Monthly Archives: January 2013

Sticky Salmon and Celeriac Chips!

Frugal weight loss

Hello Dear Reader,

A million thanks to all the people who have clicked the link on the right to the MAD awards and have nominated me, if you haven’t and feel you would like to, then please nominate me as I need all the nominations I can get to go through to the voting round. Now back to my amazing revelation!

I’ve just eaten the most amazing thing………………celeriac chips! Like parsnip chips but with no points (I’m bi-lingual and can speak fluent Weight Watchers). I took a pack of salmon fillets from Aldi and smothered them in sticky soy, ginger and garlic sauce. I left them a while.

I peeled and chipped a celeriac, a quid in Aldi and sprayed them with oil and baked them in a very hot oven for thirty minutes. In the last five minutes, I put the salmon into the top of the oven and sprinkled some cherry tomatoes among our chips.

Here’s the score on the doors. Salmon 11 points for 200g and the marinade, which we have a cupboard full of from Approved Food is 2 points for half the pack. The tomatoes and celeriac chips have no points and the celeriac has the taste of parnip chips without the calories. They are utterly divine. This is not frugal and certainly not cheap, but this is my treat for the week and I’ll be back on the chick pea salad and lentil soup tomorrow.


Weight loss total for January is eight pounds and I’m sure I’m going to find one hundred things to do with celeriac at this rate!

It’s the last day of the month and payday for most of us so let’s all use the next few days to sort out meter readings, read our water meters, submit our readings online. Let’s set out budgets and check our spending for the month and put what we can into savings or throwing at debts. Let’s have a look in our food cupboards or pantry and put a plan in place to use what we have. Let’s write menus (rough will do for twenty meals, so all you have to do is rotate them.

Let’s make this the month we get a grip of our finances and make sure we get back control of what we spend and save. I’m going to give over February’s posts to taking back control of: wasting, saving, spending, eating, exercise and getting out and about.

Now, Dear Reader, do you do anything unusual with any veggies in particular? Anyone else discovered a vegetable and made better use of it? Anyone else fighting the flab and trying to shrink their waistline? Over to you and I always love hearing from you.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx


MAD blog awards

MAD blog awards
Froogs at a posh awards ceremony in her dress from the Hospice Charity shop.

Hello Dear Readers,

In September last year, your votes secured me the ‘Best Thrifty Blog’ award at the Mum and Dad Blogger awards and I couldn’t have done it without you. If you feel inclined and you would like to, it would be lovely if you could nominate me for an award in this year’s competition. You can nominate me in one category or several, such as food:


Or blog writing, that’s if you think what I write is interesting and you come back for more?


In craft? for being a self taught quilter and now quilting teacher



or thrifty for the funny things I do, such as my obsession with collecting pallets for firewood.


It’s up to you, I would love to be nominated and need lots of nominations to go to the next round of voting. My best thrifty blog award took me to Radio Cornwall and it would be lovely to be able to get the message of money saving and living simply even further afield. You can vote from anywhere in the world and I would appreciate your support.

Click, if you feel you want to, onto the link and follow the screen instructions to nominate me.


Thanks so much for all the lovely comments and delicious ideas for slow cookers and I’ve pinched a good few of them as they seems too good to forget.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogsxxxx



Eating cheaply with thanks to my slow cooker.

frugal food

Hello Dear Reader,

I’m getting home shattered almost every night. It’s my own fault, I’m ‘giving it stick’ in the gym every night and making sure I don’t eat between meals so I’m famished when I get in. If I didn’t have something quick and ready to eat when I got in, I could happily eat the door mat! By the time Dearly Beloved has lit the wood stove and got the kettle on, I’ve got supper on the table. I use my slow cooker a lot at this time of year.


Here are some of my ideas.

Vegetable soup: peel four carrots, four potatoes, peel and chop one large onion, half a head of celery, a chopped quarter of a savoy cabbage - mix together with a litre of stock (I use chicken) - switch on for the day, go to work and come home to thick and hot soup.

