2023 Frugal Living Challenge

Soontobeoap

 

Good luck @SecondStar i have fingers and toes crosssed for you. 

Sweetlittledaydreams

@Sausageroll14 thanks, I didn't used to really feel the cold until I had covid so it's only the last few months I've noticed it and also noticed my gas bills going right up! 
Got my fingers crossed for you @SecondStar, I hope it all works out well for you.
£40 on petrol and £20.90 on the weeks shop, including shower gel and mouthwash not just food.
Working for the next 3 nights so that'll stop me spending anything!

SecondStar

Offer accepted!!!

I am thrilled!

I know this is still a first step in a long process where lots could still go wrong, but I feel so buoyant. I’m so proud of myself!

MissRikkiC

Congratulations on your offer being accepted @SecondStar I’m chuffed for you. It’s all very exciting isn’t it. 

This week is not going to be frugal on account of having to shell out £750 for an electric charge point to be installed at home. Also just checked on the slow cooker Jambalaya I’ve made today for later this week and the rice seems to have disintegrated. It’s totally inedible and a huge vat of the stuff too. Glad I only used 1 small chicken breast and a dog end of a chorizo sausage in it (meat wise!) but annoyed all the same 

Frugaldom

SecondStar said:

Offer accepted!!!

I am thrilled!

I know this is still a first step in a long process where lots could still go wrong, but I feel so buoyant. I’m so proud of myself!

That is fabulous! Well done and congratulations. 😁

Frugaldom

I've just been playing catch up and think I've now read up to date. 
Petrol price has dropped to 149.9 here so I filled up and that should last me through February, hopefully, as I've nothing planned outside of the norm.

Olio carrots & parsnips are simmering in the soup pan with onions and lentils, and I've got a couple of packs of vegan sausages and fake 'chicken' I was given so need to use those up. I'm not vegan (nor even vegetarian, for that matter) but I refuse to let food go to waste. The chicken equivalent, to me, has more of a fish-like texture but I can eat it when it's cooked up in a spicy stir-fry or curry. The sausages taste fine fried with extra salt and pepper. I'm planning on seeing out January without buying any food. My freebie (from Olio) red top milk got put in the freezer in pint cartons so I'm using these up rather than buying fresh stuff. I tend to mostly use UHT milk as it doesn't need refrigerated.

Gas cylinders - our local Calor supplier was out of stock yet again and doesn't know when to expect their next delivery. Thankfully, I also have Flogas cylinders, which are now in use, but I have contacted the nearest JGas supplier and they say they can deliver free on orders over £175. It's a bit of a big spend but I'm sure it will be worth it just knowing we have their cylinders for future replacement. The company also supplies coffee logs and overnight briquettes so I have ordered both, along with some logs and kindling. It's absolutely crazy that we live in the middle of forestry and woodland yet still need to pay over the odds for stove fuel, but I'm really, really hoping that our own working woodland project will soon be mature enough to start thinning out for our own logs.

YoungBlueEyes

That’s great news SecondStar 👏🏻🎉 🥂 You and pets will be settled soon. 

Swayingseaweed

MIss RikkiC This week is not going to be frugal on account of having to shell out £750 for an electric charge point to be installed at home.
Can I ask who your getting to do it as we are looking at getting one fitted.
Seaweedx

MissRikkiC

@Swayingseaweed I’m afraid it’s my best friends contractor. I don’t know how the cost would compare to big companies but know that they would most definitely will be more than £750

cw18

It's looking like my car has reached the end of her life

MOT is due next Monday, but we knew there was one fault that meant an immediate failure - the handbrake light doesn't go off.
So my son took her over to a friend of his tonight, as friend is a mechanic.   He's had a look as far as he can at home (no lifting ramp), and reckons a wire is shorting - but to get access to it would be a full day job in a garage as it means removing seats, carpets and dashboard.   He reckons a minimum of £500, with no guarantee they'd even find the problem

She was registered in Sept 2022, and has somewhere in the region of 90k miles on the clock.   Even if I had £500 (which I don't), I'd struggle to justify spending that kind of money on her.   It's a standing joke that when we fill the fuel tank we double the value of her.....

I'm going to try and call into a garage tomorrow and just ask what they think might be the problem (I know it's not brake fluid being too low, which is another thing the handbook says could cause it), and what kind of money they'd be talking to look at her.   But I suspect I'll be cancelling the MOT and phoning a scrap merchant