The Reckoning 

So the final reckoning this month sees us able to put around a third of our income into savings which is a great result ! The grocery challenge was very successful with spending of £93, including MasterShoestring's school lunches. This was helped by the fact that for over half of the month the schools were on holiday, so he ate cheap leftovers for lunch rather than school dinners. With school back and GCSE examinations next month I think the grocery budget will go back up to normal, which is around £170 a month. If I can keep it lower I will as there are still plenty of courgettes, apples and berries in the freezers and rhubarb to come !

The school holidays also meant that we underspent on the PETROL and TRANSPORT categories of the budget, but that just means that we have something saved towards those months when it is a bit more expensive. The high savings rate was also helped by the fact that there was no Council Tax this month. That will start back up again in May and will be £14 a month more expensive so I shall have to re-jig the budget at some point.

Medical expenses were quite high this month as I bought eye drops and vitamins at a bulk rate, so that meant a large outgoing in one month to save in the ones to come. We also spent quite a bit on getting the vegetable garden ready, but this is budgeted for and will save us money on food costs later on in the year. (Fingers crossed that the wet snow predicted for today does not harm the seedlings already in the ground! We have covered them with fleece but cannot remember a year when it was this cold so far on in the spring.)

Next month we have 4 family birthdays and a new broadband and telephone deal to find, fingers crossed we can still make it a thrifty month !

Jumble Sale Haul

The first sale I went to was no good and they were packing up the hall as I arrived but the second was much better.

I love traditional Irish music so this was a great find !

Imagine how pleased I was when I found a second CD !

Then I found some jazz albums which I also like.

This has a few tracks I haven't heard before.

This was the bargain of the sale as not only was it a 3CD set but it was in the original packaging and in very good condition so that has been popped in the gift cupboard ! Maybe I can persuade someone to give it to me !

Aldi v Lidl

Part of our challenge to 'live on a shoestring' is to keep the grocery budget as low as we can. After this month's challenge to eat up as much food in the pantry and freezers as we can we have started to run low on lots of basics so yesterday I went to do a larger shop ready for the start of next month.

I debated whether to go to Aldi 9 miles away or Lidl 10 miles away. In the end I went to Lidl which takes less time to get to as the road is a dual carriageway and I did not have so much time. I went to Aldi this month and thought that it had gone very upmarket, so I was interested to see if anything had changed at Lidl.

When I arrived it was impossible to park in the car park, there were so many cars waiting that they were queuing out on to the road. I was in a hurry so took a chance on parking on the road and hoping that I would not overstay the free limit. I was very quick going around the store as they did not have many of the things I wanted !

I also noticed that quite a few of the prices had crept up so they were closer to the normal prices in Tesco. I think that I did save on the shopping but because of all the things they did not have in stock I then had to go and pay nearly the same amount of money again for the missing things in Tesco. For this reason I think that Lidl is going off my list of preferred places to shop and I'll go back to making a once a month trip to Aldi at a time when it is not so busy. However, I also think that I shall start keeping a price book so that I can check that with the added cost of travel it really still is cheaper to shop there !

Frugal Friday

It has been a very busy week here at Shoestring Cottage so no time for shopping, which is quite money saving unless you are missing out on loss leaders in the stores because you haven't the time to fetch them !

I got several good books from the library and downloaded a free ebook for the Kindle. We washed out plastic bags for re-use and reused foil. We cooked ahead and made bread and several meals for busy nights, this not only save money but sanity as well !

I had one egg in a box which had broken so instead of throwing it away I made 5 fairy cakes to use it up. I got a free Sunday a paper and a scarf and some books when MissShoestring started to clear out her stuff ready to move into her own flat !

I found the time to take the cash box full of pennies down to the coin counting machine in the supermarket and got a shopping voucher for £7.60. I don't usually use coin counting machines as they take a around 10% of your money as a fee for doing the counting. However, I knew that a trip to the bank to get bags was not going to be possible and the box was getting too full to shut, so I decided convenience was a good thing in this case !

We also got some free stationery and printed out lots of free past papers for MasterShoestring's GCSE revision, only a couple of weeks until the exams begin and he has requested a good supply of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard to help with revising ! So I think the shopping bill may rise this month !

I hope that you had a good, frugal week !

Cooking, Biking and Surviving

The only time I have come across the Hairy Bikers was when I was looking for low calorie recipes for MrShoestring but on Saturday I saw their autobiography in the library and thought it looked interesting so got it and brought it home !

Well the story is far more riveting than any cookery programme I have ever watched. I finished it in 2 days and with renewed respect for them as people as well as cooks and travellers.

If you haven't read the book it is called " The Hairy Bikers. Blood Sweat and Tyres" and I would thoroughly recommend it. Now that it is finished I think that I shall keep an eye out for their other books and search to see if any of their old programmes are available to view.

It is always nice when you take a chance on something and then discover that there is a whole world of interest that you have overlooked, so I shall be looking into the world of the Hairy Bikers with a bit more interest from now on.

I shan't spoil the story for you in case you want to read the book but I will say that they have overcome a lot to get where they are today and I know their Hairy Dieters Club is helping a lot of men lose weight !

Slow Cooker Bolognaise Sauce

This wonderful, very forgiving recipe has formed the basis of two suppers this week when I've been away at supper time, once as the bottom of a shepherd's pie and once as what it is supposed to be for, spaghetti bolognaise. I had never previously cooked meat on LOW in the slow cooker without a bit of pre-cooking first but this works very well !

1lb mince beef

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

3 beef stock cubes

200ml red wine or stock

2 tins chopped tomatoes

4 tbsps tomato puree

2 tbsps mixed herbs

fresh ground pepper

a bay leaf

Mix all the ingredients in the slow cooker and add a couple of handfuls of red lentils if you want the meat to go further. Leave on LOW for 6-7 hours and enjoy !

So simple and really good !

Good Reads

I did very well at the jumble sale on the book front and I am going to keep this pristine copy in the gift cupboard fro MrShoestring's birthday. It looks very exciting and interesting and once he has finished reading it, I can have a look !

I saw quite a few copies of this book at the sale and in the end got it to make up my selection to 5 books so I could get the special price of 5 books for £1 ! We have enjoyed CJ Sansom's historical thrillers so I hope the writing is just as good in this story about the Spanish Civil War.

I thought that I had read all Nevil Shute's books so I was intrigued to find this reprint of a story I have not heard about for based duringWorld War 2 in France. I am looking forward to reading it !

This was another book I had not read and MrShoestring enjoys Bill Bryson's writing too, so this will be enjoyed by both of us !

Finally, this Nora Roberts' romance will be saved for a time when other people eat chocolate or ice cream, sometime next holidays when I feel like a bit of escapism !

All this for a bit less than the cost of 2 lots of reservation fees at the library !