The Pennies Pinched......................
Many of these are done all the time so might get mentioned every week if I think of it or might get forgotten because they are just normal.
Ran water into jug while waiting for hot water at kitchen sink- use for flushing loo
Waited until good weather forecast to do washing.
One load done on 30°, 30 minute fast wash
Finished drying clothes in front of fire.
Took flask and snack each time when visiting hospital
Filled oven when baking
Didn't go shopping in any supermarkets so avoiding temptation.
Washed and rinsed freezer bags............ never meat ones
Used broom, brush and dustpan on downstairs hard floors rather than hoovering
Washed floors with hot water, washing soda and vinegar.
Picked up lots of fallen twigs and took into shed to dry out ready for lighting fires.
The Bonus..............................
Checked through books-in-boxes-under-the-stairs again and found £16 worth to send off to Ziffit (ones they didn't want last time I checked, plus a couple from the bookshelves)
The Spending..........................
Please feel free to fall about laughing/tutting/rolling eyes over my low spend January idea...............
Diesel £32
Concentrated Screen wash £2.75
Grandchildren £2
Fruit from Greengrocers £1.75
Eggs from roadside stall £1
Chemist £5 + 70p
Car Parking/Park and Ride for hospital visiting through the week £14.50
Approved Food Order £31 (Didn't plan to spend with them, but they had all sorts of flour, sugar and kitchen roll cheap, I'll do a post about AF next week)
Total £100.70p
The Fail..........Last week after Col went into hospital I popped the un-opened 4pt bottle of milk into the freezer, what I forgot was the ¾ loaf of bread that was out. Before I (on my own) got to the end of it, I found it had gone mouldy and had to be chucked. Should have turned part into breadcrumbs - or even sliced it and put some back in the freezer. ( bread is OK to refreeze). 25p wasted. I'm not baking bread at the moment, I went off it after having some dud loaves last year. Debating a bread maker or just carry on with varying between Aldi Multigrain 79p/ Asda Farmhouse un-sliced £1.10/ Asda un-sliced Malted tin loaf £1.10. Making bread takes quite a lot of gas too.................. Still deciding ............."weighing it up!"
The Weather............We actually had a bit of sunshine yesterday, first bit of blue sky for a week after some really grey and misty days. Heard a weather forecast which said we are in for much colder weather from Monday night onwards - snow and gales - Oh Jolly Good!
Back Monday
Sue
I get really cross about car parking charges in Hospital, especially when someone is in for several weeks like Colin. The government/ hospital authority ought to refund.
ReplyDeleteCar Parking at the Hospital is run by the National Car park Company - so very expensive.Especially if you are there for more than 2 hours. If you are there for appointments you can get ticket stamped so only pay for 2 hours however long you are there. I prefer Park and Ride but the buses aren't very often on Sundays.
DeleteAppalling and just one more stress you don’t need. Fingers crossed he is home soon.
DeleteWe are very lucky in Scotland and don't get charged for parking at hospitals. When I lived for a while in the North of England, it could be quite expensive for repeated visits. People in England should lobby their MPs about this, it really isn't on, there is a lack of compassion. Eilidh x
DeleteI can't see any waste there (apart from the bread and that can happen to anyone).
ReplyDeleteI slice and freeze all my bread and just take out slices as I need them They thaw ever so quickly so it's not a nuisance. The loaves aren't big - I use 1lb loaf tins and each loaf gives me ten or eleven slices - but even so, if I didn't freeze them, they would be wasted.
Love the penny pinching!
J x
Bread is my big dilemma, I used to amke all our bread but this new oven doesn't seem to have the shelves in the right places. ( Bad workman blames tools!)
DeleteI am humbled by your attention to spending Sue. It makes me ashamed as I am afraid I just look at things I fancy and buy them on the whole, although I do often turn something down because I think it too expensive. It annoys me too that bread goes mouldy so quickly but as Joy says above, it does thaw out quickly. I used to have a bread maker, as did many of my friends. I don't know a single one who still uses it. They take up a lot of time, use electricity and are a bit of a fiddle I found. Our local Co-op (a very good one) has a bakery and sells off any bread left half an hour before closing for ten p a loaf.
ReplyDeleteI'm being careful at the moment because of how quickly the savings have gone down since we moved and we've been frugal forever doe to only having one income, 3 children and wanting a smallholding
DeleteJust a normal frugal week for both you and I. I was going to do a similar post sometime.
ReplyDeleteYou are much better than us becuse of your yellow sticker finds - a rare thing in Suffolk
DeleteLuck of the draw with yellow stickers I think. Our local Co-op marks stuff down in the mornings, so I often pick up yellow-stickered fruit/veg/bread/meat/fish just after the school drop off. Tends to be half price though, rather than the 10p bargains I see mentioned elsewhere.
