Monthly Archives: March 2011

Turn away if you scare easily!

debt repayment

If you’re feeling brave enough: read on! I’m going to share this months (every jeffin’ month) budget. Here it is! And remember, I warned you!!

Salary in today at midnight - £2506. Let’s all do the…….I’m actually very rich dance! At midnight tonight, on the 1st of the month the following will be paid. £1063 for the mortgage. £199 for the car loan. £373 for the Lloyd’s bank loan and £500 for the Virgin 0% card (actual payment is £30 a month…..but I over pay by £470 a month). Money in = £2506 and Money out = £2135 Leaving me £371 a month. (We have DB’s salary too and he pays all the domestic DD’s and all the other debt repayments.)



I then spend £100 a month on travel costs to get to work. I put £25 a month into our emergencies savings fund. I pay £30 a month towards my water costs. £140 a month on groceries and I am left with the huge sum of £76 a month to ‘play’ with. I’m going to make sure I severely cut back on food costs this month and I won’t go to work for a couple of weeks due to the Easter break and I’m hoping to put £100 away this month towards our holiday. I’m going to be blogging about ‘store cupboard’ recipes over the next few days as I intend to eat everything in the house, before I buy any thing else.

This month, I’m going ‘frugal extreme’ and will see exactly how little I can do with, use, spend, buy and how much I can save. You see, to me, having £76 a month spare seems like a lot of money. I clothes shop off the pound rail in the charity shop, buy all toiletries in with my food budget and anything else can be made, bartered or borrowed from the library.

I’m going to use up every little last bit of everything I have. I’m going to need some help!

I’m going to need you guys, at the side of the road, with the banners and hooters; rooting for me. Today is my 500th post and it would be lovely if those of you who are not followers yet could do so, so I could have 500 followers. Tell your friends and get them reading too. This month will be full of recipes, making things over the holidays, decorating the house with what I have, house maintenance without any trips to the DIY store and entertaining friends with what’s in the freezer or cupboards. Drop by everyday and make a difference to my month of ‘frugal extreme’.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxxx

Perseverance, determination and never, ever giving up!

Saving money

At heart, I’m a bit of a Dory! I don’t stay worried, angry, upset or disappointed for long. I just keep swimming. I was asked to give advice about staying frugal, when there’s no energy, no will, it’s the end of the month, there’s no money and everything seems against you. Well here’s the tough love coming up. You have no choice. I have no choice either. I can not go out, have my hair done, buy some lipstick and get dressed up for a night out in a restaurant. I have no credit cards at all, no overdraft facility, I have no money, I don’t get paid until tomorrow and I just have to keep going. Of course, I get totally pissed off, but it’s not a hand I’ve been dealt……I hand selected everyone of those cards and I laid them down. It’s my life and I have to deal with it.

I do a lot of work to make sure I stay on track. I get tired from time to time, so I have meals in the freezer, or store cupboard that I can pull out. I know I will have low times, so I prepare for that. I buy birthday cards in charity shops, I’d rather give the charity the money and have cards addressed and in date order, ready to send. I make gifts, preserves and soaps all year in readiness to give to people. I get my hands dirty by proactively creating a budget, down to the last carrot and I stick to it! I make sure there is enough diesel in the car to take us to the moors or the beach so I have two outings a month. I save money so I have £100 a year to spend on shoes and clothes (I have so far spent £36 this year). By doing that, I prepare for each little thing that could worry me, or cause me anxiety or get me down. I don’t have a suit of armour and life gets to me, in the same way it does every one of you. But, if you know a brick bat is coming your way, at least you can duck.

I keep going because every day is a no shop day. I don’t carry a purse or any money. I have no credit card, just a debit card and that stays at home every week day. I never pop to the shops; I only go when I’m prepared, with a budget, a menu plan and a detailed list. I check mysupermarket first for prices, I then log onto the Lidl and Aldi websites and check their prices too. I know exactly what I’m going to cook, what I’m going to buy and where I’m going to get it from. Consequently, there are very few transactions on my online bank statement.

I’ve learnt to save money too. I know it’s silly when I have debts, but remember, if my car needs fixing, my washing machine breaks down; I have no credit facilities and need to have money put aside. I can only save £25 a month, but I make sure I do. At the end of the year, when it’s still there, I don’t touch it and keep adding. The advice is to have £1000 saved up, just in case. I’m no where near there, but knowing I have something to fall back on, keeps me going when I’m worried about money, especially when I don’t have any in my current account.

I know, I can and do fail miserably. I often feel very sorry for myself. I feel isolated from the mainstream and unable to join the party. I feel like the poor kid who watched the kids with pocket money go into the village post office for sweets, when I had to stand outside and watch them buy them and eat them in front of me. But I always remember, they didn’t last long and soon enough, they were just like me, sweetless. I have had moments when I’ve been home alone when Dearly Beloved has been away looking after his mum, the house has been freezing, I’ve not been able to afford the train fare to visit a single soul and I have felt abandoned. I don’t always feel good and some days are truly shite. But I get up, and in true Dory style, I just keep swimming.

