Ready, steady, Bake

Hello Readers; those returning and those who may be reading for the first time,

Ages ago, I bought some baking mixes from Approved Foods. To be honest, they're not great but they were really cheap and we often learn what not to buy after we've bought it! I won't waste it!

The ginger cake mix leaves a lot to be desired. I added half a jar of home made lemon marmalade. It makes it sticky and heavier but you can taste the lemon alongside the ginger and it gives it some extra stickiness. I've cut it into portions, wrapped and froze them. We'll eat them warmed with custard.

The plain vanilla sponge mix is a much better. Simply add an egg and water and whisk for three minutes, pour into cake tins and bake. I sprinkled the top with caster sugar and filled it with some home made hedgerow jam. 

The final cake I made was a boiled fruit cake. No boiling involved. Take a budget cheap as you can get pack of mixed dried fruit, place in a microwavable bowl and pour the cold tea that's left in the tea pot over it. Zap in the microwave for two minutes. Pour into a mixing bowl with 300g of sugar and 300g of self raising flour, one egg and a teaspoon of mixed spice. Mix together and baked in a lined tin on 180 degrees for about an hour.

Well, the ginger and marmalade cake may not look great but it tasted fine! I just can't throw anything away, I have to make do. Have you made anything recently that wasn't great but you made do and ate it anyway? I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Saving 11.4 years and £42,759

Hello Dear Reader and welcome to all new followers and readers xxxxxx

Times are hard. No one need to worry about not having any money as no one has any! If you have any, you could save it and get sod all in return! Once you've paid off any debts, if you have any, the next step is the mortgage. We've been paying back nothing more than the minimum repayment of the capital, in our case nothing more than asked, for the past two years. Now, we're going to take every penny we previously snowballed into debts and add that to a monthly payment.

I don't make a regular payment, I actually go into Santander and pay them a cheque each month. Some months, I pay more and some times less. I can pay up to 10% of the balance a year and not incur extra financial penalties. Can you believe those blood suckers actually get away with charging you more for paying off your mortgage at more than 10% a year! Well I'm fixed into that stupid deal until 9/9/2012, when I will be telling them in no uncertain terms where to get off! I'll tart my payments from bank to bank in the future without being tied in, whilst looking for the best deal as it arises.

By overpaying my mortgage to the point at which I was paying debts each month, means we will be left with exactly what we had to live on when we were in debt. Life won't change. We'll still use second hand water, won't turn the heating on, will still use the shower timer, will still grow food to supplement our diet, still have a small food budget and still not go out to eat. It won't kill us. It will though reduce our mortgage by 11.4 years and save us £42,759 in interest payments. That will rid me of the shackles I have to the bank.

Whilst I'm on the stinky high interest rate and stuck into a deal with penalties, we only pay off 10% a year but there are mortgage deals out there that don't have penalty charges and I will keep my eyes open for one.

I'm off now to read my meters and record what I've used or not used. We've also had great success with solar re-chargables and will look into some more for the house. There's no way I'm going to commit to PV whilst I don't own my own home, but I can have stand alone and re-chargable lighting for snuggly winter evenings where a warm glow will do. I can always throw a switch if I need 'day light'. I know some people who read this are literally on your financial arse and my thoughts and prayers are with you. I know some of you, through prudence and being careful have worked your way to debt freedom. If that's the case, then why not have a look at how much you could save if you over paid your mortgage.

I may live a simple life but it's worth it to pay off my mortgage in 8 years and 6 months! (So, stuff that you bankers!)

Love Froogs xxxxx

Frugal, frugalish, not so frugal and free! P.S I've given up, giving up swearing!

Some how, I don't think the paint is going to make it onto the wall of its own accord!  However,  I'm only heating my house with prepaid wood and not buying gas!

 Hi everyone,

Many, many thanks for the messages of support. There are things I can say on this blog and things I can't say, and I can't say why. It does feel as if I have the thought police breathing down my neck and it irks me to the point of the utter fucking depths of misery, but I live in a complicated world and I'm not actually allowed to say or do as I please. Enough of that and I'll move on. And no, I don't have a book deal............but there's an idea!

