Austere April - Frugaleers continue to the next quarter!

[Leilandri]

Come and join us for another frugal/thrifty/down-right stingy month!

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

I have decided to pay the same into my savings as I pay towards pension, hopefully manage it

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Oops wasn't finished!

We don't have any savings to dip into, which is not a good way to go, especially with a very old fridge and cooker just keep swimming Pretty...just keep swimming

[IsThatTrue]

NSD 2 for me DH spent £3.98 on bolts for the cotbed we were given but £3.98 for a cotbed is forgivable I feel

I use curry pastes too, just as simple as jars sauces. Oh and if you do want tins of coconut milk go to the 'world food' aisle instead of the normal aisle, they're 69p there in our local one compared to £1.29/1.89 in the normal aisles! this is where I get lentils too as they are cheaper than elsewhere in the shop.

Got to start selling. Ds2 just outgrew his Moses basket

[Rosvita]

I would like to try these curry pastes everyone's talking about-does it tell you on them what to add?-dh doesn't like coconut although I love a korma so would probably get a medium-spice curry of some sort.thanks.
ohno the meal you did for mil sounds lovely.
prettyplease without going into too much detail I am rubbish at saving!

[Fluffycloudland77]

All the instructions are on the jar Rosvita.

[Leilandri]

Spent £6 on Tues, and £5 today on top-up shops from work. Shouldn't need anything now until next week fingers crossed

I've always assumed the same about curry pastes, never realised that they worked out so much cheaper. Got to start stocking up my herbs/spices in preparation for chutney making later in the year. Hoping I won't notice the few extra £'s if spread out over the months.

[lizardqueenie]

Thanks Alibaba & where

Another fairly cheap recipient I've been cooking a lot recently is a sweet potato curry- feels very luxurious & indulgent but works out fairly cheap if you can buy sweet pots from the market. I started following the recipe to the T but it was a bit bland for me so whacked in some ginger, bit more medium curry powder & less coconut milk (though am sure coconut creme would work well too) Cooked this as part of Easter buffet lunch at my mums and the whole family said they really enjoyed it- and they are a fussy lot! We aren't that fussed about having meat so it's been good to find some meat free (and often cheaper) recipies.

[JanieLovesCake]

hello, can i join please? hoping to do some serious purse string pulling. am 7 weeks pregnant - still nervous after mc in oct but fx! so i need to get saving if i get to maternity leave. i earn slightly more than dh and he has lots of direct debits for work equipment so wouldn;t necessarily be able to support us if i was on maternity leave so i need to get my save on. Just DH and I at home (oh and the cat!)

loving all your tips (esp. the laundry goop) and i've done my spreadsheets and written down what big spends we have coming up (weddings / holidays etc). have stopped drinking obviously so will save on going out on the razzle and taxis which is good.

planning on doing a cupboard stock take and meal plan / shop this weekend. we've also started to use our joint account for groceries / household things for the first time this month, we usually put cash into a kitty, but i'm hoping this means we can see online how much we spend and when.

would be interested to know if you do you normally do the same shop each week i.e. same meals each monday eg spagbol, tuesday curry, wednesday....

[Thatsinteresting]

I'm feeling fairly in control as I've meal planned and activity planned for the children until pay day. If I stick to it we'll be fine. We're having friends round tomorrow so I'll make a pizza and cook chips and put out a bowl of cucumber, tomato and carrot sticks to be largely ignored. Dd has made chocolate nests from ds Easter eggs (they both got too many but she is old enough to count and he isn't so won't know they've gone!) to offer to her friends. So that was a cheap activity today and saved me buying anything for tomorrow.

I've finally ebayed a few bits but need to get some more things listed. This month has been very long and I could do with a little boost.

I used to use curry pastes. They are good but we don't often have curry now as dh and I like them hot and dc like term extra mild. Adding chili at the the end to my portion just isn't the same.

[AdoraBell]

Janie welcome and congrats

I don't do the same meals every week it would drive me nuts I find it a little boring. There's often a thread or 2 for meal plans in Chat or Food, I'm planning on reading the current one in Food/Recipes.

Tonight we finished the jar of Tikka Masala paste with chicken thighs (cheaper and better than breast) with lurking veg. Tomorrow dinner will be French style chicken, creamy winey sauce with wilted lettuce served with rice probably -recipe from BBC Good Food site.

Thatsinteresting could you add extra yoghurt to DC's food when you do curry? I used to do that with my DDs, plus another extra dollop on top, now they eat it the same as we do, although we don't have it very hot.

