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!

@ememem84 well done! Do you have a deadline to clear it?

ideally by the end of June. if not sooner.

I've spoken to DH and have said that i'll put less into the joint account each month until July so i can pay huge whacking chunks off the cc, and then boost my savings up. i hopefully get a bonus in April so this will be used to boost savings etc. and my regular saved pays out in May so again this will be used as a booster.

i also need to learn to use credit card and pay it off as i go. not just do the ostrich thing and ignore it.

so far in January i've used it but only for things that can be reclaimed. Dr's etc.

£56.51 for Vet Fees - our cat was booked in for her neutering operation but her heart started doing weird things so they had to reverse the drugs given so was stung for Day fees and extra drugs. But she's fine now and re-booked for a few weeks time when she's a bit bigger. So got that to pay next month.

Another credit card debt bit the dust earlier this month and did a bit of a shuffle with 0% cards so hopefully snowballing will speed things up.
Someone said in a post (not sure whether this one or another thread) that they check their bank account regularly hoping to see more money or improvement - I'm the same but with my snowball - the more months I can knock off the debt free date the better. 😄

Afternoon everyone
Beautiful day here but oh so cold
Am doing my best to eat out of the freezer and finish off the Christmas stash Pizza for tea tonight it is then
Spends today Morrisons £12
DVLA car tax £35
Hope everyone is ok
@Rainbow1901 l am so glad your cat is ok bless her
Well done on the CC too @ememem84

i also check my bank regularly to see if any new money has turned up. same as when i'm wfh i check the fridge occasionally to see if there's anything new in there. :)

I need to get a kitten neutered, except he/she isn't tame, if it's a she I definitely need to neuter in next month. I'm going to try capture by taking in the other two that are tame and feeding it in the cat carrier.

Broker who got my house insurance for me in 2021 checks in every year on car insurance renewal time, he's done well this year €396.50, my renewal was for €518 and lowest I could get is €435. This leaves me €600 out of my work bonus to go towards a power washer & whatever else.

I have a friend who used to get irritated when the children kept complaining, "There's no food. There's only ingredients to make food."

However, when she came home after a long shift, she caught herself repeatedly opening the fridge, "Hoping the Snack Fairy had somehow turned the ingredients into food since I'd last looked."

Who doesn't love a fridge looky loo? 😂

Have forgotten milk, so will have to go out after bedtime

@MaryGreenhill pizza sounds an excellent idea 💡!

Thank you @Chile1978
Picked car up from the MOT , passed but 2 advisorys , back springs need renewing & Number plate slightly faded so just spent £8.99 on Amazon for a new rear plate & will price up the 2 new springs and make an appt for them very soon

£180 car tax sigh

Very spendy day, £130 in Aldi. It certainly doesn't look like £130 worth of shopping, I only bought actual food on the meal plan and some rolls and ham to make a picnic for the journey to Ely on Wednesday, and some cereal bars for breakfast in the room.

The only consolation is that this will work out cheaper than buying food on the way, and having breakfast out. We've still got to get other meals though, and petrol coming back.

I also bought a light jumper to wear as I think it will be too cold for a shirt under my jacket at the funeral, so that's another £20.

Why is Brutus called Brutus @Unescorted ?

Sorry about the Covid @Timetoswitch . Hope you’re better soon. Silver linings with the NSDs and all that.

Hope the pizza was good @MaryGreenhill . It’s one thing I miss with not having an oven.

No spend day for me today. First one in a while. Have high hopes for tomorrow too. Still waiting for the other two management fee invoices to arrive. I’m getting a bad feeling they’re going to be humongous. I heard they started legal proceedings against the leaseholder for the property with the tenant with issues. Paying for that would not be good. Especially as troublesome tenant is still there.

Do you mean a proper pizza oven? If it's a normal domestic oven you don't have, I spent a long time without an oven and made frying pan pizza (also needs a decent grill to finish). When I was a student, I used to make the base with vegetarian suet rather than a yeast dough.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/sep/11/how-to-make-perfect-pan-fried-pizza-felicity-cloake-recipe

I do this all the time 🙈😂

I've come on to confess my spending sins 😬 my friend text Ystd asking if I fancied going to see a show with her in September, the shows called Six and looks brilliant so I impulsively said yes and then also agreed to get dd a ticket. That was £100.

Oh well I'll add to the list of things to celebrate dds bday (it's currently running at a party, two shows and a trip to Paris 🙈) she is my only baby though 😉

Otherwise I've not been too spendy, topped up pet food and stuff for dds hamster on Sunday which somehow came to £48.

Spent £56 in sainsburys on a top up shop.

Only other spend was £7 on a coffee and bacon roll at a local cafe on Saturday.

Six is a great show, something fro you and DD to look forward to!