Dearly Beloved and I went on a shortened and slightly later than planned anniversary trip. It was eventful. We went over to France in a force 8 gale (or as the Shipping Forecast said........cyclonic). I medicated myself with some Jack Daniels and strapped myself (I mean fucking literally!!!!) to my bunk and got there on time and in one piece! The weather instantly improved when we got there and we had the most lovely forty eight hours in Morlaix, St Pol de Leon and Roscoff. We had a frugalish 'menu formule' in of all places, a local supermarket restaurant for 12 euros for a three course lunch, with wine and coffee. We had coffee and croissants sat in market squares and had the loveliest of times. We also did what we rarely do in the UK: we shopped. We stayed in a thirty nine euros a night hotel which was warm, friendly, did a good breakfast and had lots of deep hot baths!!!!

I am no wine specialist. I've been on wine tasting evenings and after the third bottle, it all tastes the same to me. We've bought five litre boxes and many many bottles. Mostly for around 1.09 a bottle, which in UK pounds is a pound a bottle. Here, the cheapest paint stripping plonk you can buy is about £3.99 a bottle. I now have a year's supply, plus gifts for family and friends for the next year. We will go back within a year............but it's better to be safe than sober  sorry! So, there's the frugalish - wine with a 75% discount.

We don't have a Netto store near us. Oh the very joy of the place! I noticed there were no Brit cars in the car park but kept hearing familiar accents. So, I found where the Brits abroad go shopping. We did the usual thing of buying the local cheese, wine and onions (they are pink and so fragrant and delicious) and I added a couple of new plastic bowls to my 'chariot' at a euro each. After washing our hands, in cold water of course, we use the water to flush the loo. I think it's a sin to flush the lav in pure drinking water, so we continue, even in our debt free state, to use second hand water in the toilet. (Oh, that's the frugal bit)

Finally and most importantly, a massive thanks fort Ali for sending me some Lacura eye creme and serum. She bought them for herself and didn't suit her and she very thoughtfully sent them on to me. I am so very grateful and even though life it a deep crevice of shite at the moment, I am astride it without wrinkles! (That's the free bit and it has really cheered me xxxxxxxx All my love to Ali!!!!)

 Frugalish,  I was sent another discount code for shoes! If you go to the Clarks website, with the discount code of BERRY, you can get 20% off and free postage. Everyone needs shoes at some time. On a deeply frugal note! I haven't used any gas for a month! I also made a payment off my mortgage capital and will be on target to pay off 10% of the balance this year and hopefully, will do so again next year.

p.s - I don't like odd numbers so if six of you, who are not already followers, could become so, it would tidy up the numbers xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Again, thanks everyone. I'm dragging myself out of this and I couldn't have done it without you xxxxxxxxx

All my love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Time out

.....it was then I carried you......

Hello Dear Reader,

I'm contractually not allowed to write why I'm not writing. I only have one 'person' that I'm talking to at the moment. I may or may not be back.

Your love, your comments and your support have truly sustained me through some hard times. I will never forget your kindness.

Love Froogs xxx

Tomorrow's chip wrappers.

Hello Dear Reader,

Dearly Beloved has been a train Womble today and has brought home bundles of newspapers. He must have looked a sight with bundles of them inside his coat as he cycled back from the station! He walks from one end of the train to the other and came home with out usual evening reading material (we haven't bought a paper in years!) and we now accumulate these to light our stove with.

Have you 'wombled' anything recently?

See you tomorrow,

Love a nice and toasty Froogs xxx

Utter luxury!

Hello dear reader,

It's so cold, I've worked late and come home to a lit fire. Being careful with money and putting every penny into the mortgage capital repayments leaves little money for looking or smelling nice. Every so often, I splash out on good toiletries. Then, I make them last. I race my way though a tin of lovely talc in at least six months! I keep soap dry and a bar can last for weeks and if I get hold of some shower gel, I know I can make it last for a very long time. Each day begins and ends with a top to toe wash in one bowl of hot water, which I then flush the loo with. About mid week, I wash my hair and have a five minute shower..............it's total luxury!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Cold Icy Blast

Good evening dear reader,

Picture this! Lovely warm lounge, one end of Frugal towers is quite warm.............the other end has a chilly blast whistling in from the Urals! The home made quilt is on the bed, hot water bottles are in the bed warming it to gas mark 6. There is no heating other than the wood stove and the rest of the house is cold. Every cup of tea in the kitchen, or trip to the loo, requires a trip into the chill zone. Night time is like the above pictures. No details needed, just imagine it yourself..

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Rising costs of energy!

Nationwide disgrace and total numpty!

Dear Huhne the goon!

Here we go again some snotty posh Tory (Liberal in disguise!) telling us how to cope with rising prices - it takes the biscuit - it really does! I bet he's not wrapped up in a blanket with one bar of his gas fire on for one hour a day because it's all he can afford! I bet he doesn't sniff his clothes before he decides to wash them (or get his Polish cleaner to wash them!) I bet he doesn't have a shower timer or always have pee swishing around in his toilet! Why is it that some wally like this slimy toad thinks it's OK to give us advice. Chris! You should be wringing your hands with shame!

Gas and electricity costs more than the average family can afford. Families on low incomes, pensioners, ill people on disability benefits, young mothers on small part time incomes, sick people on statutory sick pay recovering from surgery are going to have a cold, cold winter. According to Huhney's advice, all we have to do is find the lowest tariff, get your walls insulated and put a sweater on! Well here's  a message for you Huhney! A saving of £100 a year on average bills of £1400 for a family would hardly be noticeable when you're bringing three children up on minimum wage!

"We want people to check their tariffs, we want people to switch to cheaper tariffs and we want people to take advantage of the free offers that there are to insulate their homes so they can protect themselves from rising bills this winter,"

I want us all to go a stage further. I want to see consumers do a lot more to say 'get stuffed' to the energy companies. Get a thermostat and set if to 17 degrees, get a lot of jumpers, use wind up torches and lanterns, go to bed early with a hot water bottle and have more cuddles. Just boycott the flamin' energy companies as much as you can! I've not used the gas for anything but the gas hob for two weeks and I'm going to keep going. If I have to grope around in fluffy slippers with a battery lamp charged by the sun then I flamin' well will!

OK, so I'm a bit extreme but the prices are a national shame and I am not going to give them my money! I would appeal to all of you to find any affordable alternatives you possibly can. Stuff them! Don't give them your money!

Huhne! You can take your hollow advice and stuff it in your ministerial brief case!

Until tomorrow,

Froogs (blowing raspberries at said twonk on Channel 4 news)

Keeping down the costs

Hello dear reader,

I'm really beginning to worry about the constant rise in prices; even sausages are expensive. I'm now buying my meat from a local butchers close to here who specialised in bulk amounts for customers. So, I buy 3 kilos of bacon pieces at a time and divide it and freeze it myself, I also buy pork loins, chicken pieces and sausages as well as beef of all descriptions but in larger portions. Even if you save money that way, it's still expensive. The answer is obviously meatless days (which we have plenty of) and smaller amounts of meat when we do eat it.

Our supper tonight consisted of one and a half sausages each, with some bacon chunks, all fried together with onions and mushrooms and a sauce made of tinned tomatoes, water and some gravy thickening. Plenty of peas and carrots and a desert spoon of mashed spuds each. It's certainly a big meal to have on a Sunday evening, but DB has built another shed today (it's beginning to look at bit like the little house on the prairie out there!) so I thought I'd rustle up something hot. I made sure I cooked the veg on one gas ring with the steamer and nothing took too long to cook. To save on energy, I've cooked tomorrow's supper (play it again Sam) and it's in the fridge ready to be dinged tomorrow night.

It's a constant struggle to stick to a budget and eat relatively healthily. Not exactly the lean chicken breast and salad that I would prefer but it's hearty, honest and nutritious. When any of us think of the struggles our grannies had to feed our mums and dads on rations and a nationwide lack of food, I really shouldn't grumble about prices.

Photo above is who Froogs will turn into if she does any more scrimping! Or may be she's already there?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Answer to reader questions.

Shoes from Cotton Traders - originally £22, but I used a 20% off and free delivery code to get them for £17.60

 Hello Dear Readers,

One of you asked yesterday why it took two of us to lift one log onto the log splitter, well, the answer is in the close up photo above of one log! It's freshly cut Beech and is from a forty year old tree that blocked most of our view and all of our light after 10 am in the morning. It had to go and now we're chopping it into logs to store to burn next year.

 Here's the finished results and a mere fraction of the entire wood pile we worked our way through yesterday. Working with your own wood involved short journeys from one pile to another. This current pile, left exposed to the sun light and wind, will lose a lot of moisture in just a few week. We cover it in tarpaulines when it rains and then uncover when it's dry. We'll need to build another wood shed near to the house to store it in but as the garden is on a slope, we'll have to carry the wood up, one basket at a time. It can stay where it is for a while. Dearly Beloved, who I can honestly say seems very happy to chop all of this wood, is also making sure I have enough kindling to light the fire for the week as I always try to get home before he does so I can get his supper ready.

Our solar battery charger is from Amazon (about £15...we've had it a while but only recently started using it) and we bought it with gift vouchers from my brief survey stint (not enough reward for the time as far as I'm concerned) and the re-chargeable batteries can be bought anywhere.

 We have a battery powered lantern from a car boot sale, I suppose it was originally bought for camping and we paid a few pounds for it. We mainly use it in the shed. We've brought it in recently and used it in the house as we've run it on batteries charged by the sun. We are doing everything we can to give as little money to the N Power as we possibly can. It seems to work and we have no complaints.

I'll finish with my wood powered 'tumble drier' - three racks of washing drying around the wood burner. It was outside until mid day, the sun hadn't shown up and there's little breeze, so I've lit the fire and ranged the clothes around it to dry. Again, sticking it to N Power!

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Frugal anniversary celebrations.

Hello Dear Reader,

To start with, here's the photo of my lamp that runs on re-chargable batteries, that I recharge with a solar charger. It gives me the extra light I need to mark books on a dark night. I couldn't make my computer 'find' the camera memory card, although today, the computer seems to have 'fixed' itself!

Dear Beloved and I have known each other for twenty four years, since he was a friend of a friend. We've lived together for fifteen years today. We enjoyed a busy day at home. The winter preparations continue. My very own man mountain has been out demolishing a pile of green wood. We've borrowed a hydraulic log splitter off an friend and we're able to get through tons of logs in one day. We can both swing an axe but, even with gloves, we end up with numb hands and aching shoulders. We still have to move piles of logs from one place to another.

The results of one day's work is fantastic. This is wood that we will burn next year and we'll make sure we have enough to see us through next winter. It's amazing how much wood you can get through. Now the novelty of the wood burner is starting to wear off, we're not lighting it every day as we've had to pay for the wood we're currently burning and we have to be frugal with that to. Everything has to go that little bit further these days.

We've worked together on the wood today. The large 'rounds' are impossible for one person to lift and they need steadying on the log splitter. I've also moved logs closer to the house and into the store, I've also chopped two bags of kindling. It's very easy to get through a lot of that too. We don't buy that, we chop waste wood (thanks to Foster Mummy and Man Wonderful for bringing two sacks of waste wood) and start the fires with that. We glean newspapers from Dearly Beloved's train rides home and I bring home paper from the recycling bin at work. No wasting money on fire lighters in this house.

We won't be going out for a meal, we never do. We won't be going to the cinema or theatre as we never do that either. We will light the fire, have a home cooked meal, share a bottle of local cider and just enjoy having time together. We've never let money define our happiness. We've been happy enough without it for years and years.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

a message for N power

Here's an open message to N Power, my utility provider!

You along with the other robbing country folk have now increased our energy prices by 20% this year. I'm being so very very careful. I have not used gas for the last 10 days. I've not heated any water, or used the hob or had any radiators on. I'm loving the warmer weather as I can dry washing outside and I'm heating the house with wood.

Tonight, I moved lots of wood, stacked it and sorted it, chopped some and brought the weekend's wood indoors and placed it in baskets. I gardened, put hanging baskets and the last of the tomato plants in the compost heap. I didn't light the fire for a while because I was so warm from the jobs I had to do. I washed clothes and they are drying in front of the wood stove. None of this has involved much bought energy. Again, I'm lighting the room with one eco bulb and this blog is being typed from the light of a  solar charged lamp. I've had micro mini showers, I've flushed the loo with shower water caught into a huge blue plastic box. To all the energy companies.......................you can take your price increases and stuff them! I've no spare money for lights and gas so bog off......I'm not paying and I'm doing without!

How very dare you!

Here is an open message to the unsuspecting fool who tried to promote debt consolidation on my blog - just **** off and never darken my blog again! Debt is debt is debt. The only way to get rid of it is pay it off, not run up more debts by paying more interest over a longer period. If you email me, I'll give you my address and if you've got the b**s, then you can come here and I'll personally give you the message. Now jog on!

Love Froogsxxxxx

In the dark?

 Hello Dear Reader,

The nights are drawing in, but I really don't mind. I love the passing seasons and I like the dark cosiness of this time of year. I have noticed though that I have to put the lights on now by six in the evening. I'm really aware of the extra energy costs at this time of year. I have a solar battery charger and a portable battery lamp that takes those batteries that I've charged for free. I have wall low energy lamps but need better light to mark school books by. Here's my low energy and sustainable experiment in lighting and I can get two classes of books on one charge. I then feel compelled to go to bed.......................the light has run out. It's a way of using the sun and giving up on the day when the sun's energy has gone.

My camera memory card and my netbook are not talking to each other tonight so I've taken the photo of me being lit by a solar charge with my webcam! As you can see, it's blinding and quite bright enough to read or mark books by. Well, I'm quite cosy for the night, with washing drying by the fire and the log burner heating the house. As I said, I don't mind the dark and I enjoy the changing seasons.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

What a difference a day makes

 Hello Dear Reader,

Sometimes, you've got to save a quid! I try to use my slow cooker and my mini-oven instead of my gas cooker or main electric oven. I have a wall mounted energy monitor and I hate seeing my money disappear so I do everything I can to use as little energy as possible. Today, we treated ourselves to a small joint of brisket which requires a very gentle slow roast. I made our supper at 5.30 this morning and at 5.30 tonight, we were eating lovely shredded slow roasted beef. There's enough for the next couple of meals as well. Why not try a week of slow cooking and check your meter to see how much energy you've saved. Using my slow cooker is one of the many ways I save electricity. I only have eco bulbs, I have nothing on stand by, I have no tumble drier, I only have one light on in the one room I am in, I don't put the lights on until I can't see, we use the slow cooker, I use my mini oven. In fact, I do everything I can to use as little energy as possible.

Are you with me on this one?

Winter quarters

Winter office with feline PA.

 Hello Dear Reader,

I plan most of my lessons and do most of my marking at home. My office is too chilly and my fingers went numb. I gave in and lit the fire. I'm using a small side table as my winter desk and I've marked essays and planned lessons on my little netbook. I've done so in the heat of the fire. My firewood stock has ensured we haven't had any need for any other heating.

I bought the table for £15 in a junk shop and painted it with ivory egg shell paint. It does mean I have to keep popping upstairs for things I need from the office. I really don't mind shrinking my house for the winter. How does your house shrink in the winter? Or, if you're on the other side of the planet? Does your house grow as you move into the outdoor kitchen or under the veranda.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Winter preparations

 Hello Dear Reader,

I had a lovely time yesterday with Foster Mummy and Man Wonderful and we often find solutions for problems over a cuppa. We were discussing heating and not heating our houses. I don't heat much of mine. I only heat two rooms, the living room and my office. My office has an oil filled radiator that I have on the lowest setting and it keeps the room very warm. It has thermostatic control that turns itself off once the room is warm enough. I only turn on the central heating in dire circumstances! See the video below of Cornwall being battered by the sea, it's always wet here in the Spring, Autumn and Winter and the humidity is usually at least 95% at this time of year. We do get a few crisp dry days but the sea air makes it damp.



I can get away with so little heating because my house has big south facing windows and any light warms the house. We also have cavity wall insulation and loft insulation, thick lined curtains, door curtains, lap blankets and an electric blanket on our bed. However, parts of my house, such as behind curtains, the corners of rooms get colder and the warm circulating air means there are damp spots and mould can grow there. I get rid of it as soon as it develops by spraying a very diluted bleach solution and clean it off where ever I find it. I'll often touch up with some emulsion paint to keep areas bright. I also air the house whenever the air is dry. I light the open fire and now the wood stove and that pulls the cold air around the house.

We are a little obsessed with damp and mould. The picture below is a sample of a worse case scenario, I never get anything as bad as this as I keep on top of it. I keep clothes that I won't wear for a while in vacuum sealed bags to stop any mould. Foster Mummy told me about the damp traps and I'll buy some when I find them to put on window sills to try and combat some of the damp so it doesn't turn to mould.

My winter preparations are about shrinking the house down to the rooms we use and preparing the rooms I don't use. Firstly, I pull all the furniture into the middle of the rooms so the air can circulate behind and I make sure I air the rooms when ever I can. I stash bedding and pillows in vacuum bags and turn beds on their sides. I can always heat and prepare the rooms if I have any visitors.

It's not really cold yet but the air is constantly cool and humid and I keep a low fire lit when I can (although I need to burn wood sparingly, it's not free after all) to keep the house dry.

Well that's me done for the day. What 'odd' weather conditions do you have to make allowances for and prepare for? Anyone stocking up on salt and grit yet? Anyone got any hints about dealing with extreme weather without spending a lot of money?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

CT mom - this is how we get hot water for washing. We have electric showers in the UK. The cold water comes in, it's heated without storing it and pumped out hot. No storage tank, just what we want. So I don't use gas to heat the water.  

Affordable alternatives

 Hello Dear Reader,

I like Coq au Vin or Chicken Chasseur or any kind of chicken stew or casserole. Chicken pieces are extremely expensive and it's always cheaper to buy an entire chicken. You can make this recipe from chicken thighs (which I usually do) but this version is even cheaper.

I stocked up the freezer when Quorn pieces were on offer for 99p a bag in Tesco's. I still have a few bags tucked away. Take two bacon rashers, 4oz of mushrooms, 2 carrots, 1 bag of quorn chunks, one onion from the store in the dry shed and one sachet of Chicken casserole mix of which I have several left from my last Approved Foods order. Finely diced and fry the onions, add sliced mushrooms and carrots, fry gently until cooked. Add the quorn, three quarters of a pint of water and a sachet of casserole mix. Allow to simmer with a lidded pan for 20 minutes.

At the same time cook the potatoes with the cabbage in the steam above for the same time.

You'll then have a much cheaper alternative to chicken casserole or chicken stew in under half an hour at a fraction of the cost. I even have a marg tub of casserole ready to go into the freezer, with another marg tub of mashed potato and I have a meal ready for another day. Again, here's another meal for well under £1 a serving from Frugal Towers.

Well then dear reader, what affordable alternative do you make do with?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Life without a tumble drier

Hello Dear Reader,

I grew up with a mum's twin tub and lots of clothes horses. We never had an automatic washer let alone a drier. I have three clothes horses. A fantastic continental version that we bought from Lidl and two standard ones. I have two top of the range Minky driers and they last for years and years. If the weather looks 'dodgy' then the washing goes on them and not the whirly gig line so I can just grab it in doors. In the winter, I stand them in front of the patio doors and the passive solar dries the laundry. It also makes the house mouldy behind curtains and in corners of the rooms. Nothing dries washing like a real fire. Stoke up with old wood and shut the fire down for the night, stand it well away from the fire (this was positioned for the photo) and leave over night. By morning, it's dry.

I am still reeling from the luxury of heating. It's amazing how cold we've been over the last few years with the heating set to 17 degrees. We hand our bath towels over the banister at the top of the stairs and instead of their usual cold mustiness by Wednesday, they are crisp and dry and like new every morning.

All year, I keep an eye on the weather forecast and wash when there's good weather. Now, I can light the fire and dry when I need to.

How do you cope with washing? When do you do it and how do you get it dry?

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xx

Oh really.........I hadn't thought of that!

Hello dear Reader,

Anyone who watched the news yesterday would have been subjected to Wavy Dave's diatribe on the state of the economy and the request that everyone paid off their debts. Oh really Dave, so we have to hang on in there. Most people are gripping on and only just by the tips of their finger tips. I was able to pay of the bulk of my debts when there was more money to earn and living costs are slightly higher. If anyone is to pay off their debts in the current economy here is what I would do.

