2024 Frugal Living Challenge

fionaandphil

Lots of carrots, potatoes and swede available everywhere here today but onions, green beans and shallots in short supply. I was in 2 different Tesco today to get some packs of onions. I'm another one who has stocked up and will be doing some food prep over Easter. Salmon also looked good value in Tesco today so picked an extra one up for the freezer 

millie

The green beans in Asda were not with the other cheap veg when I went in yesterday. I hunted round and found them on the end of an isle with stir fry things

AnimalTribe

fionaandphil said:

Lots of carrots, potatoes and swede available everywhere here today but onions, green beans and shallots in short supply. I was in 2 different Tesco today to get some packs of onions. I'm another one who has stocked up and will be doing some food prep over Easter. Salmon also looked good value in Tesco today so picked an extra one up for the freezer 

It sounds like some people managed to get a good amount of the cheap veg, but like fionaandphil DH could only find carrots, potatoes, swedes (and garlic). It will still all be useful though. I will make DH a carrot cake as he deserves it for traipsing around the shops. I might even experiment with a swede cake as I've seen that suggested as an alternative in carrot cake recipes. 

cw18

No cheap veg for me this time around

I'm away from home in the middle of nowhere this week.  Came away before the deals started, and from what I've seen they all end before I'm back in reach of any of the stores.

Had to spend rather a lot on frozen pizza on Monday.   Had a Tesco order due late Monday morning.  Got messages very early on saying it was delayed until mid afternoon.  And then got another message mid afternoon to say it had been cancelled due to a broken down vehicle.

Cue a panic rebook for Tuesday (they did suggest we did a 2 hour and 60 mile round-trip to pick it up before 8pm on Monday which wasn't happening!), and a walk to the only shop around us.  We got there 15 minutes before they were due to close, only to find it busier than we've ever seen it.   Couldn't help wondering how many of the others had also had deliveries cancelled on them (I'd booked a flexi-slot to reduce the charge, so there were likely to be other deliveries due close by).   The pizzas I normally only get when on offer at £1.50 were £4.99 each    But they had another make in flavours we'll eat that were price-marked by the manufacturers at £2.99 each - so that's what we got.  There was next to no choice apart from pizzas, as we'd have had to buy expensive frozen meat/fish, and eye-watering frozen chips/veg or even more eye-watering fresh potates/veg (which all looked past it's best - signs said next delivery of fresh meat was due Tuesday morning, so I suspect veg was the same).  At least we had a £10 credit note from Tesco against the re-order, which effectively became free pizzas and less off the re-order which I then removed the groceries for a meal from!!

I've spent rather more in general over the last 2 weeks than I like to think of.   Discovered my tax code was totally screwed up, but trying to get it sorted on-line didn't work.  So I phoned them almost 3 weeks ago when I was off work, and it was sorted very quickly.   I received a healthy cheque 5 days later covering 2019/20 to 2022/23, and work have processed my new code which gave me a pay cheque last week of almost what I've been getting for 6 weeks !!!!    It also means my take home pay will be £30+ up each week from now on, which will help my stress levels / mental health.   Not quite as much robbing Peter to pay Paul each month, and the panic about the increase on some bills (such as Council Tax) has abated.

We had a family day out a couple of Sundays ago - 10 of us in total.   My daughter, 3 of my grand-daughters, the boyfriend of one of them (who was one of the drivers, along with the GD he's dating and my OH), my Mother, my older son, my OH, his niece and myself.   We went to Blackpoo! zoo as they were offering cheap tickets for locals this month, and we also managed to get 2 concessions (one OAP, one adult student) and two free carers (daughter gets DLA for one of her girls and my Mother gets PIP).  So we paid for 2 children, 2 concessions and 4 adults - plus the 2 free carers.   Then we went to a pub for a carvery.   Normally my OH ends up paying for at least himself (in this case his niece as well), and often for me as well.  So this time I treated them, and also my son (just had his birthday) and my Mother (for Mother's Day).   It felt really nice to be able to do so without thinking twice about it - but it was still an Ouch!   For the 10 of us it worked out at about £230 including parking for 3 cars (but excluding petrol), but we had a fantastic day out.  It would be nice to do something like this again, but it won't be repeated too often due to the cost.   The 'locals' discount saved us about £60, so my daugher needs to keep her eye open for any similar offers in future.

