Answering your questions

Dear Reader,

Tonight, my blog is a homage to Shirley over on Taste the Goode life as she always starts her blog by replying to the comments left for her. I'm going to start mine that way today.

My first reply is to Bryallen. If you cooked for every body, made three courses and bought a bottle of wine for £17, then you have one foot in the Frugal Queen camp. If you spent that on your contribution to a meal out then that is not much money if you have a lot of money and have no debts. We learnt to say no and kept saying no. A meal here, treat there, new wotsit here and new doodah there, soon adds up. I was in serious debt (45K at the worst!) and any slip would delay the repayment which, of course, means continued addition of interest. I went cold turkey and withdrew any spending out and we didn't eat out. We refused work do's, didn't go to weddings, parties, retirement functions or any where that we had to pay for entry, food or a bar. Of course, we had meals with friends and took wine or dessert as we could budget for that. We also invited friends round for meals and enjoyed their company. We went out of walks, trips and picnics and took a flask, packed cake or snacks and still went out. Did I put my hand in my pocket? Did I heck!

Recovering Shopaholic, I don't know whether to come round and hold you and say it's all going to be OK, or shake you and say 'sort it!'. I decided to take hold of myself, had a word with myself and not repeat those behaviours (I know! I'm an English teacher and that's a non-count noun, but the American version sounds 'right') any more. I was brutal with myself to the point of complete and utter abstention from any where that sold any thing. I made a pact with myself not to buy anything new that I could buy second hand and years later, I'm still sticking to that. I do have shopping sprees............I allow myself £10 occasionally at the weekend for a browse round the charity shops and car boot sale. I love the rummaging and finding. I love keeping my eyes open for jumble sales and get  really really excited when I find something lovely to wear or for my home for under a £1. I totally love the £1 and 50p rails in charity shops, the dustbins with a sign saying 'fill a carrier for £1'. If I have to buy something new, then I trawl the internet for discount and promotional codes. I'm also a convert to Poundland and Primark. I have a miniscule personal budget and I would still be paying debt now if I hadn't stuck to it.

Make do style - I try to make every month a non-spend month. I have several bank accounts (non-fee paying of course!) and put away money every month for: car tax, car insurance, household repairs and maintenance, home insurance, boiler insurance and annually, I thoroughly search for the best deals and pay an annual fee. I pay all my bills by direct debit: water, gas, electric, TV licence, (I have free sat now so no fee for that), internet, phone (both mobiles are now pay as you go and we spend about £20 a year each as we only text), life insurance and dental insurance. We then have a 'cash account' , again without any charges, that we move a set budget into for food, rail pass and diesel. One account only has a small transfer each month and we put money aside for an annual holiday (we've only just been able to do that since paying off debt), clothing and any extras.Finally, we have a SHTF account where we add money which we now don't touch at all. If we lose our jobs, if something major happens then we've got some thing there. No where near the three months joint salary that people are advised to have. We have a month's salary. We've not added to it recently as we've reached our set target but we know we have to make it bigger as the costs increase.

Cumbrian. I now, don't need to count every penny as, like you I know what I buy because I rarely shop. I don't go into a shop every week and try to shop fortnightly. I buy ingredients and make bread, so I don't need to pop out for it and I don't eat it. We only use UHT milk and I buy ten litres of the value milk in a 'big' shop. I bulk buy soap powder and loo rolls and still don't buy much at all. I have a four drawer freezer which is big enough for the two of us and can keep us going for a fortnight. I keep every receipt and buy everything with my debit card so my online bank statement will remind me of everything I bought. We never buy coffee, magazines, papers or sweets so no petty cash is needed. I shop in Lidl and they often have bargains, such as two pairs of fluffy socks for £1.99, but I buy them out of my weekly shopping budget. Also, if there's money spare in the budget, I used to pay a debt with that every week. Now, I add that to one of the savings accounts. Even if I only have £2 spare left at the end of the week from the food budget, then I will transfer it to savings. The best week is when I've stretched the fridge and cupboards to last two weeks and one whole week's food budget can go into a savings account.

