From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

greenbee and beanie - thank you for commenting, it does re-enforce that it isn't 'just me' - but naturally is utterly depressing that it happens to a lot of customers, whatever their circumstances and whatever the particular utility company 🙁

Slow, cold start to the day, today.  DH and LG have been busy tidying up after their hardwork in the garden yesterday and have taken the excess green waste to the tip (the wheelie bin filled up with the first sweep with the saw/secateurs, as you can imagine). 

I cast on a blankie last night - and then got engrossed and couldn't put it down...... just.one.more.row..... 🤣  But I am enjoying the pattern, and I was thinking this morning, it is simple enough to knit in front of the TV - although you do have to (well, insert "Greying has to") concentrate on a couple of the rows of the pattern - but that makes it a 'mindful' pattern for me, and given that it is for charity, it is a 'mindful and meaningful' knit.  An enjoyable way to spend time. 

I have no plans to spend any money today, so should get a nsd, but then I haven't got any 'savings' to put in the pots - so swings and roundabouts.  We had a 'made up' soup for lunch, notionally 'green lentil and vegetable'.  I diced up the last (15p bag) carrot, and some of the 15p swede (it's still going!), with an onion and fried them off and then added a couple of handfuls of green lentils.  Put some water over and let them cook for 15 mins or so.  Then I broke up the last of the spaghetti (mrL 'simply' brand) and added the leftover minestrone from yesterday's lunch into it.  I brought it up the the boil and then switched the ring off and let it carry on cooking.  Added in some dried herbs, tomato puree, celery salt and paprika at the end, and served with buttered bread.  It was a 'thick' soup but different from the pureed soups we normally have.  LG scoffed a whole bowlful and thanked me for the 'lovely soup' 🥰 The next loaf to come out of the freezer (for snap for next week), is a YS'd one from MrL, so we're keeping our costs down - I know, we're only at the end of Week 1, right? 🤣

There was absolutely no point in trying to line dry washing today - too cold and zero breeze.  Yesterday's washing did get put on the airer.  I don't like doing it with washing 'that damp' - the house is too small to put the airer anywhere really, plus it just adds to the condensation, but at least the washing is drying out (slowly) and isn't smelling musty, so it won't need rewashing.

Keeping on an even keel emotions wise today, but to be fair, I haven't had much interraction.  Plus I have been doing a little more knitting, and I have purposely been trying to enjoy the process - relaxed stitches make for a nicer finished product.

Ta for popping by.  Appreciated.

Greying X

beanielou

I don’t know if you have the space or even the inclination but I have recently bought a small dehumidifier which I finds helps with the washing. 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

beanie - I would certainly consider a de-humidifier, the issue at the moment is where we could site airers/a de-humidifier so that it could pootle away and do it's thing, whilst we lived around it. As we are at the mo, there is room for an airer or a dehumidifier, trying to have both immediately sets up issues of navigating around said items.  Definitely not ruled it out tho.

Well, I clearly have been having fun, as time has flown.  I was pleased to get a load of washing out on the line yesterday, as although it wasn't massively sunny (we did see the sun), it was sufficiently breezy to dry clothes quite well.  The air temp did stop things really drying, as it was so cold, but I got most of DH's work clothes laundered - that's the main thing.  I haven't put on a wash today - too cold, still and overcast to get anything partway dry.

I did a small shop this morning.  We were running low on milk, and DH was all grumpy about it this morning (never mind the X number of cups of tea/coffee he let go cold and wasted over the weekend 🙄 and yes, we have got an insulated cup for when he's outside 🙄).  I purposely went to MrAl to get the milk so that I could pick up the other few items that I get from there which MrL either don't stock, or MrAl is cheaper.  I did however pick up the wrong bag of onions, so ended up paying the same (for them) as I would have at MrL 🙄  Still managed to spend £17.47 tho 🙄 and added to a couple of spends on Monday, I need to increase my grocery spend for January by £20.96.  I will do the 'main' shop in MrL either tomorrow or Friday - it's not so urgent now as we have milk and all the other 'everyday' items at least for a few days.  

I haven't saved any money/found any money in the past couple of days, so the pots have stayed resolutely unaltered 😕- mind it would be the same with a mortgage wouldn't it - everyone can suffer the 'mid month lull' between pay days etc, so am trying very hard not to let it demotivate me.  My "spidey-senses" are open to seeing where pennies can be gleaned from.  

Mood wise I haven't been too bad at all.  There have been a couple of times when there was the potential for exasperation - default or warranted - but I think I have handled things quite well.  I think if hidden cameras were trained on me they would record a measured difference in reaction, anyway.  So, I'm plugging away at that goal still.  

