lancashire lass wrote:.... wrote a shopping list and worked out the rough cost before I even went out (just shows how predictable my basics are LOL),
Was talking to my daughter yesterday and she expected me to know how much something (grocery) cost and was surprised that I didn't. She can remember I time when I used to race round the supermarkets in Winsford comparing prices while she and her sister were having swimming lessons. I knew the price of all the things I bought. Then we had a period of sharp inflation and my tactic of 'if it's dearer wait for it to come down again' stopped working, and my memory couldn't keep up with the price changes. Now I sometimes use my supermarket to keep track of prices for me - for each item they have a graph of the price at that store for the year, and work out the cheapest, dearest and average price, so that you can compare stock up when things are cheap.
Another frugal shop today - would have been £11 if I hadn't bought the big block of cheese LOL. The egg sales were down this week but the girls are still in full productive (of a sorts) so I've decided to have a couple of eggy dinners this next week to use some of the older ones, and a bit of cheese always goes well it. Besides which, I ran out of cheese about 3 weeks ago and thought I could manage without but many a day I think "a bit of cheese with that ... oh, never mind". And despite this frugal (and healthier) eating (including no chocolate or cake ), I haven't lost any weight LOL
I spent a couple of £ on some 50p packs of green veggies, including a couple of iceberg lettuce knocked down to 25p each which will give the chickens something to play with. From what I've read about feeding them lettuce is that it gives them diarrhea but I haven't seen any change in the type or volume of poop - not that they get loads of lettuce in one go. Just as I went through the till, I suddenly remembered a couple of things not on the shopping list so had to go back in and bought them on the egg sale money (some cheap ground black pepper and a bag of cheap sultanas)
And because I've been using the egg money to buy groceries this past couple of weeks, I didn't have enough to buy a bag of layers pellets. I've now reached the bottom of the bag when filling up the feeder and it might not last another week. As I still have half a bag of medicated pellets with flubenvet, it seems like a good opportunity to move onto those when the other bag is empty and worm the chickens (not that they'll be too happy about that) That should take me up to pay day (3rd week of the month) and hopefully with some egg sales to fill my purse, I can also get some other provisions for the girls when I make the trip to the chicken shop (it's a 15 mile round journey)
Talking of which, with the lighter mornings I've been able to let the chickens out and poop pick, and leave the house for work earlier thereby not getting stuck in the traffic so much. The main route from J25 on the M1 into Nottingham is a nightmare with all the road works in and around the city and where I have to join it, I'm crawling in first gear from the moment I drive off my street but just a few minutes sooner and I seem to miss that peak time near where I live. That means using up less petrol although I still put £15 in the tank today.
I had a quick peek online this morning and checked my bank account and the direct debit for the electricity has been reduced down to £34 (from £66), plus £10 from the pay increase last month, and no council tax or water rates to pay with just one more direct debit to go out, I wish the bank balance looked like this every month. The only thing I've bought has been the Scarper anti pecking spray (a necessity), although there's been a many a time I've been tempted to buy something but resisted. The free p&p this weekend at DT Brown's online seed shop is singing to me ... but I really don't need anything. I will not buy, I will not buy .... Next month the direct debit for the mortgage will be a lot less so in March I should have a brief moment of wealth
Mealtimes have been frugal this week, making soups and using up lots of veggies and surplus eggs, and potatoes are definitely on the menu although I did enjoy a stir fry rice dish for a change. I'm not so worried about food although the stores are rapidly emptying, but I am starting to reach the point where I'll need other things like soap powder, deodorant and loo rolls soon (and I won't mention how threadbare some of the clothes are ....)
Despite recent frugal shopping, the balance in the bank account got surprisingly low and I had to do a quick move of money from a (dwindling) savings account to the debit account to pay off a debt. I should have had £35 in the bank account but had used it towards the credit card payment ... not realising that although I paid it after the deadline to reduce next month's payment, there was a delay and instead had gone in last month's payment Hopefully I will feel the benefit of that when the statement comes out. With pay day not until next Friday and no money left in the account (just enough for a direct debit still to go out), I had to use the credit card today. I kept the spend to a bare minimum with only £10 worth of petrol (I do hope it's enough - the £15 fill ups have still seen just under a half tank of petrol left by the following week so I'm half confident) and £15 on essential groceries. Shopping was mainly "value" stuff - things I've tried in the past and found them palatable such as breakfast cereal, bread and certain tinned food but should get me through the next week. I looked out for some reduced priced items but not so lucky today.