Veggie and chickpea spicy stew with dumplings: peel carrots, onions, butternut squash and parsnips, add a tin of chickpeas a heaped tablespoon of smoked paprika and cover with stock. When you get in from work, you can use an instant dumpling mix or half the weight of suet to SR flour and enough water to form into dough balls. Float on top of the veggie stew and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with some buttery veg such as savoy cabbage.

Bolognaise sauce mix - this is always best when it’s cooked slowly and for hours. There’s a multitude of recipes but here’s mine. I chop everything in the food processor and add it to the slow cooker: two onions, three carrots, half a head of celery and 400g of minced beef - season with garlic, salt, pepper and mixed herbs. I add a large tin of tomato puree and top up with water to the consistency you like; we like ours to be thick and meaty. You can replace the minced beef with any minced meat or soya or quorn mince. When you get in from work, all you’ll need to do is cook some pasta as this is full of vegetables.

Roast Chicken, or a lamb, pork or beef joint. I will cook a whole piece of meat in my slow cooker and come home to a joint you could carve with a spoon. I use cheap cuts such a boned and rolled breast of lamb, brisket of beef, shoulder of pork or a whole chicken. I roughly chop carrots and onions and put them in the bottom of the slow cooker along with the meat, some stock or water and arrange the rest of the veggies such as potatoes, swede, parsnips or whole carrots around the meat joint. The weight of the glass lid keeps the steam and the flavour in and although you won’t have a joint with a crispy top, you will have a succulent piece of meat with very little shrinkage.

Slow cooked oriental belly pork or ribs. You will need one large slice each or more if you are not watching your weight. For the sauce: 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 2 tbsp clear honey, 2 tbsp teriyaki sauce, half tsp five-spice powder, juice of a line and a pinch of dried chilli flakes. Mix the marinade together and cover the belly pork. Cook for eight hours. Serve with a salad.
I make all our stews, casseroles, soups and braised suppers in my slow cooker. A few minutes work in the morning means I have a meal waiting for me when I get home. As I said, it’s cold and I’m tired and really hungry and I also think it helps with weight loss and I’m not tempted to eat a snack because supper isn’t ready. It also uses a fraction of the energy of a cooker and means we eat simple, cheap home cooked food within minutes of getting through the door.

Over to you Dear Reader, what do you cook in your slow cooker? Do you have one? Does anyone have any recipes or ideas they can share?

I’m off to bed and I look forward to some recipes and ideas.

Love Froogs xxx

Facing the financial challenge!

Earning extra money

Hello Dear Reader,

(Read to the end to find out if you have won the give away of the seeds)
When ever I think of entrepreneurs, I think of Dragon’s Den. I think of the people who started their business with a rented ice cream van and enough money to buy ice cream for that day. When we think of money being tight, we often forget that we probably need to go out and earn some more. Don’t get me wrong, I have the best day job in the world and wouldn’t trade it for anything but what if I, you or anyone, could take their hobby which they did for the love of it and earned some extra money from it. I think it’s possible and many of us could give it a try. It’s not going to be a massive earner, but what if you could improve your household income by £10 a week or even if that was just the extra a month? It’s not just about stopping the money going out but helping it come in too. I don’t think there is anything wrong with leaving the office at 5pm and then working with the cleaning agency giving it a hoover and polish at the end of the day to earn more money. In fact, I think it’s the sensible route to saving, maybe for a house deposit, a holiday, a new car or paying off debt or the mortgage.

I think anyone can be a frugaleur and use the tiniest amount of money to start a business. In the past, I set myself a £50 budget to renovate a room, buy new towels and bedding and then rent that room to a lodger. It can be done. This time, I used a very small budget to make my first quilt for sale. Luckily, I have a captive market and if anyone wants to buy it, email me with ‘sealed bid’ (which means no one else knows what you have bid) and the winner will buy the quilt. UK postage will be included but overseas postage will be charged at cost which the buyer will be informed of those costs at the end of the ‘sale’.


The quilt has Hobbs cotton batting inside, it’s backed with vintage Laura Ashley and edged with hot pink which contrasts the green chartreuse.


