No spend January?

[corinewmoon]

After he festive blowout and considering ive got some big bills in January, (MOT, car tax, insurance) I have decided to try a no frivlous spending month. There is nothing i really need to buy, (apart from new school jumper and coat for DS) .
So I will be taking my lunch to work every day,
I will avoid costas,
and i will limit my self to one bottle of wine per week
I will aim to spend £200.00 on food shop for the month
I will not go for leisurely stroll to the shops during my lunch break.

Any one else want to join in. ?

bossy thanks for the tip on the oils. I'm gonna have a hunt on amazon.

we need a bottle of gin smiley-thingy.

This it bossy?

www.amazon.co.uk/LAVENDER-Absolute-Green-Lavendula-angustifolia/dp/B002RJN7DE/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1326065427&sr=8-11

Monday morning recycling tip ... clean out old ice cream tubs to use as 'tupperware' type freezer tubs - great for freezing soup in suitable quantities . Sorry if this is an old one ... my poor brain is sleep deprived so it just occurred to me.

Morning to all

Ah LadyH that's the Absolute I was talking about earlier-Ok for burning but not for putting on skin as the oil is extracted by soaking the lavender in alcohol. (cheaper & quicker)

Pure essential oils are gently extracted by steam distillation often right by the side of the fields, much nicer purer smell. Obviosult more expensive but worth it in the end as you use less. Hang on I'll find a link to another supplier I use.

This weekend spent £6 on fruit in Morrisons (v poor selection in Lidl).Today spent £3 in tescos express on milk and butter .So all in £55 supermarket for 8 days. Not too bad I think. Have spent 35 in butchers (meat for 2 weeks)Also gave school check for £45 for clubs, but unavoidable.

Oooooh tsc, you have just reminded me to make a banana loaf out of my overripe bananas.

Also, I read recently that egg whites freeze really well...just make sure you put on the outside of the freezer bag how many whites there are in there!! I thought this was quite a good tip , I didn't realise that egg whites could be frozen.

Lady H, have a look at these essential oils

I trained with this college many years ago

You can freeze peppers and onion without blanching. Just chop up what you have left over and freeze. Carrots and many other vegetables need blanching in boiling water for a couple of minutes before freezing.

Herbs as well can be frozen fresh.

An expensive day but in a good way. I finally tracked down some reduced Xmas cards & wrapping and they had 75% off. I then noticed our local ELC is closing and had 50% off everything so have bought presents for the 5 childres I buy for who have bdays between now & end of April, a couple of baby things as 8 friends are due in April/May so its good to have spread some of that stuff and a couple of bits for DD which I'll give her in few months time. I did end up in Waitrose to get the bits I was missing for tonight's supper but just got the three items (one of which was on offer) & some of DD's cereal which had 1/3 off. Walking to Waitrose saved driving and paying for parking at S'burys & I can now go to ASDA for the week's shop tomorrow on the way home from work.

Spent £1.95 on a jar of mayo. Used change I had in a bowl. Even checked in our two local shops to see which was cheapest. Sainsbos won with 4p cheaper :)

Made the most incredible soup today with 1/3 butternut squash, half a sad red onion I found in the fridge, 3 leeks and a few rubbery potatoes, pinch of curry powder. It rivaled Covent Garden's spicy butternut/sweet potato I tell ya! DH also thought it was delicious!!

No spend day today!

I am generally organised and am hardly ever late. But I seem to be slipping and the last few weeks I have felt like I'm swimming against the tide.

This thred has made it clear that I need to go back to basics.

Keep the tips coming.

off to find out how to use the reminder section on blackberry

Someone mentioned hotukdeals. It's a great website but also dangerous for buying stuff you don't actually need just because it's cheap. I use the search function on it when I purchase something have to just to make sure I am getting the best deal.

I've been doing well. My first shop after New Year was £19 odds, last Saturday it was £18 odds. I have a well stocked freezer and store cupboard atm so this isn't sustainable beyond January but its a great kick start to the year. Apart from paying for lunches and Brownies I've spent nothing - its addictive but I do worry it will make me mean if I carry on at the extreme level I'm operating at just now!

Bottom-of-fridge carbonara tonight - bacon, spring onion, leek, peppers, onion and garlic with cheese sauce I made from Christmas leftovers last week and cheap frozen broccoli. Spent £25.00 on Guides subs. though, but it's only once a term. Ebay stuff going well, and (miracle) I've resisted buying anything on there!

Trying to think of something to cook using half a dozen satsumas before they go off? Any ideas??

Hey aren't we all doing well?!

Yeserday we had roast pork (tiny joint £3.40) & loads of veggies. Leftover meat for sarnies today, leftover veg into soup, some for next few lunches, some fo freezer.

Today I had chilli (veg & meat) from freezer mince/quorn, last of the old freezer stuff. Made it yesterday,always tastes better next day! Served with garlic bread (freezer) & rice.

Have menu planned for next 2 weeks, and have managed to live off cash (from family allowance) for last 10 days to avoid using any cards.

clippity, how about peeling them and poaching them in some wine? Or peel them, slice them across and line a pudding bowl with them, add some golden syrup, a sponge filling and you have an orangey treacle pudding. Any use??? .

oops...posted too soon, Clippetty could you make an orange jelly with satsuma slices in? Or half dip some slices in choccie for a treat?

On a personal note, I have spent nothing today. Yaaaaaaaay!!! Walked to work and back. Managed to get extra hours this week (working full time rather than part time to cover a colleague's holiday) so that will boost money coming in. Ebay is going well - sold 8 items yesterday (finishing auction) and another 6 sold today (auction ending next Sunday) so hopefully bids will increase and more being sold before the auction ends...fingers crossed.

Lunch was odds and ends from the fridge and dinner was chilli (from vat made on Saturday), rice and broccoli. Pudding was warm banana loaf made using the 6 extremely ripe bananas I had - made it very sticky but DS was very impressed and has asked for some for breakfast tomorrow!!!

On the downside - think I may run out of veggies before Saturday! Will try to be economical but really don't like short changing on veggies. Will see what happens and amend amount bought next weekend. I know I will need more fruit as I didn't have to include apples and grapes last fruit shop. Might put pears in instead (a bit cheaper than grapes at the mo) and extra banana's - always a good filler.

Does anyone know anything about babysitting agencies? I was thinking about joining one to generate a bit of income from some evening work. Anyone got any horror stories/info about it?

bossy - thank you for your offer to provide info, looking forward to hearing from you re those oils.

Post on store cupboard cooking from my blog, that might be helpful if you are running out of stuff!

Here