Monthly Archives: September 2011

Answering your questions

Budgeting

Dear Reader,

Tonight, my blog is a homage to Shirley over on Taste the Goode life as she always starts her blog by replying to the comments left for her. I’m going to start mine that way today.

My first reply is to Bryallen. If you cooked for every body, made three courses and bought a bottle of wine for £17, then you have one foot in the Frugal Queen camp. If you spent that on your contribution to a meal out then that is not much money if you have a lot of money and have no debts. We learnt to say no and kept saying no. A meal here, treat there, new wotsit here and new doodah there, soon adds up. I was in serious debt (45K at the worst!) and any slip would delay the repayment which, of course, means continued addition of interest. I went cold turkey and withdrew any spending out and we didn’t eat out. We refused work do’s, didn’t go to weddings, parties, retirement functions or any where that we had to pay for entry, food or a bar. Of course, we had meals with friends and took wine or dessert as we could budget for that. We also invited friends round for meals and enjoyed their company. We went out of walks, trips and picnics and took a flask, packed cake or snacks and still went out. Did I put my hand in my pocket? Did I heck!

Recovering Shopaholic, I don’t know whether to come round and hold you and say it’s all going to be OK, or shake you and say ‘sort it!’. I decided to take hold of myself, had a word with myself and not repeat those behaviours (I know! I’m an English teacher and that’s a non-count noun, but the American version sounds ‘right’) any more. I was brutal with myself to the point of complete and utter abstention from any where that sold any thing. I made a pact with myself not to buy anything new that I could buy second hand and years later, I’m still sticking to that. I do have shopping sprees…………I allow myself £10 occasionally at the weekend for a browse round the charity shops and car boot sale. I love the rummaging and finding. I love keeping my eyes open for jumble sales and get really really excited when I find something lovely to wear or for my home for under a £1. I totally love the £1 and 50p rails in charity shops, the dustbins with a sign saying ‘fill a carrier for £1’. If I have to buy something new, then I trawl the internet for discount and promotional codes. I’m also a convert to Poundland and Primark. I have a miniscule personal budget and I would still be paying debt now if I hadn’t stuck to it.

Make do style - I try to make every month a non-spend month. I have several bank accounts (non-fee paying of course!) and put away money every month for: car tax, car insurance, household repairs and maintenance, home insurance, boiler insurance and annually, I thoroughly search for the best deals and pay an annual fee. I pay all my bills by direct debit: water, gas, electric, TV licence, (I have free sat now so no fee for that), internet, phone (both mobiles are now pay as you go and we spend about £20 a year each as we only text), life insurance and dental insurance. We then have a ‘cash account’ , again without any charges, that we move a set budget into for food, rail pass and diesel. One account only has a small transfer each month and we put money aside for an annual holiday (we’ve only just been able to do that since paying off debt), clothing and any extras.Finally, we have a SHTF account where we add money which we now don’t touch at all. If we lose our jobs, if something major happens then we’ve got some thing there. No where near the three months joint salary that people are advised to have. We have a month’s salary. We’ve not added to it recently as we’ve reached our set target but we know we have to make it bigger as the costs increase.

Cumbrian. I now, don’t need to count every penny as, like you I know what I buy because I rarely shop. I don’t go into a shop every week and try to shop fortnightly. I buy ingredients and make bread, so I don’t need to pop out for it and I don’t eat it. We only use UHT milk and I buy ten litres of the value milk in a ‘big’ shop. I bulk buy soap powder and loo rolls and still don’t buy much at all. I have a four drawer freezer which is big enough for the two of us and can keep us going for a fortnight. I keep every receipt and buy everything with my debit card so my online bank statement will remind me of everything I bought. We never buy coffee, magazines, papers or sweets so no petty cash is needed. I shop in Lidl and they often have bargains, such as two pairs of fluffy socks for £1.99, but I buy them out of my weekly shopping budget. Also, if there’s money spare in the budget, I used to pay a debt with that every week. Now, I add that to one of the savings accounts. Even if I only have £2 spare left at the end of the week from the food budget, then I will transfer it to savings. The best week is when I’ve stretched the fridge and cupboards to last two weeks and one whole week’s food budget can go into a savings account.