Frugal Living UK - £100 for firewood is a lot of money. I've still managed to scrounge two pallets this week. We'll pull them apart, saw them by hand into usable lengths and I'll chop them down into kindling. Old habits die hard. I'm always on the look out for wood and I'll pick it up out of hedges or off the road if it's safe and legal to do so. We don't light the fire every day. It's quite warm down here in Cornwall. From November to March, I'll need it more and it will be lit at the weekends to dry the washing. I will be able to turn the heating off and if I have the heating on, it's set to 17 degrees. I also have a modern and well insulated house, with lined curtains and we have blankets and home made quilts. The 2 cubic metres of wood will last us through the entire winter...........unless it we get snowed in for two weeks! Let's hope last year's weather isn't seen again for another 30 years!

Tana50 - In the beginning, when I decided not to spend any more money, it was really tough. It was also fun. I joined forums, looked for like minded people and with evangelical zeal, I had to spread the word. I started my blog and it will bear testimony to the ups and downs in my life. I had to keep records of debts to begin with. I used to keep debt snowball spreadsheets as I could see the debts reducing every month. I took on extra work. I tutored after school and weekends. I marked exams. I dog sat. I caravan cleaned. I ebayed. I car booted. I sold anything I didn't want or need. We also traded on ebay to raise money. We would buy items at car boot sales, jumble sales and auctions and sold on. Every single extra penny that we earned went into debt repayment. We never kept a penny of it for ourselves. I started seeing everything as a challenge. I would read my meters and try and spend less and less every week. I reduced direct debit payments and I live a far more ecological life as I consume less. I reduced my food shopping every week. I brand down graded, then supermarket down graded. I used approved foods and Poundland for some items. Counting pennies wasn't and still isn't a problem. In fact, it's great fun.

The smugness of all of this practical parsimony is that I'm debtless, have money in the bank (not much, but enough saved to pay annual bills and get by for a while if needed). I had a week's holiday this year, I've been able to buy new clothes and shoes and I can make a payment towards my mortgage capital each month.

In answer to all of your questions. Was it hard? It was! Did I always like it? No! Do I sometimes get fed up? Yes! Do I suggest this is for everybody? No! Am I glad I did this and am I happy to continue to do this? YES!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxx

Adding it up and counting the costs.

 Hello dear reader,

This month feels like a round of spend, spend, spending and not my usual frugal self. First of all, we bought a tonne of logs and paid for the heating up front at £100. I then totalled up my personal spending and I have bought make up and a new pair of shoes and have spent £30.25, which as you can imagine is a lot to spend on myself in a month.

We've stuck to a food budget of £140 for the month and our combined travel costs have come to £205. We've had no debts or bills to pay (other than direct debits which are all accounted for) so out total spend, in terms of cash that left our hands came to £475.25. We've paid the mortgage interest payment as usual and all the rest will go towards a capital repayment!

I haven't really done much at all this month. I've made a few chutneys and jellies but all the rest has just been about work.

Do you total up your spending daily? Weekly or monthly? I try to aim for a few months where we don't spend a single penny. I think I'm going to have to rein in the spending next month!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Keeping warm cheaply

Hi everyone,

I've been working late over the last few days but managed to pop into Lidl to pick up some bargains. I bought a lovely pair of walking boots from a local charity shop this year and I'll be out in all weathers so I look out for thick warm socks. They are not cheap! I also wear socks indoors, along with slippers as I can't abide having cold feet. I picked up two pairs of thick fleecy socks in Lidl for £1.99. I bought the purple ones. I'll also get some for my daughter as a present. Socks and undies are some of the few things that I buy new.

If you have a store close to you, you may be able to grab a few pairs but be quick as at these prices, they'll be marching out the door!

