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

Elisheba

Morning all and happy weekend!

I've  not posted this week but frugal living continues apace. I'm doing a low spend Lent, but things keep cropping up so my budget keeps having to increase.

I hadn't budgeted for petrol this month as I'm not really going anywhere and I had enough in the car for local journeys. However, I've heard rumours of massive price increase next week and its already £1.55 per litre where I am, so I thought I'd better save a few pennies from the future and top up now. £60 where it used to cost £40. Just crazy. 

And it's time for my monthly rant about the price of cat food. As I've mentioned before they will only eat Butchers Classic. I did a price check and it looked like Morrisons was cheapest, but when I went it didn't look like my branch stocked it. So I went to The Range, where it had gone up from £3.39/6 to £3.99/6 in the 2 days since I checked!

Only, and here is where it gets really annoying - I bought a pack of 24 which was £16 and one of 6, but although it said the 6 packs had gone up, when checking my receipt at home they hadn't! So if I'd just bought 5 x 6 packs, I'd have saved roughly £2.50. So annoying!

I got my shopping for the month, and didn't meal plan which was naughty, but I only bought basics that will allow me to cook from my cupboards.

So 4kg porridge oats for breakfasts, 10.5 kg various flours for rolls, bread and baking, 1kg spreadable butter (up 25p a tub from last month), 8 pints of milk, 1kg Greek yogurt, 15 free range eggs, 900g mature cheese, 24 stock cubes, some wonky carrots, mushrooms and onions, 15 bananas, and coffee, toilet roll, ready made puff pastry, and fake marmite which all came to £31.90. Also bought 1kg of pearl barley for £0.98, and a shampoo bar for £1 at Home Bargains, and because I'm an idiot and went shopping hungry I got 4 cheese and onion pastries at Morrisons for £2 and had half then and will have half today.

I have a bag of frozen rhubarb I'll stew to have with porridge for breakfasts. I'm thinking hm soup and hm bread rolls for lunches and some hm cheese and onion pastries later in the month, and mushroom and pearl barley risotto for dinner this week. Bananas, and carrot sticks and hm hummous for nibbles.

Not sure what I'll do with the peppers yet. I could stuff and roast them with lentils and cheese, and possibly make some Hm tortilla wraps with fried onions, peppers and mushrooms with a dash of yogurt and cheese later in the month. Also some hm pizzas. So it will all get used up.

Money wise I bought £500 in premium bonds this month. This is annuals money and holiday money so I can't use it to pay debts, and as its not enough to get much interest and I need to access it easily, I though premium bonds were quite a fun thing to do with it and also as it takes 2/3 days for me to get to the cash would make me really think before using it.

I'm going to a jumble sale for Ukrainian refugees later, and although I'm on a low spend Lent if I see anything I need I'll buy it as its for a very good cause. Otherwise, depending on if and when I get some motivation I have clothes to wash and hang up, a car that needs cleaned and washed, and rolls to bake, slow cooker meals to make, and I still need to make up some clothes washing liquid.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets to see bit of Spring poking through! 

Elisheba

Well, it hasn't been the most frugal few days.  I spent £30 that could have been completely avoided on junk and had the heating on on Sunday as I wasn't feeling great, but whats done is done and its spilt milk now.  Back on the wagon again!

Just reading all the frugal posts and my heart goes to out to people.  How are those who have stretched every penny supposed to cope with these increases? Thankfully my Mum, who is only on the state pension, seem to be managing okay.  She lives a very quiet life I suppose, but still.  Its not going to be easy.

I have the slow cooker on to cook a massive risotto with pearl barley, and wonky mushrooms, peppers and onions.  That'll do dinner for a few days!  Looking forward to it!

Council tax bill is in and its a 3.5% rise, which as I am on single persons discount and a band B house means its only about £3 more a month which could be a lot worse.  Sadly my energy company are already suggesting I hike my DD up to £100 a month.  As it was reduced to £38 per month a few months ago this is quite a hike.  I'm in credit with them so I'm not going to bother changing anything until I see how its pans out after the April rises.  I've put it in as £80 in my budget but I'm hoping it evens out at more like £60 if I keep being very parsimonious with it.  I'm not even thinking about the October rises yet!

