Frugally Forward To Autumn

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Basically starting a new thread to hide the non-frugal air fryer purchase I just fessed up to on the old thread

Thanks wolf

fanks for fred, Wolf. Good luck with surgery, and recovery, north.

Kicked down garage and tool shed doors yesterday (not literally) to declutter. Trip to recycling centre this morning, and I have to book a paint/hazardous waste collection, which will be more painful. But it's a good start. Plan to spend the rest of the afternoon cutting back and tidying parched bits of garden, then watering and mulching. I have a project for using up the ornamental pebble things. Then make a curry for tonight with the chicken thighs I picked up at the butcher this morning. DS away at present, so I can make enough to feed me and DH twice.

I am feeling a bit sad and gloomy at present, but I think this is strongly linked to lack of energy for useful projects (heat), worry about DS (not really justified, but would be alleviated if he could be a bit more open) and slipping back into unhelpful habits (drinking wine, not reading and writing enough). I know what to do! Have a good weekend, y'all.

Big it sounds like you know what you need to do, but it's always the putting it into action that is harder isn't it? We're here to give encouragement if/when needed.
Thanks for the new thread wolf. Hadn't realised it was getting full.
People who have air fryers seem to like them, I just haven't got the space. It will save money on oven use surely, so frugal?

Hey everyone
I need to get back into posting

So, we need to pave an area at the side of our house, and put in three gates. Got a quote and it was £7k+. Nearly had a heart attack.

that spurred me on to price it up for doing it ourselves though. So that’s what I’ll be doing this autumn!

Hi sorry I haven’t been following previous threads but I wondered if I could join please. I need to be much more frugal this autumn/winter, buying clothes and treats for my DC is my Achilles heel and I need to stop. Someone please help me!

other frugal things I’m planning on doing:

• spending some vouchers I’ve got leftover on some brushed cotton bedding for us and the eldest. Youngest DD will be in second hand 3.5 tog sleeping bags this winter.


• getting a new fridge freezer for the garage (Beko with freezer guard) so I can use my freezer to enable me to only cook properly twice a week. This is partly for frugality and living on leftovers hence not having to use the oven much but also because of time - we both work FT, with young kids. So should help save money on the food shop and also ensure they get something nice and nourishing most nights and I don’t resort to pizza.


• selling some outgrown kids clothes at a local NCT sale

please help to keep me accountable and also share your autumn/winter frugal tips!

I spotted Wolfy, Tbf your oven has been horrible for months. thanks for Fred.

loads of baking today for us and stables

Welcome tired

yes blue, you totally got this and we got you, doing even one of them jobs will be great, I hear you on dc not opening up, I have a dd who doesn’t open up readily

Thanks wolf. I succumbed to an air fryer too and it's literally the best thing I've done. Sorry DS being a pain, I'm assuming teenager?

north, DH will be in hospital a long time, his rehabilitation will be a slow process and we are not sure how much recovery will take place. It's been the most difficult and stressful time in all our lives. But yes, the air fryer I have is large, as I wanted one that had two drawers and was more useful to me. I literally haven't used the oven since I bought it.

Be kind to yourself big.

Hello tired. You're in the right, friendly, place.

Some small spends on some fresh herbs at the garden centre and some flowers to brighten up my pots. Not strictly needed but just wanted to keep things looking cheerful for a bit longer.

Welcome tired
I bought an instant pot when my slow cooker died and it has an air fryer that I use a lot

spends today £21 boohoo 2 t shirts for dd birthday 1 is a New York one as my dsister is paying for her to go as a surprise (although dsister friend has slipped up and asked dd if she was exited to go dd is under strict instructions to act surprised Lol) and a maxi dress in the sale for me which despite being petite will still need to be shortened

Thank you Wolf ☺️💐

Ooo love a shiny new thread ☺️

Successful nsd here today. Took a coffee out with me so I wouldn't buy one on our walk. Plus I've got a flask so it stayed nice and hot.

I was reading another thread where someone said they ran out of coffee In their house so walked to get a takeaway one but on the way decided to go to Aldi and got 10 pods for the price of one takeaway coffee. I need to bear things like that in mind. Sometimes I think oh £3 on a coffee isn't bad but todays coffee only cost me just over 30p so it is a tenth of the price. And guaranteed decaff obvs 😂

I think going into this new term I'll try to only buy a coffee if I'm either meeting a friend so sitting down or using a cafe to make a change from "WFH" and cheaper than putting the heating on

Wine and TV tonight 😊

Oops posted on the old one by mistake but found this one now, thanks @ wolf, welcome @ tired... off to town tomorrow on free buses to use my co op coupons! Yay! ....

Welcome tired. Those are good ideas you've got already. Going down the second hand route for kids clothes saves you so much.
Decaff I'm not a coffee drinker but DH & Ds are & they both have Contigo cups for coffee when they're out or on journeys. Another great strategy

Curry in slow cooker, Bolognese on the job, rhubarb crumble in the oven

north can I come round for dinner all those things sound amazing. Love a good crumble. Very autumnal. I'm thinking ahead to planning autumn recipes especially slow cooker ones. Slow cooker sausage casserole aka sticks to your ribs winter warmer is a firm favourite here!

I have a contigo flask actually was only about £10 from Asda and is better than a previous expensive one I had.

Speaking of Asda has anyone tried the new Asda app. I'm getting all the shop apps I can in a bid to save money. Aldi need to bring some sort of loyalty scheme out

Thanks for fred, Wolf. And the very best luck with the surgery and the recovery, north.
Nsd today. Grocery shopping tomorrow

Best of luck North

Tired everyone is welcome here. Re your DC, go through the clothes already bought, they may already have enough. And what are the treats? If snacks/cakes out then plan treats at home.

