2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Blackcats

I've got my voucher - excited to see how much shopping I can get for £25.  I used the £10 voucher I got for the August spending and got a good haul.  I realise I should probably find something more interesting to do than spending Lidl vouchers 🤷‍♀️

AnimalTribe

Swings and roundabouts on the frugal front here. I’ve had a good couple of days. A £10 voucher from the farm supply store, a £6 shoe voucher, £1 voucher plus 20% off Holland & Barrett, free garden plants from Freecycle. 3 books (second hand) that I’ve been keen to get for a while (£6.25 including postage), a bag of reduced priced groceries, vastly reduced priced garden plants from a local nursery.

On the other hand my DH went to collect the dogs new medicine – it lasts about 20 days – and costs £102 – yikes. When the receptionist saw the look of shock on my DH’s face though – she told him that the vet would write a prescription for £18 and that he could probably find it cheaper online. She was right £33 online. I've been putting money into a savings account every month for years for vet bills so I can afford it, and the dog is worth it. It's taken months to get a diagnosis and loads of tests. I’m glad I’m frugal in other aspects of my life though.

Siebrie

I'm envious of your good supermarket vouchers! Most I get here (Belgium) is 40 extra loyalty points (= €0,40) with a €40 purchase.

Thrifty_Taylor

Decided to stock up on some staples, as there are a lot of bare patches on our island supermarket shelves. Totted up my shopping on the way round, then at the till, I asked the cashier to total up @£25, so I could pay twice & use two vouchers. I've got another two vouchers to use on Wednesday too. Put my Tosco dividend voucher towards some new pillows, so saved £12.50 altogether yesterday 😃

leftatthetrafficlights

Been a while since I've been on the thread and haven't done very well! 🙈 However, by the end of this month I'll have a clear run for a few months so I'll be making the most of it! I've got very lax on shopping and frivolous spending and I want to rein it back in - I've got 2 birthdays and a family visit to cover in the next couple of weeks (I've budgeted for the majority of those though 😉) then I'm free to get totally back on the frugal wagon! 🙌 

willow_loulou

I just popped in to Tsco and spent £40 yet still didn’t get my list! The dog food, washing liquid and raisins have all increased in price. 
I did get my flax seed on offer, this should last 3 months. I’m going to have to rethink my food budgets and try olio again.   

Blackcats

Posting on this thread is definitely helping me to stay on track with spending.  I was tempted to pop to the butchers today (where I always manage to spend a fair bit of money),  instead I peered into the fridge and decided to make linguine with a mushroom, fresh tomato and basil sauce and some mozzarella added at the end.  It was very tasty and used food I already had.  I'm eating from the freezer tomorrow and then using my £25 Lidl shop with the £5 off voucher for the rest of the week.

willow_loulou

Okay hive mind - best biscuits recipe? Easy and not many ingredients - no oats! 

Also best biscuit storage? My tin lets them go soft almost instantly 😯 
Anything I need to do to be frugal for Christmas/winter now?
The swept chimney has my limited list complete apart from the draft excluder making.  

Also - bulbs. I’m feeling I’d like to plant some, any recommendations beyond hyacinths. I assume they all
need to go in around now?  

fionaandphil

willow_loulou said:

Okay hive mind - best biscuits recipe? Easy and not many ingredients - no oats! 

Also best biscuit storage? My tin lets them go soft almost instantly 😯 
Anything I need to do to be frugal for Christmas/winter now?
The swept chimney has my limited list complete apart from the draft excluder making.  

Also - bulbs. I’m feeling I’d like to plant some, any recommendations beyond hyacinths. I assume they all
need to go in around now?  

yes to bulbs going in about now.  I like dwarf narcissues and daffodils but crocus are also nice for an earlier show and there are some called something like chinidoxia which are really pretty and a blue/purple colour.  I picked some more up at W!lko last week for about £2 a pack but I think Aldi also had some in.

Jellytotts

I got daffs, some sort of hyacinth and allium bulbs that need to go in between aug-dec.  3 Largs packs for £10 in The Range.  Just need to find the enthusiasm to put them in now! (Not a fan of this heat).

Frugal wins this weekend have been some fab nearly new toys for little people I need to buy birthday and Christmas gifts for.  One of them, a musical shape sorting toy, cost me just £3, complete with batteries and looks like new, cheapest new price was via Am@zon for £21.95.

Left over chicken casserole was turned into 2 batches of soup and 2 Olio collections this week have provided salad, gluten free bread and 2.4kg of candy floss grapes.