My counselling finishes in a few weeks so money will be saved there but other than that its just up, up, up for everything!  Still, for me its not about survival its about reducing debt and then saving for a house so I can't complain really.  Me and my animals are all fine, and touch wood, in good health ,so I am very grateful for that.

missymoo81

Hey I’ve just caught up. I’m in the same position as you with my energy bill. I put my DD up last month because I was told I wasn’t paying enough. Now they’re trying to put it up another £50?! I’m going to keep mine the same and just see how it goes. 

And I hear you with pet food. I managed to get my 2 cats to eat tinned food. Now I can never find it in lidls!!!! Very frustrating! 

Elisheba

Thanks @missymoo81 - I just got my predicted increase through for April and sufficed to say they predict I will be paying over 100% more than I was last month when I was still on a cheap tariff.  The standing charges are increasing so much I'll have paid 75p a day before I've even turned anything on!  I guess all we can do is be very frugal with our energy use, and that will help our pockets and the planet as well.

Frugal living wise, I am eating too many sweet things.  The more I eat the more I crave and as they are not budgeted for they are just frittering money away.  I think I need to do a cold turkey on sugar for a while, and maybe other junk food as well.  Ideally money should only be spent on nutritious food and that would leave me more healthy as well as weathy!

I'm debating whether to get a heated throw for my Mum for her birthday. It would mean she wouldn't need to pay to have her heating on so much, but wouldn't it be better still to just use a hot water bottle which only cost the price of boiling a kettle?    But then I don't think she would bother with a hot water bottle, so maybe I should get her a blanket as that would be cosy and she would be less likely to put on the heating. This is the debate that is raging in my head right now! Anyway, for anyone interested The R@nge is selling heated throws for £35 just now, which is as cheap as you can get them for.

vampirotoothus

Hi what about a microwavable heat wrap, like this one from Boots? Boots Keep Cosy Microwaveable Heat Wrap Lilac | Boots

Elisheba

Thanks @vampirotoothus I think that looks quite similar to a hot water bottle really. I use one with a blankets and it is very snug, but was thinking an electric throw might be a lot cosier for Mum and keep her warmer.  It does cost a few pence to run though.  Not sure if I am transferring my concern to her, and whether she would rather just put the heating on!

skye_blue

Hi

Hope you don't mind me chipping in but I bought mum one, then changed my mind about giving it to her as I realised the wire would be a trip habit for someone who had balance problems.  Might not be relevant to you mum though

badmemory

Alomg with the possible tripping problem.  There is the I'll just go &  make a cup of tea, start doing something else come back 2 hours later whoops the throw is still on, that would be me!

Elisheba

@skye_blue No problem at all. Yes, tripping is something to consider as her balance is wonky and she's fragile. However, with the location she sits in there is a socket right next to it, so I think it would be fine.
@badmemory Yes, I would forget as well. It would need to be one that has some sort of automatic turn off function.
Well, I'll need to decide soon as it's not long till her birthday. 

Elisheba

In great news, I have finally managed a frugal weekend where I spent nothing! Woo hoo! It has been a while! 

I did have the heating on for a few hour on Saturday night, but as I had been considering going out and buying some coal and wood, the heating was considerably cheaper if far less lovely. 

Mainly I have been getting tasks done round the house this weekend. Got some mending done, and lots of cleaning and dusting and hoovering. Did listen to an audiobook, and do some colouring in, so I had a bit of downtime as well.

I managed to get some washing out on the line, which just goes to show it really is Spring. Even although it has been a mild winter it was still cold enough I could hang things out and they would just stay wet! 

I had a Quorn roast today, so enough leftovers from that to do for at least Monday and Tuesday for dinner. Then I think I will try home made tortillas and have wraps with mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese and yogurt. Normally very nice! I'll do a pizza on Friday, and try a lentil shepherd pie next Saturday. Porridge and tinned fruit for breakfast, and soup and bread for lunch. I have some milk frozen in the freezer, so don't foresee needing to do any shopping. Just need to make sure I finish off the mushrooms, peppers and carrots before they go bad. 

I might make some banana bread as I think my bananas are getting a bit over ripe. And I'll make some normal bread in the breadmaker as well to fill up any gaps. 

I remembered to renew my library books, so no fines for me! Just need to sit down and read some of them now.