I have loads of tomatoes growing, roasted some today, I’ll have those on toast for breakfast tomorrow. Neighbours gave us more courgettes but they are very large, bordering on marrow size. I can’t bare the texture so I’m going to pickle the largest one.

Thanks all for the welcome. I’ve just made two large apple cakes from our apple tree and am just stewing a load more apples to put in the freezer to make crumbles in the winter. I am also going to do some batch cooking for my mum who struggles with high cost of electricity at her flat (storage heaters!).

curry in the slow cooker is a great idea. I’d be grateful if anyone can share any easy vegetarian or pescatarian recipes!

long car journey tomorrow to visit MIL so will be taking coffees with us from home and hopefully resisting the temptation to spend at the service station.

Don’t forget to price up your time too. We thought we could do our decking by ourselves. But the guys we got to do it we’re done In 2.5 days. It’s have taken DH and I weeks to get it done. So sometimes it’s worth the money.

I had a quote from decorator for wallpaper in hallway and painting. £617. Have accepted because a) want it done b) no time or patience or energy to do it myself.

£50 dinner with sil tonight. Korean food. Yum. My mouth is all tingly

Hi all, I’ve not posted for a while as had a week away in Devon. Largely budgeted for although I did spend a bit more than planned. I need to rein it in now as I’ve had two weekends away as well. Glad I’ve got another week off work as I’d feel v depressed going back with all my treats over!
we were away with my DSis and her family and DPs. DDad has dementia and his behaviour is not great a lot of the time, he has a variant that makes him quite rude and aggressive. So not always a relaxing holiday but it helped to have more insight into what DMum is dealing with. Not quite sure how much we can help as we’re a couple of hours drive from them - think we’ll need to be going across to help at weekends more often.
massive food/ petrol shop today. £140 Tesco, £109 Costco on boring bits like dog food and loo roll. £33 to rejoin Costco, worth it for loo roll and cheaper petrol. £75 on petrol for one car and £40 petrol for DD’s car. Hope this will set us up for a bit!
DD got A level results - A* in one and B in the other. Also A in AS level - she’s taken longer to do them as she switched subjects part way through. So next year she has to do another A level alongside 2 more AS levels (as college won’t let you do just one). We were really pleased with the results but she was gutted with the B and is going to appeal (she is one mark off an A apparently). I’m crossing fingers it doesn’t go through wrong way as apparently they can mark you down as well as up. Her decision though.
welcome to all the new people!

Good grades there martha. Hello again Happier, nice to see you (briefly)

north id love to see the finished quilt, if not too outing. I made one for my DS during lockdown with lovely roald dahl fabrics but he wasn’t as interested as I’d hoped (he’s impossible to do gifts for - lots of SN and little interest in gifts) but I think DD will be more receptive when I make hers. It was the first bed-sized one I’d ever made so I was chuffed just to finish it at 11pm the night before his birthday

welcone Kleine. £7k is a lot but three gates is also a lot of gates! Is it worth getting a couple more quotes just to see how similar they are, or not?

Back from holiday today. We spent a ridiculous amount on food over the 2 weeks and had quite a bit of wastage too because the holiday house fridge wasn’t nearly cold enough - I gave up buying salad leaves after the first week and discarded lots of stuff like berries and unopened blown-up packets of ham, feta etc. And our wine /beer was unpleasantly warm for drinking the most important issue. Sigh. I have mentioned it to the owner and think I might also do so in my air bnb review - I don't like to be negative but it really wasn't great. Mind you, we broke the rotary drier in the garden too (it was already missing a rivet and the loose strengthening metal rod pinged out of its socket one day while loaded up so the whole thing bent and distorted) . Waiting to see whether we get charged for that.

The house is a bombsite as there is stuff everywhere. I can’t seem to fit the holiday food and kitchen gear back into my cramped cupboards! We’re out at a bbq tomorrow too, then back to work on Monday… it might not all get properly sorted till next weekend.

99p on kindle store for Diana Henry’s Oven to table recipe book, if anyone’s interested. Her recipes are brilliant.

Place marking

Thanks for the new thread wolf

well done martha DD

We’re just returned from holiday so I’ve been reading back through the thread. We were so lucky as our holiday was amazing, we went to the Norwegian fjord’s, as a family trip so we didn’t pay (which including a wedge of onboard spending money too).

We spent:
£240 on two trips
£5 settling our account
About £1.50 on postcards
We owe DHs brothers about £50 for bits they bought.

We came home with booze/perfume from the duty free to use up our onboard spending money.

Back to life with a bump now though! 5 loads of washing already done.

Thanks for the Diana Henry tip HalfWoman I'm just flicking through that now

Need to do some tidying today before insurance workmen (again) tomorrow. Also going to go through cupboards and bin out of date stuff (shouldn't be much as I do this regularly) and bin or charity any baking pans and dishes I don't want. This is hopeful prep in anticipation of new kitchen before Christmas if all the stars align. Regular frugaleers will know I've been waiting for this for some time hence why the oven is on its last legs and the washing machine only doesn't leak because there's a lot of compression tape on the drainage hose.

Also need petrol

Morning.

Nice to have folk back from their holibobs, even the weather seems to suggest autumn is on its way. Our garden looks more like autumn with all the leaves falling off our trees. The leaf blower will be in operation in the coming days!

I need some oat milk today. And maybe potatoes to make veggie shepherds pie.

And a bag of compost, but I think that's it.

Checking Vinted for ankle boots for the autumn but that will have to wait until payday on Thursday.

House jobs for a couple of hours now.

Have a great day folks!