Monthly Archives: November 2012

Senor Elephanto is off to a new home!!

giveaway

Hello Dear Reader,

This sea lion is costing me a fortune in fish!


You can laugh sealo-green but have you seen the cost of pilchards these days?


Saucy girl Minty the lamb has out stayed her welcome, she’s never out of the shower.


And as for Senor Elephanto? I’m a slave in my own home answering to his beck and call and he’s eaten all of the buns!

I used the random number generator and out of ninety one comments, the random number selector chose comment number twenty. They are being packed off to Vixen 307 and her blog world of Shabbily Every After. All I need now is for her to send me her address and this rowdy bunch will be on their way to create a row at her house.

I’ve enjoyed their company and I’ll be happy when they are in their new home! Bye bye - Sealo-green, bye bye Minty and good riddance to the stropmeister Senor Elephanto! I’ll be glad of the peace and to get the TV remote back!!!!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Bags of sunshine!

craft
Hello Dear Reader,
I’ve finished another bag! I’m on a bit of a go slow as I’ve had a headache for two days which is just started to subside! Here’s another Yoosta-Bee. The outside used to be a curtain, the inside used to be a tablecloth and the edging used to be a pillow case.

I bought all of these fabrics at a jumble sale and I’ve been practising my bag making skills to share with people at the bag making workshop on Saturday. Here’s a reminder to everyone coming, you’ll also need pins, fabric scissors, plenty of fabric, your sewing machine and thread. Really, really looking forward to this Saturday as it promises to be a lot of fun xxxx
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxx

Keeping down the cost of Christmas!

Frugal Christmas




Hello Dear Reader,

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway draw to win all of the toys. I’m like Santa and I check the list! To enter, you need to be follower and leave a comment so click the link on the left and join the happy band.

I had a lovely time at Radio Cornwall yesterday and shared my ways of keeping down the costs of Christmas. I started by talking about food and this is what I do. I bought my meat when it was on offer in our local butchers (Tregeagles) and they were selling Topside for £7.99 a kilo and joints were being sold buy one and get one free. So, as you can imagine, I stocked up and bought beef for under four pounds a kilo. However, you can buy a free range chicken in Lidl and Aldi for £6.00 and they are certainly large enough for a family, with the help of some sausages wrapped in streaky bacon, some stuffing and roast potatoes and veggies, it’s certainly a reasonably priced meal. I also keep the costs down by the fact that I’ve made our Christmas cake, the pudding and mincemeat for the mince pies already. I bought the baking ingredients when they were three for two in Tesco.


At Christmas, some people lose all sense of self control and buy too much and end up over indulging. I save money at Christmas by being careful with portion control so an average joint of beef and normal portion sizes feed us all without any of us ending up looking like our feline friend! I work on the basis of one of each, one potato, one parsnip, one carrot, one tablespoon of peas, one tablespoon of mashed swede, one pig in a blanket, one spoon of stuffing and one good slice of meat. I defy anyone to eat all of that and still feel hungry. Add to this, some homemade Christmas pudding and custard and everyone is fit to bust! Does anyone else work out what they need to cook and therefore buy from portion sizes? I make mincemeat and then of course, mincepies but don’t do this too early as the sooner Christmas food is available, the sooner people (by that, I mean me!) start eating it. I’ll make mince pies the weekend before Christmas and they are a cheap snack to be enjoyed with a cup of tea. So there we are, I’m even frugal with Christmas lunch and the company are the best bit and we’ll be well fed even if it’s on a budget!

Then, there’s the presents! We’ve all seen piles like this and some people go mad! When my children were young, we didn’t have any money. They were told how much there was for a gift and they could choose something/s up to that value. I was honest with them and they knew if they could or couldn’t have something and they soon learnt not to ask for things we couldn’t afford. I can honestly say, I can’t remember any significant gift from my childhood. I do remember having a nice time at Christmas and watching Morecambe and Wise. I’m sure my children don’t remember the gifts but from what they say, they do remember sitting on our bed pulling little items out of a sock! No one needs to spend too much money. I’ve already mentioned that we give donations to Oxfam in lieu of gifts and recipients think it’s a great idea. I think it’s far more fun to know someone will get clean water instead of me getting perfume!

Here’s another thing I do to save money at Christmas. I don’t buy any chocolates and someone will always get me some. Maybe not as posh as these, but some chocolate will always sneak it’s way (I try to shoo it away but it won’t listen!) into the house. If I buy any, I find we’ve always got it hanging around in January and I end up giving it away!

