2026 Frugal Living Challenge

fionaandphil

I think last time you were all looking for sardines Lidl had them even though Aldi didn't so may be worth looking there. I will look next time I'm in but I'm trying to keep some NSD so not going in as I know I'll spot something!

PipneyJane

fionaandphil said:

I think last time you were all looking for sardines Lidl had them even though Aldi didn't so may be worth looking there. I will look next time I'm in but I'm trying to keep some NSD so not going in as I know I'll spot something!

We certainly bought some in L!dl at the start of the month.  59p a can.  Also spent 89p on a similar-sized can of mackerel, which is an OK size for sandwiches, but not for a main course.

- Pip

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
A few more NSD clocked up this weekend. Have been spending the weekend being creative. Made six jars of orange marmalade and six jars of lemon marmalade. (Tins from Lake!@nd). Only got one ingredient in them. All you have to do is add sugar and water. 

Made lots of cards - birthday, get well and blank cards - using stock given to me. Finished a crochet project - craft bag. Blocked the crocheted squares, now waiting for them to dry before I sew them together to create the blanket. I have now started to crochet a tent and camping accessories for a child's present in the autumn, using yarn left over from the two blankets. 

Been to the gym four times this week: swim, Pilates, yoga, gym session and a circuit class. 

YS shopping, managed to purchase some ys steak and 5% mince. 

joedenise

I use the tins of thick cut orange marmalade as well; so much easier than faffing about with seville orange and can make it when I need it rather than just when the oranges are in season - win:win!

mumtoomany

Morning all, been MIA for a week or so. The full fibre broadband has yet to appear! The man came last week, but due to having no pavements, the pole is too near the road to be worked on safely. We now have to wait for them to sort temporary traffic lights and try again. 

The free £10 credit for the new mobile will only be used outside the house. Tesco mobile, I think O2, doesn't cover our area. So I've had to buy a other sim card, 49p, and credit, £5, from lebara. They run on Vodafone, which I can pick up in half the house. Who'd live in the country? 

Other spends since I've been on here, chicken feed, (who ever decided that this was a term for something cheap?) £19.08, petrol, bits of shopping, and some more "crocs" from Aldi. They had children's ones reduced to £3.99. I bought a pair to put by for when the present ones give up. 

Totals for the month to date are:
Food and groceries.                                               £72.57
Car including petrol.                                               £80.45
Utilities.                                                                    £588.56
Other stuff.                                                              £38.52
Animals.                                                                   £19.08
The total for the above is £799.18. Well over the £666 it "should" be. But it includes more electric than normal, extra £30, and around £300 our share of the gas tank being refilled. I'll need more milk and maybe a few other bits of food, nothing else. Quite pleased overall. 

Going to catch up now, hugs too all, mumtoomany.xx 

2Scratters

After gleaning every last drop form my wild deodorant which I replaced the new one at the end of November. The cartridge that was removed I used a slimline spatula, (the one that comes free with hair cream remover usually) to gain access to the other half of the block and has lasted until nearly the end of January and the cardboard is recyclable too. Also I am now using a lip protection product that usually gets bought as a gift from DH with the help of the lip brush again to get at the other half of what is left in the cartridge tube. In the grand scheme of things it doesn't sound a lot but when an item is on the expensive side it can be justified in value for money 
I have an old work colleague who is very good and trained at doing nails. As I now only need my index and thumb nails which require a hard product on them to prevent splitting (damage caused due to working in a development area before they had got the tools made to do the job!) I get the rest covered with just nail varnish. She now lends me the colour she has used to keep my nails looking good for the 3 weeks before needing to be done again   

2 Scratters xx

Frugaldom

Good evening to all. Now into the final week of January and no grocery shopping done at all. Operation eat from freezer continues, aided by gifts from friend who also brought another box of her delicious apples. Thanks to Olio, we've had croissants for breakfasts and had iced buns to have with coffee. I've defrosted a pack of cooking bacon and it's now boiling away to make stock for the next batch of lentil soup, using up some of the rescued onions and carrots. Olio mixed peppers have been sliced up ready to make a stir fry tomorrow night and the usual bananas can be used up under custard. We did really well with the new rescued food from the weekend - only a couple of tangerines from a pack had to be discarded into the compost bin. 

With just 5 days left if January, I'm now holding off from grocery shopping until we need more cat food. I almost made the trip into town to investigate the Farmg00ds offers but plans changed with the arrival of several lots of visitors, one after the other.

I've still made no inroads into my interest beater but did get given some of the elusive £2 coins in payments at the weekend so they've gone into my coin tubs.

Still trying to work out how best to deal with the BT price increases but am confused by the new fangled digital 'thing'. I don't understand it and don't want to have to buy a new phone or commit to a 2-year contract. There's no mobile signal at home so the landline is the only outside communication we have from there but it's gone digital.

Auntycaz

I have the digital voice phone service with BT as part of my broadband plan.. You can plug your old house phone into the back of the router if you dont want to buy a Voip phone.  You can then use it in the same way as you used your phone before. When mine was changed over they gave me a free Voip phon that you can charge up on a base and take it to different parts of the house,e but I prefer my old one. Hope this helps.

cbsexec

Same here.  We just plugged our old phone into the new router.   But make sure you check that you have a router that allows you to do it as I think some don’t 

Gem-gem

Managed to pick up three lots of ys meat - stewing steak and mince. Chucked the stewing steak into the slow cooker with onions. It will become pie filling. 

Made chilli and rice for dinner. Leftovers have been frozen. Used up peppers from last week in the chilli.