I know, there are people who are reading this who are not paid until tomorrow who have a freezer full of home grown veg, a pantry full of preserves, a dry store full of dry goods, the under stairs cupboard is full of loo rolls, the second drawer in your bedroom is full of toothpaste, talc and soap and no matter what, you won’t go without. I also know what it’s like to be 24 hours from a giro (that’s how benefits were paid when I was a single mum with my son), with the last few seconds of emergency money ticking away on the electricity meter, a scrape of marg and 2 slices of bread to give a six year old boy his breakfast, and nothing else. I know that some of you who read this, did not deal your own hand but had it dealt to you and your frugal life style is not chosen by you. I know some of you are finding this extremely hard and if you allow me, to just hold your hand gently and say quietly to you. Just hang on. You have a rough journey ahead of you, more will join you, us, me along the way. It’s not easy. All you actually have to sustain you is perseverance, determination and never, never giving up.

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Cook once, eat twice….or more!

frugal food

Like all working people, I have a busy life. I need, we need…………I forget, I’m not talking to myself, to keep things simple. This morning, I popped some casserole steak into the slow cooker, with water, salt and pepper. I didn’t have time to do any more. I came home, peeled two meals worth of potatoes, enough veg for two days and then added gravy mix to the beef and called that supper. Meat eating is expensive, but we make do with around 100g of meat each per meal. Neither of us feel deprived. (Food costs today - 83p worth of beef each and the veg came to 16p, plus gravy, just takes the meal to £1)

We’ve all eaten too much for too long and now the economy measures are not only needed financially, but health wise too. We should all be aiming to eat less meat and 100g of protein a day is more than enough. We’re also used to a huge variety of food and we seldom eat the same thing twice in a month. Not in Frugal Towers I’m afraid. Even though I saved money by cooking all the veggies in a tower steamer, I shall save more money, time and energy and simply pop a replay of tonight’s supper in the microwave tomorrow and for an encore, we’ll eat the same again. Plus! There will be only two plates and two lids to wash up

I hope we’ll all settle down tomorrow night to watch Superscrimpers: Waste not, want not. The TV show is going to visit a family who spend £24K a year more than they earn. Did Channel 4 come knocking on my door? Well researchers, you should have read my blog by now so come on over, but I warn you, come in the summer or you’ll need a coat! If anyone local to me, wants me to be their personal money saving expert, you know where to come and find me.

Again, thanks to everyone who dropped by, for those who commented and those who became followers. If you’re still lurking and we haven’t had a chat yet, then just let me know you are there. It would be lovely to hear from you. It’s always lovely to see who’s reading so, if you haven’t already, then it would be even lovelier if you became a followers. Thanks again for dropping by,

Until tomorrow,

Froogs
xx

Think before I flush!

money saving
Hello blogland xxxxx

Just a reminder that I’ll be off soon, so get signed up if you want access, see my previous blog as to how. Again, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful remarks and 228 requests to ‘follow’ in the last 24 hours xxxxxxxxxx I am genuinely touched. The blog usually get around 1500 hits a day and yesterday, it went over 2000. I never, ever thought, when I started this blog, that anyone would read it. I see blogging as the sane way to talk to myself. I like to capture something of everyday and reflect on it. Usually, I’m counting my many, many blessings. As so many of you read, it would be lovely if more of you would comment, but I understand if you don’t.

I take a reading of each of my utility meters every week and keep a very close eye on my consumption!
I want one, I want one!

Today, the budget has given us all time to think. I’m waiting to hear the details of the ‘water bill relief’ for the South West. In metered water costs £900 for a two bedroom house or flat and a house like mine……it’s £1200 a year. We had a meter installed just over a year ago. We now use less and less water every quarter. Here, metered water cost £1.67 a cubic meter to buy it and £2.81 a cubic meter to dispose of it, so £4.48 a cubic meter all together. I marvel, green with envy at the people with compost toilets, rain water collection systems that they filter and use for toilets, washing themselves and clothes. I’m certainly going to investigate rain water collection for flushing our toilet. Currently, with three people in the house, we use 7.5 cubic meters of water a month. We need to reduce that even further.