DeleteOh my, the bread. My adult daughter and I consider it to be the staff of life, but here in the US it is so difficult to find a decent loaf to buy (too much sugar). I make bread when I have the energy, and I search carefully through the offerings in our local supermarket to find a loaf we can eat, but I still feel like bread is a challenge here.
ReplyDeletePlease remember that the waste of a mouldy loaf is quite small, and if you can buy decent bread (difficult in the US), you are supporting the people who make it. That said, if you like to bake, carry on and enjoy your connection to all those ancestors who got stuck in to the dough!
Apart from the aldi sliced I buy from the instore bakery, It's usually OK
DeleteI do many of these things but never think of them as money saved. It is a different thought process and an interesting thinking outside the box. For instance I take my own sandwiches and beverage whenever I go out because I know I will like them and know where they came from as my primary thought, not the saving of money. Ditto the cleaning of the stone floors in my house, always swept, never vacuumed, because it seems obvious to me to do it this way. Likewise I have never thought of electricity saved. It is all a thought process that I am not trained in. Washing always goes on the line and I do it whatever the weather, a drying day or part of a day always comes. And so on and so forth. I think it is probably a good idea to keep things in perspective and not get too carried away about money saving.
ReplyDeleteBeing careful is just habit from years of one low income, 3 children and wanting a smallholding.
DeleteReading about bread making, it is said that breadmaking machines used to be the most difficult things to sell in charity shops and the most likely to be donated as unwanted gifts. I don't know whether this is still the case. I eat one loaf a week and a couple of rolls, giving a total expenditure never exceeding £2 and often less. Would a breadmaker be worth it for me? I doubt it.
DeleteI have a Panasonic breadmaker, bought from Amazon when they had a deal on it (about £40 off on the price, as it ain't cheap), but I use it regularly and it makes a lovely loaf. I tend to use half white and half oat flour, which makes for a tasty loaf, although I vary and have wholemeal sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLike you I try and fill the oven when I use it, as the main oven is so expensive to use (and the smaller top oven has a problem and takes forever to get to temperature). With my asthma, I use the vacuum and get that dust and fluff away from my nose!!
Panasonic are reduced at the mo - hence the idea of getting one.I just can't decide
DeleteWe have a bread maker and love it.We put it on last thing at night on timer to be ready when we get up. It is lovely to get up and smell the aroma of warm bread, it costs about a penny an hour to run so a loaf is about 40p. You are doing so well with your spending, i do admire that, now we are retired I am trying to do the same and am getting a certain amount of cash out each week and not use a card. I was doing so well and had some left over last week and stupidly bought treats instead of carrying it over and saving it up! I will try harder. I am so sorry that you and your husband are having a rough time health wise and wish you both well, we can empathise to a certain degree as my son has a serious health problem and we make many trips to the hospital and we know how expensive it is to park and eat there too. Most of our admissions are by ambulance so I don't have time to pack up drinks and snacks for me and I often spend 48 hours in there , the food and coffee is so dear but at the time it doesn't matter. Regards and admiration, Chrissie.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about your son....if you are rushing in by ambulance the last thing to think about is packing a sandwich!
DeleteI do all my washing at 30 degrees for 30 minutes, have done for years. Good saving there.
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteI doubt from a fuel point of view we save much from baking our own, but do it for the pleasure and knowing what is in it. As I bake less now, I rarely can find anything to share the oven when baking it.
ReplyDeleteI find it difficult with timings when doing bread + something else because the bread needs to go in just at the right time.
DeleteJust an idea, but you mentioned ASDA bread ? If you could time your visit there to around 6 to 7pm that is when they reduce ALL bread/bakery products to silly prices. Usually 10p. that's name brand loaves like Warburton and Hovis as well as all ASDAs own bakery bread and then pies, tarts, donuts, crumpets muffins pancakes..........everything. We'll pop there twice a month. If you have a freezer its a godsend. At the moment we're eating a nice bakery cob loaf @ 10p.
ReplyDeleteRinty X
They just don't do those big reductions and Asda is in town 10 miles away so I'm always going to other places when shopping in Asda and other places would be shut by then
DeleteDH bought a breadmaker when he retired and it was used often. He even made jam in it, and also fruit loaves. The novelty wore off and it became a dust collector so was passed on to a lovely friend. She still uses it regularly and I source the best bread I can and freeze it to save waste. Our problem was that we don’t use as much bread now we are retired as we only need packups ( or a piece here in Scotland) when we are out for the day. Catriona
ReplyDeleteOur son got one from a boot sale and makes brilliant bread. I just can't decide
DeleteWe have a Panasonic breadmaker that must be about 8-10 years old now, it has moved house 3 times and lived in shed whilst we lived in a caravan during a house renovation...Anyway, we use it almost every night - I don't even measure anything anymore, just put it all in, put on the timer and wake up to fresh bread! I use mostly wholemeal flour with a little white flour and lots of seeds...My two teenage kids prefer it to any other bread!