It’s soft, warm and snuggly and already has an heirloom feel about it. It’s 45″ by 62″ and would make a wonderful sofa throw or a topper for a single bed. If no one buys it, it will stay with us as I already love it. Vintage fabric designs blended with thrifted vintage fabrics and American batting. It’s deliciously soft.

Below, is the close up of the vintage Marks and Spencer’s floral which was used to sash the blocks. It didn’t take me long to make it and you can see this blog post if you want to make your own as I have included where the fabric comes from and instructions how to make it yourself. If you don’t want to do that, then you are welcome to make a bid for this one. I would love to make a quilt a week and have Yoosta-Bee quilts all over the world!


Here’s the back (and ever present ironing, drying rack and sleeping big dog xx). To get a closer look at any of the pictures, click onto the picture to enlarge it.


There you are, anyone can be a frugaleur, even me. This could be the start of my second job as I do what I can to throw money at my mortgage as that pony won’t ride itself! So, if you want the quilt, use the contact box above to find my email address, and email me a sealed bid for the quilt. The ‘auction’ closes in seven days and the payment will be by paypal. Bids must be in pounds sterling so overseas bidders will need to work out the exchange rate when they make their bid. The quilt will be shipped when payment is cleared.

Now, over to you. Who else is fighting down debt or paying off the mortgage? Who else makes extra money? Do you sell surplus veggies, fruit or eggs in the summer, or garden gate jam? Do you sell your crafts? Did anyone but they gave up and wish they didn’t? I love hearing your tales.

Now to the winner of the seeds by having their ‘number’ (out of all the comments) generated at random and the winner is FIESTA!!!! Please email me your address as soon as you can and I will send the seeds as soon as I can and happy gardening and I hope all your veggies taste wonderful

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxx

New to this? What does frugal living mean?

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Hello Dear Reader,

I get emails asking for advice and find myself reluctantly answering as I don’t have all the answers and sometimes, I hand the problem back and tell people they have to work that one out for themselves. I get queries as to why two people, with jobs feel the need to be frugal at all. I get comments, which I quickly delete and forget, denigrating what I do and why I do it.

Firstly, frugality is not about deprivation, freezing your cobs off or going without. For us, it’s about being very smart with our finances so we can pay off our mortgage in eight years instead of eighteen. That’s the choice we make. We are not Tom and Barbara Goode and haven’t dug up our garden for spuds and there’s no livestock at the bottom of an allotment somewhere. We don’t knit our own jumpers and we don’t brew our own beer. We look after our finances our way and for our own reasons. You may have no reason to be frugal at all and just read this out of a matter of interest. You may have a goal, just as we have.


We make our finances, our time and our home work for us. We’ve had lodgers in the past and we will again in the future. We both have secondary income streams and have had to for the last three years and will continue to do so. We have no children to worry about and our time is our own. How we earn our extra incomes and how we earn our main incomes, just as you do yours, are our business. We use every extra penny we make to make another mortgage capital payment and have set ourselves the target of paying off £20,000 of the balance this year. If you wanted any advice on debt repayment or mortgage over payment, my first suggestion would be to earn more money. Rent out a room, use your skills to earn you money, work in a pub at night, do a couple of shifts a week in a care home, clean caravans at the weekend, sell goods you make yourself. There’s no good sitting there in front of the TV looking at the bank balance shrinking when you could be doing something about it.


We eek out every penny without going hungry, being cold or being miserable. We had two foreign holidays last year and plenty of days out and about along with visiting friends and family. We both have hobbies which happily occupy us and we’re keen cyclists and walkers. However, what we are not are recreational spenders. The latest film will be on the TV eventually so I don’t need to go to the cinema. We eat extremely well at home and don’t eat in cafes or restaurants unless we have saved our Tesco vouchers to do so without paying. We buy a few good quality clothes a year to add to our wardrobes and look after what we have. I find charity shops increasingly expensive and I mainly use them to look for clothes to recycle for quilting fabric. We will be renovating and maintaining parts of our home this year and will do so on a very well organised and saved for budget.


