September savers/frugaleers continue into October

[574ejones]

All welcome!

Wow need that is a massive difference! £80 on groceries this week but included a joint I reckon I can make 6 meals and stock from, so not a total splurge.
Nice goals, collie - my goal is to end the month stable and start paying off from next month :) and to not buy any clothes for any of us! DD was given some lovely hand me downs this month, big relief, just praying her feet don't grow too fast! I need new glasses which is a bit of a pain - trying online ordering for the first time after getting my prescription from the opticians.
what you are right, it is the first - and at least I actually really know what I have left to spend rather than ostriching! Have a frugal month, fellow frugaleers xx

I like basmati rice and it usually comes out well for me, but I also like the microwave rice you can get mixed with veg (Birds Eye Mediterranean rice, for example) and I usually have some in the freezer.

Would boil in the bag be a happy medium? I used to love those microwavable flavoured rice packets, when dd was newborn I lived off then but they're so expensive for what they are. We buy value rice and it always ends up sort of rice puddingy, but we don't mind as it gets mashed into chilli/curry etc. I would like to make flavoured rice though, I stir a bit of soy sauce and a whisked egg through but that's as exciting as it gets.

Spent £4 on coffees today, they forgot to charge for one and when I offered to pay for it said it didn't matter so mini frugal win £4 for a coffee is still ridiculous. I'm going to keep a spending diary this month, our bills are already as cheap as they can be so we need to look at reducing spending now. Should be interesting!

Completely lost track of spending and thread sorry.
£25 on ds birthday cake
£95 on car
£15 on aldi

Today sainsbury which will be expensive as party food needed. And need to get a barbie from argos for dd birthday

Morning all! Busy and slightly frittery day yesterday - £1 buying chocolate as a 'thank you' for a colleague, £6.70 on coffees (one for a colleague who'd forgotten money - perhaps I'm in the wrong job ), £1 on a postcard. I did, however, have a great day out all paid for by school so I feel these little luxuries were worth it!

I need to buy milk today and I'm meeting a friend for lunch.

Goal for October - finish Christmas shopping!!! (Only one or two left to buy and decided what DHs present will be during a glass of inspiration yesterday!)

That's a relief to know that I'm not the only one who's used microwaveable rice. They are very handy aren't they?

It odd that they cost £1.50 for 380g when it is £10 for 10kg of basmati rice though.

I cook a lot of rice, because I'm off wheat, so I've switched to the big bags and it makes a huge difference. I just boil it until it's soft.

Anatha have you tried rinsing the starch off the rice before you cook it? I sometimes do that. DH's 83 year old mum thought I was mad, she had never heard of it.

Well, I have paid my hideous credit card bill that included £550 for school uniforms and £275 for DS's bike and I now have £150 for the rest of the month

But mum will give me £50 each week (as she has since January when she came to stay)

I am going to have to get DH to give me the £375 he owes me for our medical insurance cash back and something I bought for him that he "would give me the money for..."

It is so tight because I spend too much because I thought my OVO refund was still to go in, but it already had, so instead of about £700 I thought I had at the end of the month, I had £350

I also need to change the medical insurance SO, DH's employer pays it and we (I) reimburse. It has gone up about £40 a month, but mainly because we got a stunning deal last year and price went down. I must sort this ready for next month, and just split the extra over the rest of the year. So about £200 to recoup over 7 months, extra £30 a month. Sigh

It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have dancing costumes to pay for.

Hi all I've caught up to the end of page 26, I'm so looking forward to it being friday night and no self employed work tonight and sitting down with my phone and catching up on the rest of the thread.

pink I also got my water conservation grant on 30th Sept, filed away until it's needed for vasectomy. What happened with your dinner that it was shit?
Rivier I'd advise using a budget planner or your own excel sheet and cloning it for each month to come and colouring the numbers in a different colour so you can put actual and budgeted alongside each other for a few months until you get used to fluctuating figures and fixed amounts, also plot any annual or bi monthly expenses on it. When I first start I did this on a calendar paper based and then moved on to excel as well.

work is too crazy this week, loads of overtime means little time at home though [tired emoticon]

ipsos I couldn't find the article as I am not a subscriber?

A rice cooker is the way forward ladies It is a frugal purchase as well, as you can then do lots of home entertaining using a variety of dishes that require a big pot of rice. Rinse rice, put in cooker, cover with water, press button, ding ding, perfectly cooked rice. Mine switches to 'keep warm' when it's cooked, which is great for said entertaining!

We are on our way at lunchtime, I have to fill up my car this morning, finish packing up the horse box, clean out my chickens and take a Morrisons delivery before then. Dogs have been walked, washer on, dishwasher on etc.

Audit You could always encourage your DC to ride if you would like a low cost alternative to dancing.........

