Join the Fantastic Frugaleers for a February full of frugality

[northender]

Shiny new thread ready for Sunday. Newbies very welcome. This is a wonderful thread full of encouragement and support

Frugal fail today again this month has gone to pot so far

£14.50 on dds haircut, it does look really nice though and was a bday treat.
£15.50 on lunch - this was not budgeted for and came to more than I was expecting.
£44 Morrisons, weekly shop plus some stuff to make dds bday cake and had to buy a load of small cakes for her to take into school on Monday (its the done thing now apparently )

My dad has bought dd a hamster for her bday so saved on having to get a new gerbil!! Not had hamsters before so if anyone has any words of wisdom on keeping hamsters happy - do tell!!

£2.80 on some (what are they called) little things for plucking the guitar strings for DD1.

DH bought lunch out.

Pass my DDs are currently the same with food.

Plectrums, Adora? (Think so anyway!) :)

I vacuum plectrums up if they are on the floor. The arguments it's caused.....

My friend's brother made earrings out of plectrums. I wore mine loads.

2.22 on eggs and milk.

The dude in the shop got excited when that number came up as all the twos. I pointed out it'd be better if it had been 3.99 as this almost spells egg.

Today's spends: £50.51 aldi, all food. They were out of cucumber so need to get that but we are under budget for food (woo!)
Because we started our budget on a Sunday the top-up shops took money out of the budget first which worked better I think than the other way around.

Also £8.99 on a game I'm playing with DD1.

Afternoon all - hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.

Bank: £264.47 (was £264.47)
Purse: £1.15 (was £16.73)
Jar: £26.95 (was £26.95)
Grand Total: £292.57
reduced by by: £15.58
Days to payday: 6

Spends:

£15.58 – takeaway pizza for DH's birthday (I gave him a choice, and he went for Pizza which is the 2nd cheapest - first would have been local chicken shop but at least he has saved me having to go out and drive to get it and this way we can have it delivered. I will also save 50p by paying cash and not card). For this we get 3 x 12" deep pan pizza, one with an extra topping, and a 12" garlic bread supreme nom nom.

Budget looks like this with one week to go...

Account interest to debit £16.08
Sports & bus fares £15.60
Petrol: £48.28 – about a quarter of a tank left.
Groceries: £123.15 (last night's online shop was just short of £50, shouldn't need to buy much more before Friday)
Leaves £89.46 for incidental spends

emem - that made me laugh out loud, I nearly spat cola over my keyboard then :-D

adora (and everyone else! ) what do you give them when they are STARVING??! Ds doesn't want to snack, he wants huge meals. Often.Tonight was twice the portion of pasta than he usually has. And half a loaf of garlic bread. ..

£7 on dinner at service station
£2.49 on Vaseline as dd has awfully sore skin around her lips from this cold weather.

That made me laugh too, emem.
£4.29 today on eggs, cream and cocoa and I just made microwave chocolate brownies in a mug - much too easy, could be a hazard to my waistline!
Also 15p on 4 screws in our local hardware shop, it's amazing in there, the man is really helpful and if we just need a very small quantity of something it's much cheaper than B&Q.

Emem.

NSD.

Evening!

Em that made me

Mystic, thank you so much for the information about celeriac. I was planning on cooking salmon tomorrow (bought in a Morrisons 'flash sale') on a bed of roasted vegetables, so I will include the celeriac. I also wondered about doing celeriac mash.

I am going to be really cheeky here and ask if you could either post your recipe again for the apple and orange bars, or if someone might tell me which page it's on, as I have all the ingredients.

pass I don't like to worry you about teenage male eating habits but we have had home made chicken curry for tea. Including some Tesco bought samosas and naan bread etc. 10 minutes ago. DS is eating Weetabix now....

LSD. Beer for DH at £4.

Been cooking a lot today, which I love. And took delivery of a huge pile of fruit and vegetables from the market and a value pack of meat. Spends on food until the end of the month will be minimal.

fluffy February? Really? Wow!!

Ds is only two and eats a lot. Once all the fruit, fruit pouches, banana bread and crackers have been finished (nearing the end of the week) he has to have toast. I know fats and proteins are better for keeping you full than carbs but I do think most teenage boys prefer/need a full on carb fest every few hours from what I've read on here

Oh on that feed your family for £20 a week fb group they make their own pot noodle type things too. And someone on here suggested quicj quesadillas. Tortilla wrap flat with grated cheese on and another wrap on top, microwave for one minute and cut into pizza style slices ta da! Can put anything in with the cheese too.

Another frugal fail. £15.40 on fish and child takeaway. It's our first takeaway of the year and in several months!! If hero 6 is a fav movie and made even better when tickets were £3.50 each. And the children's snack package was £2.50 - pop corn, choc and slushie. I thought v reasonable compared to the odeon/vue ripoff places!!

We do that quick quesadilla wrap thing. Kids like it a lot. Dry frying pan, put wrap on it low heat. Sprinkle cheese on it and other stuff if you want (ham maybe). Then as the cheese melts, you put another wrap on top, press down. Flip it. Heat for a little while more and serve.

Made chili con carne in slow cooker today, and cheese straws -a la the
Eat well for less show. V easy and everyone's just lapped it up! Not sure if it's cheaper, but at least I know what went into it!

Damn person on free cycle hasn't replied even though he was v keen (and not the most polite). My new machine is coming tomorrow. Let's hope we can get rid of old one...

need, it's a 6kg box. I'm trying to cut back a bit.

Even dcat is on smart price litter & not poncey talc scented ultra clumping litter at £5 a week

Wraps are a fab idea, thanks. Ds has a bland palate so perfect.

I don't think the eating is reserved to teenage boys. ...I remember the knawing hunger pains myself as a teenager. ...I grew to 6ft and was very active and breakfast was usually a 3 course affair. ...cereal, toast and 6 rich tea. My dp doesn't remember this hunger so doesn't understand ds like I do when he is being dramatic about his next meal!

Guys I d swear it's a teenage boy thing. My lad either eats nothing and then hoovers up everything in sight!

No other spends yesterday.

Lord help me for the teenage years.think my two are hitting a growing spurt and that's bad enough. dh is a bin too cos he cycle loafs

Should be Nsd today. Forgot to post meal plan for this week:

Roast chicken
Chicken pilaf
Fake away with pitta and salad
Home made goujons with wedges
Sausages with mash
Chicken pasta
Shepherds pie

Haven't got loads in for lunches so will be cheese on toast, marmite pasta, crackers. Will make cheese scones again.

Breakfast is readybrek for dc and greek yoghurt with fruit and honey for me. Dh doesn't eat breakfast.

spotty what's marmite pasta please?

It's a Nigella recipe I use whatever pasta and cheese I have though, usually fusilli and cheddar