2026 Frugal Living Challenge

lurkeralongtime

not been able to read or post for a long time as my iPad decided it was too old to function properly.Wasnt going to replace it but I discovered knitting machines are quite valuable these days, and I have several to sell.Plus I came across a supersized iPad,this years model,for less than half price. From a shop so it has a warranty.

It will take me a while to catch up.

Do always check your till receipts.This month alone A@da tried to overcharge me by £7 on just 5 items so it was easy to spot.And A@di charged me £1.99 for a bottle of sauce reduced to 19p.!

PipneyJane

Good point @lurkeralongtime. If I am on a manned checkout, I always ask “did I get the discount for xx?”, unless I managed to spot it while it was rung up.

I’m glad you got a bargain for your new iPad. I love my “series 5” iPad Mini, and am keeping my fingers crossed that it will continue to accept updates for another few years. I don’t want to replace it because one of the reasons I love it is the Bluetooth keyboard/case I have makes it into a tiny laptop. These cases no longer appear to be made. I learned the hard way that each iteration of the iPad Mini has slightly different dimensions so when my previous Mini aged out, it took me several goes to find a case that worked.

ETA The case is by Logitech. You can see why I like it

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Greying_Pilgrim

I ask at the checkout too @PipneyJane - especially for YS'd things, because I hate paying full price for something that someone has deemed only worth 80% or 50% of that cost. Possibly because I shop in Leedle the most, I find their stickers particularly bad at scanning, however the till staff are always the most willing to double-check the screen to ensure the discounts have gone off - and it helps that they don't have to print out the receipt to do that - just check the screen.

I don't shop at a$da anymore, but I used to often encounter SEL offers not transferring to the till computer. Last time it happened on discounted brand name fruit squash, the till operative did get a colleague to go and check my word, against what the till was saying - whilst the queue grew and grew….. and when my word was proved to be right, the till operative said, "oh these tills are always wrong…." 🙄

Greying X

lurkeralongtime

used the last of my Easter onions, no special storage just kept on an upturned mushroom crate in an unheated hallway.

Saw diesel at over £2 a litre as I drove the other day.That with the predicted 16% energy price rise in January spells trouble.

So.agree about charity shop bargains, I find it very difficult to resist them. In fact I started writing down my charity shop costs to try and curb my enthusiasm for them. I didn’t pass up on a good condition coat for 50p though! Nor on a very large instant pot !!!!!! air fryer for less than £20 (was £250 new) With it and several Lidl veg boxes I have filled a chest freezer with:tomato sauce,bean soups and stews,vegetable soups.And some frozen banana and plum yogourt,using home made yogourt.That is my defence against the coming price rises. Also froze some fruit and veg without blanching, I find that’s fine for soups and stewing. Plus had a mega dehydrating session-10full trays of fruit-bananas,nectarines, apples,grapes and pears. I must calculate the costs of that. An audio book free from the library app helped with all the chopping etc. The cooking was easy with the instant pot as its just set and forget. Can only manage a baked potato after that marathon though!

MrsCD

I always ask for my receipt and then stand just past the till while I look over it! I'm sure the cashiers think I'm potty, but I have caught one or two things over time. I'm old enough not to care what they think! 😂

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82155351#Comment_82155351

Wow! That is quite a marathon of processing/preserving @lurkeralongtime Well done!

I’ve had one of those full-on weeks at work, which left me pretty brain dead by the end of each day. Fortunately, I could resort to some very simple meals that didn’t require much brain space (e.g. baked Feta & Tomato Sauce served with pasta). Having finished early today, I’m now wondering what to do with my free few hours before DH gets home. I’m both restless, needing to get stuff done, and tired, uninspired to do anything….

Hmmm….

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dND

@lurkeralongtime Well done, similar process here too thanks to a bumper harvest from my 6 San Marzano plants. 😁

I also found some bargains on a trip to Asd4 when I called in to pick up some RU boxes I'd ordered. 2 x bags of sweet potatoes at 26p a bag, 2 x broccoli heads at 22p each and 3 x net of lemons at 34p a net.
They also had pork loin on a rollback offer so I got around 2kg joint for £7.67 and I also picked up 2 bags of charcoal briquettes at £1.50 a bag.

I'm getting a bit worried by the information being drip fed into the media at the moment about this upcoming winter with the possibility of a polar vortex, the USA embargo on diesel and the activities of certain external governments disrupting our energy services. When you get ministers say that you should have a food stockpile and it should contain food that you can eat without heating it does make you wonder.

So, the briquettes will be stockpiled with the £12 BBQ I picked up at Lid1 a month or so ago so I can at least heat something. 🤣 I'm planning on storing the sweet potato in sand and hope they will last a while. The broccoli was just beginning to produce a few yellow flowers so I had one portion fresh and the rest I've dehydrated and turned into 'greens powder' as an easy additive to other food. The lemons are currently being zested and juiced and frozen and the pork joint has been halved and frozen.

I also decided to bite the bullet and order a pressure canner. I'm happy to water bath my tomatoes - I add some citric acid along with the tomatoes to ensure the acidity - but my freezer is overloaded and I worry about spoilage if there are long periods without power. A generator is no use if there's no fuel to run it. When I get the pressure canner I'm planning on turning one of the pork joints into rillettes and the other into pulled pork and shelf storing them.

I'm not entirely convinced that buying the pressure canner is frugal but I do prepare a lot of homegrown and Lid1 veg box fruit and veg. It's something I've been looking at for quite a few years and finally decided that on balance, for me the time is right; it's on order but won't arrive for a while. Does anyone else use one? Dxx

PipneyJane

Which pressure canner are you buying, @dND? I use my 10L pressure cooker, but it only holds 3 jars (at best). It reaches 15lb pressure.

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dND

@PipneyJane I've gone for the own brand one by Love Jars. It's about half the price of the imported USA ones.

maryb

I have an All American which I bought years ago when the exchange rate was MUCH better than it is now. I have been going through my freezer turning the meat into meals in a jar. The rest of what's in the freezer isn't such high value though I still wouldn't like to lose it in a power cut