A Bit of Excitement !

The high winds recently made us realise that the diseased oak tree at the front was rather vulnerable and so on Friday we decide to get some quotes to see how much it would cost to have it taken down in a planned way rather than have it fall down !

Now is the ideal time to have some tree work done as the leaves are all down and the tree surgeons are quite quiet for work. However, we were not expecting that the four we telephoned on Friday would all be able to come and give a quote that afternoon !

The quotes varied a lot, with the most expensive being twice the price of the one we decide to accept. The cheapest firm would also let us keep all the logs for free and was able to come and do the work the next day ! It was still expensive and our bank account looks several hundred pounds poorer because of it, but after they started to cut down the tree we realised that it had been a good decision as nearly all the parts of the tree were diseased in the middle. It was also very exciting watching them roping up, climbing into the tree and then planning how to cut it all down safely !

There were three men in the crew and it took them just over three and half hours to cut it all down, chip the smaller branches and leave us a huge pile of logs.

Once the logs are seasoned they will certainly go a long way to meeting one Winter's firewood needs so that will be a little bit of a saving ! The other big saving we realised was that we have been able to do this work in a planned way and shop around for a good price. If we had waited until the tree possibly came down in a storm we might have been looking a lot of inconvenience, as it would certainly have blocked the drive and it was also tall enough, that depending on how it fell, it could have damaged the house. Since we don't own a chain saw we would a have had to pay whatever a tree surgeon would have been asking, at a time when there would have been lots of other people looking for help.

So all in all we are glad that we made the call on Friday to have the tree down and are equally glad that savings can pay for it !

Where is Moldova ?

The board game that is rather than the country ! Every Saturday night in January we try and do something fun for entertainment and tonight it's going to be a rematch with this new game that we were given for Christmas.

Everybody in the family is now over 15 years old so finding a board game that all want to play, that lasts a reasonable length of time and keeps us all interested is quite a challenge, but this one fits the bill. The great thing about it is that no-one knows who is going to win until right at the very end which keeps the interest level high. You do need to know something about the geography of Europe to play but even primary school children could answer some of the questions and you can play in teams too. The object is to gain a line of 5 countries all connected to one another and you can acquire countries using a mixture of skill and luck.

After we had played this game the first time we went back to playing some others for the rest of the evening and very much enjoyed "Ticket to Ride' as well. We decided that we are not that keen on "Settlers of Catan" so having tried over a number of years to play that and like it better we are going to give it away ! The all-time favourite however remains,"Monopoly", which I'm still not sure about as it can lead to arguments ! Fingers crossed that tonight remains peaceful !

We thoroughly recommend a board game tournament as a change from screen-based entertainment so why not look out a few favourites and give it a go ?

Frugal Friday

The first frugal Friday of the year and the month ! So far we are doing quite well and hope you are too !

There were still quite a few Christmassy food bargains to be had so I bought 2 selection packs for half price to be used for 'Saturday' chocolate and promptly hid them, so they will last all month. I also got two packets of Asda finest mince pies for a third of the initial cost and a Whitworths Christmas cake kit for £2. The mince pies will be frozen and the cake kit saved until next year.

I downloaded a few good ebooks for free and  MrShoestring mended the digital radio so with magazines and books from the library we were well set for entertainment. This was a good thing as we don't have television reception and have been watching throughout the internet but that has not been working well this week.

I also got a free subscription to 'Country Living' magazine as a gift from the bank. They offer a reward and I always get a free magazine !

We re-used foil and got a free soup and a coupon for a free tin of Princes fruit in juice. I also got free stamps from the Royal Mail survey which has started again, so that is good ! I froze leftover wine for use in dishes later in the month and made a fantastic soup from all the New Year's leftovers.

A great bargain was getting lovely books about baking at The Works for 10p each. These will make great gifts and have been popped into the present cupboard. I also got a new frugal cookbook for £1 in Poundland so I'll try out a few ideas from there and let you know if it is any good !

Finally, I posted some books that I had had for sale on Amazon to Ziffit and got another tidy sum to add to the gift account, so that was great !

I hope that you have a great weekend and that your first week of the year has been a good one too !

