Frugal Friends Facing Forward with Fortitude

[Happierwithouthim]

Here's a friendly space for new and existing frugal friends.

We have all different types of incomes and lifestyles but with a common goal of making the best of the money we have.

Many of us have experiences of becoming debt free or being in difficulty with money for one reason or another so there's no need for embarrassment, just join in, post as little or as often as you wish.

Some record daily spends, some record only spends that are unplanned, some don't record spends at all, the choice is yours!

£12 hair stuff for ds
£32 boots
£32 primark but some will go back as got multiple sizes
pricing up skip hire to tackle the frankly dangerous garden before nesting season starts.
sorry birdies but will buy you a new tree.

Buffet food for tea rather than usual take out

I have had quite an expensive week with 4 taxi journeys for 2 medical appointments on different days, plus I needed to buy this month's supply of pet food. I've researched the cheapest place and Animed seems the best, I need an amount anyway which qualifies for free delivery which is also a saving. I was buying in Pets at Home before but I realise now that is the more expensive end of the market.

I've been inspired by you all to try and cook a bit more from scratch. It's only adult DD and me and neither of us are keen on cooking but I need to plan our meals a bit better.

The trees are down, bathroom and kitchen cleaned, under the sink cupboard cleaned out and resorted, washing half done....

All would have been quicker if I didn't have to wade through the tidying first. Also the washing pile went from 2 loads to 6 as soon as the lazy bums realised it was being looked after.

Pork chops & apple sauce, chippers and peas for tea. Not super healthy but better than box pizza.

Spends.. £25 in B&M for sorting boxes for the under the sink cupboard, a thing that looks like a huge electric toothbrush for cleaning the hideous manky details that have been annoying me for years in my shaker style kitchen ( not my choice), oven cleaner and descaler. £15 in Aldi for dinner.

Tomorrow is another thrilling day of sorting washing.

Congrats to @Wineisnottheanswer who won PB! Amd @marthasmum for the extra teaching

@Girliefriendlikespuppies Sounds like a great present. 🇫🇷

@Taytocrisps oh dear, but maybe a spontaneous forced rest is exactly what you need

@BigSkies2022 as they say with house renovations, it will all be worth it 🤣

@Unescorted are you nervous for the first visit? Sounds like you're off to a flying start on 2024 spring clean

Spends
19 specialty ingredients (should last 6months)
15 argos
4 milk/fruit

Avoided spends
45 takeaway - we ate from the freezer instead
40 lunch out - convinced the girls to eat at home
5 secondhand book - we went to the library instead

£31 dog food but will get that back as it’s for mil

@Girliefriendlikespuppies that would be a great 18th.
spends 65 gym wear. I go a lot so will use it.5 in Tesco on bread,rolls and chocolate

Did quite a lot of spending yesterday…
£60 mountain warehouse - hoody for me and coat for DD1
£27 M&S- three sets of fleecy PJs for next winter for DDs, and two hoodies for DD2
£12 New look- dress for DD1 and romper thing for summer holiday for DD2
£21 TKMaxx- I went in to see if I could get a new clock, instead came out with a saucepan and a cutlery tray (we did need these though)

I did well with the sales clothes shopping for the DC though, as they liked what I bought!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

unescorted I hope DS is also helping with the cleaning if it’s for his gf?!

Spent 85p on a cucumber from the co-op as i forgot to get one in ASDA yesterday.

Bagels and avocado for breakfast, h/m chicken pasta salad for lunch and we were going to have a shepherds pie for dinner, but I think it might just be mince and tatties as I seem to have run out of oomph.

Any way whichever we have that will be nearly the last of the cheap christmas veg used up. Just a few parsnips and half a red cabbage left.

I am thinking of using the parsnips in a cake tomorrow because frugal living is soul destroying without the odd frugal treat. I am tempted by this recipe.

https://thriftylesley.com/parsnip-cake/

Mum nellie that looks lovely, I will give it a try. Will need to buy maple syrup though as my giant one from Costco has run out.
unescorted similar here. Have scrubbed all the walking boots and sorted 3 pairs of old football boots for the charity shop. Done 4 loads of washing and there is still more…with 3 of them home I can really tell the difference.
DD and I went to charity shops in Otley. I had made a no buy resolution but I broke it for half price Xmas cards for next year and a reed diffuser to make my office smell nice and make me feel better about going to work. Also a couple of bits for DP, £16 in all and £6 on coffees but I figure I won’t be able to have a coffee with DD for a while as she’s back to uni shortly.
Also £12 on laptop sleeve as my set up has changed at work and I have to put my work bag, laptop and lunch in every day- so want to be able to fit laptop in new work bag which DSis gave me for Xmas.
Made stew too using up leftover root veg and apple crumble.
girlie I also think the Paris trip sounds fab.
time sounds like you got lots for your money though
wine gymwear is a healthy spend 😂
fantasea good shout on the dog food
chile I like the idea of listing avoided spends, in that case I avoided spending at least another £20 in the charity shops 😂

£20sports direct on a swim suit.

emptied the loft today. Two dump runs. Two car loads for charity shop.

busy. Day.

@Chile1978 no. She is someone who I have met before and she is lurvly. DS is nervous....

@Timetoswitch absolutely he is helping. I have him doing all the annoying DIY stuff that should have been done months ago.

@marthasmum with both of them home the house feels so full. But having said that it is lovely to have them about.

@Nellieinthebarn too right. The unrelenting no/ can't spend is soul destroying. Cake is good for the soul. Frugality in my head means considered spending (ignore the big toothbrush thingy).

@Timetoswitch good shopping!
@ememem84 seems like you've been bitten with the spring cleaning bug too 🐛

Should be a LSD today - waiting for the shops to open to get fruit and eggs.
Otherwise continuing to work through the to-do list and then visiting friends.
Car MOT has been rescheduled as garage are waiting for a specific part to come in, but no doubt spends to come.