I would sum up frugal living as clever money management (for example budgeting and planning your year long expenses and being ready for them), clever spending (for example buying LED light bulbs, a water butt or solar panels) and being creative and resourceful with what you have and that includes your time.

I’ll be back tomorrow, with my as promised ‘Frugaleur’ challenge as started by Frugaldom and letting you know who the seeds will be posted off to. I’m off to stoke up the woodburner so I’m warm and toasty and have a lovely homemade supper and live my simple but comfortable life.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx


Frugal Quilt in a day

frugal quilting, frugaleur
Hello Dear Reader,
As promised, I’ll share with you a really easy quilt you can make in a day. I’m also going to share with you that I’m taking part in a frugaleur challenge which really is about the frugal way to boost your income and those details will be explained in full tomorrow. For now, here’s the quilt.
I started with a pack of fat quarters:
and one metre of green chartreuse
and some remnants of vintage St. Michael/M&S table cloth from the 70’s!

I started by cutting the fabric into 5″ wide strips.
I then used my quarter inch seam foot and sewed the strips together.
I then cut them down into 5″ strips and you can see from here how I formed the rest of the ‘steps’ pattern. I sewed two of the blocks of strips together and then for each subsequent row, unpicked where required and moved the blocks to the front of the row.
A great way of stretching fat quarters that little bit further is to use sashing around the blocks. It gives a lovely finish and it makes quilt making really quick. I made the quilt top in two hours and got the fat quarters and fabric here as part of their £15 challenge. It goes to show you can make a lovely throw in no time at all and for a low price even if you buy the fabric new. I sometimes buy fabric but there will always be an addition of thrifted or vintage fabric to make the quilt more affordable. As a jumble sale quilter, there is a real luxury of using new fabric. I’ll finish the quilted throw tomorrow, have pictures of it and tell you all about the frugaleur challenge and invite you all to join me and others doing something positive to increase their income.
If you’ve missed the frugal gardening give away, then click here to see my earlier post and follow the t&cs at the bottom of the post and take part in the give away.

Frugal Gardening Giveaway

frugal home



Hello Dear Reader,

I’m increasingly being contacted by companies who offer products for giveaways. These are hard time for businesses and the economy would come to a grinding halt and jobs would be lost if none of us bought anything at all. We all make our own decisions how we write our blogs and whether we engage with media or not. I make the personal decision whether I work with them and wouldn’t do so if I didn’t think there was a benefit for anyone else, or if I thought they didn’t represent a bargain. I was offered seeds to give away by ‘Sarah Raven’s kitchen and garden’ and I know many of you are gardeners and would benefit from a delivery of seeds and that there is nothing better than free for a bargain.


I also wanted some advice myself as I see gardening as over rated outdoor housework and need to get past the equation of effort and cost, versus payback. I’ve spent a lot of time and money on gardening in the past and due to uncontrollable weather, lack of light, living on the side of a dry south facing slope with no soil, had little to show for my efforts at the end of it. I also have huge water costs and in dry times have resorted to paid for water which has added to the expense of growing my own and remain unconvinced that my efforts were worth the piddly results I’ve had in the past. I know some of you touch soil and food springs forth as if Jesus himself had his wellies on and had dug it. For me, it’s more plague than plentiful so I’ll turn back to the advice I’ve been given and have another go. I have good success with spuds, beans and lettuce and I’ll have another go this year. I agreed on the promotion and giveaway as long as I was given some personal advice on gardening and sent my own questions and here are the answers I was given.



Which vegetables are great for beginners?
Squashes, tomatoes, beans, lettuce, carrots, radish, spinach, chard.


Summers are getting wetter, any advice would you give to making sure a vegetable bed is well drained and which vegetables are ‘bomb proof’ no matter how bad the weather?
Brassicas, spinach, lettuce, asparagus all don’t mind the rain. If your soil is water logged or if it is really wet and remains so year round, you might want to think about building raised beds. These do not have to be the actual wood or brick framed beds that are popular, you can simply layer organic material, and make 6″ mounds the length of your beds. You might also try mixing in more organic material with the soil you have, if it is tillable. By simply loosening it, adding organic matter (2-4″) and turning it, you will raise the soil level in the beds. You will need to add organic matter yearly - what you add depends on the type of soil you have.


