Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Blackcats

Sorry Capuchin - should have given some context 😄.  Visited v elderly dad who has read that paper for decades and moans incessantly about it.  While I was there he was watching a repeat of a snooker match on tv - I mistakenly thought reading the paper was a better option than an old snooker match 🤷‍♀️

janb5

Personally I find negative comments about the Daily Mail to be really poor.  Why shouldn`t  people ready whatever paper they want to rather than this derision?

Blackcats

Janb - sorry if I offended but I was only trying to share the irony that my dad has read that paper every day for at least 60 years, moans about it all the time but will never change it.  I don't buy a newspaper at all but if I've got time I will read dad's paper when I'm there.  The occasion I referred to was about a particular article which was about looking good at 59 which seemed to involve spending £1000's a year on beauty products and cosmetic surgery 🙃

WinterWarrior

Oh my goodness, don’t be sorry, you can talk about anything! I think the dislike of the DM springs from mumsn*t as they are always moaning about threads being snatched and used in articles 😬. I don’t buy papers, but will read anything I see just for something to read. What we need next is an article on looking good frugally that doesn’t involve any effort at all, but with amazing results 🤣

Elisheba

Hello all.  I see it's almost two month exactly since I last posted!

Annoyingly the illness I had when I last posted didn't clear up quickly, and then was almost immediately followed by another horrible virus that wasn't Covid. By that time I didn't want to take anymore time off work but was utterly worn down.  Thankfully I had two weeks booked off over the Xmas period, but for the first week I basically did nothing I was so tired.

Since then I have slowly picked up again, and am feeling fighting fit at last.  However, being exhausted and tire was not good for my money saving!  The heating was on pretty much constantly, and budgeting nearly went out the window.  After I paid for my car MOT and service I put all I had left that I'd saved for it just in case in my main account and goodness knows what I spend it all on but away it went!  This month has not been much better, although at least I have paid for my new car insurance for the year so thats something.  I am paid next Monday and am looking forward to getting back on the straight and narrow!

So I am going to try and mealplan for February using up a lot of what is in my fridge, freezer and cupboards.  Rather annoyingly I went through a bit of a vegan phase in December before I got sick of it and now have tins of jackfruit, some smoked tofu, and a really awful vegan pizza that will need using up. I've also got some L1dl's own veggie pies I wasn't that fond of that need using.  I find my freezer often fills up with thing things I don't want to eat!  Then 'll do a L1dl shop one week night next week.  Getting paid on a Monday is not really ideal is it?   But I did't meal plan or do big shops this month and I've just frittered money away so no more.  I might order pet food online though, as its to much to get everything in one night.

I don't like cooking much and that tends to put me off making anything nce.  I also get a bit lazy and instead of thinking about what I can make, I instead just buy something - so things don't get used up and my diet isn't very healthy either.  So I am going to try on focus on that this month coming.  I ahve loads of cook books and the internet is full of recipes.  I can soak the jackfruit in marmite stock and make a stew, fry the tofu with some veg and noodles, pour in some soya sauce and call in a stirfry, that sort of thing.  Its not that hard - I just need to be a bit inventive, and be aware I will be hungry so make it quick!

Regarding heating, I am still on a deal until the end of February.  After that it looks like my payments will increase from £52 to £78 a month according to my energy provider website.  Its not the end of the word and i can manage it, but then Martins is saying a 50% increase in April.  All I can do is try and use it  as little as possible I suppose. Its fairly mild for January and long may that last. Thankfully if February is cold I am still on the deal, but hot water bottles and blankets ahoy!  I have better things to spend my pennies on than massively inflated gas prices.

One of the things I treated myself to in December was a Stanley flask.  It keeps things piping hot for 24 hours if unopened.  I'm finding it good for pouring a pot of tea in when I remember in the morning, which saves me boiling he kettle for most of the day :-). Its also good for car journey etc, so I don't spend a fortune in the services.

A learning experience this week is if you are off to the theatre - take your own snacks!  I was in a rush and hadn't had dinner, and ended up spending a tenner on junk.  A small flask of tea, and a sandwich and some crisp would have been a much better idea and cost nothing.

Another thing I have discovered this month is how useful boot slippers are.  Readers from previous posts will recall I can get very cold feet and it is an ongoing battle to get them warm.  Really fleecy socks and normal slippers normally do the trick, but I treated myself to some boot slippers from T3sco this month, and it amazing the difference having the top of my foot and my ankle covered makes!  I can put them on without having to dig out the very fleecy socks, which makes life a lot easier.  I was also please to see that despite having a solid sole the boot slippers I bought are machine washable, which is a must for slippers really.

