Frugal Friday

Plenty of frugal stuff going on this week but also plenty of spending, what with the tree surgery and an unexpected parking ticket ! So we definitely need to keep on stretching those pennies !

The first thing we did was make sure that every meal was cooked from scratch and when I ran out of one ingredient I substituted it one another to make sure that I did not go shopping more than once a week. We made roasted vegetables, yoghurt, vegetable stock, quiche, pasta bake, pizza, soup and tortillas, as well as bread, a crumble and pancakes. Also, a rather fancy iced sponge to use up the last of the icing from the holidays.

I washed out some plastic bags for re-use, reused foil and started some new celery plants from the ends of old celery, I've got 3 new plants now ! I used a click and collect service for a new pillow for MrShoestring to save the petrol I would have used driving into town for just 1 item.

I went to a free book club and got free magazines and books from the library and online. I got £5 worth of free shopping at Sainsburys using my Nectar points and used up some past their best satsumas and plums by juicing and zesting the satsumas and stewing the plums. They have been frozen and will come in handy for cakes over the next couple of weeks.

I decluttered the bookshelves in the study again and sent off another parcel to Ziffit, so that should mean a few more pounds in the gift spending column once they are accepted. We notified the HMRC that MrShoestring is earning more this year than we expected, so now all the tax credits have stopped. They have said that they will claim back the overpayment from next year's tax credits. I am glad that we told them as soon as we could so the amount we owe isn't any larger !

All in all not a bad week but all the unexpected expenses and changes have made me glad that we know how to pull in the belt a bit as that is definitely what we shall be doing !