How to distinguish a Want from a Need

The other day at college we were talking about what children need and this little pyramid from the psychologist Maslov was mentioned.

It's known as his Hierarchy of Needs and I think it is very helpful in allowing us 'frugal folk' to distinguish a Need from a Want when we are trying to cut our spending.

Yesterday I was sorely tempted to go into town and mooch around the charity shops. I had the time and could justify the trip to town because the library books needed changing. However, thinking about this little pyramid helped me to change my mind. I realised that even though I was only going to look in the charity shops it was really a 'shopping as leisure' activity and was therefore definitely not a need. I could renew the library books on online and read the free ebooks I had downloaded until I had another reason to go into town later this week.

The desired trip to town was not going to be to meet a physical or safety need. It was not going to help me achieve a feeling of being loved or belonging. It was not going to improve my self-esteem and certainly was not going to contribute to my self-actualisation. I could stay home and do some journal writing for college instead !

Thinking about the 5 layers of needs which Maslov identified my real need to save money by staying home and saving the petrol money for a trustee trip to Nottingham later in the week ! Volunteering is something I value far above having a look around the shops ! 

Planning for Half Term

Yesterday I made a food plan for half term to make sure that I won't need to buy extra stuff for breakfasts and lunches. Today I asked MasterShoestring what was the best part of half term and he said riding his bike and seeing friends. Not expensive activities !

Half term is always going to be a bit more expensive than term time as the children will be home all the time and you might want to treat them or do something special or even just need the heating on a bit more often. However, having a plan can stop the cost running away with you.

Here's our plan for the week:-

Saturday - out with friends mountain biking, need money to buy food but frugal option would be to bring your own.

Sunday - lie in until Service then watch a movie later.

Monday - more mountain biking

Tuesday - day out at free museum

Wednesday - Learn to Cook day

Thursday - Make Crafts

Friday - Sleepover

Have a lovely half term !

Frugal Friday

This week we had several wins on the frugal front that we don't often have, so I was very happy about that !

The first one was ordering a watch battery online and then fitting it myself. Nothing went wrong and the watch is back on my wrist keeping perfect time. Another bonus was we found a spare watch in the cash box whilst I was waiting for the battery to arrive, so I shan't need a new one if the current one ever stops working !

The second win was going shopping late one night and finally picking up some reduced price bargains, including strawberries. These are now safely packed away in the freezer, apart from a couple of sandwiches which MrShoestring took for lunch this week.

The third win was from our generous grape growing neighbour who gifted us 6kg of grapes to make grape juice from. He has says that he has so many things made from grapes stored away in his pantry that he is thinking that he'll be alright for jam and juice for at least 5 years ! So we were very happy to benefit from the excess.

I also picked some tomatoes and raspberries from the garden and even a few more peas. It is lovely to still have some produce coming in. I also made tortillas, bread, lemon drizzle cake, jacket potatoes, granola, salsa and refried beans.

My Dad visited from the USA for a couple of days and we gave him his Christmas presents to take back with him, saving at least £12 in postage and possibly more. This was something I was planning to do this month so glad I remembered. He did the same, so I think that might be where my 'frugal' gene comes from !

I did back exercises all week to save on a visit to the physiotherapist and also found a cushion which I can use for a back wedge in the car, saving £32 on buying one! I downloaded a free ebook for the Kindle and mended a piece of clothing. I took all my food and drink to college and was jolly glad not to stand in a queue when all the sessions over-ran this week !

I am looking forward to a peaceful weekend and half term next week !

Making Grape Juice

On Saturday I was lucky enough to be given 6kg of table grapes. The guy who grew them lives very close and nobody in his house wants to eat them has they contain lots of pips. We were fortunate enough to get some last year too.

However, last year the grapes were a bit sour, this year they were sweet enough to eat so we ate some over the weekend. I was a bit worried that so many would start to go bad all at once so out came the steam juicer and it was just as well that we had eaten some as the ones that were left filled it to the brim!

This is a very easy way to make grape juice. Just fill the bottom of the juicer with water and place it on a heat source. Then wait for the steam to do it's work and pour off the grape juice. I got 6 pints which have gone in the freezer to make non-alcoholic mulled wine over Christmas and New Year. MrShoestring tried a bit of hot grape juice as it came out of the steamer and pronounced it quite sweet enough without adding sugar, so that was a bit of a saving too!

You can't beat free grape juice and I'm so glad to have the juicer so that I can take advantage of generous offers like the one we had for the grapes !

Cheat's Lemon Drizzle Cake

This is the cake I make when we have none left and MasterShoestring is urgently in need of some. It doers not need any eggs or margarine so is ideal when the cupboard is barer than usual !

2 cups self raising flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

lemon juice and sugar to top

Mix the first 4 ingredients together and place in a greased 9in cake pan. Bake in a 180C oven for 30 -40 minutes or until brown. As soon as it comes out of the oven scatter sugar all over the top and then sprinkle enough lemon juice on top to cover the sugar.

Leave to cool and enjoy !

Saving Money on Watch Battery Replacement

The last time I needed a watch battery replaced I went to Timpson and paid £6.99. I thought that this was quite a bit when I knew the watch battery cost under £1.

So this time I decided to do it myself. I ordered a watch back opener off the internet and that cost under £2 and I can use it again and again.

It's like a really sharp knife which fits under the little grove on the back of the watch so you can lever the back off.

Next I ordered the watch battery I needed and got 2 batteries for £1.20, making each one 60p.

The Renata make was the make which was already in the watch and had lasted over 2 years, so seemed good value for money.

Then it was just a question of popping the battery in to replace the old one and snapping the back on the watch.

Working again at a cost of under 3 pounds and I still have a battery and a watch opener for the next time.

This only works on watches where you can see the little groove on the back to open it. Some more expensive watches still need a professional watch opener, which is a special piece of kit and not worth buying for home use. But if you have the other sort you can save yourself quite a bit by doing it yourself !

Stoptober 3

There is still plenty of money in the account but not much left in the petrol account ! I think this might mean that either I'm driving too much or I should ask for expenses for the trustee work !

All the spending this week has either been on food, petrol or topping up the Oyster card for MrShoestring to get into London. He has a refund due from a time when he thought he swiped in at a station but it did not register. This happens quite a lot so now we look at the end of every week to check to see if there are any unclaimed refunds.

Another piece of good news was that he was offered a permanent contract where he is working now, but I'll have to check the tax credits again as I think accepting it will mean that we are entitled to less help. The one thing I do not like about the tax credit system is that they give you money all year and then ask for some of it back again at the end of it if you have earned more than you thought you would. This is what has stopped us claiming in the past, so I'm determined to get it sorted out along the way !

I drove to see friends, but then they paid for a cup of tea in a cafe so no spending there ! Also I'm waiting to replace a battery in my watch by ordering online rather than paying someone else to do the replacement.

All the lovely weather has meant plenty of produce from the garden, even a second crop of peas which were delicious with the Sunday chicken. My Dad is coming to stay for a few days this week so we did have to splash out for some cornflakes, as that is his preferred breakfast. He likes marmalade too but I don't have any of that, so decided homemade jam will have to do !

There were three jumble sales this weekend but I didn't go to any of them, quite a feat of self-control, since there haven't been any for ages. However, I decided that since I'm only buying 'needs' this month I really didn't need to go !

I hope you have also had a great week !