I'm making progress with my charity blanket and it is staying a nice loose tension - so I'm not venting any frustration out on my stitches 🤣 So progress on that goal too.  

Can't think of anything else obviously MSE, so will push off and do a bit more.  

Thanks for popping in.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MFW'rs

No further money making/coins transferred over to savings to report, but I did manage to make a frugal and filling tea, which didn't/shouldn't break the bank.  

I made a version of Tanzanian Black-eyed Bean Soup.  I have had this recipe for yonks - and always make the spice mix from the blog too.  I had soaked and cooked a 1KG bag of black eyed beans some time ago and had frozen them into recipe size portions,  and used a 500g portion of frozen beans in this soup.  I had also (yonks ago) got a big 1L carton of coconut milk from a branch of H3r0n.  It was ridiculously cheap - something like 79p, and I used some and then froze the rest - a portion went in the soup.  Also, to bulk it out a bit, I put in a couple of handfuls of MrA's frozen mixed veg.  The peppers were one small red one and a yellow one, as they were what I had.  I didn't put any chilli in it, as LG is not keen.  I served with some YS'd pitta bread, we had a huge bowl of soup/stew each and ate up every bit - even LG, and I'm not overly convinced they have had it before, so I was delighted.  It may have helped that LG helped me with tea prep today 😁There is a portion of the spice mix left over for another dish, and we're all stuffed without the bank being busted.  I know that it's the only way I will be able to either stick to my £200 a month budget, or save - anything, even a penny - from it each month.  

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

my budget cooking mojo returning and for help from LG
for keeping on an even-keel all day (soooooo nice!)
that LG is keeping an interest in the 'C4C' jar - even though we've stalled on filling it..... 😕

I'm away to put the l/o cooked rice in the freezer, double check the shopping list and then I think I can legitimately do a few rows of knitting.  

Thank you for supporting me.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon MFW'rs

Well, I did decide to go shopping today (I know, how exciting my life, eh? 🤣).  I ended up spending a total of £34.40 in MrL and HB.  Because of careful shopping, rather than any whizzpoppilywhumptious YS'd bargains, I did manage to save a few pennies today.  I've decided to put £1 in the 'C4C' jar to reflect this.  I am always in the horns of a dilemma with grocery money, as whilst you may save a few pennies this week, next week a product might have gone up in price, so you would need to pay more for the same shopping.  But we'll take a punt and hope that we can still come under budget for the month - with food in the cupboard for us, and £30 in the camping fund for LG.

The only thing that I bought in MrL that wasn't - as such - on my list was a 7.5kg bag of tatties for £3.45.  I wanted tatties, but wasn't going to buy them in MrL, but luckily my gaze fell on the big bags, and I happened to look to see what variety was inside.  Most of the bags were Picasso - which I thought from my allotmenting past were more of a waxy, early potato, so I was going to walk on, but then I spotted a bag that was labelled 'Maris Piper' - which I do like as a tattie.  A slight investigation found that one side of the pile was indeed maris piper, so I had a look and selected a bag that seemed to contain some bigger tatties (which I will use for baked), and popped the bag in my trolley.  Given that i would have to pay anywhere from £1.20(ish) upwards for a 2kg bag of general purpose tatties, I figured this was a good buy.  Before Christmas I had considered getting a 25kg of tatties (most likely maris peer) from a local supplier, but baulked at the £11 price tag - plus the 10+mile round trip to get them.  So this bag today was timely, as I used the last of the 15p christmas tatties recently.

In addition to bagged fruit and nuts, I picked up a couple of bags of YS'd apples in HB.  Not much of a saving per se - I still paid a £1, but got 2 bags of odd weight apples, so have ended up getting approx 1.7kg of apples for the price of 1kg.  They appear to be no more, or no less bashed than the regular priced apples, so.......

I double checked the (scant) details we currently have for LG's impending school trip and the trip is at the start of March, so I will have to factor in the saving for that much quicker than I had thought.  Luckily I have the bags of 5p's in hand - that will be a good starting point when they are banked, but I don't want to be caught out as this school trip will involve a coach trip in addition to the entry cost, so has the potential to be quite costly.  

I have set a wash out on the line today.  It's debateable how much (if at all) it will dry - I'm not sure the breeze has quite got up to the speeds the forecast gave. I did intentionally only wash light, small clothing items, so fingers crossed.  I will go and check how it's getting on just now.  I don't particularly want to traipse to the launderette, nor spend money on drying when I may yet need those £'s for drying heavier items, but then I don't want wet clothes in the house.  So........

Have kept on an even-keel this morning mood-wise.  And I managed to knit quite a number of rows of the blanket last night - and as DH was doing something else, the TV didn't go on - so a smidgen of electrickery save too........

Can't think of anything else that fits the MSE definition to report, so I shall alter my signature totals and then head orf.