Over to you Dear Reader,

What are you doing to keep down the cost of Christmas?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogsxxx










Christmas Giveaway for followers old and new!!!!

giveaway

Hello Dear Reader,

Meet my new friends! I often get offered things to review and when Ikea offered me some toys, I thought one of you might like them. I love this little guy and his friends! They are all Circus characters and here is sea lion, astride his ball and he’s obviously been very good as he has a fish in his mouth. I like toys that create a story which can be told in so many ways. As I was going to review them, I thought I would give them a thorough playing with!


He told me all about his day, how he brought the house down with his performance. He likes the circus and he gets his own trailer, masseuse and as many mackerel lattes as he wants. He is a bit of a diva and won’t perform without a drum roll and a full band playing ‘I did it my way.’


There are members of the further cast and they were in fine voice and we gave a choral rendition Queen’s ‘Don’t stop me now’ because as you can see, we were having a good time!


After plenty of singing, we had a good gossip and I’ve heard that the pay is terrible and they are going to have a lightening strike when they get to Cirencester and won’t perform until they get higher wages and a lot more chocolate!


Senor Elephanto told me he loves nothing more than to rest his trunk in his Winnebago and read a good book.


Well that was fun! Anyone else want to send me a pile of toys to play with? Now, over to you! These are not for me but I want to give them away as I imagine some one reading this would love these for your children or grandchildren and this could save you some money at Christmas, not that these were expensive in the first place. They are really cute and as much as I would like to play with these a lot more, I’m sure a small child would get a lot of enjoyment from these toys and would love the book. The winning recipient will get the lot, the sea lion, senor elephanto, the lamb and the book and I’m sure they will be enjoyed for years.

Over to you, here’s what you have to do.

1. You have to be a follower - if not, become one! If you are not a follower, then Senor Elephanto will not put you in the draw
2. Leave a comment here about what you’d like for Christmas and no you can’t have Piers Brosnan!

I will leave a link to this blog for the rest of the week and I will draw a name out of something hattish on Friday night. These will be sent anywhere in the world.

I’ll be back Monday night to give everyone the chance of leaving a comment and look out for me and DB in the Daily Express tomorrow.

Until Monday night,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Listen Live at 11 am!

Uncategorized

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m off to battle the fallen debris to get to Radio Cornwall - I’m on a 11 am giving advice on saving money at Christmas - email the radio station if you can share any advice about avoiding debt and keeping costs down at Christmas. Go to the Radio Cornwall website or Facebook page to leave a money saving message or to email the show whilst we’re live.

You can listen live by clicking and following this LINK


Come back later, I have a brilliant Christmas give away for a winning lucky reader!

Until later,

:Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxx

Plump up my cushions!

charity shop bargains, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

Here I am again, this time with the second part of my mum-in-law’s Christmas gift. I used the last two star blocks I had, edged them with some fabric which I bought from the charity shop and quilted the front.


The back is made from a pink linen table cloth which I bought at the last jumble sale I went to. I just make the cushion with a pillowcase style fold. It doesn’t need a zip or buttons and the cushion cover can be washed. I bought the 16″ by 16″ cushion pads from Trago for £1.59 each. I buy a lot of haberdashery items from there as I can’t get them cheaper anywhere else.



They are so squishy that I wish they were mine! That’s it for today. Tomorrow, off to Radio Cornwall and home to cut fabric to make some bags for more gifts. It’s a busy weekend.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxx

‘Tis the season to be generous

quilting

Hello Dear Reader,

Another one bites the dust! This time it’s a quilt for a charity raffle and the funds will go to a good cause!


It’s just a 36″ by 36″ quilt which will make a lovely sofa throw. The front was donated blocks which I finished, the backing is a charity shop sheet and the edging is a dress which I bought from a jumble sale and cut down into strips.

The weather here in Cornwall has been extreme over the last few days and we’ve had another ‘extreme weather warning’ for today. We’ve lit the stove and I’ll tuck myself in my sewing room for the day and mend and make to my heart’s content. I have bags and cushions to make so watch this space as I come back and show you the rest of my endeavours throughout the day.


I always show you the back which has pretty rose buds on it this time. I hope who ever has the winning raffle ticket enjoys this as much as I did making it.

P.S - I’m on Radio Cornwall this time tomorrow sharing my ideas for a frugal Christmas and debt free New Year so I hope you’ll join me again. You can listen live on line from eleven o’clock onwards.

Until later,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxx

The joys of living simply

Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

Can you imagine what first time readers thought of me when I blogged about cleaning my vacuum cleaner? I’m sure they must have thought of me as a tight fisted miser. To a certain extent, I am and I wring every penny until is cries in pain but really, life is truly wonderful. I want to remind everyone how joyous life is, even if you live on very little money and you have to count every penny. The more I strip away the complications of life and just live authentically, and by that I mean how I really want to live, the happier I become.


