Spending October organising our spends - friendly frugaleers this way!

[ememem84]

New thread because old one is almost full. All welcome. fluffy can you be a doll and please post the helpful threads? X x

Hi everyone who said welcome! So many since I last checked in.

Also... bowing in deference to the queen of frugality, Fluffy 😂😂😂😂 that was a phenomenal post!!! I hadn't even heard of MySupermarket!

Curls glad you like the sound of the soup. It was super creamy and yummy. So comforting.

MSE is brilliant. I got a refund off my student loan payments because of him. Wonderful. Came just at the right time as well. I now need to see if I can claim back overpayment fees from Natwest as they really put me in financial difficulty. I ended up going on a dmp. So fingers crossed I get something out of that!

I am also going to look at changing tariffs and comparing energy. Amazing. I feel so excited 😂😂 (how sad)... a little bit like that feeling after you've done a massive shop at Aldi. You know, the ones where in any other supermarket it'd be £200 but then the cashier says "That's £95 please". I get a small thrill from that moment 😂😂😂

I have found my people, I think 🤔😂😂

Soluble paracetamol does the same to me ememem . Bloody weird stuff 😖😖😖

Catface though? Sounds like an interesting ailment 😂

Haha! Yes. Nurse catface

Catface looks very stern. I hope you are following her instructions Em

Autumn good luck selling the instrument this time around. My fb buyer did not turn up today

Absolutely wolf stay still and snuggle.

Sorry I've fallen off thread over the weekend...still another week til half term here (crawling along to Friday)

Girlie we have quinoa quite often as a grain / cous cous substitute - I don't think it would work in a casserole. I think it's texture (nutty/grainy) is its selling point whereas in s casserole it might get soggy?

 I usually cook the quinoa first and stir into the bake or casserole then bake in the oven. Just to minimise it sucking up all the moisture. I might be tempted to add uncooked to a SC.

I wouldn’t do it with the quinoa. But then I don’t like the texture much and the thought of it being extra wet makes me shudder.

I like ALL grains other than quinoa. Honest.

Sea I’m with you on the quinoa. I like it in a bought salad but when I cook it myself it looks like bugs

New thread when we’re ready
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/3402599-Nearly-November-Friendly-Frugaleers-Navigating-K-nitting-Nattering-and-Nuturing-our-Pennies?watched=1

I'm a big fan of giant couscous, cheap in Aldi. That's an alternative.

Anything else girlie I chuck in according to the cooking instructions. So pearl barley gets the full time, rice about 15-20mins, lentils half an hour...dp puts them in at the start, he likes a studge. We had 4 hour cooked rice the other night. Uuurgh. I know I should be grateful that he cooks at all, but honestly!

We (my girls and I) ate the solid soup. But looked like this sitting round the table!

Is the giant stuff as easy to cook? I love how low maintenance the regular stuff is 😂

I want to start using pearl barley and stuff like that in cold salads.

I am waaaay behind on the thread

Thanks for the advice, will have to think of something else to do with the quinoa! I want to find ways of getting non meat protein in to dd and me I suppose and quinoa scores quite highly on protein apparently.

See I like it girlie but it really gets stuck in my teeth! I think you have to cook it exactly though. Too little and it's gritty bullets, too long and it's slimy bugs! I like it in a bought m&s salad though. Not that I ever buy those anymore. Frugaleer guilt and all that.

Have just listed a lot of dp's bike group set on ebay. He's keeping just one set and flogging the rest. A big admission that he might not really ride anymore. It's hard on him, but we are bracing for back surgery I think. It's that or giving in and living doped up to the eyeballs.

Fluffycloudland77 thanks for all the tips! I’m in Scotland & water is charged as a set part of our council tax here. Will check about paying council tax over 12 months. We get a discount as my partner is a student.
I love mysupermarket and do a ‘big’ online shop every other week as we don’t have a car. We don’t eat much meat. We’ve been trying the basics versions stuff of to see if we like it! We buy the basic squash and pour it into a pretty bottle
Our landlord has recently put in a new washing machine which is easier to customise cycles than our old one - I’ve been trying to wash on cool for the environment too! We dry our clothes on a pulley as we have really high ceilings.
I love Wilko but there’s not one near me sadly.

Girliefriendlikesflowers I agree about having less stuff - I’m trying to be a bit more minimalist / environmentally friendly too which I suppose works well with being skint! Though surely boots are a necessity.

WereWolfcub I will check out MSE tomorrow

My dad has an allotment and though we’re coming to the end of its productive spell for this year I got leeks, celery and cabbage last week and chopped them and froze them into individual portions.

New thread link a few posts back