certificate for whole year. Have already paid for them last week. Am planning plans for days out for this month and next month - guided walks around London - they are different themes eg Sherlock Holmes. Also going to plan to meet up with some people who I used to work with hopefully in the next few months. Not planning to go on holiday this year. My main aim for this year is to get back into temping admin work. Took time out and am living on my savings. Cannot believe it is 2 years since my Mum sadly died. I have self referred myself to a mental health 12 week programme - got an appointment in a week's time to see if it is suitable for me. I have started to go to the library to borrow books last month. Have put my move to a different location on hold for now.

Nice to see you back Kerrywoman, best of luck with getting back into temping. I hope the mental health course is helpful.

lessonlearned

Horrid day here. I. Trying to be careful with ch so I've lit the open fire in the kitchen diner - burning wood offcuts - super warm and cosy whilst I potter about.

I managed to pay off January's credit bill in full today, hopefully February's won't be too bad. Then from now on no more credit card spending - it's just too easy to get carried away. :rotfl: going to try and use cash as much as possible.

Still doing ok with food budget.......using up stocks, and not wasting left overs, still got £15 left from my initial £21 and still have some nectar points I can use. Will probably need eggs and milk soon. Don't think I can stretch those till the weekend.

Barbeduk

[Deleted User] wrote:

I have been thinking about making myself some reusable cotton pads. I don't wear much make-up but I do use them to apply toner and eyebright daily. I have a bag of cotton pads set aside which I will use up first and then look to make some.

I made these as gifts for friends at Christmas! Pretty cotton fabric on one side, bamboo towelling on the other. They look really good and I have been told they wash well. After making 30 odd I didn't get round to doing any for me!!

I am now trying to use up some of my fabric mountain making gift bags for this year's birthdays.

Barbeduk

Frugallife wrote: »

Did you know you can buy cooking bacon at L1dl? It’s about a third of the price and tastes just as nice. I used it in loads of dishes over Christmas and it was lovely.

It's so cheap! When I get it home I trim all the fat off and split it into portions, then freeze it. I can usually make a risotto for 3 and have a fry up for two with one of the portions, so it goes a long way!

nannygladys

Hello all
Well today I haven't been to the shops so nothing has been spent. I have started to deep clean the house a room at a time, so today was the bathroom.
Allie23I cut up old towels for floor cloths and tea towels for other thinner cloths.
Made some scones earlier on as I fancied something a bit cakey and I had everything in, with butter and jam they were really good.
Dinner tonight is the hotpot I made yesterday before I knew the curry was coming! so that's taken care off and with careful planning (cooking the broccoli that's going yellow in the fridge) it may do tomorrow as well!!
Nannyg

jammydodgersandrhl

Not such a frugal day today - i needed food bits and cat food and cat litter so spent 22.40. I'm noticing a huge difference in my attitude towards money. I'm hoping that this will mostly tide me over for the next two weeks.

1LuckyLady

Evening all, so nice to read how everyones doing (mumtoomany - glad your dh is ok after that fall!)

Its nsd 5/366 so far for me, this thread is really making me think about what/when I'm spending.
Todays been a day for getting back into routines. All meals from stores, zero food waste etc
As I was baking a fruit cake for packed lunches I added in some out of date flaked almonds from the back of the cupboard to use them up, I also made & cooked a crumble at the same time to make the most of the oven being on. I was short of fresh fruit for the kids to have after tea tonight and had planned to go shopping but instead of that I was able to use the berries we'd picked in the summer and some chopped apple and banana out of the freezer to make a dessert (when we have any fruit going over I dice and freeze)
Having a chicken curry for tea tonight, using some cooked chicken I took out of the freezer, a bendy carrot I've grated, a cauliflower/some spinach I blitzed and onion and a part jar of curry paste we'd been given by my sis who didn't like it.
The other thing I was going to get from the shops today was some bread but then dh messaged to say he's wfh tomorrow so that was another reason why I didn't need to shop today as instead of sandwiches tomorrow he can have some pasta or a jacket spud for lunch instead.

Thats about it from me for today.

lykkelig

Mum too any I am so relieved that he wasn't more seriously injured. May he recover quickly and not suffer any I'll effects, although, if he decides that roobes aren't his thing that might be a good I'll effect. You must have been horrified.

I mended a hole in my hand knitted socks today. Had they been shop bought I would have discarded and replaced. Hand knits are too precious for me to do that to so the craft definately lends itself to mending.