Love, a cosy footed Froogs xx

Shut away indoors!

 After a nice quiet weekend, I lost last night to a battle with my innards. I spent most of the night racing backwards and forwards to the porcelain and by the morning I hadn't yet closed my eyes. I've been stuck at home all day and by lunch time, I gave up and went back to bed. I haven't even managed to get out and walk the dogs today so I've encouraged them out into the garden as often as I can. I've felt better this evening and I walked them around the garden and looked out across my little Cornish town. It's a friendly little place, surrounded by farms. I love the way farmers drive their tractors to the chippy, or to the newsagents. If they are cutting silage, or trundling around with trailers full of fleece, or boxes of swede or spuds, it can get really busy with tractors.

Dearly Beloved, who grew up in a city centre, still loves the tractors! He took the photo below of a traffic jam in Liskeard!

When it snowed, anyone with a tractor was really useful. Bewildered farmers were found lost and wandering around the Co-op with a shopping list as they'd been sent to 'town' to get some supplies.

It's not a bad place to be holed up for the day. It's a pity I've felt so rough though and I'm ready to get back to bed now. There's nothing worse that losing a night's sleep.

What is that makes your home town or village fun or special? Any farmers and tractors in your Co-op car park?

Love Froogs xxx

Batch cooking for beginners

 Hello reader,

You all know what I do to save money, here's a bit of how I do it. Even though there's just the two of use, I always buy a whole chicken as it's much more economical that buying chicken pieces. Today, it's been roasted along with a few spuds for Dearly Beloved in the mini oven. I used an entire head of broccoli and six carrots and that was lunch. I've plated up four meals as we'll have the same again when we get in late from work tomorrow night. Neither of us get home until half six so a 'ready meal' is just what's needed at the start of what is always a busy week.

I bought the plate covers for pennies years ago. I bought them in Ikea and I think they still sell them. The suppers will go in the fridge and they'll both fit in the microwave, one on top of the other and will heat up in five minutes. I'll go back to the remains of the chicken when it's entirely cool, pick every last scrap off the bone, chop into small pieces and mix it with mayonnaise and sweetcorn and store in a plastic pot with a lid in the fridge to use as sandwich filler for DB's lunch. Food prices are so really high and it means we have to supplement with budget cuts and half the meals we eat are without meat and all are without dessert! As you can see from the piles of veggies, we bulk out our meals with them and make what ever we have go further.

I'm also delighted that I can have a night off cooking tomorrow! xx

See you tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

It's feeling wintery in frugal towers today.

Hello reader,

Not surprisingly, we've picked ourselves up out of the shock of finding out we're officially skint again and we're getting on with it. We've heard on the news that we're heading into very warm weather and it could be 26 degrees later on in the week! I'm looking forward to it because it's really chilly and wet here today. I got up really early to do the washing and get it outside to get some of it dry. It really makes a difference if some of it can blow through. I then got of to Lidl as early as possible because I had a big list and not much money. I'm having to cut back to a budget of £37.50 a week for food as we've had to adjust the whole budget to cope with rising energy direct debits, increased mortgage payment direct debits and we've had to increase the amounts we pay into our saving funds. We're actually back to where we were when I had debts to pay. I can just count my blessings that they've gone because I'd never make ends meet if I still had to pay them!

 I've bulk cooked today and I'm still battery less so you'll just have to make do! I've made 8 servings of cottage pie, six serving of chicken casserole (I've boned out chicken thighs for this) and 6 servings of fish pie. They all fitted in the oven on one batch and were all cooked in 45 minutes including getting the oven up to heat. No cakes though, we're too waist conscious now!

The only real hassle of being skint in weather like this, is the struggle of getting wet washing dry. It was raining by midday and there's no sun forecast until Wednesday. My house looks like Widow Twanky's at the moment, with bedding and towels over doors and shirts and trousers hung over every available clothes line. I even placed the clothes stand near the oven with the door open (safe distance of course) once I'd finished cooking.

