2024 Frugal Living Challenge

Florafauna

Pretty frugal day today, bread and milk and £3 for the penny arcades. Wholesome fun, walking, playing on swings, picnic, drinks from a flask and a swim. It's been lovely 

London_1

Enough stuff from the freezer and cupboards to feed me today so 5 NSDs today I'm hoping to last until next Tuesday at least before I have to buy anything at the moment the only thing on my list is a tin of squirty cream but I can make do for the moment I'll use a dollop of ice cream on tinned fruit instead Still have enough bread and plenty of UHT milk which I use all the time.

Chicken curry from the freezer for tonights dinner  plenty of rice in the cupboard.

 Probably beans on grated cheese on toast for lunch, and breakfast will be porridge all sorted for today

 I may have a slice of my sis-in-law Christmas cake that I've not yet broken into, as she makes me a little one every year and I always save it for the New Year. Lots of tins of biscuits and shortbread given to me at Christmas and still a few of the Borders fiery ginger biscuits one of my DGS gave me at Christmas .I am eking them out as they really are gorgeous so a couple a day only with my mid morning cuppa 

  JackieO xx

bamboo_socks

My downfall is frothy coffees. I have budgeted for 'entertainment' and have a cash envelope for it, which I'm hoping will keep me in check a bit more. I justify by saying I don't really go out or have any hobbies, but maybe I need to think of it in terms of 2 coffees = a session at the local pool.

Cas

Frugaldom said:

Ivy leaves can be boiled up to release enough saponins to use the resulting liquid as laundry detergent and i only realised how good it was after trying that last summer. 

I didn't know you could use ivy that way @Frugaldom, thank you for that. There's ivy in our garden that gets cut back every year so I'll need to try this rather than chucking the leaves in the garden waste bin.  I'm trying laundry liquid made from cockers for the first time today. 

MegA43

My local Lidl had a kg of cooking bacon reduced to 85p today. So that's chopped, portioned out & in the chest freezer now.
Went through my freezers & cupboards & did a proper meal plan & managed to bring the weekly shop in at under £54, including shower gel & loo roll. Will probably need a bit of a top up next week but will try to minimise as much as possible.
Also made jam this week from berries frozen from the garden. 
Pleased with my frugal start to the year so far!

nannygladys

 Frugaldom -   I do as well, first came across them when Winston and Pumpkin were born, seems such a lovely place, it's my hope to get up there one day!! 🙂

Prudent

Lots of useful hints on here today thank you. Now I wish we hadn't cleared the ivy at the allotment, but it will probably grow back. I took a wee trip down there today and began planning for next year. I hadn't realised I could make jam from frozen berries so that is a plus. We are quite new to the allotment, which was an absolute wilderness. We spent most of last year clearing and getting up a poly tunnel so I am hopeful this year we can grow more. The fruit and veg isle is my biggest spend at the supermarket so if we can make the allotment productive it will certainly help a lot. 

I had a zoom session with my family yesterday to plan the 'bash' for all the big celebrations. The most popular date has fallen when I cannot make it due to a care commitment for my daughter. I have offered to contribute £100 towards it out of my 'family' budget and I will use the rest of my budget to finance a trip to see them at another point. 

I have tried to pop my frugal living budget in my signature, but not sure if it has worked.

Katiehound

bamboo_socks said:

My downfall is frothy coffees.  

Have you tried the sachets from Aldi (or Tesco) 8 for £1. (or even 90 pence with Club card)
 I particularly like the double chocolate mocha but when the boxes are empty- no more!! too much of a weight gain treat! 

bamboo_socks

Katiehound said:

bamboo_socks said:

My downfall is frothy coffees.  

Have you tried the sachets from Aldi (or Tesco) 8 for £1. (or even 90 pence with Club card)
 I particularly like the double chocolate mocha but when the boxes are empty- no more!! too much of a weight gain treat! 

I think this is something I need to explore more. I like meeting a friend in a coffee shop, but getting one from a machine when I've popped into the Co Op needs to stop! Thank you 😊

Siebrie

@Prudent I harvest the fruit in my garden, wash and destalk, and then freeze, either open or in bags. Then, when I have time or need space, I will combine a sweet and a sour bag (say, strawberries and rhubarb) and make jam or chunky sauce, which I then put in a jampot and close. This is kept in the fridge and used within the next fortnight in my breakfast and our desserts. I try to avoid using sugar, snd I hate mega jam sessions; one pot at a time I can manage.