No Asda bargains this week....still frugaling away...

Went a bit later to Asda this Sunday but I think it was too late - the only thing I got reduced was some asparagus for 1p. Still sticking to my £50 budget but finding it really hard if I dont get yellow sticky bargains. Frugalling away at other things - even though we have all energy saving light bulbs we were still bad at leaving them on but are working on that and getting a lot better. I have even taken a bulb out of our three light fitting - every little helps. TV etc is switched off at the wall every night and if its cold and the heating has to be on its turned off at 9pm at the latest as since we got our cavity wall insulation it takes a lot longer to cool down. I'm doing an experiment to make my own cleaning wipes. I bought the cheapest Smart price cleaner and put 1/2 cap into a container with water and added a pile of rags (old t-shirts, tea towels etc. I clean the bathroom every day with one then do the floor and put it in a seperate washing pile. We use others on a swiffer to clean the floors (I dont have carpets so no hoover) I also have knit/crocheted dishcloths as I had cotton left over from Christmas presents and use 1 per day in the kitchen and again, gets put into the seperate washing pile with the rags. My intention is to get a lidded bucket (when car boot season starts)and keep them in their (maybe in water/vinegar mix to keep them from going smelly) and put them in with my towels on a hot wash once a week. I know its fashionable to only wash clothes on a 30deg wash but my old washing machine got very smelly by only doing this. I do most of my washes in my new machine on 30 but once a week I do all my towels and tea towels on a 60 with a vinegar rinse and so far this machine hasnt smelled at all. I make a lot of home made soups which we have at lunchtime with crusty rolls - got 3packets of 10 of these in one of my Asda shops for 30p. We are having pasta at least twice a week. If we have chicken I have cut our portions down to 100gms each and nobody has complained. I have done an Approved food order (which is due today) so that will stretch our budget further. Trying to keep under £50 is proving really difficult as every time I seem to go shopping thep prices creep up every week.

Still managing food budget...and more yellow sticky bargains

I am starting to really like going to Asda at 8 on a Sunday night - its nice and quiet and there arent kids running down the aisles and you are not battling with prams etc. Got there just as they were reducing their bread and got 4 packs hot cross buns for 10p each, 2 loaves of wholemeal bread - 10p each, an onion loaf - 10p, 6 crusty rolls for soup - 10p and six packs of pancakes for 10p each. The buns and pancakes are bagged up in 2's in the freezer. So this weeks spending is £44.42. There werent any more bargains this week but I was quite happy with my haul. I could have cut spending down further but find my lot are better if there are some snacks around (ie my bargains and a few crisp bags) and I did give in and get a joint of pork for £4 as a treat. So my menu plan this week is Mon - Meatballs & pasta, Tuesday - leftover chicken pie, Weds - Chicken curry, Thursday - pizza for oh and dd as I go to Weight Watchers and my eldest makes me a 3 course WW meal!, Friday - Macaroni cheese, Saturday -Beefburger rolls & pud, Sunday - Roast Pork. I mostly buy loose fruit and veg and make sure I get a bag to put them in and then re-use the bag to freeze stuff - how mean is that! lol

Pic of bargains

Asda yellow sticky bargains....and rubberising a chicken

I made my menu up for this week on Sunday and there wasnt enough to really justify an on-line shop so decided to try my luck late shopping at our local Asda which shuts at 10pm. Arrived at 8.15 just as they were reducing their bread to 10p per loaf so got 4 Weight Watchers loafs and 24 rolls. Checked the reduction bit but there wasnt anything, did my normal shop (stuck exactly to my list without one variation!!!! - except the reductions which I always count as extras towards the next week). We always have a roast on a Sunday but Im having trouble getting even a small joint into my budget. This week we had chicken and the smallest joint I could find for next week was pork at nearly £7! So I boxed clever and bought a packet of their sliced roast beef for £5 - 14 slices - which is 2 Sunday dinners for the 3 of us and a spare 2 slices just in case eldest dd arrives for dinnner. Then, just as I was about to go through the checkout I decided to try the reductions bit again and managed to bag sliced chicken for sandwiches (normally £2 per pack) for 1p! There were 7 packs left and nobody else near them so I'm afraid I bagged them all. So that was nearly £19 worth for 57p. So our Sunday dinner was a small chicken from Aldis - did us Sunday lunch, picked the bigger bits and made chicken and mushroom pie with h/m pastry for tea yesterday, got all the smaller bits off and kept them for soup which I made yesterday after cooking the carcass in the slow cooker overnight for lovely tasty stock.So 3 meals for around £3.50 by the time I costed pots and veg etc.

Charity shopping - bought nothing!

Had a lovely day yesterday - the sun appeared at long last so me and eldedst dd went to our local beach and had an hours walk - took a flask with peppermint tea and some fruit and had a really nice time.... Didnt want to go home as it was so nice so went to North Berwick to look at the charity shops....and I didnt buy a thing! I am getting better about wants not needs! My dd did get some really nice stuff but charity shops are really getting expensive - she got a full lenght regatta raincoat, a wool cape, fancy top, a tie that looks like a fish for her dad and some books - £35. Then went to our local garden centre for soup - got there but none left so we shared a pannini and shared a scone so only cost £5 each for a wee meal out. (and she drove so it didnt even cost me anything in petrol!!!! lol)

Really good day....

First - got my marked essay back from the OU (attempt at History degree) and got 78% which I was exceptionally pleased about as I really struggled with it... Second - lost 4 lbs (over 2 weeks) at Weight watchers bringing my total to 3 stone 2.5 lbs! Third - when my teensy car went in for its MOT they said the lights were set all wrong and re-set them - drove home in the dark tonight and what a difference! normal lights were much better than my main beam and my main beam is fantastic! One of the reasons I hate driving in the dark was I could ruddy see - so much better now.. Good day

Car is a write off......and stuck to food budget

Our poor car is a write off - bought for £3,700 but only get back market value which insurance company say is £1800 - less the excess (didnt realise oh had put such a high one on) of £500 means £1300 to get a decent car.... However, I didnt realise you can bargain with the insurance company (oh's pal told him) so when they offered £1800 he refused. They came back to him with £2000 - again, he refused - and at this point said he was going to discuss it with a lawyer.....they rang back and offered him £2,200 - he said he would accept a final offer of £2,500 and they agreed! Still doesnt make up for losing a damn good car but its better than £1800 they originally offered. Well, managed to stick to £50 per week food budget for the last 4 weeks - actually £1.32 over which was a bit naughty but serves me right for taking oh shopping! Had a look at Approved Foods but nothing was tempting me - taking account of the postage (£5 odds) I would be looking at doing a big order but there was nothing there that we would eat.We still havent finished stuff from the last order so will keep an eye on it - changes all the time so it might not be too long before theres anything that interests me. DD went to the B&M store and got me 4 x £1 pump toothpastes and 4 x£1 Simple shower gel for youngest dd as its the only kind she can use. I have tried to use cheaper toothpaste in the tubes but the mess my family make with them (and can never put the lid back on!!!) its worth buying the pumps at this price. This came out of my houskeeping budget but will save me money in the long run. I dont have a pantry cupboard - would love one but my teeny flat is too small so my pantry stuff goes in IKEA drawers (the antonius wire kind) and under the spare bed (full of loo roll at the moment) So I am looking to do an on-line order this week as I have run out of heavier stuff such as tins and soap powder.