We have a momentous occasion on Monday. The tree that has been blocking the light for years is coming down. It will then take us a while to chop it into logs and stack it for next year's heating.

I have plenty to do all weekend. I'm catching up on all the books I have to mark..............120! and that's not all of them. So you know where I'll be for the next ten hours! Plus, I'm busily lesson planning. The good thing about a job that keeps you working all weekend, every weekend is that you're too busy to spend any money.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

And start all over again!

Hello dear reader,

We were just about there, just about ready to start over paying our mortgage and we got the news we've been dreading. Dearly Beloved has to accept a substantial pay decrease of 10% for doing the same job. Just as we've just had 15% increases on utility bills and food prices have risen by 25% over the last year. In all, with salary reductions and price rises, we're significantly worse off...........and I was feeling so wealthy yesterday! It's just as well we bought the wood when we did!

Oh well! It's back to deepest darkest frugality and we will get by. The buggery shite part of this for both of us, was this was very very nearly our moment. In the fifteen years we've been together, there's never been the money for a weekend away, or a meal in a restaurant or been able to treat ourselves and now was our chance and we saw sight of it for just a moment and then it was gone.

I always bounce back reasonably quickly and I will do so again. Today...............is whippy mould, with squirty sick and snot sprinkles on top!

I'm off to mark books in bed with a hot water bottle!

See you tomorrow,

Love Froogsxxxx

Warm thoughts!

Hello reader,

Thanks for dropping by. I'm feeling very rich today. Last winter I almost froze my fingers off and this winter is looking so much warmer. The fire wood has arrived. My pile of logs cost £100 and I consider it to be money well spent if it means we can be warm and I can dry my clothes.

I will be able to swtich my gas central heating off completely and make do with what I have. I consider the fire to be 'pre-payment'. I'll also get fit carrying the wood to the side of the house to stack up to have ready and close to the fire. Now all I have to do is hold off lighting it until it gets really cold so I can make what I have last as long as possible.

I'm feeling rich and smug because I've put the money aside and now I'm able afford to get wood delivered without spending hours on my life either on the hunt or on the scrounge for it. This is what wealthy people do! They phone up, order wood and pay some one to deliver it. In true Cornish style, we just hid the money in a safe and waterproof place in the garden and the delivery man just left us the receipt in its place.

What do you have or do that makes you feel rich? I almost danced around the logs when I saw them.....bring on the snow!!!!

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Make it last and find alternatives

Hi everyone,

A good shampoo, in my opinion, has a good cap you can balance the bottle on and get every drop out of. I never fuss whether a conditioner claims it will make my hair glossy, I just want it to control the static and allow me to pass a comb through it. I'm just as unbothered by the claims of shampoo bottle either. They either clean your hair or they don't. I use shower gel if I've run out of shampoo and the other way round if I've run out of shower gel! Cleans everything!

Don't get sucked in by the claims of toiletries. A 36p shower gel will wash you just as clean as one bought for £1 and 50p shampoo will do just fine.

What economy brand have you tried this week? What will do 'just fine' for you?

Until tomorrow,

Froogs xxxx

Keep the heating off!

 Hi everyone!

I'm aiming to make a mortgage capital repayment on September's pay day so I'm conscious of money. I'm going to make sure I use as little of everything this month. As little food, energy, water, diesel etc. I've already set myself the target to spend no money on anything by food and transport for the rest of the month.

As will all British Septembers, it can be warm on minute and chilly the next. I'm going to do everything I can to not put the heating on at all, for as long as possible. That's perfectly OK if you're moving around and keeping busy, but I've spent almost all of today working at my desk. After a while, I can feel myself seizing up from the cold. The only answer is to wrap up. Sleeveless tops, cami's or vests are one solution. After all, no one can see me! Then a tee shirt. This keeps summer clothes in use.........as extra layers. A fleece top is light, easy to find in jumbles or charity shops or cheap enough from shops like Primarni! My £5 Matalan blanket gets used a lot, over chairs to snuggle under whilst watching TV (add hot water bottle when it gets really cold!).