Frugal Living UK - £100 for firewood is a lot of money. I’ve still managed to scrounge two pallets this week. We’ll pull them apart, saw them by hand into usable lengths and I’ll chop them down into kindling. Old habits die hard. I’m always on the look out for wood and I’ll pick it up out of hedges or off the road if it’s safe and legal to do so. We don’t light the fire every day. It’s quite warm down here in Cornwall. From November to March, I’ll need it more and it will be lit at the weekends to dry the washing. I will be able to turn the heating off and if I have the heating on, it’s set to 17 degrees. I also have a modern and well insulated house, with lined curtains and we have blankets and home made quilts. The 2 cubic metres of wood will last us through the entire winter………..unless it we get snowed in for two weeks! Let’s hope last year’s weather isn’t seen again for another 30 years!

Tana50 - In the beginning, when I decided not to spend any more money, it was really tough. It was also fun. I joined forums, looked for like minded people and with evangelical zeal, I had to spread the word. I started my blog and it will bear testimony to the ups and downs in my life. I had to keep records of debts to begin with. I used to keep debt snowball spreadsheets as I could see the debts reducing every month. I took on extra work. I tutored after school and weekends. I marked exams. I dog sat. I caravan cleaned. I ebayed. I car booted. I sold anything I didn’t want or need. We also traded on ebay to raise money. We would buy items at car boot sales, jumble sales and auctions and sold on. Every single extra penny that we earned went into debt repayment. We never kept a penny of it for ourselves. I started seeing everything as a challenge. I would read my meters and try and spend less and less every week. I reduced direct debit payments and I live a far more ecological life as I consume less. I reduced my food shopping every week. I brand down graded, then supermarket down graded. I used approved foods and Poundland for some items. Counting pennies wasn’t and still isn’t a problem. In fact, it’s great fun.

The smugness of all of this practical parsimony is that I’m debtless, have money in the bank (not much, but enough saved to pay annual bills and get by for a while if needed). I had a week’s holiday this year, I’ve been able to buy new clothes and shoes and I can make a payment towards my mortgage capital each month.

In answer to all of your questions. Was it hard? It was! Did I always like it? No! Do I sometimes get fed up? Yes! Do I suggest this is for everybody? No! Am I glad I did this and am I happy to continue to do this? YES!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Adding it up and counting the costs.

Budgeting

Hello dear reader,

This month feels like a round of spend, spend, spending and not my usual frugal self. First of all, we bought a tonne of logs and paid for the heating up front at £100. I then totalled up my personal spending and I have bought make up and a new pair of shoes and have spent £30.25, which as you can imagine is a lot to spend on myself in a month.

We’ve stuck to a food budget of £140 for the month and our combined travel costs have come to £205. We’ve had no debts or bills to pay (other than direct debits which are all accounted for) so out total spend, in terms of cash that left our hands came to £475.25. We’ve paid the mortgage interest payment as usual and all the rest will go towards a capital repayment!

I haven’t really done much at all this month. I’ve made a few chutneys and jellies but all the rest has just been about work.

Do you total up your spending daily? Weekly or monthly? I try to aim for a few months where we don’t spend a single penny. I think I’m going to have to rein in the spending next month!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Keeping warm cheaply

keeping warm

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working late over the last few days but managed to pop into Lidl to pick up some bargains. I bought a lovely pair of walking boots from a local charity shop this year and I’ll be out in all weathers so I look out for thick warm socks. They are not cheap! I also wear socks indoors, along with slippers as I can’t abide having cold feet. I picked up two pairs of thick fleecy socks in Lidl for £1.99. I bought the purple ones. I’ll also get some for my daughter as a present. Socks and undies are some of the few things that I buy new.

If you have a store close to you, you may be able to grab a few pairs but be quick as at these prices, they’ll be marching out the door!

Love, a cosy footed Froogs xx

Shut away indoors!

frugal happiness

After a nice quiet weekend, I lost last night to a battle with my innards. I spent most of the night racing backwards and forwards to the porcelain and by the morning I hadn’t yet closed my eyes. I’ve been stuck at home all day and by lunch time, I gave up and went back to bed. I haven’t even managed to get out and walk the dogs today so I’ve encouraged them out into the garden as often as I can. I’ve felt better this evening and I walked them around the garden and looked out across my little Cornish town. It’s a friendly little place, surrounded by farms. I love the way farmers drive their tractors to the chippy, or to the newsagents. If they are cutting silage, or trundling around with trailers full of fleece, or boxes of swede or spuds, it can get really busy with tractors.

Dearly Beloved, who grew up in a city centre, still loves the tractors! He took the photo below of a traffic jam in Liskeard!

When it snowed, anyone with a tractor was really useful. Bewildered farmers were found lost and wandering around the Co-op with a shopping list as they’d been sent to ‘town’ to get some supplies.