As soon as the cheque cleared I paid off the £670 'needed in order to pass the MOT' car repairs that I'd had to put on my plastic.

Then I bought myself a strimmer which uses plastic and metal blades instead of plastic string (I can't get the hang of those), and can also have wheels added on to make it a handy mower for small lawn areas of which I have one right outside the front of my house.   I tackled the small area with it (which hasn't been done for several years!), and was impressed with the results    Then I strimmed the edge of the larger front lawn a neighbour has been mowing for me, and that looks much better too.  Now I need to start tackling the wilderness that is my back - but it no longer feels like a challenge I can't even begin to start, and that's good for my mental health.   I think my counsellor will be happy with that when I see her next week, as she knows the state of the gardens is one thing that was pulling me down.   As an added bonus, the day after I ordered it I was offered the chance to test replacement blades through the Amaz0n review panel I'm a member of, so that's £11 saved as I'm bound to get through more than a 'few' of the plastic ones!   It came with 10 and I've destroyed one just strimming the larger front area because it was so bad.  The spares set included 20 more of those - plus additional metal ones.   It can also be used to remove thinner branches from trees with a circular metal blade - something I need to do with the fruit trees in my back garden.

My fitness watch was on the way out, so I've blown the budget on a replacement (my first high value treat in many years).   But I even managed to track that down at a reduced price (around 24% off).   This is the one spend I'm still feeling guilty about - and it's taking some getting used to as I've changed makes to the one I've hankered after for 7 or 8 years.   But I'm loving what I've got to grips with so far, and I get a lot more data from it than my previous trackers.   I've also spent about £13 on screen protectors and case bumpers for it - a small price compared to the cost of the watch though.

Yesterday I utilised an Easter sale to a get a design of running gear that I've been asking the company to produce for a couple of years, and which they launched a few months ago.   I knew they were likely to have a sale over the bank holiday weekend, so I was a good girl and held off ordering until it launched (30% saved there).   I now own Poppies for November (and the Remembrance Day 10k I do every year, which I booked my place on last night)

I've also signed up for a higher value membership of a club I'm in, but it comes with credits to be used on merchandise which are higher than the extra I've paid (and I spend the money with them anyway - I just couldn't find it in one hit before).   It's an American company, and my annual cost increased from $48 to $199 - but I get $180 in store credit.   And it also gets me a 20% discount on purchases I didn't previously qualify for, so it's actually worth more than that.....

Then I cleared a couple of short-term interest free debts so I don't forget about them.  I'd sooner get stuff cleared while I have the money in the bank, as I'll just see a healthy bank balance and spend it on 'anything and everything' (accepting what I'm like with money is half the battle with starting to control it). 

I also blew the budget a bit on groceries for this week.   I got us slightly more expensive (better quality) options on a couple of items, and some more expensive desserts we love but rarely have.   And then the driver immediately refunded me the large punnet of strawberries due to a very, very short date on them (I didn't ask, and he left them with us).  On unpacking properly I discovered the cauliflower was much smaller - and softer / older - than anything I'd have purchased in store, so I phoned Tesco and got a full refund on that too.  So the extra I spent has been partially reduced - and the rest of the £10 credit probably covered the remaining 'overpend'

Last night I spent around £85 of it on stuff I'd been hoping to be able to afford for the Christmas appeal I support.   I've ordered a good selection of 'party bag' items which will make up 48 bags (24 boy, 24 girl) for around £2 each.   Each bag will contain a polystyrene glider (we used to get balsa planes - they're the the equivalent of that), a slap band bracelet, a set of 12 stickers and 4 temporary tattoos all the same theme (superheroes for boys, unifcorns for girls).   Then a 25 piece jigsaw (unicorns for girls, smiley emojis for boys), a slinky spring, a magic snake (fidget toy block toy), and a Moshi squidy toy (plus small grippy bags to put them in as they have a slightly sticky surface which will collect dust).   The organisation (connected to a commercial radio station) works on £50/child for gifts, but that can be just one or two larger items.   When my children were little they loved the small bits as much as my brother and I did a generation earlier.   A couple of years ago I made up bags with a reasonably large colouring book or a sticker / activity book, a decent sized pack of crayons, pencil, sharpener, eraser, and a small craft kit.   Those worked out around £3 each and the organisers loved them.   I didn't have time to do similar last year, but I was keen to do the same this year.    I'm still looking for small colouring/activity books and small packs of crayons to put in, so if I also add in a pencil, sharpener and eraser they may work around the £3 each again - but there's a lot more in them this tme as I've had time to look around, and the money to be able to buy in bulk when the items are 'out of season' (I noticed prices have dropped a lot since last November on some of the items).