I had to go to the chicken shop today to get some mixed grit and a shrimp/silkworm treat - but paid for with cash from the egg sales. Sales last week were slow, but I did well this week, and the girls did me proud. I wish I could have got the sack of pellets at the same time but I didn't have enough so will have to be next week - thankfully the shop doesn't take credit cards or I would have been tempted to buy them and save a trip next week. I'm trying really hard not to use the card but old habits die hard. There were a couple of things I needed (not just wanted) to buy online but I resisted - baby steps but I think I'm slowly getting there
Dear Ll, Sounds like you have had a great week, I can understand how old habits die hard, but the little things do mount up, and hopefully with the small steps comes real progress, so well done, you are inspiring the rest of us too as we read your ideas and thoughts ... Thank you x
To be fair, with work during the week, I'm not tempted to buy groceries except on a Saturday morning shop - especially as I don't carry cash (except from the egg sales) And if I go to e-bay, if there's no money in the PayPal account then temptation ends there. It's the flexible friend with other online shopping that is a hazard to my frugalness - I get a bee in my bonnet, mull over it and then think "oh blow it".
The good news is that today when I went to change the pellets in the chicken feeder to the worming ones, I lifted up what I thought was an empty bag from the feed bin (wondering why I hadn't thrown the previous bag away) and there was still a good load of pellets inside for at least a fortnight's worth of feed. I'm not sure why I opened a new sack when there were still pellets left over in the other bag - maybe I was wondering if the girls would eat the different brand (?) Bad luck for the girls though - they are still getting wormed this week and as it is half a sack opened from the previous feed, I might as well keep feeding them the worming pellets until finished as I see little point hanging on to the last few pellets until the next time
Today is Pay Day and going off last month's credit card statement due on the 22nd, I decided to pay off a little extra on top of what I'd already paid ... basically, last week's spend. With one month of no council tax plus the new mortgage payment being less, I should be slightly better off this month. However, water rates are due so I'll need to take that into account in this month's budget.
Of course, no sooner did I see the money in the bank, I was online doing some shopping Last week when I was checking the price of calcium carbonate on e-bay, it was still 90p for 480g like last time I bought some, but once I'd moved some money into the paypal account and went shopping, it had gone up to £1.20p. It's still the cheapest and the egg shell has definitely improved with the small dosage I've been adding to the chicken feed. The other items included louse powder - I can't see anything when checking the girls out, but as 3 of them look a bit moth eaten, I may be unduly blaming the Bluebelle (although she is still a prime suspect) so decided to treat them all to be on the safe side. Trying to find a suitable louse powder for back garden chickens involves reading ingredients and finding they are basically just diatomaceous earth and some secret unspecified "organic" ingredient which presumably is an essential oil or some other herb. I've opted for Hydrophane louse powder and I also bought some poultry spice. See - shopping wasn't for me
But the frugalness will be ongoing as we are not out of the woods yet. Food-wise, the cupboard shelves and freezer are looking bare but there's still plenty for maybe one month (with some top ups like milk, bread and the odd fresh/frozen veg) but I'm definitely running out of other things like deodorant, make-up like foundation (although I don't get expensive stuff, it's still an essential item for a gal my age), toothpaste ... so I need to make myself a little shopping list before doing my weekly shop. Chicken feed is well stocked for a good fortnight now that the girls are being wormed and I had found some other pellets, so I'll hang on a bit longer before doing the trip to the chicken shop.
I had 5 egg sales this week and orders for 4 more next week as someone is doing a big baking session for charity - as I'll be going out for a meal with friends next week (<£10) the cash will come in useful. Just before Christmas, I closed down a little business I had as it was not paying for itself but strangely, someone made enquiries and I was able to make a small sale this week - put another way, my egg sales bring in more money and I don't make a fortune on that LOL. I am considering another one off business idea - growing some seedlings and selling them in spring. I was thinking of chillies and tomatoes ... I need to make enquiries to see if anyone would be interested and take it from there.