3. What can you tell readers about starting seeds off on the window sill?
Starting seeds off on a windowsill is a good idea but - a few warnings… Keep the container moist, but not soggy. You can cover it with plastic wrap or an old piece of rigid clear plastic if your seed tray doesn’t come with a lid, but be sure to pull it up to check daily to be sure they aren’t drying out. Make sure to water as necessary with a very gentle spray of water. Beware of cold nights with a sharp temperature drop – move the containers to an appropriate place. Finally, make sure that you rotate your container so the light is even.


Could you suggest what we should being doing in our gardens at this time of year?
Outside, winter dig your veg beds, as hard frosts will break down large clods of soil. This is also a great time of year to start seed potatoes off. Remember to apply organic fertiliser when things start showing signs of growth in the garden. It’s also the perfect time of year to sow sweet pea seeds, one of the most delicious summer scents in any garden. Plant bare-root trees and shrubs – there’s lots to choose from! Check your containers and water if necessary.


Which veggies can be grown in pots on a patio or a tiny garden or just in an old sink on the steps?
Beetroot, Broad beans, Carrots, Chillies & Peppers Dwarf French beans, Herbs, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Runner beans, Salad leaves, spring onions, Tomatoes.


Which herbs could you recommend for us which are easy to grow that will help with our frugal cooking?

Rosemary, sage, coriander, chives, parsley, basil and mint are all easy to grow. Delicious in stuffed butternut squash (http://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/stuffed-butternut-squash), cheese and fennel scones with sausage burgers (http://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/sausage-burgers-cheese-and-fennel-sconeshttp://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/sausage-burgers-cheese-and-fennel-scones), and tricolour pepper caponata (http://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/tricolour-pepper-caponatahttp://www.sarahraven.com/how-to/seasonal-recipes/tricolour-pepper-caponata). Many other home-grown veggie recipes on our website. All Sarah’s articles, videos and gardening advice can be found at http://www.sarahraven.com/how-to.

So, Dear Reader, Wish me me well as I’m going to have another go this year and turn some of my garden into a veggie patch and grow a few herbs on my patio. I’m not going away this year so there will be no interruptions or need for a neighbour to water the garden and I’ll be there all the time to tend it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the seeds if you win them and I hope you join in with the giveaway by leaving a comment and I’ll pull the name out of something hattish on Monday night and post them out to you as soon as I can.


I know a lot of you are keen gardeners and really good at it and I’m sure some of you have had your struggles just as I have. Tell us all about your delights, triumphs or struggles with growing veggies. I hope, who ever wins these seeds, really enjoys them. This post will be linked to all my other posts over the weekend and up to and including Monday evening.

T&Cs - be a followers, if not become one, and leave a message to take part in the giveaway.


I’ll be back tonight with my quilt in a day, the instructions and how to make a gift in no time at all.

Until later,

Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Beat the energy companies at their own game!

Saving money


Hello Dear Reader,

According to my energy provider, we are ‘medium’ energy users. We have a large house and I can’t stand the dark. I’m writing at this moment in the industrial glare of a ‘daylight’ lamp as I can’t even think straight in the dark. I can’t sew, read, cook or even eat without light which is as bright as daylight. Consequently, I’ve always hated the light from ‘eco’ light bulbs but accepted that I can’t afford, or no longer can even buy traditional light bulbs.

We switched to completely ‘eco’ lighting many years ago but I’ve always found the light yellowy and well, artificial and they’ve just not done the job for me. I’m also fed up with fumbling in the dark whilst I wait for the ‘tube’ to fully light up. However, they certainly reduced the cost of our energy bills and I do everything I can to keep my energy bills as low as possible.

  • Do not light empty rooms or areas.
  • Security lights on sensors so they are off unless needed.
  • Thermostat set to 18 degrees.
  • Five minute showers.
  • Only wash dirty clothes.
  • Main heating from wood.
  • Clothes dried by wood heating.
  • Read meters weekly and submit readings on line so monthly direct is altered throughout the year.
  • Switched to low energy appliances and fittings.
  • Cook as much as possible in a slow cooker, mini oven and stacking steamer.
  • Bulk cook to get the best out of my oven.