It’s not a bad place to be holed up for the day. It’s a pity I’ve felt so rough though and I’m ready to get back to bed now. There’s nothing worse that losing a night’s sleep.

What is that makes your home town or village fun or special? Any farmers and tractors in your Co-op car park?

Love Froogs xxx

Batch cooking for beginners

frugal food

Hello reader,

You all know what I do to save money, here’s a bit of how I do it. Even though there’s just the two of use, I always buy a whole chicken as it’s much more economical that buying chicken pieces. Today, it’s been roasted along with a few spuds for Dearly Beloved in the mini oven. I used an entire head of broccoli and six carrots and that was lunch. I’ve plated up four meals as we’ll have the same again when we get in late from work tomorrow night. Neither of us get home until half six so a ‘ready meal’ is just what’s needed at the start of what is always a busy week.

I bought the plate covers for pennies years ago. I bought them in Ikea and I think they still sell them. The suppers will go in the fridge and they’ll both fit in the microwave, one on top of the other and will heat up in five minutes. I’ll go back to the remains of the chicken when it’s entirely cool, pick every last scrap off the bone, chop into small pieces and mix it with mayonnaise and sweetcorn and store in a plastic pot with a lid in the fridge to use as sandwich filler for DB’s lunch. Food prices are so really high and it means we have to supplement with budget cuts and half the meals we eat are without meat and all are without dessert! As you can see from the piles of veggies, we bulk out our meals with them and make what ever we have go further.

I’m also delighted that I can have a night off cooking tomorrow! xx

See you tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

It’s feeling wintery in frugal towers today.

frugal food
Hello reader,
Not surprisingly, we’ve picked ourselves up out of the shock of finding out we’re officially skint again and we’re getting on with it. We’ve heard on the news that we’re heading into very warm weather and it could be 26 degrees later on in the week! I’m looking forward to it because it’s really chilly and wet here today. I got up really early to do the washing and get it outside to get some of it dry. It really makes a difference if some of it can blow through. I then got of to Lidl as early as possible because I had a big list and not much money. I’m having to cut back to a budget of £37.50 a week for food as we’ve had to adjust the whole budget to cope with rising energy direct debits, increased mortgage payment direct debits and we’ve had to increase the amounts we pay into our saving funds. We’re actually back to where we were when I had debts to pay. I can just count my blessings that they’ve gone because I’d never make ends meet if I still had to pay them!

I’ve bulk cooked today and I’m still battery less so you’ll just have to make do! I’ve made 8 servings of cottage pie, six serving of chicken casserole (I’ve boned out chicken thighs for this) and 6 servings of fish pie. They all fitted in the oven on one batch and were all cooked in 45 minutes including getting the oven up to heat. No cakes though, we’re too waist conscious now!

The only real hassle of being skint in weather like this, is the struggle of getting wet washing dry. It was raining by midday and there’s no sun forecast until Wednesday. My house looks like Widow Twanky’s at the moment, with bedding and towels over doors and shirts and trousers hung over every available clothes line. I even placed the clothes stand near the oven with the door open (safe distance of course) once I’d finished cooking.

We have a momentous occasion on Monday. The tree that has been blocking the light for years is coming down. It will then take us a while to chop it into logs and stack it for next year’s heating.

I have plenty to do all weekend. I’m catching up on all the books I have to mark…………..120! and that’s not all of them. So you know where I’ll be for the next ten hours! Plus, I’m busily lesson planning. The good thing about a job that keeps you working all weekend, every weekend is that you’re too busy to spend any money.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Warm thoughts!

money saving

Hello reader,

Thanks for dropping by. I’m feeling very rich today. Last winter I almost froze my fingers off and this winter is looking so much warmer. The fire wood has arrived. My pile of logs cost £100 and I consider it to be money well spent if it means we can be warm and I can dry my clothes.

I will be able to swtich my gas central heating off completely and make do with what I have. I consider the fire to be ‘pre-payment’. I’ll also get fit carrying the wood to the side of the house to stack up to have ready and close to the fire. Now all I have to do is hold off lighting it until it gets really cold so I can make what I have last as long as possible.

I’m feeling rich and smug because I’ve put the money aside and now I’m able afford to get wood delivered without spending hours on my life either on the hunt or on the scrounge for it. This is what wealthy people do! They phone up, order wood and pay some one to deliver it. In true Cornish style, we just hid the money in a safe and waterproof place in the garden and the delivery man just left us the receipt in its place.