The greatest addition I've added recently are the beautiful wrist warmers that Foster Mummy made for me. I can type, knit, read, blog, mark books and  plan lessons in them. it gets really cold where I work too, so when I'm sat there working in the evenings after the heating has gone off, I can sit and mark books and stay warmer.

The bright red blanket lives on my office chair, unfortunately..........so does my cat! Closer inspection will find evidence of that! Other than just you, no one will see me. I'm going to do a thorough stock check tomorrow, some menu planning and then a clear out of all 'in date' food, as there's now a permanent collection point for 'Foodbank' in my town! Does anyone else have a foodbank collection in their area? Can you spare a carton of UHT milk or box of cereals?

Any way, back to staying warm. Sometimes, you have to do what you have to do when you're confined to being sat in one room. Whilst I'm young and healthy, I can easily live with very little heating and it's warm enough where I'm sitting tonight.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Entertaining on a budget!

 Hi everyone,

I'm just taking a mini break from entertaining. Dearly Beloved's relatives are here this weekend. It's lovely to feed people and have them enjoy food. They arrived for a late lunch and had home made pasties, which they loved! Tonight, for supper, I roasted a chicken, mixed up stuffing, bought reduced/yellow stickered veggies.

 These are all recycled photos tonight. I really didn't want anyone to wait whilst I photographed their supper! Even though we had roast chicken, I still made a dish or Yorkshire puddings. They are simply, one egg, one cup of flour and one cup of milk, whisked together and poured into smoking hot baking tins and then baked for 15 minutes. The secret is to get your meat and spuds out of the oven, leave them covered in foil to keep them hot and add your muffin dish to the oven and make sure it's on its hottest setting. Leave it there for 15 minutes and carefully take it out and pour in a centimetre of batter mix to each dish. Get it quickly back into the top of the oven - cook them for 15 minutes.....ish.

 I've made another batch of sloe and damson jelly. It's brilliant with either roast lamb or roast poultry. I also have a batch of stewed, stoned and sweetened damsons in bags in the freezer. All I have to do is defrost them and add them to the recipe I need them for. I didn't make a Bakewell tart, but a damson sponge pudding. It's so easy. Add three to four centimetres of stewed fruit to the bottom of a microwavable deep pudding bowl. Mine is ceramic and was found in a charity shop. I then add a basic sponge mix to the top. 100g of marg, 100g of self raising flour, 100g sugar and 2 large eggs. Beat together until a smooth mix and pour on top of the fruit mix. Cover with an up turned side plate and microwave on full heat for 3 minutes. (depends on size and strength of the oven) Leave to stand and tip upside down onto a plate to serve. I mixed up a couple of 9p instant custard mixes and served it in a pretty jug. Everyone thought it was Bird's custard! They are all going home with a sachet of Tesco value custard as they loved it!

 I've also managed to get a batch of sloes cleaned, pricked and popped into a bottle of gin with sugar. It should be ready to toast the new year!

Living on a tight budget doesn't mean I can't be hospitable. I can and on a small budget too. Tomorrow, I'll pull all the leg and wing meat off the chicken and bag it up and freeze for another time. We'll reheat or cook the pot full of spare veg (some people just don't each many veggies!) four our lunch tomorrow.

I can' t think of anything more wonderful than a house full of family, sat together to eat and chat. What a wonderful day.xxxx

Oh, the wood. I was too late. I met the owner, who said I could have had it if I had been earlier but someone was coming to get it today. She offered me some, saying the person wouldn't notice a bit missing. I thought that as it had been promised that it was only right that they got it all. They were surprised no one had taken it sooner.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Do I? Don't I?

Hi everyone!