Definitely rice cooker is the way to go. Easiest thing ever. No wastage too! Every Asian person has a rice cooker.

Working from home today. Wow what a difference. The lack of stress to deal with idiots at work. The ability to put my washing machine on 90deg wash to clean out the gunk. I brought home something like 12 reports to mark. Hopefully can get that done. I have another 10 in the office. Couldn't physically carry them all. Emails have been pinging in since 8.30 though. Grr.

Hi need if you google the title then you should be able to just click on the link and it will let you read it without logging in. Their paywall is very forgiving.

Which rice cooker would you recommend need and NK5? I cook rice all the time and it would be incredibly handy to be able to leave the house while it's cooking.

This looks pretty decent and easy to use. http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9367809.htm

mine is v similar although mine's brought over from Asia. It really is quite easy. For 3-4 people, you maybe use 1.5 cups of rice. Put it in the inner pot. Wash it a few times till it looks less cloudy (the water). Basically swirl the water around with the rice.

Put fresh water in. Measurement is always to the first line of your pinky finger. Put the inner pot in the rice cooker. Press the button. Viola.

My slow cooker is also a rice cooker!

LSD. All budgeted & essentials. Almost bought a magazine but I put it back & walked away.

Found out a good use of fruit teabags (if you have any that you don't like) is painting with them. Brill for toddlers who like to eat fingerpaint. It's my frugal win. I have loads of super tangy fruity teabags that make me want to cry when sipped. They make a beautiful pink watercolour style paint. And smell delightful.

I'm another microwave ricer DP and I are both FT and don't pick DD up until 6.15 and we just want convenience on a week day. We have swapped from microwave to boil in bag (own brand) for normal rice, but I just cannot resist Uncle Bens spicy Mexican rice. I only buy it when it's on offer though then stockpile cupboards full.

I will try and do my October goals later. It's hen party weekend and I'm sat at hairdressers having my hair done I've managed to budget hair/hen party/wedding spends. And I'm off to local off licence for copious wine, as my fave wine is 2 for £10. Which is fab as its £8 a bottle in Tesco. Also have my Aldi pretend Archers to drink too. Frugal wins on a non frugal weekend!

Happy Friday frugaleers!

We both work full time too. The rice is ready in under 20 min and in that time you can stir fry veg or meat, omelettes etc. it can also keep for a couple of days and make fried rice. We made egg fried rice last night, 3 days after I made rice on Monday night! Still alive. Frugal fried rice!

Anyways, back to marking. I hate this.

Love the painting idea collie. My ds used to also like to open the bags and sprinkle the "seeds" inside on the garden as if he was planting flower seeds.

Thanks for the rice cooker ideas. :-)

Surprised so many of you use microwave rice! I've never had it, feel like I'm missing out!

lilac good to hear you got your water grant, I was pleasantly surprised by how quick it was paid! Enjoy your Friday night off, sounds like you need it! How is dd doing at school?

ipsos hope you are feeling better!

Well, I broke and put on the heating for half an hour this morning. It was really cold, the kids were dressed but still had blankets over their shoulders, so I thought it was a good time!
Should be a low spend day, need gluten free burger buns, but nothing else.

Was thinking about October goals, and tbh, just making it to the end with food in the cupboards and bills paid will be an achievement. So many outgoings for the October pay check. I'm determined to have some savings sorted for this time next year. We have zero savings atm, since we had our financial epiphany in june, we are focusing on getting rid of the debt, but determined by October 2016 we will have those big outgoings covered!
Even thinking back to October last year and we are in a much better place. We were on the bones of our arses. This year the bills will be paid and things like the kids shoes and beavers are doable. So feeling very positive!

Collie they may be good for dying home made playdough too. Blackcurrant tea bags for purple

Ooo good idea!

£10 wasted on a taxi. :(

That's great that things are going so well Pink. I'm on the mend thanks. It turned out to be a flu thing but my temperature is down a bit now so that's good.

This morning, out of the blue, I said to dh "Fluff says that her dishwasher uses 900W of electricity in Eco mode and 1.1kW in normal mode." and then I realised that I sounded like a nutcase. dh was interested, which was good.

Fluffy I mean.

That's the kind of thing I would do ipsos.

Meal planning today and watching rubbish tv. Have fallen off the thread with such a Thud! Attempting to clamber back on

Birthday girl today!! Have been out for a hack this morning - the sun is shining it's a beaut of a day £25.

Have been thoroughly spoiled - flowers chocs and a fitness tracker wristband thing from dh. Plus dinner and cocktails later.

Dm and df have presented me with a bucket load of clarins. So I won't have to buy anything for the next year or so..! And also bought me vouchers for my fave shops, beauticians and hairdressers. Parent win.

Happy birthday Em!!