Sunday 2 February 2014

Super-Duper-No-Spend-Fabulous-Frugal-February

Firstly, hello and welcome to Janice, Blondie, Lesleydee, Penny and A Frugal Mrs.

I'm still feeling pretty rough today, but since DS2 was so looking forward to dinner out with his mum and dad we still went. It was only to the local Weatherspoons but I had a lovely roast chicken dinner and we had a good old natter. Since DS1 is now an only child (in that he's the only one still living at home) it was nice for us to all go out together.

I spent this morning defrosting and sorting out the freezer, and also cleaning out the cutlery drawer. It's funny how I now have an overflowing drawer full of knives, forks, spoons, utensils etc. Before DD3 and BF cleared out their room in preparation for the move my drawer was practically empty and they repeatedly denied all knowledge of where all my cutlery had disappeared to. Now they've gone its all magically reappeared. Strange, eh?!

Cleaning the freezer was well worth the effort. Apart from it badly needing to be defrosted, I found a bag at the bottom with 7 x 250g packets of grated cheddar in it, so I won't need to buy cheese for ages. I keep my frozen foods in big, strong reusable shopping bags because the handles make them easy to lift in and out of my huge chest freezer. I rearranged my stock into different categories and now have all the part-used packs of veg in one bag to be used up first, packs of meat and fish in another bag, bread, cheese and pastry in another, vegetarian foods and fruits in another, and finally unopened bags of veg in the last one. In a small seperate section of the freezer I have stacked tubs of magarine and also plastic containers of pre-prepared meals. 

Now there are only 3 of us I easily have enough food (meat, veg, frozen fruit, bread etc) in there to last for the whole of February. I am really, really going to try and not buy anything except yogurts, fresh fruit and salad veg for the remainder of this month. I have all the pasta, rice, couscous etc that I need upstairs. I'm also okay for non-food items like washing liquid, loo rolls, anti-perspirant, soap and toothpaste. I was going to dub this month Fabulous Frugal February, but I think I'll call it Super-Duper-No-Spend-Fabulous-Frugal-February. That's my intention, to be super-duper frugal and to spend next to nothing for the rest of the month. There are a few things like DH's fares to work and my slimming club subscription that I will have to pay out for, and we'll have to put petrol in the car and also buy DH's ticket to visit his mum in Wales over half term, but for everyday foods and household expenses I should be able to get by with virtually no expenditure.

So, one of my daughter's moved out yesterday and today my eldest came to visit from Winchester. DD1 is staying in Canterbury for a few days courtesy of the Kent Police Force...and no, she's not being held in custody. It's to do with a case she was involved with when she was still a police officer in Kent. She's being put up in a hotel and might be staying a week or two depending on how the case goes so we'll get to see her quite often I should think. So, I get rid of one daughter and another one shows up. It's lovely to see her as its been over a month since she popped down for the day just before Xmas.

That's me done for another day. Off to bed again soon with two hot water bottles and a couple of paracetamol. I'm hoping to start feeling a bit better tomorrow.

8 comments:

  1. Oh, how I can relate to your cutlery disappearing whilst you had your daughter living with you. My stepson seems to suffer from the same weird infliction. The only difference is that my cutlery had started to disappear last time he`d lived with us, but never re-appeared. I`m sure he just tossed it in the bin with whatever was left on his plates after a meal. It annoys me no end to have cutlery missing that was bought matching. I now have bought some from a charity shop, so I might not feel so bad if it goes missing again.
    Take good care of that nasty cold, take plenty of paracetamol, use some vapour rub and have a good night`s sleep. All this usually helps when I`m not feeling great.

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    1. It's so frustrating, isn't it? Especially when you know the things are in the house, and you know full well who has them but they deny all knowledge. I found myself buying cheap cutlery from the £1 shop or charity shops, and I'd hiding them in another drawer otherwise I'd be scrambling around trying to find enough items for folks to eat with when the whole family got together. Now I've got a full matching set in my main cutlery drawer and the spares drawer is overflowing. I now have about 5 pairs of kitchen scissors too. Feeling much better today, thank you. My throat is still a bit scratchy but I'm not sneezing and blowing my nose every two minutes any more.

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  2. My ex lost so much stuff and never ever the cheaper items.

    Take care and if I was rich enough I would fly you to Australia to sort my freezers. I have two upside down fridges that sadly need sorting.

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    1. It's always the best stuff that goes missing, isn't it? I ended up buying spares from the £1 shop or charity shops and hdiding it away so I'd have enough when we had visitors. You can fly me to Australia and time you like. LOL!!! The weather here is atrocious. Honestly, we are an island and I swear we are drowning under all the rain we've been having for weeks on end. More predicted later this week although its actually dry and sunny this morning. I'm going to make the most of it and get out for a walk in a little while.

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  3. I can so relate to this. My daughter seems to collect plates and cups. Funny how teenagers can make the connection with "coming down the stairs anyway, I'll take my cup down" lol. Enjoy your time with your daughter x

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    1. Exactly. I now have plenty of plates, mugs etc. too and yet when we were having a family get together I'd be nagging them to bring the dirty dishes down so we had enough to eat from. It's nice to see DD for a while, but she's missing her home in Winchester.

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  4. I already decided that my February was going to be a frugal one. We are going to eat out of the freezer and I will only buy fresh milk and veg! That's the plan. Hope you feel better soon x

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    1. Feeling much better today, thank you. My frugal February got off to a bad start as I had to spend £16 on cat litter but all today's food came from the fridge and cupboards. Good luck with your frugal plans.

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