While it has been mild, I've not had my heating on much and got by wearing warm fleecy jackets but I've not been totally without heat. I think when you are at work in a warm stuffy office and then come home to a house that is nearly 10oC colder, it is a bit too cold without at least taking the chill off. We've had a couple of days when it has felt unusually warm for mid February and so easy to think spring is just round the corner but I'm still wary that we can still get exceptionally cold weather to come (remember last year when we had snow at the end of March and a very cold and frozen Easter week)
And oh yes, the £10 petrol fill up last week more than lasted - I was off sick on Monday and Tuesday (virus) and the journey to work for the rest of the week was much quicker due to mid-term holidays ... what a difference in traffic volume, I wish it was like this every week.
This morning I found some Tesco vouchers that would expire on the 23/2/14 but when I looked at which ones, they were not on my shopping list or for items that either cost less elsewhere regardless of voucher or needed a "buy 2" to apply, so I decided to go to Asda instead.
Well, the weekly shop was more expensive than I had planned - I think I really needed to stock up a bit more than I realised and it came to £38 despite sticking more or less to the shopping list. I bought a bag of bananas that were yellow stickered and most were just how I like them - ripened but not quite speckled. I peeled one for the chickens and they turned their beaks up at it ... guess I'll be eating a lot of bananas then LOL. Petrol wise, I was going to fill up but opted for £15 as there was still half a tank left.
I noticed Asda had started putting their gardening stuff out at the front entrance including compost and growbags ... oh, I was tempted but I was good and walked right by them
Last night I went out with some friends for a pub meal - I used the egg sale money but there wasn't much so carefully scrutinized the menu. Luckily a friend shared a 2 for £9.99p meal with me so only cost just £5. I didn't have a pudding as they alone cost about £4.50p but the meal was very filling anyway (truth is I had had something small to eat before going out as often we rarely start to dine until about 8.30pm and it was just enough to knock my appetite without spoiling it) I was a bit annoyed that the small diet Coke cost £1.90p when a large only cost £2.20p. Still, call it £7 with a small tip and as I don't usually go out often, it was nice to have an evening out with friends.
I think your idea of seedlings is great. You can start them in an egg carton then transplant them to an empty loo roll. No cost other than the seeds and seedling starter. If you do it soon, they will be ready for spring sales - right next to your eggs! Good luck. If they don't all sell (I think they will) then you have tomatoes for the season. Next year, if all goes well, you can sell other veggies too.
anglynn wrote:I think your idea of seedlings is great. You can start them in an egg carton then transplant them to an empty loo roll. No cost other than the seeds and seedling starter. If you do it soon, they will be ready for spring sales - right next to your eggs! Good luck. If they don't all sell (I think they will) then you have tomatoes for the season. Next year, if all goes well, you can sell other veggies too.
I actually grow lots of stuff as some people point out in my gardening diary Seed is not a problem - I have plenty (I used to run a seed club but stopped it just before Christmas as postage was the most expensive part of the sale which put a lot of people off), as well as have plenty in my own personal stock. The best (free) pots I have found very useful are the plastic cups at water or tea/coffee dispensers The downside is that it looks a bit odd rummaging in the dust bins LOL although at work they usually put plastic recycling bins right next to the dispensers.
Today's grocery shop - I had £9 cash and was going to keep within budget and just as I got to the till, remembered that I had completely run out of butter/spread ... an essential ingredient especially for my packed lunches to save money. As I trawled back to the refrigerated foods, I passed the fresh fruit & veg and remembered I had no fresh greens either. I saw some mushrooms yellow stickered - oh, garlic mushroom and fresh bread would make a nice Saturday night supper. I did not have enough cash after that so would have to spend on the debit card, and that's when the shopping list went out of the window as I stocked up on a few other items taking it up to £19. I didn't buy anything frivolous so I'm not too upset although I would have preferred the cash sale. On the way home, I put £13 worth of petrol in (I WAS aiming for £10 but traffic this week has been awful so decided a bit extra to be on the safe side)
Well I have had some good news this week, but I also spent more than I would have liked. First, the chooks food will have to stretch another week as I spent the money last Sunday at the allotment shop - for much needed lime (90p for 3kg bags - I bought 3 bags), a bag of Stuttgarter onion sets (£1) and a bag of Red Baron onion sets (£1.30p) and paid my annual Garden & Allotment membership of £3.