Reading to help with Frugal Living

Whether you want to know how to set up a budget or cook 3 healthy meals a day with the money you have, reading is the quickest way to learn and one of the most cost effective. There is lots of information available for free at the library, in free ebooks and on the internet and utilising free resources will help to signpost you to those ones you want to invest a bit more time and money in. For instance I try hard to order a book at the library or to read a trial chapter before I commit to buying it. That way you can make sure that it is a resource you will use over time. I don't buy cookbooks unless they contain unless ten recipes I can imagine making. Otherwise I just copy the recipe and return the book to the library !

Over the next few Thursdays I thought it might be helpful to have a look at free resources, cheap books etc. which are available to help with the frugal journey. I want to look for new resources to encourage us as well. The first idea I got from another frugal blog and that was to have a look at the cook book

 " Kitchen in the Hills." by Elizabeth West. I have read her other two books " A Hovel in the Hills" and " A Garden in the Hills" all about going to live in an off-grid cottage in Snowdonia in the 1970s, but did not know that she had also published a cookbook.

The book is available second-hand for a very reasonable price but true to my wish to have a look at it before buying I searched the library catalogue and found it in the archives. Ordering a book costs 60p in our library system so if I can collect it myself I do, however, you can't do that with the archives so I've invested my 60p and am looking forward to seeing what new frugal recipes I can glean !

Have you got favourite frugal reading ?

Carrot and Coriander Soup

With all those bargain carrots in the garage and plenty of frozen stock a soup is a great idea for supper tonight. If you don't like yours so spicy then omit some of the coriander and don't put a sprinkle of paprika on top to serve !

1 onion

1 potato

1lb carrots

11/2 pints stock

1 tsp ground coriander

a few coriander leaves to garnish

sprinkle of paprika on top

Chop the onion and fry in a little oil. Chop the carrots and potatoes and add to the pan with the stock and the ground coriander. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until potatoes and carrots are cooked. Blitz until smooth using a hand or goblet blender and add salt and pepper to taste. Finish with a sprinkle of paprika and a coriander leaf to serve ! Just the thing for the wet and windy weather we are having !

Goals for the New Year

One of the goals for the new year is to have a monthly challenge running as well as some annual ones. This month's challenge is to keep the grocery spending as low as possible. Groceries for us includes household stuff like toilet rolls and cleaning materials and MasterShoestring's school lunches. We have an overall budget of £170 a month and I would like to spend much less than this in January. MasterShoestring's lunches cost at least £10 a week, depending on how hungry he is and sometimes more, so that decreases the budget quite a bit and we still have MissShoestring at home this month as well, so quite a challenge ! I'll be reporting on how we are getting on every Monday in January.

The first thing I did was inventory all the food in the house and then make a menu plan for the whole month. I did not do a bulk shop but have decided to only buy what we need and run out of once a week. This will stop me going to the shops and then picking up extras. I have also hidden various stocks, like chocolate, in places where people can't find it ! This ensures that only the weekly quantity is consumed over the month rather than all eaten at the start !

We have MrShoestring's birthday towards the end of the month and I've already got a haggis and a birthday cake planned ! So if everything goes to plan it should work very well !

Short term goals for the first 6 months include saving £600 towards our Scandinavian holiday and putting another £250 towards my course fees for next year. I'm also hoping to cut down overall spending to £17000 a year. There are a few unknowns, such as what MasterShoestring will be doing after GCSEs, which might mean that we have additional expenses, so I'm not being too rigid about the figure. Also MissShoestring is still living at home and all those hot showers and lifts to the station add up ! We have a plan and I'm quite excited to see how it all works out !

Happy New Year

A very Happy New 2018 to you and yours ! Here's to another successful and frugal year to come !

We shall be singing the following carol today, to the tune from Benjamin Britten and also enjoying a delicious roast beef dinner with beef that I bought at half price before Christmas began ! Challenges start tomorrow !

Here we bring new water

From the well so clear,For to worship God with,This happy New Year.Sing levy-dew, sing levy-dew,The water and the wine;The seven bright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine.

Sing reign of Fair Maid
With gold upon her toe -
Open you the West Door,
And turn the Old Year go:
Sing levy-dew, sing levy-dew,The water and the wine;The seven bright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine

Sing reign of Fair Maid,
With gold upon her chin -
Open up the East Door,
And let the New Year in.
Sing levy-dew, sing levy-dew,The water and the wine;The seven bright gold wiresAnd the bugles they do shine