I'm back. We've been extra busy at school, but things are back to normal now. I have a dilemma to share with you all and maybe, you can give me some advice.

Seasoned wood is £100 a tonne or 2 cubic metres, either, or, it's about the same. We're about to have a tree down and we'll chop it and save it for next year. I'm going to be laying down green wood for a while, and reap the benefits by seasoning it myself. I will also buy logs cut this year if I can get them any cheaper. It's not a cheap option, but it is the most affordable and green option, or greenish......let me explain my dilemma.

I treat the A390 as a larder and often there are thinned trees; people leave the logs piled by the side of the road. If you are nuts enough to stop.............let me explain this dilemma too! I call the A38 and A390, the track of death. It's a fast sweeping road, with blind bends, and a few straight stretches where people often risk over taking. Even though they are minor roads. The hedges and the trees come right up to the road edge and you have no view of what is coming. There are regular fatalities, especially on the A38. Very few people, will notice the remnants of tree surgery. However, I can hand on heart tell you of the damsons, the crab apples and sloes and not only that, I could take you to where it's safe to pull over and where you should never try to turn right and never pull out into traffic.

On one such bend, where most people are just concentrating on staying on the road, there's an old house set a little back and it's surrounded by trees, or it was. They've had a few cut down and they are piled by the gate. Now, most people who want the fire wood, have the tree cut to log size but these are not, they have been left at about a metre long. They have been neatly piled and left. When people do that, they just assume people will help themselves.

So, here's my question. Do I, or don't I? Do I call into the house and ask? Do I just stop and help myself? I'm personally inclined to ask? They will take a lot of sawing and neither of us can or would operate a chain saw and we'll have to stop in a dangerous place with our trailer. There is easily a month's supply of heating and it's there for the taking. So, do I, or don't I?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Don't panic!

Hi everyone,

I've not gone anywhere! I will be back tomorrow. Up to my knicker elastic in it all at the moment!
 

11.03 pm, still working away.................... xxxx

Back soon,

Love Froogs xxx

Where's Scruffy?

Hi everyone,

I've been busy and else where today (can't say where ! I feel like secret squirrel!) and the house has been shut up and all cold. I came home to find the dogs had burrowed under my duvet to keep warm! I'm back to the grindstone and normal frugal service will resume shortly. Oh, before I forget! We cooked a chicken in the slow cooker and ate it with some sloe jelly. It was delicious and I can really recommend it with poultry.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Rich pickings!

 Hi everyone,

Apologies for my scant visits, can't say why........................! But I took a break from being shackled to my job today and went out for some lay-by shopping! I'll let you into a secret as I can't possibly keep this to myself and I hope everyone goes out picking. The A390 between Dobwalls and Lostwithiel is one big free for all orchard. Throughout the spring, I was mesmerised by the clouds of white blossoms; every now and then some pink blossoms would push through. A hard winter is usually followed by a heavily fruiting autumn and this autumn is rich indeed. Wild damsons are hanging off the trees like bunches of grapes, clusters of apples in all the wild varieties are weighing down the branches. There is nothing more satisfying than pulling into a lay by and filling up bags and bags with free food and especially fruit that is almost impossible to buy.

 I popped out for a reprieve today and picked sloes and damsons. The sloes will go into bottles of gin, ready to be sipped fireside in the dead of winter. The damsons will go into hedgerow jelly, chutney and jam. Most will be given away as gifts.

 I had a pot full of foraged fruit from last week and before it started to wrinkle, I was determined, even with the tiny amount of time I have free to do something with it. We eat sloe and damson jelly with turkey or poultry in the way that some people eat cranberry sauce with it. It has a sweetness and cutting acidity at the same time. It is incredibly easy to make. Wash the fruit, add some chopped apples. You don't even need to take stones out or cut out cores, just chop and chuck. Stew away for about half an hour until a total mush. I add three cups of water to make it go further and as it's so very rich in pectin, you'll get a quivering jelly that will set perfectly.