The biggest problem with most low energy bulbs is that they are not the most attractive things to have in a light fitting. I have lamps with translucent shades that give a gentle and dappled light in the evenings when I don’t want it quite so brightly lit and I can see the ugly bulbs inside. I also have a main ceiling light fitting that I have on in the early evening when I still need to be active and need plenty of light and the bulbs in that are certainly not that effective and they are not the most attractive things either.


I’ve been trying to find a cheaper source of light for a while as I want to further reduce my electricity bill and got hold of some of the new LED light bulbs for the house. The difference in wonderful. The light is whiter, more like daylight and with ever deteriorating eye sight, it’s so important for me to see clearly and with rising prices, it’s so important to keep the costs down.


The before and after speak for themselves! I now have LED lighting in my house which will save me a fortune on my electricity bill and the light really helps me see properly as they light up instantly and give off as much light as a standard light bulb or even halogen. The lighting is so much cheaper as they don’t waste any energy emitting heat and they have a lifespan of 25-30 years, so these will be the last light bulbs I’ll ever need. My next step when I have some spare cash is to replace all of the halogen spot lights in the kitchen and hall way with LEDs and reduce my lighting bill even further.

Over to you Dear Reader, what are you doing to reduce your energy bills? Does anyone live somewhere in the world where energy is affordable? Who has solar with a feed to the grid and gets money back? Anyone else sick of waiting for your eco bulbs to light up?

Tomorrow, I’m going to share a quilt in a day with you, a tutorial and some links to my favourite quilt blogs.

I’m now off to quilt and see every stitch!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Warm soup, weight and wobbling…….less!

frugal food, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, radio cornwall recipe

Hello Dear Reader,

It’s only Thursday and it already feels as if it’s been a jam packed full week. As promised I’ll start with the bacon and lentil soup and include the WW points.

The following recipe makes four portions. I had one for dinner, one for lunch tomorrow and two have gone into margarine tubs and into the freezer for the weekend. It’s really thick and substantial and really filling and what’s more really delicious.

Ingredients.

One large onion finely diced = 0
One large leek, finely diced - 0
150g of bacon lardons (or the same weight of bacon) = 13
100g of red lentils = 3
Half a butternut squash = 0
Four sticks of celery = 0
One chicken stock cube in one litre of water = 1
Half a pack of spinach = 0

4.5 points per portion.

Here’s what you do.

1. Saute the onions, leek, celery and lardons - don’t add any oil.
2. Add the butternut squash and lentils.
3. Bring to boil and then simmer for 15 minutes - or longer, check that the lentils are completely soft.
4. Add spinach and stir through until wilted.
5. Blitz with hand blender.

So, there’s the warm soup and we need it, it’s below freezing here and I mean! I have palm trees in my garden and I’m not used to this!

OK, drum roll please, weight! Total weight loss so far is 6lbs. I’ve been to the gym every day and have ‘upped’ my exercise to an hour a day. After being fitness tested (health and bleedin’ safety!) I found out I have blood pressure of 110 over 60 and my heart rate goes back to ‘resting’ in ten seconds after rigorous exercise……it’s been a very very long time since anyone has ever described me as ‘fit’; it also takes a lot of cardio work to get my heart up to where it should be as I’m already ‘fit’ in the first place. I’ve been working really hard at it and crawl, sweating and crying into the changing room at the end of it! Still, pissing off the skinny kids by being totally body confident and not giving a wobbly tit that I’m fat, old and naked in a sea of mini-butts! The positive to hold onto is the fact that I’m shrinking.

Fitting the gym and fat fighters into my already busy life is a challenge but I’m ‘up for it’ and even want to share one of my favourite exercises with you. You do it in 10 second bursts and it’s a strengthening exercise.Planking!




Start on elbows and knees, locking hands together. Straighten legs and raise your body so that you’re supported by the balls of your feet, with feet hip-distance apart. Face the floor, being careful not to arch your back or stick your bottom in the air. Hold this position for 45 seconds 10 seconds if you can stand it to begin with, extending the time as you get stronger.