Elisheba

Happy Saturday, one and all! 

For some reason my wages appear to be showing in my account today although the aren't due to go in until Monday, so the new month starts now. 

I have been spending the days since I last posted watching frugal you tube videos and really getting myself back into the frugal headspace.

Things I have been doing

I have gone round and made sure everything except the fridge, freezer and WiFi router are off at the walls. Instead of charging my phone over might I am doing it during the day when I can turn the charger off straight away when it's full. Looking at the electricity reduction on my Smart meter that's roughly a 30p a day saving, which is £110 saving a year! Granted some of that might be to do with boiling my kettle less (as discussed below) but that would still be a £55 minimum saving a year for doing pretty much nothing. 

I have turned the heating off. If it gets very cold again I can put it back on, but wearing layers, and using blankets and/or a hot water bottle when I'm sitting down works very well for me. I have seen you can get heated throw blankets which might be an option in the future. However, as they are between £50-70 and cost money to run they are not top of my list when a hot water bottle suffices, and only costs the price of boiling a kettle. Say I have my heating on November - May (looks from my bill like I had it on last May) looking at previous gas costs this will save me on average £40 a month for those months, so £280 a year (minus 3p a day for filling a hot water bottle, and whatever it costs the few times I might decide to use heating.) Probably a lot more as my deal runs out at the end of February and cost will rise massively. 

I have been make a big pot of tea in the morning and filling my new Stanley flask with it. I reckon I get about 5 standard mugs out of it, and say it costs about 3p to boil the kettle. That 15p a day, £1.05 a week, £54.60 savings a year! Yes, maybe some days I'm away or don't make a pot and I haven't taken account of the 3p for boiling the original kettle each morning, but it's £40-50 a year give or take I won't be spending on energy. My flask cost £40, so after the first year that is pure savings. I'm also using only 2 Teabags, instead of the 5 I'd use making it in mugs so if a tea bag cost a penny (and it tends to be more) that's almost £11 saved a year. I could actually go back to loose tea as well, which would be a saving in itself. 


I have gone through my budget and tightened up a lot of pots. Taking advice from the YouTube videos I'm going to cut junk and sweets almost completely out my diet, and make sure I'm cooking from scratch wherever I can. I'm veggie, so throwing together a meal with a protein, a starch, veggies and a sauce if needed should be too hard even on my tiredest/can't be bothered days. So my grocery budget is pared right back to £60 for February. I've done it before, I can do it again. Once I've done a stocktake and made a menu plan and shopping list, I'll share it on here. 

Although I'm putting annuals aside really they are for next year, so I gave a couple of birthdays this month I'll need to take out of my social budget. So not much flexibility in that budget at all this month. Any coffees I go for with be Wetherspoons £1 unlimited ones! 

Goals 

Being this frugal consistently over time isn't easy. I know this. I have stumbled and fallen when I've done it before. As the YouTubers all basically say though, is that in order to stick to it you gave to have clear achievable goals.

I want - 
1. To pay off my debts
2. To save a deposit for a house
3. To buy a cottage in the country
4. To buy a camper van for lovely holidays with my dog
5. To pay off my house as quickly as possible.
6. To retire early and have a comfortable retirement. 


On one income at 41, with no savings, a rented house and debt (but also with a fairly decent local government pension) I am not going to be able to achieve these goals without some real frugality and focus, and that what I need to keep reminding myself. 

shabbychic12

You seem very focused and organised with your plan and if l can achieve a little of this l would be happy. I am reading along with interest good luck 🍀xx

Elisheba

So today I did an inventory of my freezer and cupboards. By my reckoning I have 39 meals, not including throwing some pasta/cous cous/quinoa together with some frozen veg and a hm sauce/dressing, or chucking some cabbage and potatoes together.

I said I would list the meals I think. I can make, so here goes. Everything is vegetarian. 

Dinners 
Pie, curly fries and beans x 1
Pie, peas/beans and mash x 2
Ready meal bean chilli and rice x 1
Lentil and quorn stew x 3
Brown pasta, red sauce and garlic bread x 2
Veggie parcels/lattice, roast potatoes and veg - 4
Veggie mince, tatties, carrots and peas x 4
Brown spag and quorn bog, garlic bread x 4 (need mushrooms) 
Veggie burgers, buns, wedges and beans x 4
Vegan pizza and salad x 2
Quorn roast, potatoes, veg x 2
Flavoured cous cous and veg x 1
Bombay potatoes and veg x 1
Sausage and Mash x 4
Soya, veg and noodle stir fry x 4

Lunches 

Frozen soup x 5
Sweetcorn chowder x 6
Baked potatoes and beans x 6
Wraps and veg x 4 (need to buy yogurt, wraps, cheese) 
Lentil soup x 6
Hm Houmous and olive sandwiches x 4 
Quinoa and veg x 4

Breakfasts

Porridge, jam, fruit, toast (buy fruit, bread, more porridge, more jam) 

So my shopping bill at Aldi came to just over £22. That included a big block of mature cheese, butter, 5kg porridge, fruits, bread and milk, wraps, mushrooms, Greek yogurt, jam, marmalade, pasta, lentils, bin bags, and lemon juice. 

