Frugal Living

Saturday, 18 August 2012

No communication weekend

A lot of things have been happening here recently and not all of them are good. I wont go into detail as it is a private family matter but that combined with the awfull day I had yesterday left me wanting to run away from the world (aside from Lee and the children of course). So I decided I would have a no communication weekend facebook is banned and I have switched my phone off so no one can get hold of me. Today has been the first day and I have to say it has been bliss. Just me and the ones I love, the ones who make me happy and smile. It has been great weather here today so we put the pool up for the boys to play in they had great fun and Lee joined in too getting a little splashed in the process. Here are some pictures

Whilst Lee and the boys were playing outside I made some yummy homemade cookies using my basic cookie recipie which can be found in a previous blog post.

Lee and Ben also broke out the board game The Simpsons. It made me smile watching them both being so competitive with each other and Ben changing the rules as he went along.

I cooked a lovely spagetti carbonara which everyone agreed tasted delicous. Now Brandon is in the bath, Lee and Ben are playing a game on the laptop, and after I finish this post I will be putting some washing away, doing the dinner dishes, and running the hoover round before getting the boys to bed and setteling down to a film with Lee.

Last week we went to do some shopping in the next town (there are a lot more shops than in our village high street). To celebrate the olympics they had a climbing wall the children were allowed to use for free. Ben of course had a go which impressed me a great deal as he has a fear of hights. Here are some pictures.

Last weekend we went to visit family in London it was the first time Lee had met some of them so he was a little nervous. He had no reason to be nervous at all my family welcomed him with open arms and made him feel very welcome. It was nice to be able to show Lee where I grew up I was brought up in a rather rough area so it was nice to show him how well I have done for myself in moving away from that lifestyle and creating a simple life for me and my boys in the country. Here are some of the pictures taken while we was away.

Brad and Ben two of my three sons

Brad, Ben, and Brandon my three boys together

My brother Craig with his partner Chrissy and her son Adam

My mum with all her children together

Me with my brothers and sisters

My mum with my three boys and her grandsons

And finaly me and Lee with the boys

I have decided to open an etsy shop selling the craft items I make. I will have a good range of products at affordable prices. I will have items such as Jewellery, Teddy bears, Cards, Headbands, Scarfs as well as other items. I have just about finished the technical side of things so am now concentrating on making some stock for the shop which I hope to have on sale within the next few weeks. I will blog about this nearer the time and there will be an ad for the shop in my sidebar if you wish to have a look at my items.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Monday, 30 July 2012

Sunday

Today has been mostly housework with some baking thrown in for good measure. I tidied and hoovered the house and opened all the windows to get some air into the place. Throughout the day I was doing washing and washing up and by lunch time was on top of all my household duties so decided to do a little baking. First I made some delicious homemade bread again I found it very difficult to slice even with the guide I bought to help me. So today I went out and bought an electric knife which seems to do the job perfectly.

I then decided to make some cookies using a basic biscuit recipie. (see below)

Basic cookie recipie
225g Butter
110g Castor sugar
275g Plain flour
100g Chocolate chips

Place butter into a big bowl and soften. Once softened add the sugar and mix untill it is combined together. Then sift the flour in and add the chocolate chips. Mix well once the mixture gets to stiff to mix with a spoon use your hands to mix all the ingrediants together till you have a nice ball of cookie dough ready for cutting or shaping.
Depending on the size you want your cookies (My kids like them large) take a small ball of the cookie dough and shape into a disc and place on a baking tray. When you have got all your cookies shaped on the tray pop them in the oven at 180 for 10-15 minutes. I would suggest keeping an eye on them as you want them nice and golden not burnt and every oven varies.

Next I made some yogurt ice lollies a very cheap, healthy, refreshing treat for the kids this summer. I got some lolly makers in pound land it cost me a pound and they make 12 ice lollies. Simply pour the yogurt into the holders and frezze. I got 14 lollies out of four yogurts so the total cost was less than 2 and half pence per lolly.