 After stewing away, pour into a jelly bag over a saucepan and leave to drip and drip. You can leave it over night and go back to doing some thing else.

 I'll get back to that in the morning and turn it into jelly. In the meantime, I'll get back to work.

 The finished result? A shiny clear and piquant jelly, just perfect with roast chicken or roast turkey! The cost? 82p for five jars!I used one bag of granulated sugar. 16.5 pence per jar! I have the offer of 'help your self to as many apples as you can pick' Bramleys, so I'll pick some later in the week and make chutney with the damsons that I picked today.

Does anyone else out there have any where that's rich in free food to share? Here are some more from me. Watergate Bay for mussels (blue flag beach, so no contamination?) Rapson's car park for damsons, Twowatersfoot for apples and of course, the A390 for lots of fruit.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Sloe, sloe, quick, quick, sloe!

 Hi everyone,

Take a look around your hedgerows. This has been a really good year for sloes, damsons and apples. Everywhere I look, the hedgerows are dripping with fruit. Clusters of damsons and sloes are hanging off the hedgerows like bunches of grapes. All spring, I looked for blossom and recorded where to find hedgerow fruit. Lay bys, field gateways and car parks are on my list. It's amazing how hedgerow fruit can turn into boozy winter nights by the fire and gifts for friends and relatives.

We eat sloe jelly with roast lamb or roast chicken. We sip sloe gin in the winter. On my way home, I drop into lay bys and have a shuffle around in the hedge. Tonight I picked sloes and some crab apples. Come back tomorrow night for some jammin', jellyingin' and booze making! The best part, is that the main ingredient is free.

What do you grab from the hedgerows to add to your larder or gift baskets?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Snowed under!

Hi Peeps!

Normal service will resume as soon as I've dug myself out of my workload! Back, as we say in Cornwall, dreckly!

See you tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

It feels like winter!

Hi everyone,

I was checking back through last years blog and I didn't start to feel the cold until November. It was just as well as it snowed for two weeks solid in December and I didn't turn the heating off at all then. Today, it just seems to be extremely cold. I'm very well wrapped up and must get some fingerless gloves to wear whilst I'm preparing my school work. I've actually conceded defeat and I'm in bed, with the notebook and I'm working from there. However, even though there's no heating of any sort, the house remains a cosy 16 degrees. I pull the curtains shut as soon as I get home, I keep warm by staying in the kitchen where I cook and then I make sure I have plenty of clothes on.

I've got two hot water bottles, one on my back and one by my feet! I've also brought the blanket upstairs from the sofa and that's on the bed too along with the home made quilt. This all sounds a bit drastic, but I can recommend it. I can read, prepare for work, catch up on blogs and we're really warm.

Does anyone out there resort to getting to bed early to help beat the fuel costs?

Until tomorrow and I just might nod off in the warmth,

Love Froogs

Who wants to be average?

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for the lively and interesting comments; thanks to all of you who click onto Frugal Queen and especially those of you who are 'followers'. Let's all wave the banner of money saving and trying to buy or at least spend less.

There are all sorts of averages in this country. On average, British women spend £150 a year on cosmetics. On average, British women spend £1000 a year on clothes. On average, British women spend £400 a year on their hair. Well, I dye my own hair every two months and spend £5 each time, so I'm not average because I spend £30 a year on my hair. Foster Mummy cuts my hair and I usually get supper for free and lots of love and fuss too (as the advert says.......priceless!). I spend around £60 a year on clothing. I do use make up, but I certainly don't spend the average amount. Today, I bought new make up and checked back through my blog to see the last time I bought any.............it was the 16th February 2010. So I spend £10.36 every 19 months! or, if my maths is correct.........£6.56 per year on make up! Here's what I bought.

I still have plenty of lipstick and blusher  left, so no need to buy any of that.