By the middle of next week I'm going to move all the 'extra' that's left into my (currently empty) savings account so I don't see the balance when I check my current account for daily expenses.    Hopefully that will mean I still have plenty there when my car insurance comes due at the end of July - the next bill I've been in a panic about.  And some of the extra I should see each week is about to be diverted into there (I have weekly standing orders to move my salary into various accounts according to what it's used for) in the hope that will mean I'm OK when I need road tax, repairs and insurance next year.   I hadn't realised just how much of my bad mental health was linked to my finances until this came through for me (but I know it's not the only problem, and there's not much I can do about the other one at the moment).

Prudent

@cw18 that sounds a fabulous day out. Lovely to have treats like that occasionally. We don't spend a lot on days out, but do enjoy them when we have them. This week we got free tickets for a musical at a local theatre and it was so enjoyable. The parking was free too. We did treat ourselves to an ice cream at the interval and we will count that as our Easter treat (although I do have an Easter egg tucked away for OH).

I have been using up the cheap veg today. I made a huge pot of an Italian bean soup which used some onions, carrots, green beans and cabbage plus some butter beans and cannellini beans and some tinned tomatoes. We had some for lunch and  the rest is in the new freezer. After lunch I made two big veggie shepherd's pies which are both in the freezer now too. I have just made some kale crips in the air fryer and prepped some root veg to roast and have with a pie this evening. Tomorrow I am going to make some lentil soup, a carrot cake and a cheesy leek, kale and potato bake. If I am not too sore from standing cooking, I will make an apple crumble too as I have apples to use up.

My car thankfully went through its MOT okay so that is another job ticked off. We had a brief respite in the rain today. I got some washing on the line in between cooking but didn't make it to the allotment. OH went though and pottered making space for some raised beds. 

I am having a quiet Easter as I am having a break up north in a couple of weeks to see my daughter. I have to be careful about pacing.

fionaandphil

millie said:

The green beans in Asda were not with the other cheap veg when I went in yesterday. I hunted round and found them on the end of an isle with stir fry things

Thanks, popped in today and found these - very well hidden! I also picked up some other bits when we were out and about so very well stocked with veg for the Easter break. Tesco also have 25% off clothing so got some new things for growing teenager

nannygladys

Managed to get quite a lot of veggies and been cooking and freezing them for future use. I did this at Xmas and it worked really well for me. It's a shame they don't include peppers etc but I suppose they are too expensive to start with 🫤

London_1

I'm using up stuff already in store as much as possible .I've got a slow cooker full of chicken and tomatoes and peppers etc bubbling away in the kitchen at the moment making me chicken provencal to portion up once cool and freeze for instant quick meals

Gave DD some of the onions from the 15p pack I bought on Saturday she was pleased as like me she will peel dice and freeze for use as and when, I taught her well my youngest DD doesn't eat onions so I got her some carrots and cabbage instead

NSD for me as much as possible this month as I want to get my food stocks down if I can, because of hopefully moving by May/June. Just had the forms for Stamp duty come through  what a rip off a tax on the cost of your next house. £3K for the privilege of buying my next house highway robbery

  JackieO xx

joedenise

Things seem to be moving on with your move to the Isle of Wight.  Have you managed to sell your house yet?

nannygladys

They seem to tax absolutely anything and everything, it's all a big con by govt. to get as much as they can out of us all so they can go and waste it on things we don't vote for or have any say on 🙁 we could do with Robin Hood fighting our corner!!🙂