This month I imagine I'll need to buy more bread and milk, but honestly I don't see that I'll need much more than that. So potentially that'll be a £30 spend for the month! Which is half what I've budgeted  . I suppose I am basically having a store cupboard month though, so it won't be like this every month. 

Some tips I am following include no junk food, no squash or juice - just drink water, no puddings, and cook from scratch where possible. Not thinking about biscuit or treats certainly made shopping much easier. Not sure how easy it will be to follow for the month though! 

Elisheba

I have to have a moan about the cost of pet food.

My dog is basically okay as he'll eat anything. 

My cats though - they'll only eat wet food, and they don't like any own brand I've tried them with. 

So I buy them tins of Butchers Classic. It used to be the cheapest brand, made in Britain and no grains. You used to be able to pick it up pretty much anywhere, and I could normally get 24 tins for a tenner. 

Nowadays, trying to get tins of cat food is well nigh impossible, full stop! It's all these non recyclable plastic sachets which cost a fortune. For some reason though, most places that still do tinned cat food no longer stock Butchers Classic. So I'm reduced to PAH, and The Range when they have it. 

From being £20 for 48, it's now £29. On rare deals it's £24/25. That's almost a 50% increase in cost in less than 5 year! And it's not production costs that have increased, or at least it can't be solely that, because the Butchers dog food tins haven't gone up anything like that.

Also the cat litter I get has gone up by 15-20% in the last year. 

It's absolutely ridiculous and I'm very annoyed. 

elbree

Elisheba said:

So today I did an inventory of my freezer and cupboards. By my reckoning I have 39 meals, not including throwing some pasta/cous cous/quinoa together with some frozen veg and a hm sauce/dressing, or chucking some cabbage and potatoes together.

I said I would list the meals I think. I can make, so here goes. Everything is vegetarian. 

Dinners 
Pie, curly fries and beans x 1
Pie, peas/beans and mash x 2
Ready meal bean chilli and rice x 1
Lentil and quorn stew x 3
Brown pasta, red sauce and garlic bread x 2
Veggie parcels/lattice, roast potatoes and veg - 4
Veggie mince, tatties, carrots and peas x 4
Brown spag and quorn bog, garlic bread x 4 (need mushrooms) 
Veggie burgers, buns, wedges and beans x 4
Vegan pizza and salad x 2
Quorn roast, potatoes, veg x 2
Flavoured cous cous and veg x 1
Bombay potatoes and veg x 1
Sausage and Mash x 4
Soya, veg and noodle stir fry x 4

Lunches 

Frozen soup x 5
Sweetcorn chowder x 6
Baked potatoes and beans x 6
Wraps and veg x 4 (need to buy yogurt, wraps, cheese) 
Lentil soup x 6
Hm Houmous and olive sandwiches x 4 
Quinoa and veg x 4

Breakfasts

Porridge, jam, fruit, toast (buy fruit, bread, more porridge, more jam) 

So my shopping bill at Aldi came to just over £22. That included a big block of mature cheese, butter, 5kg porridge, fruits, bread and milk, wraps, mushrooms, Greek yogurt, jam, marmalade, pasta, lentils, bin bags, and lemon juice. 

This month I imagine I'll need to buy more bread and milk, but honestly I don't see that I'll need much more than that. So potentially that'll be a £30 spend for the month! Which is half what I've budgeted  . I suppose I am basically having a store cupboard month though, so it won't be like this every month. 

Some tips I am following include no junk food, no squash or juice - just drink water, no puddings, and cook from scratch where possible. Not thinking about biscuit or treats certainly made shopping much easier. Not sure how easy it will be to follow for the month though! 

It's fantastic to be so organised, well done! I find I can be REALLY frugal for a month when I'm concentrating and have tried hard to stick to a low grocery budget this month. I feel the urge to splurge now though so mustn't let Feb get out of hand. Have given myself a slightly more generous budget as have run down stores quite a bit. 
I missed lots of fresh veg the most so that's where I'll treat myself this month 
Good luck!