I have been wracked with guilt recently at my spending on new clothes, new shoes, hair colour and now make up! What ever it is, it's still over consumption and really not necessary. I have to look smart at work as it is socially expected and neat and tidy hair and appearance goes with the job. Plus! I'll be honest, who wants to look like a bag of spanners? But, I try and reconcile that with not being average. Most of my clothes are from ebay, charity shops, jumble sales and car boot sales as are most of my foot wear. I buy new clothes once a year for work and I can make a pair of work shoes last a couple of years. On top of that, I buy my make up from a discount supermarket and then.....I buy their own brand.

I don't go to the beautician and give myself a facial every week. I wax my own eye brows, colour my own hair and down eight pints of tap water a day to keep my skin hydrated. I'm as vain as the next woman, I just don't spend that much money being so.

Average? Me? Never!

What do you do to shun 'beige' and stamp on 'average'?

See you tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Saving money on things you've just got to have!

Hi everyone!

I've been hunting high and low for new shoes! I went to Clarks and the ones I liked with almost £70. They looked just like the ones above. I kept hunting around for discounts and sales and came away with nothing. I'm glad I was running my daughter home and I hadn't gone to the shops on a special trip. I'd just about given up when I had a look online.

When ever I buy anything at all, I trawl the net for discount codes, or promotional codes. I run the search in a variety of ways, put all the words in, without brackets and see what you can get. Also, look on Money Saving Expert as that's where I found the promotional code that I needed today.  Then I try and run the discount code and get it through Quidco. I managed to get a 20% discount and 7.5% cashback,(Matalan clothing - until the end of the week has 7.5% cashback)  which really helped a very stretched new work clothes budget. Today, I managed to get a 15% discount plus free delivery on a discount code I found for Cotton Traders. The shoes are seen above £22, with a 15% discount and free delivery means I've got new work shoes for £18.70. Also, you can find free delivery codes for Tesco and Asda if you have a good search for them.

HERE IS THE ONLINE DISCOUNT CODE FOR COTTON TRADERS - VALID UNTIL THE END OF JANUARY 2012 - CHP2

MATALAN 20% DISCOUNT CODE STYLE20 - EXPIRES TODAY


CLARKS 20% DISCOUNT CODE - BEYOURS - THANKS FELLOW BLOGGER FOR GIVING THAT XXX


We all have to buy shoes occasionally, as we do undies or school uniforms or stationery for work or school, so it's always worth looking for a cashback or discount code. So dear readers, do you search high and low for discount codes? If you have any codes, can you put them on your blog or send them to me to share with others. The retailers often hide these on their websites, or with third party discount voucher websites.

Until tomorrow,

Lots of love, Froogs xxx

Christmas budget?!

Some of last year's homemade gifts.

Hi everyone,

We don't do Christmas like the herd 'out there' - we spend a bit more time than usual thanking God for the blessing of his son and all he taught us; we have time off work and get together as a family and eat, but we don't 'go silly'. However, this is a really busy time of year for teachers and school workers in general as lots of exams are in January and we'll be late at school coaching and mentoring students and working hard to get the grades. I don't have two minutes to scratch my ar  nose! I like to get everything ready by autumn half term.

It's my last day of school holidays and I actually went gift shopping. Dad got a little wooden thingy for making seed pots from newspaper, mum got a shopping bag, a relative got a tea towel! Three gifts done! I'm feeling smug at my organisation. I've also checked my stocks and I've accumulated enough fruit and sugar to make the cakes for gifts. Now here's all that's left to do!!!!

Cakes, chutney and jams for gifts! Pickle the onions! Knit two scarves, make a cot quilt! Make soap! It's gong to be all go here! I now wish I'd started sooner. Oh and to add to the mix - I have a £100 budget for all the gifts and £100 for all the hospitality as it's my 'turn' this year.

Come on everyone! Get started or have you finished? What have you done already? What do you have left to do? How are you juggling the budget?