I sold 2 dozen eggs this week but with selling 3 dozen last week, I have none for myself. The good news is that I have orders from 3 new customers ... the bad news is that the good egg production took a little dive this week - I suspect a couple of the hens are having a day off rather than anything to worry about, but decided to slow down together.
As for today's shopping - the shelves are getting bare and I'm running out of things now. I needed toothpaste, coffee and cheese. The butter spread last week seemed to get used very quickly and I was sure it had been watered down ... when I looked at the label, sure enough I'd accidentally got the "light" spread So I had to buy another tub of spread (double checked - yep, it's the proper stuff this time) Last week I bought some spinach for the chooks and they loved it - after checking up the nutrition, it's actually very good for them - so got another bag this week, and I also bought a cheap cabbage too. With the warm spell of weather, lots of things are germinating so it won't be long before I won't need to supplement their greens. Despite sticking to the shopping list, it still cost £27 this week. On the way out, I put £11 worth of petrol in the tank, but when I set off, the petrol gauge was only just half way ... I don't think it is going to last the week.
Well, the good news is that I may be getting regraded at work My line manager seemed really pleased that HR had finally come round to realising the complexity of the role but it comes with a sting in the tail. I should be happy to know that the regrade is (an almost) certainty but I'm disappointed that my previous contribution has been well above that of the proposed grade - without direct supervision for the past 6 years, I have been expected to do multiple roles of safety, training, building maintenance, contacting external contractors and engineers, as well as financial and internal authorisation on top of routine work, and the regrade is basically just one increment up on the salary spine (with my being at the top of the current grade for the past 5 years) The real sting in the tail is that a new post has been created to take on the role I've been doing as a "team supervisor", and clearly someone has been targetted to apply for it as the essential qualifications and skills are well above my level. I have been invited to apply for the post if I wanted to, but by the way I was told, it was obvious that I wasn't being considered as competition. I will still be applying for the job as I'm already doing most of it anyway and so familiar with the basics (that I've had to learn on my own I might add or use my previous experience to carry out the tasks) You never know .... After all this time without a direct supervisor, I'm not too sure how I'd feel if someone now started to tell me what to do, or worse, expect me to tell them how to do things (I've been down that road before) Another junior post is being created hence the "team" (which used to be just "team me" LOL) to cover multiple areas meaning my current job is about to get complicated - I think I'm getting too old for change so not as enthusiastic about the changes than I'd like to admit. But in terms of money for the proposed regrade, well it's a step up but nothing to get excited about.
On Monday when I was carrying a dozen eggs for a sale, the handle on the bag snapped and the bag landed on the floor ... 1 egg completely smashed, 4 others cracked I was so annoyed of the loss of sale but salvaged the cracked eggs and used them myself. I still managed to get 4 sales this past week which was just enough money to add to the pot to buy a much needed sack of pellets for the chickens yesterday. I try to buy other things from the chicken shop at the same time to reduce the travelling costs but with only a few pence left in the purse, I went on a spare change search round the house and amazingly found another £1.50p so was able to buy a bag of oyster shell grit. I'd have liked to have got some mealworms or other treat but think I'll have to dig up a load of earthworms for the girls instead ... I'm sure they'll enjoy those even more than any dried stuff.
Earlier in the week there was an envelope dropped through the post from DVLA - puzzled, I opened it and the 6 month road tax is due at the end of March. I'd completely forgot all about that - normally I get the 12 month tax but after spending more than I budgetted for on the chicken set up last year, plus an expensive car repair/MOT/service/insurance, I really didn't have enough to cover it. The next pay day monies has already been sorted to take into account the start of the council tax payments so once again, it looks like it is going to be another lean and frugal month. If my new mortgage deal hadn't been arranged earlier this year, I don't know how I could have afforded it.