For dinner tonight we had chicken, roast potatoes, and sweetcorn. I had some potatoes that were turning and sprouting so wanted to use them up so made roast potatoes with them. I also had some chicken breasts that were one day out of date so cut them into bite size pieces and dry fried them. It saved throwing some good food away and provided us with a good hearty meal.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Brad's 14th Birthday

Fourteen years ago I gave birth to my beautiful special boy Bradley. The time has passed so quickly and it seems like only yesterday that I brought this cute little bundle home with me. I had so many hopes and dreams for my little one. Over the years those hopes and dreams have changed due to the discovery of Brad's autism and an understanding of how this will limit his life somewhat. This amazing, talented, gorgeous young man has suparsed all expectations of him. When he was diagnosed I was told he may never walk, talk, and would proberly remain in nappies and pads as he got older. Bradley has achieved so much in his life he walks, talks, and has been toilet trained since he was five in spite of what we were told. He is even taking a few of his G.C.S.E's something I never in a million years expected to happen. He has so much more to deal with than most children his age. He has to deal with everyday life which is a struggle with his condition, he has to deal with narrow minded bullies who think he is weird just because he is different to the rest of society, and the one that truely breaks my heart he has to deal with the knowledge that he is different to everyone else when all he wants is to be the same. In spite of all this Brad is always cheerfull, he is funny, and he always gives 100%, he nearly always has a smile on his face and a spring in his step. I am so proud of my little baby who is now a young man and would not change him for all the money in the world. I love you Bradley more than words can ever express.

Here is the birthday cake I made for Brad. He does not like cake as such but does like cornflake cakes so I made a huge one and decorated it as normal. Im sorry I didnt blog the process as I said I would but it was rather a busy hectic day that day.

I decided to take the boys to Weymouth to celebrate Brads birthday and I must confess it was a very unfrugal day in total I spent £90 but that was transport, food & drink, and activities. I decided I wanted to spoil my boys for the day as it was a special occassion. Here are some pictures from our day at the beach.

A special day for a very special boy.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Monday, 23 July 2012

Monday 23rd July

Today has been a busy but productive day for the Till's. We were all up washed and dressed and out the door by 9am an unusual occurance for my rable especialy on the school holidays. Brad asked if we could get the train into town instead of the bus so we did and I was very pleased we did. I usualy pay £10.30 for return buses for all 4 of us but the train was just £6.60 return saving me £3.70. In the future we will use the train and a rail card I bought today will save us even more money costing just £4.20 for a return a saving of £6.10. On to the rail card I bought today it is a family and friends rail card and upto 4 adults and 4 children can travel on it. It saves 1/3 on adult fares and 60% on childrens fares with under 5's travelling for free. It cost me £28 for the year but the money I will save by having this card it will pay for itself in no time. In town we went and got the ingrediants for Brads bday cake he has decided he wants a mud and frog cake which I will be making tomorow ready for the big day on wednesday. I will share the making process along with pictures tomorow. I also went and picked up the last of Brads presents not an easy task with him present but the lady in the shop was great and bagged it all up behind the counter so he could not see it. We also got Brandons feet sized for a new pair of trainers. Wow he had gone up 2 sizes he will soon be in a pair I have set aside for him that were Ben's my children grow so fast these days. So Brandon is now the proud owner of a new pair of Thomas The Tank Engine trainers. He wont take them off he loves them so much I think im going to have to sneak in his room when his sleeping to remove them.

When we got home from town it was time for the boys to do their chores they are not expected to do much just tidy up and hoover one level of the house Brad will do upstairs and Ben will do downstairs and Brandon will help with the tidying as his still quite young to be doing full chores. In return the boys get £5 pocket money every monday £1 is put in a jar for saving and £1 is put in a jar for donating this is usualy done once a year around xmas time. For every chore they dont do they get a x and lose 30p of the next weeks pocket money. I feel its importent that the boys learn how to keep things neat and how to work as a team. Also it prevents them making to much mess as they are the ones who have to tidy it up in the end.

