2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Frugalistamama said:

Really pleased I only spent £25 on groceries this week and made a good dent in my freezer so I can start batch cooking. I just used 500g mince beef into bolognaise, added lots of veg and lentils and portioned it up into 4 meals so that's 16 portions! The mince was a yellow sticker item too! One portion will be left out for hubby while I'm away, 3 dinners made for the freezer. 😄

That's what I  call 'Nile mince'!

willow_loulou

No spend weekend for me, I’m pleased with that. I think I’ll make a curry with the freezer veg and stuff getting a little ripe in the fridge. Love a good veg korma and I’ve so many freezer peas it’s a good use of them to make some space. (Got sent 2 extra by Asda, didn’t notice it was a substitute badly made!) 

Frugaldom

Hope everyone is managing to stay safe as this storm rages on and on; it seems relentless! 
So far this month, I've topped the car up with petrol, bought pony food, spent a few pounds in local village store and now have an insurance policy due renewed. It came in at £195 but after contacting company directly, it has been reduced to £135. That saving alone makes a massive difference to any frugal budget and almost covers the £70 paid for a cylinder of gas.

Siebrie

I've completely lost track of my NSD's! Friday was the Cheese-and-Wine Evening at the Church, and we had some cancellations on the night (for proper reasons, it's not that they didn't just show up), so we didn't make the budget, and we had a lot of leftovers. I decided to not hand in my €55 receipts and just take home anything I had bought that hadn't been eaten or drunk. In addition to that, I was given a lot of cheese and cold cuts, and some bottles of wine, so in fact, I think I came out with an unintentional profit I'm not sure how I feel about that. If I hadn't taken the leftovers, they would have been thrown out (not the wine, though. I may still donate that to the next Church event).

With the leftover (salted and unsalted) butter I have been baking on Sunday: about 40 choc chip cookies (4 inches across ), 20 angel cakes (chocolate and vanille), and 36 small angel cakes (1 inch across) (vanilla and chocolate). All angel cakes are now in the freezer. Any advice on how to preserve the choc chip cookies? I don't really want to finish them all this week....

ETA: sorry, wrong thread! I though I was on the Turtle Challenge! Still, any advice on storing choc chip cookies is welcome.

df-MRes_student

BelleBaluu said:

...
- I also downloaded the Wallet app and am using this to track spends on food and fuel, which is the areas I was most wasteful on before.
These changes have resulted in me being able to save more than I normally might have been able to, do feels like I’ve given myself a pay rise! 😋

Thanks for the advice re using the Wallet app, BelleBaluu! Even though I've decided against this per se, I have decided to track spends on food and fuel as well as things like stationery which as a postgraduate research master's student I use quite a lot.
     I'll be setting up a table in Word or Excel listing suppliers, products and prices for both their 'own branded' ranges, as well as for alternatives (branded goods) which may be repeat purchases. I'll be trying to replace branded goods for their 'own label' alternatives and will be putting down the item price per unit/per can, bottle etc AND price per 100 g or ml etc, whichever weight denomination the item comes in. I'll do the same for light bulbs which have now become very expensive indeed (costing £3-£4 each), so too, inkjet cartridges and other miscellaneous items.
     I'll be setting up a dedicated folder of 'suppliers' for food, fuel and miscellaneous items which should save quite a bit over the long-term.
     I will then put the small monthly incremental savings to my Emergency Fund account.  Thanks for the suggestion of tracking food and fuel spends, BelleBaluu!
Best,

df-MRes_student

Frugaldom said:

Hope everyone is managing to stay safe as this storm rages on and on; it seems relentless! 
So far this month, I've topped the car up with petrol, bought pony food, spent a few pounds in local village store and now have an insurance policy due renewed. It came in at £195 but after contacting company directly, it has been reduced to £135. That saving alone makes a massive difference to any frugal budget and almost covers the £70 paid for a cylinder of gas.

Congrats on your victory, Frugaldom! Always nice to have a win, isn't it! 

df-MRes_student

Siebrie said:

...

With the leftover (salted and unsalted) butter I have been baking on Sunday: about 40 choc chip cookies (4 inches across ), 20 angel cakes (chocolate and vanille), and 36 small angel cakes (1 inch across) (vanilla and chocolate). All angel cakes are now in the freezer. Any advice on how to preserve the choc chip cookies? I don't really want to finish them all this week....

ETA: sorry, wrong thread! I though I was on the Turtle Challenge! Still, any advice on storing choc chip cookies is welcome.

Hi Siebrie,
Wouldn't they be okay in the freezer in a Tupperware container for 1-3 months? What's the longevity (freezing guidelines) in respect of 'time' recommendations for cream gateaux etc (or other sponge and cream-based products) from Iceland, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Asda etc? Can't you visit your local retailer to check or Google online? You could store them in layers in a Tupperware container with baking (greaseproof) paper between them. That's what I'd do. Why not try freezing half a dozen to start with!

Best,

Siebrie

df-MRes_student said:

Hi Siebrie,
Wouldn't they be okay in the freezer in a Tupperware container for 1-3 months? What's the longevity (freezing guidelines) in respect of 'time' recommendations for cream gateaux etc (or other sponge and cream-based products) from Iceland, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Aldi, Asda etc? Can't you visit your local retailer to check or Google online? You could store them in layers in a Tupperware container with baking (greaseproof) paper between them. That's what I'd do. Why not try freezing half a dozen to start with!

Best,

Thank you. It's what I did in the end. We will see.... I can always pop them in the Airfryer for a couple of minutes after defrosting, if they do turn out a bit limp. We have a sturdy grill pan accessory, so the cookies won't drape through the standard Airfryer grid .

DD1 (11) was feeling poorly yesterday, with a headache, bad temper, blocked nose, etc, so I allowed her to stay home from school for a day. We had a very busy few days before and during the weekend (interacting with several groups of people), so I think she was just overwhelmed and tired. I went to work and checked on her every hour through the nanny-cam and whatsapp; she got better by the hour, so that confirmed my diagnosis and decision to leave her alone for a day. I did not have to take a vacation day, of which I have only 8 this year! (Weird Belgian system, where you have to work for a year before you get any vacation days, because you 'collect' them in that first year, to be used the next year. I only worked from September, so I only have 1/3 of the usual allowance )

Nonnadiluca

Poundland sell LED light bulbs; I have replaced all my old ones.

[Deleted User]

Morning folks, I'm feeling a bit disorganised this week as I normally use the weekend to get set up for the week ahead and this didn't happen with being away for the weekend.  I did manage to get a big washing done yesterday afternoon when we came back, which was air dried on the clothes horse, and got a batch of granola made which I will use for breakfasts for the next couple of weeks.  I also made a batch of chocolate muffins which will be our evening snack with a cuppa if we need one.