2023 Frugal Living Challenge

YoungBlueEyes

How much is an awful lot @secondstar?

I used to work with a woman who made her own yoghurt. Her (large) family ate so much she made it in the washing machine. True story. 

If you wanna be a squillionaire, train as a washing machine repair person and move to Derby. Really. 

boultdj

nannygladys said:

boultdj - thats the one I have. What temp do  you use for the strawberries 🍓? I'm going to look out for some cheap ones to have a go. I grow loads in the summer and usually make jam of freeze them, as well as use them fresh, I bet the kids would love them 🙂

Mine is an old one, no temp on it, it's just on or off, so not a lot of help I'm afraid.

spudsmum

2Scratters said:

@spudsmum you are doing a great job with having the pots running as it is.
This is a hiccup in that process and that you did have some money saved.
If, as you say you feel there may be a pot with too much sat in there for too long, consider halving that balance (if safe enough or whatever you are comfortable with skimming off) and pay some debt off.
It is great to have the money there and it not be needed but as you say every penny needs to work and if that means splitting/skimming a pot and using towards a debt then it means it's worked twice as hard for you.

2 Scratters xx

Thanks @2Scratters that’s definitely something worth thinking about

In other news - only spent £1.44 up to now this week - on paracetamol and bananas - no other top ups have been needed.

Eco pantry tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get something decent for my £2.

Been in my garage stash and used up a tin of ham and some soup that had been in there for ages - made a chicken and ham pie (without the chicken but shhhhh nobody noticed  )

Also used up the dregs of an old spice blend that was languishing in the back of the cupboard to make a curry. 

In not so good news - I got a message from my sons school to say he needs some revision guides. I need to pay by the beginning of next week and he needs 3 seperate ones at £6.20 each. There’s another £20 gone - it’s never ending! 

Just need to tread water until next Friday when husband gets paid - things should feel a bit easier then.

spudsmum

mumtoomany said:

My advice to you @spudsmum, would be as follows.
1. Get hubby on board with all the spending, make sure he knows how to find the best deal for everything, or asks you.
2. Set up a savings account just for emergencies, something difficult to access, maybe premium bonds, (you might even win) where you have to wait a day or two for the money.
3. Once you have this emergency fund start putting any extra into another savings account, and use to pay off extra lump sums to the cards. If you have to use any of the emergency fund, refill that before you then pay any more extra.
4. Try to cut your costs for everything to the bone, until the debts are gone. Every penny matters and adds up. My gate sales mentioned above are an example. Most days when i empty the honesty box there will be only £1 or so. DD3 says, "it's only pennies, that's nothing" But each day I tip it into a drawer. When i counted it at Christmas, i had £379. My sister used to collect up pennies she found on the road, in the washing machine from jeans pockets, and any loose change she had left over. These all went into a jar. Whenever it was full she took it to the bank and paid it off the mortgage. She too has been mortgage free for many years.

I hope some of this is useful to you and maybe others. Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

Thanks so much for that @mumtoomany

Lots to think about there - I do some of this already too. 

My husband is awful with money - always has been. Now when he gets paid everything gets transferred to the joint account for the bills etc and he just has money for his petrol and personal spends. 

I deal with everything financial. The only things I ask him to do is keep an eye on his car/ his wardrobe  and give me fair warning if anything is going to be needed. Also to sort out any of his purchases for work and claim back his expenses ASAP - normally it’s ok, unfortunately this month he fell down on both of these! 

We also (usually) have an emergency fund which I don’t touch unless absolutely necessary. The problems comes when there is one emergency after another and you don’t get chance to recover from the hit before the next one comes. It’s hard to know how much is “enough” to put by to cover all eventualities. This last month has been pretty extreme and what I had put away just wasn’t enough. Hopefully I’ll get back on top of it soon. 

Bluegreen143

spudsmum said:

We also (usually) have an emergency fund which I don’t touch unless absolutely necessary. The problems comes when there is one emergency after another and you don’t get chance to recover from the hit before the next one comes. It’s hard to know how much is “enough” to put by to cover all eventualities. This last month has been pretty extreme and what I had put away just wasn’t enough. Hopefully I’ll get back on top of it soon. 

The rule of thumb I often read is 3-6 months worth of living expenses. I’m aiming for 6 months of bare-bone expenses, ie what I’d spend if we were skint, not what j actually spent right now. 

tooldle

I make yogurt every week, using 1 pint of whole and 1 pint of semi skimmed milk. I sometimes add a couple of spoons of powdered whole milk to thicken it up. From this I get 6 full pots and a half full pot to use as starter for the next batch. I like unsweetened yogurt. 

Some years ago I tried making it with a flask and had no luck. I now use a Lakeland yogurt maker (the one with jars). Husband has the Lakeland easy yo and makes those on occasion. He buys the mixes on eBay.

Cas

@SecondStar I have one of those Ninja foodie beasts which has a yoghurt setting.  I use UHT milk as it saves the faff of having to heat up (scald) the milk to a high temperature since UHT milk is milk that's already been heated to a high temperature.  So a litre of full fat UHT milk plus a tablespoon or two of live yoghurt (if I remember I keep back some of the last batch I made).  You can also add a tablespoon or two of powdered milk.  I put it on overnight for 8 hours then strain it through a muslin cloth to get a thicker Greek style yoghurt. You can use the leftover whey for baking or making porridge.  You can use skimmed or semi-skimmed UHT milk but I think full fat works better and tastes nicer.

You can do something similar with a slow cooker, just remember to cover the bowl with a towel to stop the water which condenses on the lid from dripping into your yoghurt.

I've tried using a themos flask, Easiyo and also Lakeland's yoghurt maker and to be honest I find the Ninja/slow cooker method much easier.

Siebrie

Interesting; I have a breadmaker, so I'll be looking into how to make yoghurt with it. We eat about 3 litres per week.

For drying laundry outside, I check the website buienradar.nl (it includes the UK and Ireland). For instance, I've just checked for Cardiff (just for fun ). It's 12.30 now, and it will be dry for at least the next 3 hours.

Beshki

Went through my spending this month and was really pleased so far. Whilst I have barely anything left and a long way to go to payday, there has been no frivolous spends and I knew that this month would be tight. I am determined that although it’ll be tough I am going to put something into my savings this month, even if just £20. Aiming for £100 but…life!

SecondStar

Quick check in on unplanned January spending - cinema trip £12 (birthday present to myself), posted a letter £7 (had to go special delivery, but it was to confirm details to receive money, so I don’t feel too bad!), book on kindle £3 (not necessary, just the next book in a series I’m reading, but I could have ordered it from the library).

All other expenses have been necessary - bills, petrol/bus fares, groceries, and necessary pet expenses.

I have myself a £200 grocery budget, and have £118 left. I usually do a weekly shop in a Saturday, so I have 3 Saturdays before I get paid again. Hoping to scrape in within budget.