After the chores were done the boys were allowed to go play in the garden while I caught up with some reading. I also did a bit of online shopping. I ordered a fat fryer as this will help speed certain dinners up of an evening I got this for £14 new. I also got a bread slicing guide I love the taste of fresh homemade bread but have real trouble slicing it so this little invention will be really handy. It cost £7.68 I could have got it £3 cheaper but delivery was from Hongkong and I just could not justify the air miles so went for the more expensive one which is stocked in the UK. I also got a linen bread bag to keep my yummy homemade bread fresher for longer. Its a very nice looking bag and cost £4.99 again I could have gone for a cheaper alternative but these were made of plastic. I could not justify the fact they would one day end up in landfill rotting so went for the linen one which should last me a good long time and can then be recycled when it comes to the end of its life.

Bradley made a yummy dinner of sausages, roast potatoes, and baked beans as I was busy with some writting. He really is getting very good with his cooking skills and at nearly 14 and in spite of his autism I have no worries that he will be able to fend for him self when he decideds to go into independant living. He also makes the best cakes he really is very talented when it comes to cooking and baking it makes me very proud of him.

Plans for this evening are when I finish writting this post get all the boys to bed, Tidy up, get some washing done, clean out the rabbit, wash up, and finaly a nice soak in the tub before going to bed myself. Where 2 of my 3 boys are autistic I find it easier to get my chores done in the evening when they are all tucked up in bed. Autistic children can be very demanding and require a lot of time and attention and so my routine has been adapted around their needs over the years and its what works best for us.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Update

There just does not seem to be enough hours in the day at the moment. That combined with the fact I have been rather unwell with an ear infection which has caused my MD to flare up has left me very little time for writting. Lee and I had a few days away at Weymouth the weather was lovely and it was nice to have a bit of adult time. We of course did this in true frugal fashion I looked for the cheapest deal on a double room and found one at £55 per night for the 2 of us including a cooked and continental brekfast. As it happened I have stayed here before and its a lovely little b&b close to everything and a 2 minute walk from the beach. For lunches we took a walk to the local supermarket and stocked up on goodies for packed lunches the total cost for lunches for 3 days for the 2 of us was £11 which works out around £2 per packed lunch much cheaper than eating out. For one of the evening meals we attended an all you can eat chip shop buffet of fish, chips, sausage, onion rings, fish cakes, pies, chicken, mushy peas. We was able to have as much as we liked and go up for seconds as many times as we liked. I also found vouchers online for a free bottomless soft drink so we did not have to buy a drink all night. Total cost for this evening was £12.98 for both of us and that was as much food and drink as we liked. The second evening we went to a little tavern that had 2 meals for £6.99. We had a lovely few days but did come back rather burnt it was so very hot.

Last week I was offered a big black bag full of nearly new and new clothes for Brad for £25 when I had a look I was gobsmacked at what was included. All the items were brand names such as Next, Mackensie, carbrini, addidas etc and they were all in immaculate condition some of them were brand new with the tags still on. In total there must have been about 30-35 items which worked out less than a pound an item so I snapped it up before anyone else could.

Will do a post later today about what we have been upto today. With the Mr working almost everyday this week it will give me a chance to get blogging again ive so missed writting.

Much Love
Claire xxx

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

Teaching the art of frugality

I have lots to share but want to start with Lee's journey of discovery with frugal living. He is really picking it up well I dont think he will ever be a fully fledged frugalist like myself but he sure is doing well for someone who had no idea what it was 3 months ago. Since my last post we took a look at Lee's outgoings to see what could be reduced. Unfourtunatly due to being locked into contracts there was not an awfull lot we could do. He has cancelled all magazine subscriptions viewing them online for free instead. After a few words of advice on what to do and how to go about it he also reduced his tv/broadband/landline bill by £20 a month and is even getting a rebate of £13.60. Instead of buying a new computer desk he is putting getting one on hold till we can get one for free on freecycle or freegle instead. He has also replaced all his grocery shopping with a value version reducing his monthly shop from £110 to £50. I am very proud of the steps he has made and although I get a lot of stick for my frugal life I think Lee quite likes having a girlfriend who is not materialistic and always looks for the cheapest way of doing things.

