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Cost of living

Stretching your budget? Share tips and advice to discuss budgeting and energy saving here. For the latest deals and discounts, sign up for Mumsnet Moneysaver emails.

Frugal February continued....

487 replies

SpottyTeacakes · 18/02/2015 08:49

New thread Smile

OP posts:
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SpottyTeacakes · 20/02/2015 16:22

Meals for the week:

Fake away
Halloumi with couscous and chickpea salad
Bean burgers (home made)
Bacon and tomato pasta
Spag bol X 2
Veggie sausage mini roast

OP posts:
Fluffycloudland77 · 20/02/2015 16:33

£29 lidl
£9 aldi
£5 sainsbos, got the wrong radox for the shopitize offer so I'm returning it next week
£5.50 loo roll and ready mixed drinks for me that I forgot to buy in lidl Angry

fuzzpig · 20/02/2015 17:52

These shopitize thingies - do you have to shop in store or could you use a tesco delivery receipt?

Fluffycloudland77 · 20/02/2015 17:53

It's in store only.

fuzzpig · 20/02/2015 17:58

Ah ok never mind (we basically only shop online) thank you :)

girliefriend · 20/02/2015 18:12

Hmm spendy day out in Lyme Regis in the end I think (but it was a lovely day Wink)

So £3.50 parking
£10.50 to go in the worlds smallest aquarium, bit of a waste of money really but dd enjoyed it and got to hold a starfish!!
£2.80 ice cream and take away tea
£6.50 on a beautiful little carved polar bear, again a bit of a splurge but I love polar bears and couldn't resist it Grin

£2 portion of chips

Think that is everything, actually not as bad as I thought.

MissA glad you had a lovely trip, I would love to see Rome Smile

babsmam · 20/02/2015 18:37

I loved Rome when we went pretty dc. Would go again in a shot.
Would.have been a Nsd but 2.50 on a collection for a colleague whose mam died last night.
Should be a lsd weekend too fingers to. I week to pay day.

574ejones · 20/02/2015 19:07

Oh my goodness Need what a terrible thing to happen to your DH.

First spend of the week today £1.40 parking and £5 lunch out.

So glad you had a lovely break, Miss A you really deserved it after all you have been through.

lilacclery · 20/02/2015 19:13

€42.30 on lunch out for us lot. It was delicious & a well deserved treat for midterm for dd. €10 on diesel €2 on sweeets for a playdate €24.50 on two pairs black trousers, socks and underwear In penneys dh put my black trousers in drier & shrank them. I now have size 14,12,10 & 8 which will really give confidence boost with weight loss as I get into each smaller one!

fuzzpig · 20/02/2015 22:30

20/2
£7.90 2 day bus pass for me
£3.75 DCs' bus fare
40p sweets - half was because I put 20p in one of the machines before realising that one was for 50ps! Thankfully it just fell in and didn't break it Blush
£11.68 home ed stuff
£29.48 Tesco
£11.26 took DCs to MacD as promised (have to say I REALLY enjoyed it :o)
£5 chocolate for game night with DSCs
£5.05 medicine for DSD

MissMysticFalls · 20/02/2015 22:34

Thanks fuzzpig, needastrongone and blueteapot. Interesting timing - just concluded we need to accept our financial limitations for the time being and...my darling cat suddenly needs to go to the vet this afternoon (bye bye, £60) and a couple of other dull household expenses crop up unexpectedly (see ya, £160).

Right, this might be a bargain? DP went to Waitrose yesterday and Linda McCartney frozen sausages are a third off - 1.17 (I think) for 6. If that's your kind of thing. They taste grim if you grill them but in a Rayburn (same as a conventional oven?) they're lovely.
(Rayburn came with the house and we considered getting rid and selling it to make some money before we moved in, but it's won us over this winter and has got me back into baking and cooking so I suspect I'm saving a bit on processed food.)

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Passthecake30 · 20/02/2015 23:28

Nsd. At long last!

Got an interview on Friday too....so that's 2 next week. Omg I have SO much prep to do (including a 10min power point presentation! )

AdoraBell · 21/02/2015 01:37

Spent money today but need to go through receipts to remember how much.

Need any idea when DH will be home?

Breadandwine · 21/02/2015 01:48

bantam, there was no way I could have gone without breakfast, etc, when I first began IFing.

In fact (this was before the Horizon programme), in the beginning, I went down to just half my calories on two days a week – and still lost around 8lbs in about 5 months – without actually intending to!

If you look at the current thread you’ll find new posters starting off with 700 or 800 calories – or even 1000.

Great stuff, pointless! Not only is it cheaper to make your own bread, you control the quality of the ingredients you use. Tell your hubby to have a look at some of the recipes on my blog – we could do a recipe swap! Smile

have bought flour and yeast a while ago with every intention of doing it but not yet got around to it.

