I am struggling to believe that we are only halfway through week 2 of our #frugalfeb austerity challenge.
We managed to make it through week 1 unscathed and with £3.44 of the inital £25 budget remaining. For those of you keeping up to date with the challenge, we also managed to make some money on EBay (Final amount still pending.) and attended a free art installation preview, so have at least we've had a dose of culture to keep us sane.
I was told by several people that I would have to start getting creative at this point if we were to survive the challenge...and how right they were.
On Thursday afternoon I morphed in to my Gran (There are worse people to be, believe me.) as I spent the afternoon in the kitchen trying to concoct dinner from the little amount of food that remained in the fridge, whilst also trying to use the last of anything perishable to avoid wasting even a penny of the budget. This resulted in me making my own breadcrumbs, a spicy salsa and cinnamon cookies, though obviously I didn't serve them all on the same plate!
By Friday, Hubby had started referring to me as 'Old Mother Hubbard' as no matter how many times I looked in the cupboards, they remained bare. However, as you all know, Friday is the day of the dreaded weekly shop.
This week we took a slightly different approach and decided to combine the budget for weeks 2 and 3 in order to buy ingredients that I could make meals from that could not only be eaten on the day of making, but also frozen for use the following week. The idea is that we will have more variety this way, as believe you and me; I am running out of 'things to make and do with a potato'. (That so has to be the title of my future novel.) Total shopping spend: £39.23.
Outside of the kitchen, the big freeze has continued. I have to say the snow and ice has actually helped with the #frugalfeb challenge because when temperatures drop to -10 degrees, there are very few people who want to be sociable beyond the warm confines of their own homes. We therefore haven't yet felt as though we have missed out on too many social activities, but time will tell once the inevitable thaw sets in.
As for making money this week, I don't really have much to report. There are still a few items on EBay, with everything due to be sold (Fingers crossed.) by Sunday, so I'll have final figures once the postage for those items has been accounted for. I do however have a cunning plan up my sleeve that combines my love of animals and home-based work location with a couple of extra pounds of income, so watch this space...
Current spending totals:
Week 1: £3.44 remaining (Yay us!)
Week 2: £25 + £3.44
Week 3: £25
Combined budget for weeks 2 & 3: £53.44
Spent so far £39.23
Remaining: £14.21
Oh my Goodness, we only have £14.21 left to spend until 22nd February...that's 11 whole days away! You'd better hope and pray that my cooking and freezing plan works or else this challenge is over already.
Maybe I need your help? Please provide a plethora of money saving, #frugalfeb top tips in the comments box below...
mwah x