ReplyDeletePanasonic do have the best reviews - still undecided about the outlay..........
DeleteI believe anybody who grew up in the 1940s and 1959s is automatically thrifty without knowing it.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true.
DeleteBread making is wonderful. Read up on the chorleywood process used by the commercial guys and you'll rarely buy the stuff again. Flour can be very cheap from approved foods,and homemade can be very nourishing,and full of variety.when my 4 children were at home I made 12 loaves in batches on the same day and froze them.Currently I use a bread machine as just for me. Also make cakes,jam and rice PhD in it. Not too expensive elec wise.but Rayburn fitted in two weeks.Am excited at the thought of baking bread in batches again {always with a bakeing potato alongside. Thank you for your posts and best wishes to Col. Jayne H
ReplyDeleteI've made bread for most of my married life - without bread maker, but just lately it's not been turning out well. I buy from the in-store bakery so good crusty bread - not steamed to a squishy pulp.
DeleteWe fill a large flask with boiling water and ONE teabag on going to bed. Wake up to five or six cups of delicious hot tea. X
ReplyDeleteGood plan.
DeleteCol always takes flask and mug with coffee and milk in it to bed. I prefer to wait a while after I get up
Wait till you find a nice one in the charity shop. Mine cost me a fiver and was practically new.
DeleteClare
Breadmaker.
DeleteWell up to now this year I have made some bread from scratch and bought some bread at silly yellow sticker prices ... so I'm no help in helping you decide whether to get a bread maker or not.
ReplyDeleteSome people absolutely swear by them, when I had one I only used it twice and then went back to doing it in the Kenwood, which takes the hard work out of the initial 10 minutes kneading time but lets me do the rest in my own time.
I'm blaming my new cooker!
DeleteI do a "no-knead " bread recipe, and bake it in my Remoska, which uses far less electricity than the oven. Actually, I have lived here for three years now, and have NEVER yet used the oven!
DeleteI use either the Remoska or the combination microwave - smaller volume to heat than the 'proper' oven.
I know what you mean about small savings Sue. I have just been feeling cross because I thought I had got a good bargain in Bristol this afternoon. In one of the bargain shops I saw a pack of three small tins of stuffed green olives, normally £1, reduced to 30p. Only noticed on getting home that I have been charged £1, despite the big yellow sticker! Grrr! Would never have bought them at the full price!
That 70p could have nearly bought me the bananas and tomatoes that I paid for later!
Hate it when that happens and vow to check till slips in future before leaving but of course that's impossible in a busy shop
DeleteOne thing your chemist costs. Are they prescription stuff? We get ours free in Scotland, but I would have thought with Col you would get them free too? Other than that I am impressed. I would go for a bread maker. x
ReplyDeleteWE both get prescription meds free, these were other things
DeleteI have used a bread machine for years. Mine is a Black and Decker. I always use the rapid cycle so it only takes 2 hours. I always use a combination of white and whole wheat flour and add in either 8 or 12 grain cereal. Sometimes I add cranberries and chopped up apricots, other times I add Italian seasoning. I find that one slice is more than enough to make a sandwich whereas with bought bread I find we need a 2 slice sandwich. I often get my husband to slice up the loaf, if I do it it's always crooked, and I freeze half. I think a bread machine is well worth the investment, especially if you can get it on sale.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been out shopping much this month. It's because of the weather - hate driving in the snow! I am making lists too as we run out of stuff which certainly helps. I still need to pinch a lot of pennies - extra bills and daughter's car is on the blink. She'll probably need at least a loan for it to be fixed. Sigh. Dentist too. Ack.
ReplyDeleteIt is terrible that you have to pay to visit somebody in hospital. I have had a breadmaker for 8 years bought for £10 in a charity shop. I have used it every week until recently. I bought a lot of yellow sticker bread products which I froze. The last couple of loaves in the breadmaker did not cook properly so am thinking it is on the way out. I did do a handmade loaf this week but it was not a great success mainly I think because I no longer have an airing cupboard to leave it to rise.
ReplyDeleteI have a steam mop which requires no cleaning products at all. I was sceptical, but it works a treat. I've not made made conventional bread for something like 30 years, but I do make an oat based rosemary and seed loaf quite often. Husband doesn't like it so I slice it up and freeze it to eat with soup.
ReplyDeleteFilling the oven just makes sense. I also use a bread maker to make my bread. I just don't get the kneading right otherwise.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.