Hi sporting

Do you have any spare time over the weekend? You only need about ten minutes initially – then an hour or so gap whilst your bread is rising – then half an hour monitoring the bread in the oven; probably wouldn’t take more than about 20 minutes in total out of your schedule.

Bit longer if you’ve kids around – but you’ll be giving them a skill for life.

If you’re on your own, I’d suggest a loaf of bread to begin with. As pointless said, 3 loaves for less than a pound.

If you have children around, perhaps some jam doughnuts. Cheap and cheerful – but very tasty.

Or if you have a bar of chocolate to hand, why not make pain au chocolat with them? Here’s a post about an on-line breadmaking session I ran several years ago on the old BBC Food boards. Loads of pics and tips.

SpottyTeacakes · 21/02/2015 06:07

Need to get DD's hair cut this morning and get a card and wrapping paper for her friends party later. Shouldn't be too spendy.

OP posts:
lilacclery · 21/02/2015 06:41

I made porridge bread this week for first time it was so simple. Then last night I made a loaf and a second batch into muffins. Cost 55c tub natural yogurt. Egg from our hens,bread soda , salt, milk & porridge in cupboard

fuzzpig · 21/02/2015 06:44

Yay for the interview! Great news :o

I have work today, then need to drop off this monitor at the hospital before going home so glad I've got a bus pass. It's been REALLY annoying and very painful when it goes off! I am knackered now as overnight it woke me up every hour.

lilacclery · 21/02/2015 06:54

Hit post too early. Visiting a friend today who doesn't bake but who'll love some scones. Low cost. I'm also collecting our lunch from deli counter but it'll be lost cost maybe €6-8. Electricity bill just arrived €100 cheaper than same time last year but weather has been milder. I was also on Mat leave then but au pair is home everyday too so that's similar. Can't log in from phone to check it to see if it's an estimate. €275 and I've prepaid €245 so it's not going to sting too much to pay it. I remember scrambling for the Money last year when it was €369 and completely unexpected and mat benefit was €280 per week to cover everything

I transferred money yesterday to pay for a hen I'm going on on 28th March, due for payment 1st March. It feels great to be on top of things due to this thread being able to do that. €110.

youbethemummylion · 21/02/2015 07:19

Hi I've been lurking for a bit but I've just realised something this morning and feel the need to share so I'm delurking to share my excitement! I've just worked out since Jan 1st I have made £600 through switching things. That's on top if the savings through switching as well. I switched tariff with British Gas twice. I got £50 Amazon voucher the first time and £50 High Street voucher the second time and saved on my gas and elec. I switched bank to M&S and got £100 M&S voucher. And I've just switched 2 mobile phone contracts from Vodaphone to Orange through Tesco phone shop and now I'm paying £5 less each month on phone contracts and I got a £200 Tesco voucher with each contact so £400 in total. Bringing my earning from switching so far this year to £600. I'm over the moon! Grin

Unescorted · 21/02/2015 07:35

B&W - you are so right about making your own bread saving money. Not only the cost of making it, but also means that you don't have to pop into the shop. Exit temptation.

I am going to try making my own bacon this month... I have become facinated by how far I can take "cooking from scratch". It started with being frugal, but has now gone further. I am also planning to make a cold smoker for the back garden in the spring - I should be able to scavenge the materials from things we already have and a couple of pallets. I will report back on how it goes. If you don't hear from me over the summer I have been poisioned by my test mackrel.

PeoniesforMissAnnersley · 21/02/2015 08:20

Theory test today in Southampton, DH is driving me there in a bit. Feeling nervous but there's not much more I can do now!

SpottyTeacakes · 21/02/2015 08:24

Good luck MissA! I only just scraped through my theory test Blush

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NK5BM3 · 21/02/2015 08:34

Good luck MissA!

sportinguista · 21/02/2015 08:35

Ooh! bread you've properly got my mouthwatering, I'm feeling quit inspired, especially by the pain au chocolate! I'm at home with DS today but since we don't have much to do today or tomorrow I might have a go. DS is fine whilst I do stuff typically he is glued to his tablet most of the time he's usually satisfied if we make a batch of biscuits or fairy cakes.

LSD yesterday as needed to get bread, should be NSD today although might need courgettes. Need to set up payment details so a client can pay me for work done. Want to get that done as he has said he will be repeat business. Getting quite a bit of freelance work through now so hopefully this will be the way to go. It will certainly be good as regards of childcare costs as I can flex around that.

unescorted that sounds very self sufficient! I'm thinking of getting out in the garden today to start clearing for starting to plant once spring hits and to assess how much planting space I have. Planning to grow as much as humanly possible in the garden so we have to spend less on stuff that's expensive like salad leaves. We had a really good year for the garden last year so hopefully we can repeat the success with more things. Smile

Fluffycloudland77 · 21/02/2015 08:38

You've done brilliantly youbethemummylion, are you into cashback websites too? You sound like the type who'd remember to use them! unlike Dh.

Good luck MissA. When do you get the results?

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