When we go anywhere, there’s no rush. We don’t have to get to shops before they shut, the restaurant early enough to get a table, to the pub to beat the crush or the cinema to get the best seats. If you’ve ever seen an elderly couple, who park their car by the sea front to sit on a bench just to enjoy the scenery. Well, I’m not waiting until I get old and my eyes dim, I want to spend as long as I like gazing into valleys or out to sea and I want my eyes to wander and take it all in.


I don’t go to spinning classes, I never wear lycra and I take my journeys on the miss-marple-mobile very leisurely. Everyone else over takes me, sweat spraying off them whilst I ride along with a piece of foil wrapped cake and a flask of tea in my basket. I take an age as I often stop at a bench and just sit and say hello to people riding by.


I like to root in the sand for oyster shells to take home from my holidays and don’t need tourist tat. This is a genuine Breton souvenir and the touch of it reminds me a chilled white wine and oysters from an old shack up an estuary. No fancy restaurants on our holiday, just a fisherman’s catch which he opened in front of us and a glass of wine and some bread. It’s the simplest of treats but I can smell the estuary as I write this and remember the warmth as we lingered in the sun that day and just lay on the bank reading.


I can take time to hang my washing on a chilly winter morning and delight in it drying the ‘worst of it’. Bringing it in and ‘finishing’ it in front of the fire and they ironing crispy air dried clothes. I’m not throwing clothes into a drier to run up a bill or run down the planet. My laundry can have a two day turn around and it’s a simple old fashioned method that I’m happy enough to be content with.


Cornwall is filled with tourist attractions, golf courses, adventure activities, you can sail, mountain bike, abseil, kayak but I am at my happiest in my walking boots on Bodmin Moor. You can climb to the highest of rocks here and just sit and breath in the peace. It’s the simplest of things that nourish my soul.



I don’t have much money and the cost of living makes an experiment a challenge. The little bus stop in Fowey reminds me, every time I see it, that you can take the simplest experience, such as waiting for the bus a joyous one. Not every bus stop is this lovely, not every walk is to the Cheesewring, not every lunch is oysters and life isn’t all about a gentle amble on the miss-marple-mobile. Taking time in our lives is the greatest luxury. I have time to cook, to sew, to make gifts and to look after my family and home. The simplest things really need to be enjoyed and if you change just one aspect of your life, I would love it to be that you slow down and have more time.

Until tomorrow,

With lots of joyous simplicity,

Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxx







Have you got an emergency fund?

Saving money

Hello Dear Reader,

We learnt our lessons a few years ago and now make sure we live beneath our means. We spend only a fraction of what we earn and make sure we now save the rest. Some goes into over paying the mortgage and some goes into savings. We have money to pay annual bills and if we need anything or can justify a want such as an annual holiday.

We also know that sometimes, salaries and tax codes can get messed up. Imagine this, I opened my salary information and discovered that my pay was considerably less than usual. It was too late for phone the tax office to find out why I had been charged a mass more tax than usual or to discover whether I owe them money or if this is just a mistake.



If this had been four years ago, with credit cards maxxed out, with my over draft at the limit and no savings, this would have been an utter crisis. How would I pay the mortgage, how would I fill the car with fuel, how would I pay for the groceries? Anyone who knows about tax and payroll, know sometimes that mistakes are made. I’m on the same tax code I’ve been for the past financial year and had the same pay for that duration and this month, I assume there’s been a mistake. Four years ago, this would have been an agonising worry as I might have to wait weeks for the money to get back to me in the next salary payment and I genuinely would not have had enough money to get by. Tomorrow, I will be able to calmly phone the tax office and payroll and ascertain what has happened and go on from there. If I owe it, then so be it. If it’s a mistake, then I will get it back.

Tonight, we logged onto our online banking details and simply moved money from savings to the current account. The mortgage will be paid, as will all our direct debits. Crisis averted. In times like this, it is so important to have savings as things like this happen from time to time.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxx

Flat packed food!

frugal food


Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve been on a bit of a secret mission tonight; all will be revealed on Monday….come back on Sunday night for me to tell you where to ‘read all about it’.

What, you may well ask, is flat packed food. Flat packed food is the Ikea of self assembly suppers. It’s when you’ve forgotten to take anything out of the freezer, or you can’t see anything you fancy and you don’t want to resort to the take away. You heat up, assemble, reconstruct something really easily.

Here is my flat pack food or self assembly supper. Pack of savoury rice from the store cupboard, cooked for fifteen minutes in the microwave. Frozen peas and sweetcorn popped into the rice for the last minute. Veggie burgers from a pack mix, bought long ago from Approved Foods, a few chopped tomatoes and a spoon of coleslaw. Eat your heart out Jamie Oliver, here’s my fifteen minute meal and my version of construct it in a few minutes flat packed food.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx