2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Bluegreen143

Lots of direct debits out today and Red bought chicken bedding & bird seed at £5 so transferred it over. Actually he bought a bunch of bits and bobs but the rest is from his own spending pot so I don’t need to count that! No other spends.

Getting my head around the new lockdown and that my DS (5) will be home from nursery for at least a month. We are in Scotland so I knew he wasn’t going back til 18th Jan anyway but they are now saying 1st Feb soonest. We were both saying how glad we are this year that I’m a SAHM as it does take the pressure off me since I’m at home anyway. My heart goes out to all my working friends many of whom yet again need to juggle homeschooling an older child, running about after a toddler and putting in a day’s work all at the same time. Hugs too to anyone on here who may be struggling. I’ve been spending the afternoon listing out (free!) activity ideas so I’ve got a plan when the afternoon seems to be dragging. Luckily my two do play really nicely together (the little one is just 2) after all the practise they’ve had this last year! 

On another note, made a batch of sourdough today which was flat as a pancake! Think I’ve killed my starter as kept forgetting to feed it. Going to make another starter up as Red will happily eat HM sourdough but he only likes HM yeasted for soup, not sandwiches/toast.

Bluegreen143

Also meant to say welcome to all the new joiners, love reading everyone’s stories and money saving tips!

skint_chick

Had to spend some money today on anti-histamine tablets as I tried a new mascara from my toiletry stash and had an allergic response to it - puffy eyelids and watering eyes! So I've spent £3.95 on tablets and last year I wasted £3.30 on mascara I can't use! Luckily I'm such a hoarder I have plenty more of my regular mascara, so shopped my stash. 

Made work lunches for the rest of the week, and defrosting sausages for tomorrow's dinner and a casserole for Weds. Did an inventory of the freezer and found a whole pack of frozen salmon so if anyone has any salmon pasta recipes I would love some ideas. Any ideas for pasta recipes really, I already do carbonara and lasagna and spaghetti bol but that's about it. OH doesn't like spicy food and I can't make sauces with alcohol, so I'm a bit clueless about what else to try!

MisterPym

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

Ive had a quick look on too good to go but there was nothing near me. I recommend apps like shopmium and checkoutsmart though. It not always a good selection but today for example i got a free bag of oven chips from tesco this morning. Me and hubby both have accounts so I got 2 bags. They do have good things from time to time. I had my first spend of the year. Got the much needed milk and eggs so hopefully wont need to go out again this week. I need to invest in some rechargable batteries as my youngest is obsessed with a little toy dinosaur he got for christmas that runs around. Christmas day he went through 2 sets of batteries in one evening!!!

Lidl had rechargeables this week

Cutitoot

Know what you mean Bluegreen. I feel heart sorry for parents of young kids just now. You don't know where you are. Hopefully good times are on the way. Skint_chick I would make a sauce with single cream, garlic, wee bit onion a bit of white wine if you've any left over, basil or thyme or any other dried herbs and cook salmon in that for few minutes. I like single cream as the sauce is runnier.

Not had to buy a single bit of food this week just eating all the leftovers even if its crackers and cheese for dinner. Result! Hopefully be able to add to the savings at end of month.

cw18

skint_chick said:

Any ideas for pasta recipes really

I cook up some mince and onion (with a touch of black pepper and either an Oxo cube or some Worcestershire sauce), then stir in a tin of baked beans and heat through until it's all hot - and at the same time cook come dried pasta in another pan.  Then mix the lot together and serve up in bowls.   My kids especially liked it with grated cheese on top (my OH and I like it with mature cheddar), and the kids and I also like some tomato ketchup on it.

The original recipe said to cook the mince and onions and cook the pasta.  Then layer half the pasta into a baking dish, followed by half the mince, then a small tin of beans, the rest of the mince and the rest of the pasta.  Then pour a tin of tomato soup over it before baking (I used oxtail soup as two of family wouldn't eat cream of tomato, and you could tell by taste that it was that).   I changed to my pan version as I got fed up of the extra washing up - and it also bumped up my energy bills because of using the oven as well, as well as taking extra time I didn't have as I worked full-time as well as running the house!

balabooberlies

joedenise said:

I use the Lidl skimmed UHT - find it much nicer than the other SMs and generally cheaper.  It also means I can get the same when we are in France as there are Lidl stores in a lot of places.  Find it tastes like semi skimmed fresh and doesn't seem to have tang that a lot of UHT milks have.  I find the semi skimmed too creamy, almost like full fat fresh.

Ditto !

Will check Lidl's milk.  Always go out for milk only to come back with extras.

bala

rolorich

Oh Gosh lockdown and shielded letter arrived today so no more popping to the shops yellow sticker buying.  

I’m planning on just making do with my yarn, other craft materials and books I own.  I will have to get food deliveries in; Iceland seem the best option with free deliveries over £35 and I need to plan meals in advance pretty well now so that I don’t run out of essential items. 

I applied for the four free months supply of vitamin D the govt offering CEV people tonight; deadline for applying is TODAY.

stay safe all xx

StrawberrySuze

joedenise said:

I've signed up to Too Good to To as well but nothing anywhere near me so far - nearest has been 15 miles and that was a Costa!  Really will have to have a look at Olio, not done that yet!

You really will 😊

StrawberrySuze

skint_chick said:

Made work lunches for the rest of the week, and defrosting sausages for tomorrow's dinner and a casserole for Weds. Did an inventory of the freezer and found a whole pack of frozen salmon so if anyone has any salmon pasta recipes I would love some ideas. Any ideas for pasta recipes really, I already do carbonara and lasagna and spaghetti bol but that's about it. OH doesn't like spicy food and I can't make sauces with alcohol, so I'm a bit clueless about what else to try!

How about pesto. I buy the 50p a jar red pesto from lidl but you can make it with all different herbs, sundried tomatoes, nuts etc. if you have a blender or pestle and mortar. I add sliced black olives. Sometimes I dry fry slices of chorizo, there is enough oil in it, I mix this with pesto and this can be mixed with pasta, or just with a few salad leaves and crusty bread, very tasty 😊