What do you have or do that makes you feel rich? I almost danced around the logs when I saw them…..bring on the snow!!!!

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Make it last and find alternatives

money saving

Hi everyone,

A good shampoo, in my opinion, has a good cap you can balance the bottle on and get every drop out of. I never fuss whether a conditioner claims it will make my hair glossy, I just want it to control the static and allow me to pass a comb through it. I’m just as unbothered by the claims of shampoo bottle either. They either clean your hair or they don’t. I use shower gel if I’ve run out of shampoo and the other way round if I’ve run out of shower gel! Cleans everything!

Don’t get sucked in by the claims of toiletries. A 36p shower gel will wash you just as clean as one bought for £1 and 50p shampoo will do just fine.

What economy brand have you tried this week? What will do ‘just fine’ for you?

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Keep the heating off!

Eco issues, money saving

Hi everyone!

I’m aiming to make a mortgage capital repayment on September’s pay day so I’m conscious of money. I’m going to make sure I use as little of everything this month. As little food, energy, water, diesel etc. I’ve already set myself the target to spend no money on anything by food and transport for the rest of the month.

As will all British Septembers, it can be warm on minute and chilly the next. I’m going to do everything I can to not put the heating on at all, for as long as possible. That’s perfectly OK if you’re moving around and keeping busy, but I’ve spent almost all of today working at my desk. After a while, I can feel myself seizing up from the cold. The only answer is to wrap up. Sleeveless tops, cami’s or vests are one solution. After all, no one can see me! Then a tee shirt. This keeps summer clothes in use………as extra layers. A fleece top is light, easy to find in jumbles or charity shops or cheap enough from shops like Primarni! My £5 Matalan blanket gets used a lot, over chairs to snuggle under whilst watching TV (add hot water bottle when it gets really cold!).

The greatest addition I’ve added recently are the beautiful wrist warmers that Foster Mummy made for me. I can type, knit, read, blog, mark books and plan lessons in them. it gets really cold where I work too, so when I’m sat there working in the evenings after the heating has gone off, I can sit and mark books and stay warmer.

The bright red blanket lives on my office chair, unfortunately……….so does my cat! Closer inspection will find evidence of that! Other than just you, no one will see me. I’m going to do a thorough stock check tomorrow, some menu planning and then a clear out of all ‘in date’ food, as there’s now a permanent collection point for ‘Foodbank’ in my town! Does anyone else have a foodbank collection in their area? Can you spare a carton of UHT milk or box of cereals?

Any way, back to staying warm. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do when you’re confined to being sat in one room. Whilst I’m young and healthy, I can easily live with very little heating and it’s warm enough where I’m sitting tonight.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Do I? Don’t I?

Eco issues

Hi everyone!

I’m back. We’ve been extra busy at school, but things are back to normal now. I have a dilemma to share with you all and maybe, you can give me some advice.

Seasoned wood is £100 a tonne or 2 cubic metres, either, or, it’s about the same. We’re about to have a tree down and we’ll chop it and save it for next year. I’m going to be laying down green wood for a while, and reap the benefits by seasoning it myself. I will also buy logs cut this year if I can get them any cheaper. It’s not a cheap option, but it is the most affordable and green option, or greenish……let me explain my dilemma.

I treat the A390 as a larder and often there are thinned trees; people leave the logs piled by the side of the road. If you are nuts enough to stop………….let me explain this dilemma too! I call the A38 and A390, the track of death. It’s a fast sweeping road, with blind bends, and a few straight stretches where people often risk over taking. Even though they are minor roads. The hedges and the trees come right up to the road edge and you have no view of what is coming. There are regular fatalities, especially on the A38. Very few people, will notice the remnants of tree surgery. However, I can hand on heart tell you of the damsons, the crab apples and sloes and not only that, I could take you to where it’s safe to pull over and where you should never try to turn right and never pull out into traffic.

On one such bend, where most people are just concentrating on staying on the road, there’s an old house set a little back and it’s surrounded by trees, or it was. They’ve had a few cut down and they are piled by the gate. Now, most people who want the fire wood, have the tree cut to log size but these are not, they have been left at about a metre long. They have been neatly piled and left. When people do that, they just assume people will help themselves.

So, here’s my question. Do I, or don’t I? Do I call into the house and ask? Do I just stop and help myself? I’m personally inclined to ask? They will take a lot of sawing and neither of us can or would operate a chain saw and we’ll have to stop in a dangerous place with our trailer. There is easily a month’s supply of heating and it’s there for the taking. So, do I, or don’t I?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs