What's Been Happening in Frugaldom?

My Weekly Round-Up

Taking part in the Home Improvement Hero Challenge inspired me to keep going with the budget room makeovers so, after completing my sitting room for a grand total of £47.58 I decided to move on to the bedroom, with a similar budget. Spurred on by the impending arrival of my cousin for a few days holiday, I was soon scrubbing and painting, vacuuming and dusting, attempting to make the place look a million dollars for next to nothing. Personally, I think the little bedside cabinet looks great after some scraping and scrubbing then the addition of some cheap stickers.

Overall, it has been a dry and sunny week here in Frugaldom so when cousin arrived on Tuesday, we set up the barbecue and ate outdoors again. We had great fun toasting marshmallows over the last of the glowing embers and we each managed to drop gooey, warm mallows off the end of the skewers - not good when your washing machine has gone 'bang'!

The local fix-it man took to his bed with a dose of the shingles, so he hasn't been able to travel to Frugaldom to investigate the washing machine fault, so I (hopefully) invested in a foot pump operated washer/spinner, which duly arrived mid-week. This has proven to be a most entertaining gadget and it did, indeed, remove the melted marshmallow from my breeks! Many smalls have been sloshed and spun this week in a bid to catch up with laundry.

Cuz brought a load of perennials with her, so we got all of these planted into the borders and then picked more blackcurrants. Adding these to the raspberries and rhubarb that was picked, I got a batch of frugal fruit fizz started off in a recycled bucket. This will be ready for bottling by Tuesday and I should get about 6 bottles for a total cost of around £1, as the fruit is free from the garden.

I had a bit of a batch cookathon, so have now added several cartons of stewed fruit, four lots of lasagne and some fruit crumble to the freezer stock. I slow cooked a pheasant and have a batch of game soup and there's enough meat left over after this evening's game and mushroom casserole to make pie filling, which will also go into the freezer for later use.

Over the past week I have traded duck and hen eggs for cherry cake, mushrooms, peppers, onions, potatoes, beetroot and a big bunch of spring onions. I supplied mint, basil and parsley from the garden to a neighbour, we dug the first of our garden potatoes, picked the first of the courgettes and ate the first of the cucumbers that are growing in the new poly-tunnel. I forgot to take a photo of it when I picked it, so this is one taken last week.

We sat outside until gone midnight on Thursday counting shooting stars, watched the International Space Station fly overhead twice, saw the Japanese cargo vessel HTV-4 fly overhead and I lost track of what else we were able to see in the black of night by simply looking up at the amazing sky with the Milky Way stretched out above us.

I spent a grand total of £25.28 with £20 of this being the fee for sending off a replacement photo for my driving licence. (Photo was taken at home by digital camera and printed on photo paper we have in stock, s no extra expense there.)

Having taken part in a Budget Bucket List blogging competition recently, I decided to create a new page for my current list on here; it now has its own tab at the top so it's easily found and updated. Not only that, I also added in my frugal gourmet page and plan on rounding up all my foody blogs into one tidy area. When living on a budget of £4,000 for a year with £1 per person per day to cover all food, it helps to know where to find simple food concoctions. (It's a great challenge and one that is so much easier got those who live within reach of a supermarket.)

Finally, I have yet another new toy to play with this coming week...

It's a little battery operated ice cream maker that my mum got from Avon some time ago and then never used. It had been lurking at the back of her cupboard, so she's given it to me to see if I can master the art of frugal ice-cream making. I never have cream, so mine will need to be diet ice-cream. Should be fun!

Until next time,
NYK in Frualdom.