October continuing into Novemeber frugaleers part trois

[Lovetoknit]

Hope it's okay to start the new thread since the other one is already full
£1 at Cornwall Ambulance shop for 3 books for dc after I dropped off my old slow cooker and some books and £1 at Prospect hospice for some wool and fabric
Just made cauliflower cheese with some bacon and cavolo nero for dh who had it for lunch and there is enough for his dinner too, the rest of us are having homemade burgers, buns and wedges

The thing is with home made soup you can make so much more for your money than you can get with shop bought soup. So long as you have onions and stock you can chuck in whatever veg you have. I buy the tubs of stock powder rather than cubes and use a lot less than it says on the instructions.

Great news north
£10.20 yesterday for chicken feed for the whole month and they are still laying lot of eggs
NSD today
I wish my ds would eat soup, he used to like it when he was younger but not anymore; I am trying to do different lunches for dc since it's half term but he would happily have cheese sandwich every day.
I made bread yesterday in the breadmaker but I only used it for the dough stage and to let it prove for the first time since we still don't have heating on. But I baked it in the oven. It was 2 lbs loaf and half is already gone. If I make a tear and share bread or pizza I always use my Kitchen Aid - I was lucky I bought it about 10 years ago on eBay barely used for just over £100 before they became so popular. I just need to get the pouring shield for it so when dc want to help with baking I don't end up with flour all over the kitchen

Frugal win today- I really felt the urge to have new stuff in my hands and just that little bit of excitement in that. So I went to the library and borrowed 4 books! New stuff for free until I forget to take them back and get fined

I lost this thread, my MN doesn't seem to keep a record of ones I'm on for very long! So I have 17+ pages to catch up on. Hope everyone is well! NSD today!

Welcome back 31weeks.

£11.26 top-up shop in the Co-op.
£15 gas meter.
£ 7.15 late lunch after my dental appointment.
£ 1.80 bus home.
Total: £35.21.

Brilliant result north.

soup. If you cook a chicken in the slow cooker (is there any other way?) you can save all the juices in a pyrex jug or a bowl, chill them until they go solid and then loosen it like a jelly into a plastic bag and freeze it until you need it for a soup. It's really nice. Simple soups like red lentil and bacon are really cheap and very filling.

£5 on an oral thrush remedy for dh. Turns out that when they say rinse with water after using Symbicort they really mean it. A cup of tea is not a substitute mouth wash.

£5.50 on oven chips, marked down cheese cake and a meal deal for me.

£11 on two months supply of magnesium for dh. 2% cashback on kidstart

£2 gourmet society memebership, it's £1 each and you get 1000 nectar points. www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/nectar3 Nectar boost is 18.11.15. Taste the difference champagne will be included according to hotukdeals but they've been wrong before.

I really miss the aldi £5 vouchers. Bastards.

Fluffy...my ds1 used to get oral thrush after using his inhaler :(
So now we have a rule he uses it - am and pm - but brushes his teeth straight afterwards. No oral thrush since :)
Got to go through monthly accounts with Dh tomorrow....you will hear the gnashing of his teeth wherever you are!
His wage increase doesn't kick in til next month :(
I have applied for a job today....dinner lady! I won't get it, but I'm also going on the books with a local hotel too if any jobs some up.

Just wanted to update on my work rant. All ok now I think - it naturally came up in conversation how much my colleague did - not in a nasty way at all - so I said the exact number. I have also had feedback from the head [relevant profession] for the entire county council, very impressed apparently :o so... feeling better. Again very grateful for all the kind words when I was whining about it last night/this morning, as it gave me a boost and enough confidence to be honest in the conversation instead of just staying quiet and seething/worrying. :)

And today I bought, on total impulse, something I haven't bought for years... a DRESS! Half price on a Debenhams sale rack as I walked past (have to go through there to get to work without getting soaked!) and then at the till reduced further, to £10.50. Feeling rather pleased.

hairspray I love the library. Some do an email alert to tell you when they are due back, or put an alert in your phone for the day before they are due.

Fuzz* good on you.

If I don't use a soup recipe they all taste the same - lentil soup with chicken, vege and some herb. Or chicken vege soup with some added lentils for fortification. Or a spring herb soup with some vege (and lentil & Chicken)

Pleased to hear that fuzz.
I almost managed an NSD. Realised two of our guests tonight are driving and the only soft drink we have is orange squash so went to the shop to get something more exciting. They didn't have much but got some lemonade and soda.

Finally up to date so place marking!
Well done north & tell us about dress fuzz.

Bargain fuzz! What's it like? Good news on the work front.