Despite a mild winter, the room temperature in the kitchen has at some point dropped and my fridge freezer played up - it stops working when below a certain temperature and the freezer starts to defrost so as a consequence, some of the meat items have spoiled. I had hoped they would be alright but when I thawed out some mince to make spaggy bol, it didn't look particularly appealing so I had to bin it. So annoying but better than making myself ill. I'm going to have to do a major sort of my freezer and get rid of anything that doesn't look right. The stupid thing is that there is nothing wrong with the fridge freezer but a design fault.
The recent mild days has been a welcome relief and I've barely used my heating at all although one evening I couldn't seem to warm up despite wearing several layers so switched the radiator on ... only to fall asleep and wake up hot and bothered. I'm so cross about using all that electricity when I didn't need to. I'm sure it's only a few pence but in my mind I can visualise the electricity meter madly spinning round and clocking up (even though my meter is actually digital LOL) Hopefully the mild trend keeps going a little longer and before you know it, I'll be complaining about how hot it is and having to switch the fan on to keep cool
With dwindling monies in the bank account after paying a bill, I had to use the credit card to pay for this week's shopping - £10 on bare essentials and £15 on petrol. I got a couple of yellow stickered items of things I needed so that was a big help, and worked out a frugal week's worth of meals from what I already have at home and from the purchases. The butter spread I bought last week has lasted a lot better than the light spread I'd accidentally got the other week - just goes to show that you use twice as much so is neither cost effective or low calorie (and I didn't even know it was calorie reduced!) Thankfully the £11 petrol top up last week was just enough despite horrendous traffic jams to and from work, but the petrol gauge was very low by the time I filled up. The good news is that the price of petrol was down to £1.257p / litre (down a whole penny from last week) On the way out, I decided to put air in the tyres - I couldn't believe how low they all were, so that should help with petrol usage now.
Just a quick recap of my goals for the frugal year - supposedly to save money to pay my mortgage off earlier, after 3 months I seem to be finding it very difficult. Instead of putting money on one side, I seem to be on a constant battle to keep on top of debt rather than saving. All I can say is that getting the chickens for egg sales has been a godsend as often the surplus cash after paying for their basic requirements has been used to buy food for myself. It would be nice to start seeing things turning round for the better, and soon.
LL: I know how disparaging things can seem. But working towards any goal means that goal will be met. So keep at it. You'll be happy when the results start showing up. Good luck!
Chicken drumstick wrote:Hi lancs lass....a great read as usual ...all your posts are
I didnt know there were frugal diaries i usually only go in the Chicken section ..
I need to be more Frugal i really do , but being self employed i have a habit of working more hours to pay for stupid spends and have no weekends off
I tend to spend money i dont have when i,m feeling low (long story ) i shoukd try harder so i dont have to work as much
aw, thank you. I've often considered getting a part time weekend job (if I could) but after working all week, and time spent at the allotment, I just know I couldn't do it all and something would give way. As for spending money when feeling low, I'd say I'm in that category too - this week I've been a bit down (work thing) and found myself perusing e-bay and ... bought some seeds. Okay, nothing expensive but I could have got by without them. I had decided to join in on the tallest sunflower competition on another forum for a bit of fun and had gone searching for a tall variety seed which happened to be sold by one of my fave seed suppliers on e-bay and my mouse finger got a bit twitchy and 3 more items fell in the basket. Luckily there was a little money left in the PayPal account to pay for them.
anglynn wrote:LL: I know how disparaging things can seem. But working towards any goal means that goal will be met. So keep at it. You'll be happy when the results start showing up. Good luck!
Thank you anglynn - I think I'm feeling down about my finances because despite a few savings and a brief respite from some of the bills, I don't feel any better off. The water rates and council tax have gone up (to be expected) and then this week I got news that the Workplace Parking Levy is going up again to £434 pa (it is Nottingham city's idea of getting people to pay for their ambitious road and tram works - identify parking spaces provided by workplaces, and charge per space. Some employers absorb the levy but some like the public sector pass it on to their staff. The frustrating thing is that where I work is not easily accessible by public transport, nor is it in the city but because my employer has a site in the city, EVERYONE has to pay the WPL. And after completion of roadworks and trams, I still won't benefit from it ... )
Apart from the £5 seed purchases, I have been a good girl this week and got 4 egg sales too with lots of orders coming in. As I wrote in my chicken diary, I'm seriously thinking of adding to the flock much earlier than planned but building the new run and coop will have to be done from recycled materials as much as possible to keep costs down. So I'll be going on a wood scrounge in the next few weeks LOL.
