2022 Frugal Living Challenge

nannygladys

Took my shopping trolley out on its inaugural outing!!! It was so easy to manoeuvre and I managed to get everything into it, so really pleased. This afternoon I have made a small simple bag that fits inside over the handle for my bits and pieces to save me taking my handbag with me, it may need tweaking but I won't know until i see it in action - small things please small minds lol.
Nannyg

Hopefuljoy

Hello everyone. I'm pleased with today as I took homemade bread and carrot soup to work with an apple and orange and so on nuts. Felt quite healthy and frugal. Breakfast was my standard dry granola as I dislike milk. It sounds awful but I really like it and it saves time. Dinner was pancakes and more pancakes made with storecupboard ingredients. It was going to be an NSD but DD has gone to L@dl to forage and is coming home with 500g beef mince and 1kg of lamb mince to freeze all for £1.80. That'll come off Saturday's weekly food shop. Oh and toilet paper!!! £1.94. All in all a good day and I have also managed to book 6 free solution based therapy sessions through my work employee assistance programme to help me with my cptsd symptoms which are getting a bit too much. I hope you are all having a good evening. xx

fionaandphil

@spudsmum have a good look around for Legoland. We got 2 for 1 entry with cereal and also a voucher on clubcard. We stayed at a hotel near Heathrow which was roughly same price as cheaper chains but also had indoor pool and nice pub nearby for food. We also visited Lookout Bracknell while there which was a great day out and very cheap. Took our own food and drink for each one and just bought ice creams. Make sure you take swim things and towels to Legoland and get there  before it opens so you can look round model village and get on rides before it gets busy. It was a great day out, hope they enjoy it

RainbowHippie

Thank you for the good wishes @Hopefuljoy, this thread is definitely a great one for motivation and encouragement, i feel like it does help keep me a bit more on track when i'm reading it regularly. Hope your new mattress is comfy

@Floss thanks, and, you're right - I will certianly have another go at getting OH more involved in meal planning/cooking. I would love him to take it over and we've had a few conversations this year about him taking on more of the 'household support' type jobs while he's not in paid work. He is a great cook, and enjoys it when he gets into it. Sadly his health issues at the moment tend to manifest in periods of excessive sleeping, so he can be effectively out of action for days with no energy to cook or do much else. Sometimes it lines up that he's able to cook a big batch of something delicious that lasts us several dinners, but a lot of the time it falls to me, which of course i don't mind when he's under the weather. I feel like he has more 'bad' weeks since being unemployed so very hopeful for a new job when we move. Another issue we have with planning is he only fancies quite specific (not necessarily predictable) foods when he's feeling rubbish, so the meals i'm cooking don't always cut it and he ends up eating 'freezer beige' or ordering takeaway (not great for health or budget, which he does acknowledge). I don't mind having the uneaten portions of whatever i cooked as my lunch/dinner the next day, but it can feel a bit frustrating to have cooked plenty of food and then come down to pizza boxes the next morning. Hoping at least if we plan together, even if i end up doing most of the cooking i'll be making things he actually fancies that week and have a chance of being eaten. I have historically been terrible both at making the time to meal plan and then at sticking to it, so hopefully this time together we'll muddle through!

We're still awaiting the final word on our move-in day, it had originally been suggested that it would be the 28th of Febuary, but it sounds like there's a delay with the property our vendors are buying. It doesn't matter too much to us, other than i'd planned a quiet work week this week but i'll be getting busier again from the 7th, so there will be practical implications for how much time i have available. Fingers crossed it may still happen this week!

Have a lovely week and hope you are all well xx

MazzieD

Think I'll just say that my budget was very low for February and managed to come in under.  Not sure about March budget at the moment, seem to be in limbo as it looks like my DD for energy is staying the same until April, still no word about the new DD and still can't change it on my account so hoping it doesn't shoot up later this month.  March is unlikely to be a no spend month as I do need to do a major stock up on various things before April when the new tax year starts and everything goes up even more.

After a great deal of thought about whether I could manage without a car have decided that now is not the time.  It's been quite difficult over the last few weeks.

Have now found a car and put down a deposit.  Really pleased, price is below the insurance settlement and newer than my previous one, it's got 'green' technology, no road tax and is coming with a full tank of petrol(!) and a new MOT so just waiting for that to be done.

First day back at work yesterday, shattered last night but my brain was a bit shocked and hasn't quite kicked in yet.   Nice short week as only doing two days to start with so just today and then I'll be in a heap on the floor.

2Scratters

@MazzieD Great news on the car front you & DD doing brill!

@RainbowHippie I thought that post was written by myself. My DH has the same problem with food  and he too is good at cooking.(Definitely better than me) it can make meal times a nightmare. I "encouraged" him to retire early due to physical ill health. Good luck with the house move.

@Hopefuljoy love the DS statement "drive down day to day operating costs". A home is a strategic and finely run business and profits are for holidays & treats. We could be our own HMRC Householder making regular checks

Today looks like a scraps healthy dinner for me. There is ham and spinach left overs in the fridge and plenty of eggs, omelette it is then Still not spent any grocery money and I got paid last Friday, I am daily checking into places including the freezer and some brilliant and simple ideas have been founded. 

2Scratters xx

Treasurequeen

Yesterday I Needed to pop out and get milk and a few things which came in at £3.00 so that’s all I will need now food wise this week. I was shopping once a month and getting essentials in between but am going back to shopping every week as dates aren’t long enough these days and items aren’t on shelves reliably. Took out a fruit crumble from the freezer for pudding tonight and will have an odds and ends tea using up all the little bits in the freezer. Hopeful today will be a NSD as I’m not intending to go out of the house today. 

Took a library book back yesterday and will be going back with my other two books in few weeks time. I’ve got my eye on a few books already for next visit. Re started doing surveys and already have received freebies through the post. - flaxseed powder for cereals full sized packet and free teabags. 

willow_loulou

Hello 👋 
well covid properly got me this week. So cross as I’ve been so careful, but of course we’re told it’s done so people are not testing and I’ve seen so many out with symptoms it was inevitable. 

So I’m enforced resting and having to be really strict with staying off eBay. I’m laying in the dark but planning the garden etc so the temptation to seed etc order is strong! 

Sigh. 

MazzieD

@willow_loulou
Hope you get better soon and anyone else who has got it. 

Nobody seems to be bothering with masks in enclosed spaces like supermarkets, I was the only one with a face mask when I popped in to get a couple of bits on Monday, wonder if Covid rates have shot up again.  Know it's supposed to be milder now but even so....

cw18

I'm very much in the minority (and attract a lot of funny looks) for still wearing a face covering around here.    I'm not sure I've seen anyone else wearing one in the Community Pantry shop - and it's not a large floorspace, so you're often close to others.   And since they let volunteer walkers back into the rehoming kennels I think I've only seen one other person wearing one there.  But I shall continue to do so until I feel the risk is low enough for me to feel comfortable to not do so.

My fella has a compromised immune system due to meds he takes (as is my youngest, but he lives far enough away I normally only see him once a year), and my Mother hadn't long finished chemo before the first lock-down (her GP put her onto the 'shelter at home' list).  Plus, if I did catch it I wouldn't want to go to work - but I'm quite sure any absence related to it would now count against our normal sick record, and that would put me back under threat of losing my job (something I can't risk again as it's less than 12 months since I last managed to scrape through the 'consideration for dismissal' process and keep my pay cheque)!!