2022 Frugal Living Challenge

gill5blue

Hi all,
This morning, as I normally have 2 cups of coffee before work, I boiled the kettle with enough water for 2 cups and drank 1 cup and put the other in a flask- so as not to boil the kettle twice.
Gill5blue

MazzieD

Had a bit of a surprise last night, got a marketing email from my bank (not unusual).  Normally just skim them and delete but this one mentioned that my August spends were 67% lower than July.  Have been ruthlessly cutting down but the biggest saving was switching broadband.  Just sorted out home insurance, not a huge saving but it all helps.  Next month it's car Insurance and then November will be car breakdown.  Definitely concentrating on anything where there might be a bit of 'wriggle' room and cutting down on electricity usage, shower is just mixer taps which are more than adequate with a combi boiler  and that's it for this year apart from all the usual monthly bills.  

cw18

MazzieD said:

Next month it's car Insurance and then November will be car breakdown.

Last year I discovered it was cheaper to have my breakdown in with my car insurance - and in my case it's not only the same level of cover, it's actually with the same company as my insurance company operate the breakdown company !!

Blackandgold_2

We use Autoaid Breakdown, as it gives free spouse cover and, seeing as we each have a car, it works out the cheapest and best for us.

Primrose

Can anyone give me some advice on freezing contents in glass jars?

i,ve previously frozen tiny amounts in mini jars without the glass breaking but am wondering about the safety of 1 lb jars.

i have a pan of mixed fruits I,ve slightly stewed  down which I want to store in freezer in 1 lb jars so i can just pull out a jar when needed to use with porridge, ice cream etc and then store in the fridge meantime to use over several days. 

Obviously  if the glass won,t stand up to it I'll have to freeze in bags but I,ve got lidded jars available which  would be convenient without having to repack he contents for fridge storage. 

London_1

I'm not sure about glass , could you not freeze in those plastic take-away rectangular boxes, or some small lidded lock'n'lock boxes ? they freeze stuff quite well .
I have some small round lidded ones that I use to freeze small amounts of stuff, lemon slices etc

jackieO xx

florianatwobob

I regularly freeze stock in Dolmio jars so not far off a 1lb jar. I normally fill up to about the shoulder so there’s room to expand and not had any issues to date. 

Primrose

florianatwobob said:

I regularly freeze stock in Dolmio jars so not far off a 1lb jar. I normally fill up to about the shoulder so there’s room to expand and not had any issues to date. 

Thanks, that,s very helpful.  Presumably you have to let the frozen  liquid thaw out slowly and naturally  to reduce the risk of the glass cracking?

2Scratters

Hi Peeps,
this past month I really dug our heels in to see what more could be done. We washed hands in cold water, got my showers (no hair washing done at this speed that is a 4 min shower) down to 90 seconds and I am bracing the 20 seconds of cold water (Go me  ) as the temp on the electric shower has also been turned down so it kicks in quicker. If there was not a lot of pots to wash they waited. So no Gas kicking in. We used only 2 units. The electric was not as accurate but established the WM did ok and used less that 1 unit, I was really please about that then DH turned on his compressor in the shed ....... there went 5 units!! He may need to recycle it for a smaller one
The 6 monthly water bill has come down 5 cubic metres compared to last year. I will be continuing with using grey water through winter too. (I'm helping save the water for the company and sending to them instead of it going to ground)
2Scratters xx

florianatwobob

Primrose said:

florianatwobob said:

I regularly freeze stock in Dolmio jars so not far off a 1lb jar. I normally fill up to about the shoulder so there’s room to expand and not had any issues to date. 

Thanks, that,s very helpful.  Presumably you have to let the frozen  liquid thaw out slowly and naturally  to reduce the risk of the glass cracking?

My kitchen is quite cool so I tend to leave it out on the side but I have defrosted in the fridge too, all without issue. I’d recommend using a robust jar, so good thickish jam jars or cooking sauce jars. Bonne maman jars freeze well too and they’re handy due to the wide opening. 

My family do laugh at me for my love of a good jar!