Today on the other hand was the worst weekly shop yet - £49. I had to do a serious stock up but hopefully I can tease most of it out for the rest of the month apart from the basics. I bought 2 more packs of butter spread while it is still on offer (I'd have bought more if I could) and nearly everything I got was reduced price so it was a bit of a shock when the total came up - I always check my till receipt before I leave the shop but it was unfortunately correct, including the special offers. I wish I could say my shelves are stocked up again.
On my way out, I was tempted to fill the tank up with petrol but opted for the £15 fill instead - when the WPL came into force 2 years ago, a retired researcher (long story) was no longer able to use his car and comes in by public transport (like me, a 2 hour journey in and 2 hour journey out) so he asked if I'd give him a lift part way home. At the time he did offer to pay but I would have none of it at the time. However, the week he was away, I found the £11 fill up lasted longer than the £15 fill up since then so I might ask him to put a couple of £ towards the petrol. I'll probably feel very uncomfortable about asking for money but I'm sure he wouldn't mind. He often tells me how grateful he is for the lift, and I have to confess that his company makes the frustrating journey home with all the road works around feel much quicker.
), I haven't lost any weight 
LOL
(not that they'll be too happy about that) That should take me up to pay day (3rd week of the month) and hopefully with some egg sales to fill my purse, I can also get some other provisions for the girls when I make the trip to the chicken shop (it's a 15 mile round journey)
Hopefully I will feel the benefit of that when the statement comes out. With pay day not until next Friday and no money left in the account (just enough for a direct debit still to go out), I had to use the credit card today. I kept the spend to a bare minimum with only £10 worth of petrol (I do hope it's enough - the £15 fill ups have still seen just under a half tank of petrol left by the following week so I'm half confident) and £15 on essential groceries. Shopping was mainly "value" stuff - things I've tried in the past and found them palatable such as breakfast cereal, bread and certain tinned food but should get me through the next week. I looked out for some reduced priced items but not so lucky today.
and going off last month's credit card statement due on the 22nd, I decided to pay off a little extra on top of what I'd already paid ... basically, last week's spend. With one month of no council tax plus the new mortgage payment being less, I should be slightly better off this month. However, water rates are due so I'll need to take that into account in this month's budget.
Last week when I was checking the price of calcium carbonate on e-bay, it was still 90p for 480g like last time I bought some, but once I'd moved some money into the paypal account and went shopping, it had gone up to £1.20p. It's still the cheapest and the egg shell has definitely improved with the small dosage I've been adding to the chicken feed. The other items included louse powder - I can't see anything when checking the girls out, but as 3 of them look a bit moth eaten, I may be unduly blaming the Bluebelle (although she is still a prime suspect) so decided to treat them all to be on the safe side. Trying to find a suitable louse powder for back garden chickens involves reading ingredients and finding they are basically just diatomaceous earth and some secret unspecified "organic" ingredient which presumably is an essential oil or some other herb. I've opted for Hydrophane louse powder and I also bought some poultry spice. See - shopping wasn't for me 
- I was off sick on Monday and Tuesday (virus) and the journey to work for the rest of the week was much quicker due to mid-term holidays ... what a difference in traffic volume, I wish it was like this every week.
I actually grow lots of stuff as some people point out in my gardening diary 
Seed is not a problem - I have plenty (I used to run a seed club but stopped it just before Christmas as postage was the most expensive part of the sale which put a lot of people off), as well as have plenty in my own personal stock. The best (free) pots I have found very useful are the plastic cups at water or tea/coffee dispensers 
and got 4 egg sales too with lots of orders coming in. As I wrote in my chicken diary, I'm seriously thinking of adding to the flock much earlier than planned but building the new run and coop will have to be done from recycled materials as much as possible to keep costs down. So I'll be going on a wood scrounge in the next few weeks LOL. 