Things in fridge wot need using up include 2 parsnips. Soup I guess?

@Timetoswitch I hope you are feeling a bit brighter and your COVID is doing one.

@RumBananaSundae he is Brutus because he is a bit of a thug and keeps killing off my brewing yeast. If I make homebrew I have to bleach all the kitchen and banish him to the freezer. I suspect Neo will be a son of Brutus because they were sat next to each other.

Sorry pressed post halfway through. This is Neo's first outing. I left it in the laundry room which was much colder than the fridge last night. He looks as if he will come up more on the bench & bounce in the oven. Brutus in the fridge will come to the top of that basket.

@2024Hackathon I do that pizza recipe when I can't be bothered to get the pizza oven out or stand in the rain. It is great if you don't have too many.

@Nellieinthebarn it is terrifying how little £130 gets you in the supermarket. I am back making the value added items for the Gannets just to keep costs down. With my label orientated ones I trick them into thinking they have the Finest/ Specially for You/ charge twice as much because it is in dark packaging and you are a fool being parted from your money range by decanting into jars.

And the swine stuck to the basket.... It is going to be an odd shaped loaf but it will still taste good. The dough is quite fluid so next time I will reduce it down to 73% hydration and see if that improves it. Brutus doesn't make such a fluid dough.

Not too bad... It smells lush and the kitchen is lovely and warm.

Looks lovely.
i never got away with a starter as kept getting the colour streak of doom

Ooh, that looks fab Unescorted! have just texted DH to request bagels from the deli on his morning walk, but fear I'm too late and he's passed the shop already. Damn your tempting posts!

£19 in LIdl yesterday, £5 of which went on daffodils. Will clean the floors today and the daffs are the reward! Another lovely sunny day.

Made a huge cottage pie yesterday, but they are never big enough to go two dinners in this house. Still finishing off the JO hazelnut torte from Sunday dinner with parents. And the Hotel du Chocolat box is diminishing - DS takes three at a time, I try and stick to one after dinner and spin them out. I suppose it was his room and bathroom he gave up for the guests whose gift this was.

Chocolates aside, we have one box of biscuits, some salted cashews and almonds, some dates and one chicken left from the Big Shop from Before Christmas. My mission today is to turn sweet potatoes and a couple of aubergines into something nice to eat this evening.

Afternoon.

That looks fab @Unescorted!

Hope you are okay @Timetoswitch

I can't believe where the food shopping money goes either @Nellieinthebarn

Spends have been considerably more than recently
£40 washable dog bed. I'm annoyed as the current one is fine, but not washable and starting to pong. False economy as I bought cheaply last time.
£480 deposit for a cruise in September. Never done a cruise but they are very accessible re DH's needs apparently.
£320 two pairs of running trainers and some kit. Haven't bought any running shoes for 18 months and I run 40/50 miles a week. Pricey but I've been saving,
£120 subscription. Didn't need this at all, so that's naughty and it'll have to come from savings (although the food budget is healthy this month so I might have leeway in truth).

Menu plan (some already eaten!).
Pan friend pork loin as Sunday dinner.
Sweet potato dhal.
Sweet potato and black bean tortilla bowl.
Black bean parmigiana
Mascapone braised beans, green beans, broccoli
Fennel and black olive cod, green veg.
Veggie shepherds pie.

oh lordy that bread looks fab! Le Yum!

£10 chemist - tissues and lemsip max. the covid has started to retreat - the line on the test is much fainter than it was yay! but the snotty ness is a coming. super fun. and i've lost my sense of taste. booo.

also £6 in m&s on daffodils. went to return some pants i'd bought for dd which were the wrong size. these were at the till and were an absolute impulse buy. 6 bunches though. two for me. two for dsis (because i worked from her house today because the electricians were in my house testing the systems ref the solar and were systemically turning everything off inc wifi); and 2 for dmum because she's doing school run and swimming lessons and has cooked us all dinner

Frugal win, because I've signed up to a project at work we were given a £50 Amazon voucher which I've duly spent the min I got it 🤦‍♀️😂

Spent an additional £33 on Amazon as was buying bits for dds bday (other than theatre tickets which you can't really wrap up I've not bought her anything yet!)

Her invites have turned up for her bday party so will get stamps tomorrow to post those off. We're not going mad with the party just close friends and family at my mums house.

No domestic oven @2024Hackathon or grill. I might give the recipe a try and see what happens.

Your bread looks lovely @Unescorted .

Glad you’re on the mend @ememem84 .

Failed with the no spend plan for today and spent £4.76 in Lidl. The jacket I bought but wasn’t sure about has arrived and I’m still not sure. I like it but I like the one I wanted more. They have a sample sale at the end of the month so I’m trying to stay off their website until then.