2026 Frugal Living Challenge

ShazzaDazza

Sorry Im on a catch up but enjoyed reading the last 8 days posts. I liked the mobile phone chat, think I need to move ..my current provider has beeness than helpful on recent requests!

Found some good tasty frugal recipes. mackerel fishcakes and leek and potato soup made with chicken stock from a very frugal m and s chicken that was yellow sticker. Ive found going on a day that I can also cook works. so I got a bulk of mince cheap at Tesco, then made a 2 lasagnes, and a ragu all in the freezer. Ive found a good recipe to make meatballs and lasagnes go further if you add lentils.. and better for you! who knew!

i liked the post about the wild deodorant..Ive done the same with tubes of creams . If you chop.the tube 1/3 of the way down (and then use as a 'lid' to the open end), there's so much left!!! A tube i would have chucked away has now been going a week longer!!

I also had to approach a conversation with some friends that I couldn't really afford the night out they were planning. so I'd come out for a few drinks but not the whole expensive dinner. they were lovely and we chose a mutually agreeable place. Ive got to watch the pennies, 2026 has thrown up challenges for me already ❤️

Nelliegrace

A small saving, instead of a bunch of daffs for my birthday, I went into B&Q and bought a small pot of tête à tête daffodils for £1. I shall enjoy watching them grow, they will last longer than cut flowers, and planted out, might even flower again next year.

Sausageroll14

@Frugaldom with regard to bulk feeding cats. We have a herd of 9. We use zooplus for ease, variety and the reward programme. Love a useful freebie! It does offer some bargains but I do cross check as sometimes supermarket offers are better.

We do have to accommodate some fussy eaters though. Also I like to add in tins of cheap fish and a large slow cooked chicken. That's does several meals for them. Also we offer biscuits as well.

Also final thought, kitten or senior food tends to be more calorie dense and palate friendly. We have just finished kitten biscuits and all from 1 year to 12 years loved them!

Gem-gem

Three NSDs notched up at the end the month. Lost count how many for the month.
Today, I cooked dinner at my DM for my aunt, Mum, husband and the cat. Still more than a chicken breast left over. DH and I will have that tomorrow with salad. A lovely afternoon / evening catching up. Plus we also saved on carers fees for DM and her meal.
Finished the blanket for an eightieth birthday present. Cost £5.

StickyTheStickInsect

Just catching up on posts and thank you to everyone that posted with suggestions for cheaper mobile phones, DD will get a phone prior to going to secondary school and we need to reduce this outgoing as DD's will be in addition to mine, DH's and DS1's.

I think we'll move DS1 and DD over first and then DH and I when we are out of contract but there are clearly signifcant savings to be made.

RavenRover

Added up my Olio savings for January and it came to just short of £250! That is scary, as my budget for buying food for the month is 100 which was spent too. Still got reasonably full freezers, so definitely only eating out of it for the next month.

Got a £700 car bill from the dealership with a warning it may not help the problem. Spoke to my uncle who stays away from the area and he was raging. He did the same job on his vehicle this week ironically and it cost him £70 and about an hours work! He has told me what to do to stop the problem again and if what they threatened happens what to do to get it fixed without getting rid of the car. Thankfully I normally use a mechanic who I've known since he was little. Only used dealership for a safety recall.

Also nearly got ripped off by a TV aerial and satellite company. Thankfully keeping it short I contacted another company got back to me and told me I would be wasting my money as most tv services are going to Internet streaming, so satellite is now defunct. The original company finally phoned me just before their worker was at my door and when I asked if they were from the "good guys" they claimed they were. They got the elbow PDQ!

Prudent

@Gem-gem thank you for the hot chocolate tip. I love a hot chocolate on cold evenings, but the ingredients can be awful.

@RavenRover well done on that huge Olio saving. £700 for repair work that might not fix the problem is awful. Have you complained? I had my first Olio of this year(it is very sporadic here). It was all Sainsbury's Taste the Difference range. I got cherries, some almond croissants, two packets of falafel, two salmon fillets and some smoked cod fillets. I used the fish to make Fish pie last night and it was lovely. The packs of fish were £5.95 each, so if I had paid for them it would have been an expensive meal. I was also able to use the potatoes that I got free from the Lidl app and some cheap cheese from a Farmfoods bargain.

It has been a busy few weeks here. I have done a huge spring clean of the loft as the roof needs to be replaced this summer. Sadly it needed some interim repairs of some new flashing and a broken tile needed to be replaced. Thankfully we had a spare tile so it cost £80 which I felt was reasonable. We also had the gutters cleaned (£20) and a bathroom tap repaired (no bill yet).

fluffycatling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81862857#Comment_81862857

Hi,

I eventually got the Olio app just recently and check it regularly - I haven't tried the food yet. How does it work? I mean, is it employees of the supermarket that 'donate' it ? I see quite a lot of products in one go from a pool of the same people.

I picked up a cocktail shaker from Olio which I am gonna test with some homemade mocktails - didn't want to buy it in case it turned out I won't actually use it.

Foofoopuppy

@fluffycatling with olio, people sign up to be food waste heroes, they are the ones who pick up the food from the supermarket. They then list it on the app, and anyone on the app can request it.

How they divide food up is up to them, some do it on a first come first served, some try to divide it out, but it can mean you don't end up with any of the stuff you really wanted.

We save a lot of money with it, and have tried new foods or brands without having to worry about whether we are wasting money if we don't like it!

Debsnewbudget

@fluffycatling

Olio relies on what they call Food waste heroes to pick up and distribute the food.

i pick up from my local Tesco twice a week at 8:30 pm I then list everything on the Olio app. People request it and come to my house to pick it up. Anything that is “use by” has to have gone by midnight, although I put a 10:15 pm limit for me. Anything that is “best before” can go the next day.

It leads to a frantic couple of hours - my last collection involved 35 different listings of 80 items which I shared with 13 people..

I am allowed to keep 10% of the items as a thank you for doing it, but sometimes there is nothing we need or want, however I will keep a nice bunch of flowers ! I do it because I hate food waste.

Each store has a team of FWH so thats why you will see the same names.
if you do want something then request each item as quickly as you see it, give a time you can pick up, and dont expect everything you request. If you turn up when you say you will the FWH will realise that you are someone they can safely allocate to and not be left with uncollected food which needs to go in the green recycling bin as waste.

If you have any questions please ask, but basically give it a go if you hate food waste. I have people walking, cycling and turning up in big cars so its not based on “need” for food like a food bank but based on preventing good food going in the bin