Here’s another for you - lunge walking - add a tin of beans in each hand. I hope the picture explains itself!

I’ve had lots of interest in the sewing for beginners and star block work shops but there are still places available so don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I’ve had lovely emails from folk who’ve heard me on the radio or read about me in Woman’s Own and a heap of new followers. It is an utter delight to hear from you and I’m really looking forward to meeting dear readers at the workshops and hope some of you will phone, text or email Radio Cornwall when I’m there again on Sunday 17th February at 11 am.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a money saving tip that I’m excited to share with you and a catch up on my energy monitoring.

Over to you Dear Reader, do you have any simple exercise tips, anyone a new follower and not left a comment yet? Anyone else on the ‘points’ with any frugal food ideas to share? Does anyone else ‘plank’?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxx


Developing a saving habit.

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Hello Dear Reader,

Believe it or not, when I was still in debt, I used to save. I would save for theatre tickets, nights out, new work clothes and a two week summer holiday. It was when I stopped saving for the trivial and started thinking about the important financial affairs that I cleared my debts.

Saving is not about using the money you have at the end of the month, saving is about allocating yourself a much smaller income than your actual salary and living off that instead. Every penny we have has a determined destination on the day we are paid. Everything is direct debited out of our accounts and into other accounts on that same day.

On pay day, we transfer money to savings accounts and all our bills, such as utilities, insurance, telephone, internet, life insurance, water rates, council tax and union subs go out on that day. Next, we move money to savings accounts. We have a savings account with three months living expenses (plus 25% in case!). We accumulated that amount of money incidentally by just not spending money on anything more than life’s necessities. It’s amazing how much money we have when we only buy what we really need and stop buying everything else. We are therefore able to make an over payment of £1000 on our mortgage every month, which means we are able to pay off 10% of the balance this year and have paid increasing amounts every year, from 8%, then 9% and now we’ve hit the magic 10% and funnily enough, by overpaying the maximum we can and by keeping up that habit, that percentage grows year on year as the balance shrinks but the overpayments remain the same.


You may have seen the recent TV advertisments for ‘MA’ and they want you to speak to ‘MA’. I took a look at their website and think it’s a brilliant place to start for money advice. We took advice from Debt advisors when we first started to pay our debts back and were actually advised to have an interest only mortgage until we had paid off all our personal debts and then moved the amount of money we were paying off our debts with monthly to then pay off the mortgage. It freed up more money to throw at debts as quickly as possible. Our mortgage rate was fixed and low and the building society was happy enough for us to do that.

The money advice service has really useful service including how to manage your money and whether you should save or pay off your debts and plenty of advice about savings. My advice to anyone, is that the starting amount you should save is the exact same amount that you were paying off your debts with. We lived without a huge amount of our salaries when we were paying off our debts and survived just fine, all we do now is to continue to live on that amount.

Recently, we eased just slightly and added the cost of me going to the gym and to Weight Watchers but as I’m eating less and feeling better, I consider it partly an investment….in my health. I allow myself the occasional trip to the charity shop to look for fabric and slightly more expensive food occasionally such as celeriac or cherry tomatoes.

Saving, for us, is about living on a fraction of our income and making the best of what we have. It means I can save for new items, such as a coat or walking boots, knowing this time that the big things such as over paying the mortgage, having a three month survival fund paid for and having a float for any break downs or repairs are covered need not be worried about.

I know that people who read this blog, often look for advice and sometimes you could be reading this for the first time in your quest for advice about money, budgeting or living frugally. I hope that we can all share some advice about saving, building emergency funds, having a working household fund and saving for the good things in life such as boots and coats! So, Dear Reader, what advice would you give to people who need to and really must save? How did you pay off your debts? How did you save an emergency fund? How do you over pay your mortgage?

It’s bitterly cold, so I’m off to my bed for a warm up with the electric blanket and tomorrow, I’ll share my lentil, ham and vegetable soup recipe which is keeping me internally warm!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxxx