Where to go from here? - Frugality and Budgeting Diary

annieb64

We are in east Kent on a new estate.  We've had at least three window cleaners call at the house offering their services. I have arranged for one to do the windows once a month. I hate cleaning windows!

Since our house is a new build it will be interesting to see how much fuel we do use for heating etc. It should be warmer-I hope- than our last house which was in the Peak District although we do get a strong easterly wind from the sea.

I've continued my habit of buying a couple of extra tins or packets every time I shop even though I don't expect to be snowed in here. We have plenty of warm clothes. 

CJRyder

Update after far too long: Keeping warm has been good with the acquisition of an oversized fleeced hoodie (Primark version). I have been reducing the acquisition of creature comforts though in a bid to reduce wasting funds and actually use what I have at home. I do keep stocked up with the regular tins etc. though. Although I do need to practice better stock rotation...

A trangia and fuel has also been acquired just in case. I have also tested my hurricane lamp and use it on a semi-regular basis to ensure that I'm not looking for a YouTube video on how to parachute after being pushed out of the plane!

London_1

First food shop this month, and boy have the prices shot up. I managed to get more than enough to last me until the begining of November so no more shopping for me this month

My purse is firmly shut and will improvise if I have to with stuff in stock already  

67 days until Christmas  and I have five family birthdays before then  

JackieO xx

Longwalker

Aye its getting harder to find where to shave the pennies when you have been shaving for years

I personally am going to cut my Netflix and maybe prime subscriptions. Im unsure about the Prime, it does save me a fortune in P&P and if I swap from the cloud to Amazon, thats about 69p saved ( or whatever it is ) I find I watch more on the "Free" channels , Iplayer, C4 etc and seeing as I have the morals of an ally cat, Im not adverse to streaming from sites that arent exactly legal

Shopping for food is just scary. Really scary and Im a good cook who can make something out of nothing. Its the basics , I cant abide spread and use butter - £3.70 !!!!!!, I wanted Peanut butter today - gone from 80p to £1.20 - I left it, a want rather then a need

Food shopping is a struggle tbh. I have pared it back as much as possible and now it means meals are boring. Trying to make sure we all have our food needs met within a strict budget, means we all have to face a meal we would rather not eat more often then we used to. Like mum hates pasta, so that used to be once a month, its now on the menu every two weeks, I hate mince and sausages - they show up weekly

We both drive diesel cars, we no longer have leisure days out. It reached £1.96 a litre this week. Just to see the grandchildren now costs £40. To mow the lawns cost £10 in petrol. 

We are just keeping our heads above water , but we are both coming retirement age and we are now getting pretty nervous. From a place of looking towards a pension that whilst wasnt going to pay for cruises, is now looking to be pretty basic

London_1

I can understand how you feel Longwalker and it is a challenge. I retired in 1995 and was sadly widowed in 2003 so have spent the last 19 years juggling my cash around 

If I say so myself I haven't done too bad a job, but then I grew up with rationing, and post war austerity and an amazing little feisty Scots Mum who could make something out of virtually anything-and often did  

I have a pretty good store of herbs and spices which is handy to brighten up the most 'beige' of meals. Even a splash of sweet chilli sauce, or a spoonful of curry powder or paprika mixed into a tin of beans livens them up a bit :)or some grated cheese added if your not keen on too much spice

I am today making a lasagne for my two strapping grandsons as their parents are away for a week, and I know I will probably have some spicy mince left over which will maybe get portioned up for jacket spud filler, or if I bulk out with a few mixed veg and top with mash will make a portion or two of cottage pie, individually frozen for a meal for me later his week.

The boys lasagne I will drop round to their house later and they will have a nice home cooked dinner for tonight and I will possibly have a couple of portions tucked into my freezer.

I use the rectangular take away boxes to make my own little meals, and when I use one I just defrost and whizz in the microwave and add some steamed veg.
My 500 gms of mince will definitely feed two large young men, and one little old lady (me,probably twice. )

 I bought a litre of skimmed UHT milk yesterday that was reduced to 30p and I will use that to make a large slow cooked rice pudding today which will do for several puddings If I make a big one then I will probably have some HM soup with cheese and crackers followed by a bowl of rice pudding which will be a pretty filling lunchtime meal .

My late Mum always had a soup pot cooking at some point, and clapped out past their best veg is great to make HM soup and its cheap as chips.

 I either have a soup starter, followed by main meal or main meal followed by a small pudding two courses are very filling  for my main meal.
 But adding cinnamon to my rice pud or some diced apple will brighten it up a bit.

I do like adding odds and ends to broaden the taste a bit so even boring beans or pasta can have a bit of oomph and taste better

Instead of a scotch egg with breadcrumbs, use dried sage and onion stuffing to coat it with just gives it a better flavour I also coat a slice of pork fillet with sage and onion stuff before cooking as pork can be a bit boring at times

JackieO xx

YoungBlueEyes

@Longwalker have you had a look over on the pensions board? There's some very knowledgable people there who might be able to spot some way to jiggle your setup that would help you

London_1

Had enough left over mince from the lasagne to make two portions for the freezer just for me The boys will love the lasagne and I'll pop it round today for them. 
I made a nice slow cooked rice pud as well from the 30p litre of UHT milk I bought, and had enough milk left to make custard to go with it so puds are sorted for a couple of days.

I dug some of the frozen sliced gammon out of the freezer this morning, and will have a nice salad today with some rice pud for dessert.

I managed to get five portions of gammon from the small joint I cooked earlier this month, so I shall have three slices with the salad and the other two slices will ,as they are smaller, be chopped up and used in an omelette.

The joint was only £3.39 and I should manage to get ten meals from it either salads ,omelettes or just with an egg and a few chips the last bit of it was small diced up bits that I froze so they will either go into a quiche or with a pasta bake .Streetching stuff out is  second nature to me  
JackieO xx

RobM99

All that alcohol - with the energy costs, you'd be better off using it as fuel!

CJRyder

Afternoon!

Things have been alright so far. With a mild autumn we haven't needed to use the heating yet (house hasn't dropped below 19.5°C yet), so our government discount is currently adding to our energy credit. We will see what November brings though.

DW has left her soul-sucking job so hopefully she will find something with a better balance and doesn't have a toxic atmosphere. However she is looking to also do more in the house improvements and chore wise. Meal planning and better eating in general are both now on her radar. I am hoping that this is not just a passing interest.

Finally I am improving on living off the stores and veg box rather than having a panic casserole or curry. I still have more to do on the order things need to be eaten but life is looking alright in general, even with the current world situation.

CJRyder

General update - Life has been going alright. Finally had a date day with the DW which wasn't interrupted by the nursery. Stocks are being maintained, although DW has picked up on just how much of various dried goods we have acquired...

...Including noodles! However I have given myself the goal of learning and perfecting my noodle bowl recipe. It seems to be going well. The main components are the broth (homemade stock), the tare (experimentation required), the noodles (obviously) and the toppings. Ideally I would like to add a soft-boiled egg. However, the boiling of eggs is not my forte...