2020 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

Jazee wrote: »

At the store where DH works, they deliberately ordered their Christmas puddings wanting them to be sold out in the week before Christmas so they didn't have to take the hit with reductions afterwards.

That says a lot, Jazee;). I suspect most supermarkets and other food stores had even more of an eye on their profits this Christmas than usual:(

I always used to make my own when the children were growing up but with just DH and I to feed most Christmases now as we tend to spend them at our DCs homes it never seemed worth it somehow. Given that we love Christmas pudding so much and could eat them every day now it's just us to cater for:rotfl: (the children weren't mad keen and would eat them only on Christmas Day) I should get myself organised and start making them again. Then I'll finally stop moaning about the lack of any in the shops long after Christmas has gone:o

Elisheba

Finally_Solvent wrote: »

Love the sound of that, sams:T

The real cheap stuff isn't cost-effective as I find it so thin I need to use double the amount of the slightly thicker type:eek:.

My mum very kindly informed me over Xmas that the loo roll she gets from Home Bargains is much thicker and nicer than my stuff from Lidl. A quick price check reveals they are both 0.33p a roll, so if you can't buy the Groupon deal the HB loo roll seems to be the way to go.

Elisheba

I have just worked out it is cheaper to use teabags than looseleaf tea. Phew. Looseleaf is such a faff!
My working are as follows:
The cheapest teabags from Lidl and Tesco are the same price at 0.72 of a penny a bag. A bag weights 2 gms (I just weighed several to check :rotfl:).
The cheapest looseleaf I could see on My Supermarket was £1.28 for 250gms. At 2gms of tea a cup, this is 125 cups, and dividing that by the cost that's 1.01p a cup. You could allow that the bag itself weights a little extra and thus less than 2gms would be needed for looseleaf, but you are just as likely to put too much in. So with the added lack of faff for teabags, they seem to win.
(In terms of reuse, I don't think whether it is teabags or looseleaf makes much difference, so that's not a factor that needs considering)

cw18

Elisheba wrote: »

I have just worked out it is cheaper to use teabags than looseleaf tea. Phew. Looseleaf is such a faff!
My working are as follows:
The cheapest teabags from Lidl and Tesco are the same price at 0.72 of a penny a bag. A bag weights 2 gms (I just weighed several to check :rotfl:).

When you say they weigh 2g, did you open them and weigh just the tea? If not, then there's not 2g in each. The St0ckwell (which I think are the Tesc0 ones you're looking at) are 200g for 80 bags - so 2.5g each including bag.

But it all depends on how strong you like your tea. I tried the cheapest from Tesc0 once (when they were still labelled 'value') and had to use 2 at a time. I always got the 240 bag box of their 'red' label - 750g box making them 3.125g and about 1.21p each (which is still cheaper than using 2 of the cheapest).

These days I get the red box from A!di. 160 bags (500g) for £1.15 - so 3.125g and 0.72p each, which is more tea than the cheapest Tesc0 for the same price. And Lid! come in exactly the same weight/price as A!di.

Jazee

I repaired two dog toys today rather than chucking them. They don't squeak anymore but Littleydog was pleased to have her monkey back.

miss_empty_piggy

Jazee wrote: »

Agree, no you don't need a specialist but it's my least favourite gardening job so worth the £20 for me.

Lol - I think that's fair enough Jazee

miss_empty_piggy

DawnW wrote: »

No they don't. I always cleaned mine myself, and grew good crops. I only have a mini greenhouse now, and also clean that myself. I didn't even realise that specialist greenhouse cleaning was a thing Maybe it is something new that has sprung up, like getting wheelie bins cleaned??? Some of my neighbours have this done, but I'm afraid I just attack mine now and then with a bucket of soapy water and an old broom I'm sure these things are very useful for those who can't, or don't have time to, do it themselves though.
One thing that you need to be aware of is the risk of spreading disease from last year's crops (particularly thinking of tomato blight). Take out all the old plant material before you clean, and if you grow directly in the soil consider growing in pots alternate years, or rotating the crops you grow in the soil as you would outside.

Thank DawnW that's great advice as last year was our first year. We did experiment with ground planting but it just didn't work. We grow in pots predominantly, I will make sure to give them all a good thorough clean out. Cheers again.

DawnW

Jazee wrote: »

I repaired two dog toys today rather than chucking them. They don't squeak anymore but Littleydog was pleased to have her monkey back.

:rotfl:They are funny with their toys, aren't they? I had to throw away my little dog's toy raccoon today. It had lost its squeak ages ago, been washed lots of times, sewn up twice, had the rest of its stuffing removed - not by me - lost its tail, had it sewn back, lost it again and ended up being just a squashed looking head (no ears or nose) with a bit of rag attached. He has other toys, so I reckoned we could lose that one :rotfl:


It is so funny when I wash one and peg it on the line. He sits and stares wistfully up at it as it dries :rotfl:

Shelbi

Hi Guys:hello:

Im a little late but would love to join, I'll be going on maternity leave in April and my income will plummet . I want to get used to living frugally so it wont be such a shock to the system and hopefully ill have some thing put away to ride out those months when they'll be little or nothing coming in

Elisheba

I spent less than I thought I would today. I was annoyed that P£ts at H*me didn't have all the cat food I wanted as I had a 5% discount coupon. So I missed out on a 50p saving because of that but I guess I bought less cat food, and what I've for may well last till the end of the month.

Other than that I spend 35p on celery at Mr A's and made lentil soup in the soup maker, which I think is pretty MS as only uses the exact energy that is needed.

Had a HM flapjack as a snack that I had found in a tin. They seem to have lasted for ages!