Unescorted that made me laugh! I like spiced Indian tomato and lentil. It was a BBC good food recipe but it's not on there anymore.

NSD for me, I think it's the first one this week. Soup recipes sound amazing and I'm definitely going to cook some up this weekend.

Hairspray I love our library too. They have so many good recipe books.

Babs I love sewing too. All I know about bobbin tension is that once you get it right, never touch it again!!

It's not that exciting really just this one

www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod_10701_10001_054010506345_-1

but in a bigger size!

Still the most feminine item of clothing I've bought in a couple of years. I live in jeans mostly

Thanks ipsos. I think it could do with a service. It's a singer from lidl but I got it second hand. The tension went before but I took it apart and oiled and adjusted it. That didn't work this time.

I love it fuzz!

Beautiful dress fuzz and so pleased to hear about the work thing :)

fluffy I'm so tempted with the Nectar offer.

It's payday tomorrow and it looks like we finished the month with £5 left. That was a close call.

Brilliant energy reduction wirrall.

Nice dress

Well done wirrall
I changed our tariff yesterday and cheeky buggers sent me e-mail today saying dd will change from £75 to £132 so just had to call them again, luckily it was free number
Great dress fuzz wish it was bit longer

Hi again, I really cant keep up with the thread , but its now been a year since i started frugalling (according to my YNAB) and in that time , paid off my £3000 debt , lived within my means,and even saved a little!

However the end of Sept and October have really challenged me ,and my savings have diminished somewhat .. but then I've had 2 short breaks (France and London) , DMs 90th birthday and the car ferry season ticket to buy during that time,... as well as DS rent ro pay for a month as he transisitions between JSA and paid work (oh and i've also just bought/ replaced two pairs of (3yr old) winter boots..Clarks outlet and a 25% off deal)

so the carefully garnered savings are down to about £400 and christmas is coming.. (but then the things above are what savings are for arent they? )

But now ive got used to having a slush fund, rather than running credit card debt I need / want to build then back up , especially as we have house insurance to pay for in january anfd several family birthdays in february .

My plan for November then is to run the freezer and cupboards right down and only buy veggies and dairy.. I need to go and do an inventory though this weekend and meal plan (ihavent actually done that before). We will be ok for a while, but towards the end it may be meals of kipper and sausage ..onthe same plate!! .

So, can i keep out of the supermarket? I'll need to check back in here more than i have been recently to be accountable..

I do have £70 in budget for DGS birthday/ christmas present which ill buy this month as he is coming over for a couple of weekends .. a pedal tractor.. and as he is only going to be 3 , he wont mind getting it a few weeks early and wont notice not getting it on his birthday/ christmas .. ( so he can use it while he is here next )

As for the big C..we dont tend to do it much in our family anyway, (and last year we didnt do it at all, I cancelled Christmas as didnt want to get into any more debt and as Dh were on our own) but I dont think i will be able to get away with it totally this year (am going to have a good go though) .... We have a big family wedding to go to the week before christmas, and im hoping that will mean that the party will have been had ! yes I am a miserable cow

Oh yes, if anyone went for the Moneysavingexpert gas/ elec collective switch this time last year , youll need to switch again to save..

If you do , dont forget Quidco, at the moment USwitch is giving £30 on , just for going through their site!!!! . I have gone with Ovo now,, (did have Eon , and although their new switch is up as 'best buy' on uswitch, i was pissed off with them when they put my d/d up £30 a month half way through my deal ..should get some of that back though now) . Ovo was tipped best buy overall inthe Guardian last week..

car ferry season ticket , because I live on South Island! IOW

Hi all, have managed a NSD and actually tomos will be as well as am planning on not leaving the flat!!

Am ridiculously tired after working so much, have been regretting the increase in work hours tbh, my brain feels a bit fried and last night the old anxiety feelings were creeping in a bit oh well have a few days off now so hopefully a few days rest is all that is needed.

Hopefully a few days rest will restore the balance girlie

Thanks all for the advice about breadmakers. I have digested it all. Agree with ipsos, a breadmaker would do nothing for the waistline!

I hadn't thought about the attachment on my mixer, which is the way I am going to go. If I then use with any regularity, then I will look at a breadmaker.

I loved my soup maker initially, and still use it for 'scrap end' soups, but also seem to do a fair bit of standard soup making too, so shall hold off the breadmaker!

Been out of the house from 7.30 until 7.00pm today and am dropping with tiredness. Pony related stuff, but a win for DD, so all good.

north What a result from Tesco, fantastic! Well done indeed What a hamper.