Although I have not been writting as much as I would like the frugal flag still flies in the Till household and I have made some really rather awsome savings recently that I wish to share. I went shopping with Lee and his mum the other day like me Lee's mum is a charity shop junkie and was able to show me where every single charity shop was in their town. I got some great deals I got Brandon a nice summer shirt from next for just £1.49 and a pair of umbro shorts for ben for just 79p awsome. I also got myself a few new clothes as a lot of mine are quite loose since losing a stone and a half all very cheap of course :)

I made a batch of homemade laundry detergent to it cost me a total of 28p which makes 32 loads saving me a small fortune here are some pictures.

I gave some of my homemade laundry detergent to a friend to try out and in return she brought up a big wedge of homemade coffee and walnut cake which was lovely as well as 3/4 of a bag of rabbit food that her guinea pigs did not like for our rabbit Kindy.

I made a lovely frugal dinner of spagetti bolognaise with a twist the twist was I used a jar of mushroom sauce that had been sat in the cupbord for months it was given to me by a friend who had brought 2 for the price of 1 and when she tried it she did not like it so gave me the second jar. The total cost of this meal was £1.04 and served myself and the 3 boys.

I have mentioned my friend S a few times in the past she has 2 little boys each is a year older than Ben and Brandon as a result she often gives me clothes that her boys have grown out of that fit my boys. S gave me a nice little pile of items this week she gave me 2 white school shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 long sleeved tshirts, and a adidas hodded sweater all in great condition. She also had a BEN10 bike for sale almost new her son rode it twice she knew I wanted to get a bike for Brandon for his birthday in October so sold it to me for £30 she paid £90 a month previously for this bike and she is keeping hold of it for me till his birthday.

Now for something that has nothing to do with being frugal. This cute baby bird got itself trapped in our trampoline and was going crazy trying to get out but where she is still so young could not fly properly to get over the enclosure. The mama bird was on one of the posts with a worm in her mouth talking to the baby bird so we rescued the baby bird out of the enclosure and put her out on the grass where mama bird was able to take her home.

Untill next time much love
Claire xxx

Friday, 8 June 2012

The Mr

Well I thought it was about time I revealed the mystery man that has been keeping me so busy and away from my writting. His name is Lee we have been together for 2 and a half months now and things seem to be going really well. Before Lee met me he knew nothing about frugalism and just assumed it was about being a cheapskate. Im pleased to say Lee is slowly coming round to my way of thinking and is getting more and more frugal by the day. Lee used to get a taxi to visit me spending around £25 every time he visited untill I informed him he could get a return bus ticket for £4.10 saving him over £20 every time he came to stay. He would quiet happily spend upto £20 on a shirt but now frequents the charity shops after I showed him he could get so much more for his money (we got 2 very nice shirts from a charity shop for just £8). Before me he would have quiet happily given things away or thrown them away when he no longer needed them where as now he will attempt to sell them first to make a few pennies. He now does research to find the best deal on an item and we are addressing his outgoings to see if he can make some savings in that area. He will also use vouchers now something he never did before. I am so pleased that he has realised its a different path in life and not some sort of fad or being a cheapskate. Well enough about the Mr time to move on to more serious matters FRUGALISM lol. Over the last month I have made numerous frugal decisions that I wish to share with you.