Using up.....

the last mini Christmas pudding. Not really diet friendly but it gets it out of the way. Might be some clotted cream left - ideas?

There's a tin of jackfruit in my cupboard that's been there for ages. I'm going to sue up some breadcrumbs and turn it into mock crab cakes,

@Sandytoxic clotted cream ice cream? Rice pudding? Risotto? Creamy soup? A super luxe bechamel? Cheesecake/tiramisu if you have any biscuits that need using up?

The obvious answer is scones for clotted cream.
i have some fruit to use I might make some today.
nsd planned but I do need thorn gloves as currently have 2 x rose spelks

I have had a busy few days here in Frugal Land. All my monthly money is allocated in my Monzo pots. We had breakfast out on Friday so that was £12 of the £35 from our ‘Going Out’ pot. £100 win on the Premium Bonds here, so very happy.
I have been planning all my home made gifting for birthdays and dare I say it, Christmas! I am knitting some gorgeous fingerless mitts for my DiL.
We cracked open our homemade wine from a kit yesterday to watch the last 2 episodes of 1883. The wine (chardonnay type) was lovely as worked out at £1.50 a bottle.
I am sorting out my fabric supplies today and need to finish a sweatshirt I was making.
There is just a Boursin cheese left from Christmas so that will go into pasta this week. I have also preseved some eggs and made some pickled beetroot.

sandy I've used left over clotted cream in soup before but DH would absolutely say scones!
Girlie Paris with DD sounds a fab idea. Ds is planning to run the Paris marathon in April so we are all going & I'm v excited as never been before. DH & I are going on Eurostar so he can work on train if needed.
Tayto hope you got the fish
Unescorted hope the visit goes well
Martha I know exactly what you mean about the house feeling full, but ours feels empty after taking DD back to Newcastle yesterday. Not long until Easter hols & we are visiting in Feb.
Drive to & from the Toon was horrible due to fog, though it was lovely at home. We arrived at lunchtime & had lunch at this brilliant cafe where you never know what's on the menu as they make it all from unwanted supermarket food. £24 for lunch and then a £4 donation to help ourselves from the table outside which has all the stuff they can't use. For that we got 3 M&S breads and a bag of satsumas for dd, 2 ciabatta loaves, a sourdough baguette, a huge swede, some carrots & baking potatoes for us.
Took DD to Lidl £37
DH went rogue & bought stew beef and sausages despite knowing about our eat the freezer plan for Jan, grrrrr!!
Cheese left here to so cheese & onion pie last night & broccoli & cheese soup planned

Somehow spent £91 in Aldi ystd!! My plan is no more big shops this month and just to eat what we have which atm is loads!!

I made a Yotam Ottolenghi soup using cabbage and potato. I can report it's pretty unpleasant. He must have been having an off day. Have thrown the remainders away this morning, and I never throw away food. So frugal fail.

Horrific energy bill from E.On. Well, not surprising really - have kept the house warm and lots of hot water on tap for us and guests plus lots of washing and tumble drying. Colder weather coming in (here already actually, but beautiful clear skies too, so ain't complaining) and I will just start overpaying each month from Feb onwards.

I got the fish yesterday. The dish was a bit..... meh. Think I'll stick with regular stuffing next time. The fish itself was nice but then, you can't go wrong with sea bass imo. Had some leftover Christmas pudding and fresh cream for dessert.

I rented the Barbie movie last night. It was ok. Better than I expected but not amazing. Ryan Gosling was hilarious.

Should be a LSD today. I just need to buy bread and milk. I might go for a walk to a local garden. It's a beautiful sunny day and I feel like I could do with some fresh air after being cooped up for so long between Christmas and then Covid. I'll wrap up warm though. It was really frosty this morning. My laptop says it's 0 degrees right now.

BigSkies I made a Yotam Ottolenghi soup using cabbage and potato. I can report it's pretty unpleasant.

Was it one of the recipes using Parmesan rinds? I don't know why but they never work out well for me.

Tayto I'm very fond of sea bass. Years ago, someone asked me to try out a recipe for stuffed fish that involved massaging the fish and extracting the guts etc. through the gills so the presentation was an intact stuffed fish. More than an hour later, I gave up and just slit and cleaned it the usual way. If people wanted to tut at the presentation, they were welcome to be that impolite.

Girliefriend DH went to the supermarket yesterday and spent >£31 pounds. It was milk, cheese, teabags, a bottle of squash, some butter, 2x beers for him, and fresh eggs. £31 😱(Let's ignore that I'd told him that we have: loose tea I want to use before we buy more teabags; cheese powder I want to start using; and we need fewer eggs as I'm currently using some dried eggs.)

Helloandgoodmorning2 Well done with the wine. It's taken me years to be able to keep other fermentation starters (bread, yoghurt) and various fermented vegetables. I occasionally think about other things but this house is so humid and temperature unstable I can't face establishing and nurturing another fermentation project no matter how interesting it is. (I also do business travel and people don't look after these things properly in my absence.)

Afternoon

I don't think I've ever tried sea bass! Despite my love of fish and seafood. I must rectify this.

I also thought Ryan Gosling was utterly brilliant in Barbie - he fully embraced his inner Ken!!

Also expecting a huge heating bill, but there's a huge credit balance thankfully. Not that I'd have changed how much the heating was on or energy used to be honest.

Sunday long run done. Lasagne last night was a success. Just making veggie gravy for the nut roast this afternoon.

£101 dog food. Two dogs, two months supply. I have a 'dog' budget, so it's accounted for spends.

£23 bulk buy of floor wipes.

Your dog food is cheap Need. £65 for 6 weeks for one here