2023 Frugal Living Challenge

maryb

I use the Eesiyo flask but I’ve never used their mixes.  What I did do right at the start was take some expensive probiotic tablets and crush them.  Mixed to a paste with a little milk and some inulin powder (NOT insulin, iPad!) and used that as a starter.  I didn’t use that first batch for eating as the tablets were strawberry flavoured but froze it in ice cube trays.  Two ice cubes worth made a lovely thick yogurt on the next go, so thick it wouldn’t pour out of the pot.  I can daisy chain each batch of yogurt many times before I have to use a fresh starter so for me it has been an excellent way of getting probiotics at a reasonable price

MissRikkiC

I’d be keen to make my own since I generally eat 450g of Skyr a day 😖 (when I’m not on a very low groceries budget) and the children both have it daily too. I don’t have the equipment but i may have just found another reason to justify saving for a ninja foodie thing!

Beshki

Cashed in our club card vouchers for petrol top up and this weeks grocery shop. Did spend a further £20 but that’s ok as so much of what we like to keep in the freezer was on half price that we stocked up I am determined not to go into next month owing money to this month!

Bluegreen143

You can make yoghurt in an instant pot too, I have in mine. I don’t currently as my time is limited, plus I’m the only one who eats plain yoghurt and I buy the value Creamfields stuff from Tesco which is tbh probably cheaper than making it myself. 

@MissRikkiC I had a starter I bought online for Greek yoghurt but the place I got it from had starters for all kinds including Skyr style yoghurt. I can’t remember the shop name unfortunately but they also sold starters for sourdough and other fermented products.

leftatthetrafficlights

Not a great frugal start to the year due to having a relative stay for the first week of it but all spends were from a specific budget so hasn't impacted our general spends 😁 

I've got to add up the grocery spends today as I've had no internet for the past week due to dropping my phone down the loo and it taking its sweet time to dry out! 🤦‍♀️😂 thankfully it seems to be working fine now so I'll be able to keep a close eye on my spends! 

zaxdog

Had to spend yesterday after three NSDs in a row. Mr Zaxdog went to get us milk, bread and cheese before we locked down. After all these years of avoiding it I have covid and am tucked up in bed with Barra the sighthound. TV has been carried into the bedroom and Ghostbusters II is on iplayer (yeah I'm a big kid)!

Only good thing is that I see more NSDs whilst we are confined to the house.......................

Cas

Time for my weekly check-in ...

Wins this week

• DH is back to hybrid working so on those days he isn’t WFH the radiator in the bedroom he uses as a home office is been turned down and the daytime boiler temperature has been reduced by a couple of degrees.  We haven’t felt cold so I shudder to think how much money we must’ve been wasting heating rooms that aren’t being used.
• Puppy coming out of her first season so she’s back eating her normal food which she had decided she didn’t like during her first phase.  Thank goodness, because the stuff she refused to eat ended up in the bin and the stuff she would eat was much more expensive!
• Still eating out the freezer/cupboards/leftovers.   
• Half of the pumpkin which has been languishing since Hallowe’en has been turned into soup.  The other half along with some veggies has been put into a dump bag for the freezer.
• Visit to Costco as we were almost out of some essentials that were cheaper to bulk buy there than at the supermarket.  DH volunteered to do the trolley dash on his own and managed to stick to the list which is a first for us!  
• 6 no spend days for me this week and 1 for DH.
• Rather than buying supermarket meal deals DH has bought some tins of soup to put in his locker at work.  He’s also recently discovered Too Good To Go and although he’s still spending at least his £3 outlay is covering his breakfast, morning snack and lunch. 
• £400 to get our car through its MOT this week which was less than expected and (just!) covered by its savings pot.

 Could do better

• Was hoping for some no laundry days this week but the weather has been so wet and miserable I’ve had to put our saturated outdoor clothing through a spin cycle before hanging them up so they’re dry in time for the next puppy walk. 
• Gave into temptation and bought some flowers from Aldi and some pizza slices from the local bakers.

 Still to do

• Need to list all the food in the cupboards and freezer and work out what I can use up over the next few weeks.
• I used to do Swagbucks but got fed up getting screened out of most surveys.  I might pick it back up again or try an alternative.
• I have one of those Ninja Foodie beasts so instead of freezing excess fresh foods I’ll look into dehydrating them instead. Thanks everyone for the dehydrating ideas and tips!
• Our smart meter hasn’t been working properly since mid October and EDF are dragging their feet about fixing it.  They’ve sent out an engineer but he couldn’t fix it and thinks that the meter itself needs to be replaced. Meantime DDs are based on estimate readings so DH will chase up EDF again next week.
• I have a lot of clothes that I no long wear so will look into selling them on something like Vinted. 

KajiKita

Round up for the week:

1. Started tracking NSDs for the first time and have got to 9 so far, targeting 15 in the month, but I will see how that goes.

2. Scary alarming noise from the front of my car is just a bearing at the top of the suspension being a bit dry. That and the strut above it will need replacing at some point but it’s still road legal, safe to drive and can wait a while.

3. Mr KK has got a lump of oak from the local reclamation yard for a new mantelpiece when we swop the wood burner in the living room from one side t’other. He will sand blast it himself (I bought him the kit years ago for Christmas) and it cost us £130.

4. Bought two new front tyres, all weather (my German boss insisted!) for £153.48 which was c. 50% cheaper than Kwikcowboys quoted me!! 😳

5. Got a good deal on a cubic metre of seasoned firewood - £100. With what we have in the wood store and down the side of the garage in an ‘overflow’ store we should be sorted for the rest of the cold weather now. 

6. Harvested two leeks from my veggie patch and made a chickpea flour frittata with them and ….. it was edible!! 😊

7. Did two TTS worth £18.06 and had some TCB of £3.09. All moved to savings.

KK

mama67

Cas said:

Time for my weekly check-in ...

• Our smart meter hasn’t been working properly since mid October and EDF are dragging their feet about fixing it.  They’ve sent out an engineer but he couldn’t fix it and thinks that the meter itself needs to be replaced. Meantime DDs are based on estimate readings so DH will chase up EDF again next week

Cas, can you not read the actual meter dials and send a reading in that way??

KajiKita

mama67 said:

Cas said:

Time for my weekly check-in ...

• Our smart meter hasn’t been working properly since mid October and EDF are dragging their feet about fixing it.  They’ve sent out an engineer but he couldn’t fix it and thinks that the meter itself needs to be replaced. Meantime DDs are based on estimate readings so DH will chase up EDF again next week

Cas, can you not read the actual meter dials and send a reading in that way??

I do. Our so-called ‘smart’ meter ceased to function when we switched provider on moving in. I now submit meter readings from it. All the models are slightly different so you may need some guidance on what buttons to press but sometimes there are videos online about it. 

KK