Photography: I am very lucky that I have a friend who is an extremely talented photographer. I have asked her to do an on location photo shoot with me and the Mr so that we can get some nice pictures together. She will take the photos and upload them and play around with them and then email them to me to get printed up. I will be paying Kelly £30 to do the shoot and any costs from our day out such as transport and lunch which I would imagine would be no more than around £10 as we will take a picnic with us. When I get the photos printed I will be using a company called trueprint when you open an account with them you get 50 6x4 free prints to start you off you just have to pay p&p which is £1.95. You can get larger prints upto 10x8 for just 99p so im thinking of getting 50 free 6x4 shots and maybe pick out 3 of my favourites to have enlarged costing £2.97 the 6x4 shots will be put into photo album for me and the Mr. The entire cost for this on location photo shoot, 2x 25 page photo albums, and 3 large 10x8 framed photos will be £53.92. When pricing up the exact same shoot and products with a company the cost was £465 a saving of over £400 now thats quiet a saving im sure you would agree :)

Bicycle repair: I have 3 mountain bikes that are in need of repairs all 3 need brake cables reattached, 2 need new handle bar grips, 1 needs a chain put back on, 1 needs a link removed from the chain and the chain put back on, 1 needs a new crank pedal arms and pedals put on, all 3 need a good derusting and general service. This is mostly labour but I do need a few parts a crank, pedal arms, pedals, handle bar grips. I have managed to find a lovely man from my frugal skill sharing site JFTLOI who is kindly going to do all the labour for free he also has a spare crank, pedal arms, and pedals I can have for free so all I need to buy are 2 sets of handle bar grips. Ive looked around for the best deal and have managed to find a set for just £2.89 with free p&p so for the 2 it will be £5.78. So the total to fix all 3 bikes is going to be £5.78. When priced up with a company the cost would be as follows:
Full bicycle service x3 £239.97
Parts- handle bar grips x2 £19.98
Parts- pedals £8.99 (part of the servicing would be to rethread the pedal arms removing the need for a new crank and pedal arm set)
Total cost £268.94 a saving of over £263 again an amazing saving.

Short Break away: In the summer holidays the boys are going to stay with their nanny for a week so Lee and I have been looking at going away for a few days. I have always wanted to go and see Paris so decided to see if I could get us a good deal on a short break to Paris. I have managed to find us a 4 night break to Paris for just £90 per person this includes travel and accomodation. This is how I did it a company called megabus operates a ridiculously low cost coach service from Bristol to Porte Maillot in Paris the cost is £51 per person return. A short shuttle bus ride from the drop off point is a campsite called Camping de Paris - Bois de Boulogne the cost for a tent pitch is 19 euros a night plus a 20 euro booking fee so for 4 nights the total cost is 96 euros (£78).
2x return seats from Bristol to Paris £102
4 nights at the campsite £78
Total cost £180 divided by 2 (myself and Lee) £90 each
I have put a post up on freecycle to see if I can get a 2 man tent, 2 sleeping bags, 2 roll mats, and 2 inflatable pillows if I am unsuccessfull then I will just borrow these items from someone on JFTLOI. Im sure you will agree this is an amazingly low price at any time of year but we will be traveling in August peak session which makes it even more unbelieveably low in cost.

My Birthday BBQ: I never usualy celebrate my bday but decided this year that I was going to have a bbq. I invited all my closest friends and family if every body had come there would have been approx 35 people so this is the number of people I catered for. I bought 40 burgers and burger buns with 45 slices of chesse, 40 sausages with 40 sausage buns, 2 very large bags of chicken pieces, 2 large bags of pork chops, breadsticks and dips, quiche, vegetarian sausages and burgers, 2 chessecakes, an apple pie, 12 cans of lager, 2 bottles of wine, orange juice, apple juice, and lemonade. I had paper plates, cups, and napkins left over from a previous occassion. The total cost for a bbq for 35 people including food, alcohol, soft drinks, and neccessities was £46. Here are some photos taken by Kelly on the day this will give you an idea of how talented she is with the camera.