Ta for reading.  Appreciated.

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening MSE'rs

So I have had some success with trying to keep in the moneysaving vibe this afternoon.  I got the washing in before 3pm.  It had dried better than I thought it would - although it was still slightly damp/cold to the touch, but it should dry on the airer, without drenching out the rest of the house.  

LG was keen to help me make tea again, so I let them where I could safely do so.  We made a vegetarian version of Harira.  There are many versions of this Morroccan chickpea and lentil soup/stew, but THIS recipe is quite close to the version I make.  I don't put rice in mine (some versions also use vermicelli noodles), I only used red lentils and I didn't put in any cayenne/harissa as LG wouldn't have appreciated it.  I did however cut up some of the smaller (think new potato size) tatties out of the maris piper bag, and added them in.  It was lovely and filling, quite warming from the ginger (I use fresh), and was reasonably inexpensive to make.  Again, i was pleased that LG ate up the portion they were given.  

LG was very pleased that £1 had been added to the 'C4C' jar - they clearly take after their mother, and are pleased incredibly easily 🤣

Today I am grateful for these 3 things;

getting a load of washing drier than I had hoped - for free
LG's enthusiasm to help with making tea for us all
to have put something in the savings jar - now to make sure it stays there!

I know these are all tiny steps - and I'm not slashing ££'s off a mortgage - or even adding ££'s to savings everyday, but it does represent a changing of the way we do things - as a family.  

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning MFW'rs!

A good start to the morning here.  I absent-mindedly opened my purse to see if there was any copper coinage to transfer to the saving money bags.  I discovered that i had enough tuppences to make up the bag to £1 (YAY!), and was only 4 pennies short of making up the penny bag to £1. We didn't quite turn the house upside down, but a search here and there and with the help of DH and LG (DH was dee-lighted....... as you can imagine.....🤣) we eventually discovered 4 whole pennies for the collection bag.  I got LG to count up the coinage to make sure the bags contained what they were supposed to (times tables revision for the day - TICK!), and now we have £2 to put in the bank, in order to yield £2 for the 'C4C' pot.  So, by the end of the day we should have £20 in the pot 😁

I know it's not a lot of money - and I hope to goodness I am not coming across as all sack cloth and ashes with saving pennies, but it's one way of trying to save for extra experiences for LG without busting already tight budgets elsewhere.  It also enables us to say 'yes', rather than 'no', by applying a bit of brain-cellage, thought or effort.  

Tea this evening will be (veggie) hot dogs  - using YS'd finger rolls - with pasta salad.  

DH and LG have their snap made-up for lunchtime, so that's another mealtime covered.

I haven't got in mind any expenditure being needed today, but I do need to pop into Greying Town later - oh, come to think of it, I failed to pick up a TV listings mag yesterday, so yeah, I won't have a nsd.  I'll aim for a low-spend day instead.  

Ta for reading.  Greying X

ladybird1106

I think you are teaching LG valuable life skills. 
Love 🐞

LadyWithAPlan

Loving all these soups /stews. 

It’s the weather I think that makes me crave soup .. I bought beans and made a huge pot of dal yesterday so plenty to freeze plus I have the last few scraps of chicken from my roast so having made stock I will be making a chicken and … soup today . I will see what’s in the freezer 

I think it’s lovely LG is getting excited about money 

Greying_Pilgrim

Lovely to "see" you ladybird1106 and LadyWithAPlan thanks for stopping by.

Well, I have had a nice walk into Greying Town (free exercise), didn't have to pay for parking 👍and more or less stuck to my low cost intentions by only purchasing the TV listings guide and a net of YS'd oranges from m&$.  The oranges were from their version of the super six and were 60p (instead of £2 😮), which for 7 oranges wasn't too bad.  I will certainly eat some - DH and LG are less keen on stuff that is 'difficult' to peel 🙄 but I could also make a orange spice cake (based on the recipe from the Le0n restaurant chains), or make a sponge pudding with orange drench/syrup.  If I peel the oranges and make them into cake or pudding, DH and LG will eat....... 🤣

The refund  that I was checking out (telephone) hadn't hit the bank account.  That may be down to timing, it could be that although I was told it would be processed to arrive today, I think there is X amount of working days that it could actually land within.  I shall keep an eye out for it, as the money is needed to pay the new phone bills (in time).  I had deposited the copper coinage in my bank account at the local PO, and it was in my account by the time I entered the bank.  So that system works well. 

I now have a £2 coin for when LG returns from school and they can have the 'honour' 😉of popping it in the 'C4C' jar - I expect they will want to count the contents...... again...... just to make sure we're where we think we are 😉

Right, off to shift-a-tail-feather.

Greying X