NSD apart from roads, I had to check something in town, £2.40.
Dog is back from the vet and we'll get the bill tomorrow.

[Thingymajigs]

Congratulations janie. I love variety and trying new recipes so I don't often repeat the same meal on my meal plan unless its leftovers from the day before. Other people prefer having certain meals on each day or they have a list of meals they can make from the ingredients they have and they pick the one they want on that day. It's whatever works for you really.
I spent £81.39 in Aldi yesterday. £79.40 on food for the next 3 weeks of meal plans and £1.99 on washing powder. Today I'm going to pick up a few things that worked out cheaper in Tesco like the smoked salmon offer and ricotta cheese that Aldi didn't have. Pricey items but they are for my first attempt at homemade Ravioli and will only be an occasional treat.
My children impressed me in Aldi yesterday. When they stopped bickering, Ds1 (nearly 13) took the list and crossed off items and offered help comparing prices and quality. Ds2 (9) went off with DP looking for certain items and compared the prices and weights. They even showed restraint when picking their ice-cream for the weekend. This is in stark contrast to a year ago when they'd pester me in Tesco for toys and sweets.

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Going to have fajitas for tea tonight, so will be a spendig day today. Will take thr kids to park though so killing two birds with one stone.

Does anyone have a nice easy lentil soup recipe please?

[wheredidiputit]

Janie

I tend to do

1 - Roast
2 - Rice
3 - Pasta
4 - Fish
5 - Mince
6 - Chicken
7 - Picky Bit

As a base then find recipes.

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

Have you a bid yet, i'd just end it early and relist with the proper postage. I have stuff on as well

[prettypleasewithsugarontop]

11.24 in Tesco

1x red pepper
1x cucumber
1x dip
1x fajita mix
1 bag bananas
1 box tea bags
Bacon lardons
Lentils
Veg stock
Veg

so going to make lentil soup which will do for luches over wkend

[lizardqueenie]

Ohhelp- def edit the listing. You can put reasons underneath I believe for the change in the listing. I you do have a bid I believe you may still be able to edit & if that potential buyer wars to pull out due to change in postage charges they an withdraw their bid.

Another NSD here- potty training day 4. I could def get used to this NS- mum has turned up with new peppa pig pants & stickers for DD!

I've downloaded the Barclays iPhone app to my phone so I can check my balance really easily. It's helping me a lot I think.

[lizardqueenie]

Wheredid thanks for your base list of 7 meals- very helpful.

[northender]

Our meal plan is sorted in a similar way to wheredidiputit. Saturday or Sunday will be a roast which will give at least one meal from the leftovers. Tuesday is always pasta due to lack of time. Thursday always fish, Friday usually burgers, sausage or similar. The remaining days will be curry/casserole/pie/quiche or something else entirely.
I've just sorted my car insurance out. Between dh's and mine we have saved £200
The optician has completed a form for claiming back the cost of my eye test and partial cost of my glasses so I'll send that to payroll dept tomorrow.
I've decided to make sure in April that we claim any money back like that that we can to make life easier. At the end of April I'll get paid for a huge amount of extra hours I've done at work and that will make a massive difference. I don't want to do more hours long term but at the moment we are really short staffed and so there is a budget for it so I'm taking advantage while I can.

[Buffty]

Hello, can I join please? I was on the February thread for a while and then have been lurking for a bit so I'm going to try and post more often as it did help me to stop spending as much!

I spent £4 this morning on some top up bits in the supermarket but otherwise won't be spending anything today.

I don't know if anyone saw the National Art Pass free 3 month trial membership offer on the MSE website. It gives you free entry to lots of different places, including lots of National Trust and English Heritage type places, so lots of free days out. It also gives you half price entry to lots of exhibitions. To claim it go to //www.artfund.org/telegraph and register. You don't need to put in any credit card details or anything like that.

[Pluto]

Great tip Buffty for the Art Pass. I have registered.

Dentist was £42 but have £48 cash in still...I would be really happy if we can stretch this out to last us until DH gets back on Monday evening from visiting his parents with the boys. Train is already paid for so I think it can be done. DS will need some cash for a thing he is doing tomorrow - but he won't need it all!

Also waiting to see if some furniture we are trying to flog in the local paper gets any interest. Keeping everything crossed as EBay didn't generate anything.

[lizardqueenie]

Welcome Buffty & thank you for that art pass- brilliant!