You know you’re frugal when you check your utility meters every week and keep a reading!!! Any one want to keep this going? You know you’re frugal when……

The joy of out door drying

frugal home

I don’t own a tumble drier. I usually get my washing out side, even if it’s just for a while. It’s such a delight to hang all of the laundry outside. We halved our electricity bill, and therefore our consumption, when we ditched the electric drier. I also have just one ‘wash day’, which is Saturday. I do this as I make sure I have a full coloured load, a full heavy load and a full whites load. I make sure the machine is full, on the coolest wash and I use the least soap possible. I never use conditioner as ‘crispy’ items such as towels just need a rigorous shake to loosen the pile. I like my clothes to have a starchy feel and I like them to smell of fresh air and not soap. Using the clothes stands, instead of a washing line means I can just lift them up and bring them in if the weather turns. My Saturday nights at home, are in front of a film or programme I’ve recorded with the ironing board. Seeing my washing outside fills me with joy because the weather is so good, the sun is shining and I don’t have it hanging around the living room.

Scrubbing away

frugal home
I’m a great believer in scrubbing your cares away. After and extremely busy week of firefighting, it was home to clean the house. I even try to save money when I do that. The floors have been swept and washed in hot water, a squirt of soap and vinegar to take any grease off the floor.

The sinks have been cleaned with bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice. They are sparkling and smell wonderful.

We make our own furniture polish from olive oil, vinegar and lemon juice. It keeps but don’t make too much or the lemon juice loses its fragrance. I wipe the woodwork and then use the home made polish once every three weeks. I know polish is cheap, but the eco versions, which I prefer are not, that’s unless you make your own.

I clean the cooker and fridge with bicarbonate of soda and hot water. Last weekend, on her way here, Foster Mummy made crocheted a cotton dish cloth for me and it cleans everything so really well.

The windows have been washed in warm soapy and then buffed with screwed up newspaper. Now after all that exertion, I’m off to bed.

Froogs xxx

Everything but the oink.

frugal food

If you only ever shop at a supermarket, you will be supplied with very limited cuts of meat. I use my local butcher as often as I can and buy heart, liver and, in the case of what I’m cooking today, pork knuckles. The modern posh description is a ‘shank’. It’s the bottom end of the leg. It will require a bit more cooking and it has the thick bone running through it. The skin is thicker but the fat is thinner. Braise it with plently of stock, root veg and onions. I put mine on to cook this evening and will leave it on the ‘low’ setting to eat it when I come home tomorrow. I serve it with stuffing balls and steamed cabbage. Our butcher charged me £1.09 for the knuckle and we’ll stretch it to the two of us. As a meat eater, I believe that nothing should be wasted, that offal should be used for pate, faggots and eaten in it own right, that trotters are delicious and we should eat everything but the oink

Steak and Kidney Ding Pudding

frugal food
Roll out the suet pastry. Cut one quarter out for the lid. Use margarine or butter to grease a microwave safe pudding dish.
Line the pudding dish with suet pastry.
Take slow cooked steak and kidney pie filling out of the fridge. I cooked this over night and chilled it before I left for work this morning.
Fill pastry lined pudding dish to almost full, it will bubble over if you over fill it.
Use the quarter to roll into a ball and then roll out to make a lid. Press the edges together with damp finger to make it stick. Start cooking the veggies now. I dropped my purple sprouting broccoli into boiling water. Now place the lid on the pudding dish and microwave on full for twelve minutes. You will know it’s cooked as the pastry will be trying to escape from the pudding dish.
Take the lid off, place on top ready to up end it. Turn it over really carefully, holding very tight so you don’t drop it.
I use loads of clothes as it has scalded me in the past. I’m too busy tomorrow for a cooking injury. You can leave the pot in place if the veg is still cooking.
Cut into quarters. Full of delicious steak and kidney. It’s cheap. It uses shin of been and lamb’s kidneys, simply fried off with some onion and mushrooms. Place in a slow cooker and cover with stock, simmer on low over night, I added gravy mix to thicken this morning before I chilled it.
Yes, it was as good as it looked!
This is Dearly Beloved’s supper! He hardly drew breath eating this as this is his favourite.

I’ll show you mine……..

Saving money
I’m a bit busy, so I’ll keep things short. Supper, mass of salad with home made veggie burgers. I made them a week ago in a large batch and froze them.
Some one asked about my mini oven. It’s the same size as the microwave. It grills, it’s a rotisserie and an oven and we use it all the time and rarely use the main oven. It uses considerably less energy. We bought it from Comet for £15, when it was on offer. I have sausage casserole inside, ready for another day. I will be even busier later in the week, so I’m cooking now.
The slow cooker is from Argos, it was about £15. I have steak and kidney braising away in it. Once the filling is cooked, I’ll freeze it in portion sized pots, ready to make into puddings or pies. If I have time to cook, I cook. If I only have time to reheat, then I pull something out of the freezer from earlier.

The radio. A beautifully mellow sounding Roberts, which fills my home with Radio 4 and accompanies me whilst I mark books, cook, read or iron. It’s a real treasure and I love it. A very lucky car boot find.

That’s all folks………………..back to preparing school stuff.