2021 Frugal Living Challenge

joedenise

That sounds a great box @Living_proof.  I've only ever managed to get a couple of boxes but nowhere near as good as that one.

MazzieD

Loads at mine at well but didn't get one as I'm still dealing with Wednesday's box!.  Mine had 11 nectarines, 3 easy peelers, overflowing punnet of green grapes, 1 blood orange, 19 small potatoes, 4 onions, 4 red peppers, 1 yellow pepper, 3 green peppers, 2 beef tomatoes and 6 sticks of celery.  Should keep me going for a few days, do need to keep an eye on it though even if stored correctly as it is all past it's best!.   

I'm on leave today and  all next week so just about to go and use up some of the above in some batch cooking.  I now meal plan around this as well as what 's in the freezer.  

Think L*dl and A*di are an essential part of being frugal if you have one or both near you.  We all need to eat and the majority of us have to use supermarkets regularly so it makes sense to save money but not compromising on quality by using them if you can go shopping at the moment. Pity they don't do deliveries but who knows, it may yet happen.

Bit bemused yesterday, we had a rather smart red Mr Whippy ice cream van stopping in the road after the school run.  Haven't seen one for years, (being frugal I would probably look at the prices and run for the hills).

jak

Hiya, I’ve been reading the thread with great interest and would love to join. It’s just me, my son (12) 2 doggos and the cat but I’m keen to pick up lots of tips and reduce our food spend and waste. I’ve currently got tons in the cupboards and freezer as I was shielding and had to get deliveries. Minimum spend of £40 has meant I’ve stocked up. My challenge now is to get through it all without buying lots more for my rather fussy, autistic boy. To that end tonight we are having a ham and lentil stew with leftovers. His face will be a picture. He’s not keen on pulses. Unfortunately, we will have to play ‘eat it or starve’ cause that’s what there is and I’ve been Way to lax with letting him get take away as a treat lately! That’s stopping now. I’m trying to move house and need every penny for that! 

Lovely to ‘meet’ you all, J x

Living_proof

Welcome @jak and I am sure you will learn a lot on this thread. @MazzieD your box is just the sort I look out for and you never know what will be in next. I used to think it was linked with the special buy fruit and veg, but it doesn't seem to follow. I have already made a big pot of veg soup and will use up most of the box in smoothies and with a roast lunch on Sunday. I buy all my green salads, kale etc. when they are reduced to 20p and occasionally splash out on  70p reductions which I did today for a friend - king prawn tikka masala and vegetable bake - which are normally over £2 and are freezable anyway.  Lidl reductions have become a sort of hobby for me these days!

Tightpants24

Cashed out around £10 from Prolific and picked up 25 free plant pots from a neighbour.  All little wins!!

MazzieD

@jak Hello and welcome.  You have come to the right place, this is a very friendly, helpful thread so hope you enjoy joining in.  I hate moving house so I can only wish you well with that!.   £40 minimum for deliveries is quite a lot, I had problems after an operation, couldn't go shopping and it was a major nightmare as I never spend anything like that amount in one go and ended up with enough to last months as I didn't want to pay the extra charges for a smaller order!.  I even find £25 min for Click & Collect can still be too much.

@Living_proof it must be such a help to you and other vegetarians/vegans.  I've always eaten lots of fruit and veg anyway but like you I choose carefully and don't just buy it because it's there, none of this mornings offerings would have tempted me!.

Life is getting better and so is the weather.  Only another week until the clocks change and then it's Easter in a couple of weeks.  My hyacinths are starting to get a bit droopy and look like triffids, they always seem to have really long stalks and start keeling over!.

jak

Thanks guys. I know £40 is ridiculous. I’m disabled and don’t have a shop I can get to atm. I do have a mobility scooter tho it needs new tyres. They have arrived so once my scooter man has fixed then on for me I will at least be able to scoot to home bargains. It doesn’t sell much food but given I’ve got so much in, if I can get away with a few fresh bits doing that, I’ll be happy. On the moving front, I’m waiting for a house to come up but they are all way too expensive atm. I’m optimistic that one will come up soon though so with that in mind I’m trying to eat up all the crap that’s accumulated! X

AskYouWillGet

Just had a good result on buying some products on H@lland & B*rret website - I bought what I intended and then 2 extra 'luxury' items (would not usually splash out but this was a bargain/treat: Faith-in-Nature Shampoo bar and Hand wash).

1. Blagged code on MSE 25% off plus free delivery (ends this Sunday 21st March)
2. Buy one get another half price offer
3. Rewards for Health voucher 50p (expiry 31st March-usually don't bother with these vouchers)
4. Saved £11.25

This has made me so happy, as all four items took the total under the original price of my two items that would have purchased anyway! . 
Also, had some other savings news which are starting next month - without me contacting them - anyone else had the same surprise?
Council Tax (D/debit 12 months) lower:  £12 pm
Water Rates lowered due to less usage: £9 pm

CraftyLittleLisa

Hello everyone.  I see there have been lots of successes on here.  I have been missing as I am struggling a little at the moment with motivation and general oomph.  I have been really busy at work as well so the last thing I want to do after a day is to log on to my own computer and then start typing and once the weekend has arrived I can't wait to put all tech away not to be looked at again until Monday.

I haven't really go that much to report.  I'm getting a bit bored with doing the things I have been doing for the last how ever many months.  I have started spending a bit more time at the allotment now that my toe has healed enough to get a boot on my foot.  I have certainly benefitted from being in the outdoors.  I have recently attempted to do a list of things that need doing that don't cost anything but there is only two things on that list - declutter the loft (which isn't going to be to difficult as there isn't much up there) and spring cleaning (and I have had my fill of cleaning for the moment).  Everything else pretty much needs me to buy bits from stores to do them.  I am going to the DIY centre tomorrow to get some supplies to fix the greenhouse at the allotment tomorrow.  Hopefully it shouldn't be more than £30 which I have put aside for that.  After that it will be more sewing at the weekend or maybe a bit of reading.  My spending is just on food and birthday/celebration cards/presents in recent weeks.  Budgets are still looking okay for the rest of the month at the moment.  Perhaps I should just plan to spring clean one room a week so that particular chore gets done but doesn't become to arduous.  One thing that might help me track my energy usage is I have finally arranged for someone to come round and install a smart meter.  I think I'm pretty careful with energy and water consumption but I may yet learn something from having a visual tool to see what uses what energy.  My council tax bill finally came through today and that will be going up £5 a month so not as bad as it could have been.  I have done the sums and I should still be okay but I better adjust my spreadsheet to account for that now.

Anyway, I better leave you to your weekends.  Happy frugalling all.

AskYouWillGet

@MazzieD I've never grown Hyacinth and just gooogled it and the result from WikiHow has ideas to help prevent snapping.  Are these an easy plant? Looking for more flowers that will look after themselves, I usually go for self seeding wild-life attracting types but not done much with bulbs.  Bought a few crocus last year and the voles ate them!