1. Don't spend any money on anything other than food and keeping a roof over your head.We did this and continue to do this. Only now, in the last month have we spent anything on our home and then it's a means of keeping warm. I would hate another winter like the last when I could do nothing but huddle under blankets to keep warm.

2. Don't eat out, don't go out, don't buy a paper or magazine. My treat was a paper or magazine that I or Dearly Beloved found on the train on the way home. We still haven't eaten out.

3. You can not afford a tumble drier, central heating, more than one light on or anything on standby. We still don't use heating, don't have a drier and nothing's on stand by.

4. You can not afford baths and get a shower timer - four minutes and out!

5. Do not buy any new clothes until your debts are gone.

6. Get a water meter and save all water for flushing the toilet. We still have a plastic bowl in every sink and wash our hands then tip the water down the sink.

7.Set a £2 a day per person food budget. It's possible to eat well on that.

8. Don't buy books, CDs or films - we borrow all ours from the library.

9. Every penny you earn after food and overheads must go to debt repayment - you'll never pay off what you put off.

10. Save a tiny amount, you never know when your filling will fall out or your glasses will break.

11. Snowball your debts, pay the minimum on all but one and throw everything at one debt to pay if off quickly. Keep doing that debt by debt until it's gone.

12. When your debts are gone, do the same with your mortgage - that's a debt too. Keep lowering the capital and you'll have a smaller interest charge per month.

13. Ignore others who spend money, they'll regret not getting out of debt and secretly, they'll wish they'd done what you'd done.

14. Wrap up and keep the heating off, go to bed with a hot water bottle and read, I did for a long time and it didn't kill me.

15. Even if you have £2.46 spare at the end of the month, put it in savings or paying off a debt.

You don't need Wavy Dave to tell you whilst there is me. Pay off your debts. You will never be free so long as you have them. Debt is slavery so set yourself free.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxx

Cozy on down

Hello reader,

I've given in and lit the fire. It's throwing it down with rain, the wind is bashing the side of the house and it's pitch black. After a lovely day at work, I raced home as we've had a stove installed. Much more effective than an open fire and a few logs have warmed the entire house all evening. I've even washed some laundry and I'll leave it to dry in the residual heat over night. I'll spend the next few hours marking books in front of the fire with some herby tea. The wind can howl, it's cozy inside. Not being in any debt means I can afford to invest in keeping warm and after the bitterness of a house that we could only afford to heat to seventeen degrees, the delicious warmth of the stove is total luxury.

Good night readers, until tomorrow,

Love Froogs

Cooking an entire meal in a mini oven

Hello Dear Reader,

Again, now I learnt how, you can have some musical accompaniment from Show of Hands. Cousin Jack..........about the "English, living in our houses and the Spanish, fishing in our seas." Locally caught fish is seasonal, expensive and rare. The supermarket sells fish for under £2 for six fillets of pollack. I need to take out a second mortgage to buy it locally caught. So, along with the music, is the cooking of some foreign but reasonably affordable fish.

Check out the value range fish. Turn it over and see what it is. It's usually Pollack, a white fish, not unlike whiting. It's good value for money and you can cook it from frozen.

Put a few fillets, with some thing butterish in the middle of some foil and wrap up like a pasty. I also shook some bottled lemon juice (cheaper than fresh and last for years in the fridge) over it.

I then did the same with some mixed frozen veg, but I just added a splash of water.

I gave a couple of small spuds a helping hand by zapping them in the microwave for a few minutes. I placed them all on a baking tray and popped them into the mini oven to all cook together. I could have saved foil and put the veg in with the fish.

Here they all are, baking away in the mini-oven. I then dug out of the back of the cupboard, some parsley sauce mix that I'd bought from Approved Foods when they had ten sachets for £1.

Simply blend with milk in a jug, zap in the micro wave with a stir half way.

Pour over fish and eat. Time was 30 minutes from start to finish and cost was under £1. This was an all I could be bothered to cook production from the frugal kitchen of Frugal Queen.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs