2026 Frugal Living Challenge

MrsCD

Delurking to ask if bicarb would help with the soaking and softening of beans etc overnight. We used to have mushy peas every Sunday at Mam's and the steepy peas came with a bicarb tablet to put in with the boiling water to soak the peas overnight before cooking on the Sunday morning.

Gem-gem

Cats have 32 muscles in each ear. They can rotate them 180 degrees. Their ear position reveals their mood. Forward - excited, sideways - unsure. Flat - not happy. 

Cats head butt humans to show that they trust and love them. It is called bunting. 

A lovely afternoon with my nephew. I nearly died at the price of two burgers, one small fries and a fizzy drink. But was happy to pay as it was a way to mark his hard work and achievements over three years. Plus we made happy memories walking round London in the rain. 

The rest of the week will be NSDs. 

kimwp

Gem-gem said:

Cats have 32 muscles in each ear. They can rotate them 180 degrees. Their ear position reveals their mood. Forward - excited, sideways - unsure. Flat - not happy. 

Cats head butt humans to show that they trust and love them. It is called bunting. 

A lovely afternoon with my nephew. I nearly died at the price of two burgers, one small fries and a fizzy drink. But was happy to pay as it was a way to mark his hard work and achievements over three years. Plus we made happy memories walking round London in the rain. 

The rest of the week will be NSDs. 

Loving these facts.

It can be difficult to tell if a cat is unwell, as hiding illness and weakness is a survival mechanism in the wild, but the Feline Grimace Scale is a list of indicators of a cat being in pain. 

Prudent

@Greying_Pilgrim that is a spot on description of Farmfoods. The staff in my local store are lovely.  I got 10 packs of butter for £10 this morning and two packs of vanilla latte Oreos for OH at 29p a packet. This month's food spend is proving quite pricey so far, but in a 'spend to save' kind of way. Iceland have Quorn pieces half price so I stocked up on them too. I will use some in stir fry tonight with some Lidl box veg. The Crown Prince squash stew was tasty.

I bought a lovely old pine dressing table yesterday. The varnish is very worn but OH will sand it down and then paint it. It was in a sale at a local furniture recycle centre and cost me just £25 plus it will be £15 for delivery. Size wise we could have possibly got it in the car with the back seat down but it is solid and heavy. 

Gem-gem

Cat fact 
Cats are believed to be the only mammals who don't taste sweetness. 

Cats have an extra organ that allows them to taste scents on the air, which is why your cat stares at you with her mouth open from time to time.
Grapes and raisins, as well as onions, garlic and chives are all extremely harmful foods for cats. Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure — although the reasoning behind that isn’t clear. Meanwhile, onions, garlic, and chives wreak havoc on your cat’s gastrointestinal system and can cause anemia.
Yellow stickers
DH and I went to L!dl to pick up a free seeded sourdough. £2 saved 😀
We then popped into Morr!$ons and picked up some yellow stickers. The full priced cost would have cost £64. We got it for £24.
1 organic chicken - was £20 we paid £6 
1 corn fed chicken - was £13.50 we paid £4.74
2 corn fed chicken breasts was £7.50 we paid £2.60
(We would love to eat organic meat or corn fed chicken but at £20 a chicken it just won't happen so always pleased when we can pick it up cheaper. We have debated about eating less meat and only better quality but with increased food prices it is an aspiration).
1 whole chicken cooked in store - £3.50
4 sausage rolls - half price (for DH) £1.50
1 lot of mango pieces - was £4 we paid 40p 
3 lots of pomegranate down to 60p each. 

1 lot of raspberries for £1
Milk 30p
There were lots of other ys food but we chose to pick up only ultra processed free foods (with the exception of the sausage rolls - my DH rebel streak).
NSD for me. This is what I calculate. Met with a friend at the gym. Housework completed early afternoon. Crocheting mid afternoon. 

Dinner - h/made pizza topped with 1 leg and 1 thigh cooked chicken, pepper, onion and prawns. Accompanied with a salad.

Gem-gem

@Prudent please do post a picture when you have upcycled your dressing table. 

Gem-gem

kimwp said:

Gem-gem said:

Cats have 32 muscles in each ear. They can rotate them 180 degrees. Their ear position reveals their mood. Forward - excited, sideways - unsure. Flat - not happy. 

Cats head butt humans to show that they trust and love them. It is called bunting. 

A lovely afternoon with my nephew. I nearly died at the price of two burgers, one small fries and a fizzy drink. But was happy to pay as it was a way to mark his hard work and achievements over three years. Plus we made happy memories walking round London in the rain. 

The rest of the week will be NSDs. 

Loving these facts.

It can be difficult to tell if a cat is unwell, as hiding illness and weakness is a survival mechanism in the wild, but the Feline Grimace Scale is a list of indicators of a cat being in pain. 

@kimwp I had to look the feline grimace scale up. I had never heard of it. 

I love it when a car is inquisitive and their chops go from 'round chops' to 'square chops' and their whiskers all come forward. 

Mamma2004

Hi all 😊

Early signs of Spring in the garden today - crocuses and snowdrops.  I used my very inexpensive, annual garden pass to go and visit Chalice Well gardens in Glastonbury with a cheeky fresh cheese and onion pasty from the bakers (£2.70) for lunch.  It was lovely and quiet with the sun beaming down.

I've has a very productive week in the kitchen - cooked and froze 8 portions of homemade chicken broth made in my new 6. 5l slow cooker, 3 loaves of bread (sliced and frozen), 24 madeleines sponge cakes for my son and his friends, and some delicious paprika chicken, cooked in my new mini airfryer (reduced to £14.99 in Lidl) using a pack of yellow sticker boneless, skinless chicken thighs.

I did however have to spend £150 on  wallpaper for my lounge but I put it up myself and it looks fabulous 🥰🙌

PipneyJane

@mumtoomany plenty of dried kidney beans in one of our local branches of MrT’s yesterday.  They also - drumroll please - had 1kg bags of dried black eyed beans for £2.25 each!  (Clubcard price.  Shelf price £2.80). Naturally, these were at the end of an aisle, away from anything relevant.  AND they had 425g tins of mackerel in tomato sauce in the “Caribbean” section!  (Well away from the other tinned fish, of course.)

The Bulk Fund had a field day.  We came out with 2kg of the beans and 6 tins of mackerel.  I am tempted to go back and buy 2 more kilos of the beans, while they’re still on offer.

- Pip

Jojo77_2

Just popping on to say hello & have caught up with everyone's posts. I'm struggling for time at the moment as works full on but managing to gave plenty of no spend days & still eating through cupboards.  Looks like ill be leaving my job around the end of Feb so will have to survive on my husbands pension for a while , but at least I have some time to catch up & also apply more of the frugal living ideas from this thread, but it is causing me some anxiety about how we will cope.