I suppose we're all tightening our belts or at least thinking about it. Where we spend our hard earned money is important, always has been and always will. I am naturally thrifty now, after letting my spending run wild when I first started working many moons ago. I feel real satisfaction from making my cash go further and not wasting anything I have. I also feel very happy when on occasion I splash the cash for something special and worthwhile.
The high cost of food and heating of course is on my radar. Looking at blog world I see I'm not on my own.
There are many bloggers who share their tips to help folk save money. I don't purport to be an expert but I hope I can share a few things I know or do, that might help folk, or possibly just be of interest.
In my quest to capture more joy in my life it is very important to me that whilst being mindfull of not wasting money, I don't turn into someone who will not spend on a little bit of luxury now and then. I strive to experience the best at bargain prices.
We didn't have much in the way of Christmas food left over, but what we had we managed to scoff. Even the few dodgy looking but tasty sprouts were eaten, in a tuna and pasta bake. Chopped up very finely and stirred into the sauce.
I collected all the odds and ends of pasta, cheap and expensive ones and all the bits of cheese left over from the Christmas cheese board and only used one tin of tuna instead of two and you know what, it was delicious.
We cooked 'once and ate twice'. Four hearty meals made from scraps. My attention is now on my freezer. I want to use up anything I can before buying anything more to freeze. Otherwise there will be waste. A few bloggers are making lists of what they have in their freezers to do the same. I actually keep a little book of my freezer contents then I know at a glance what I have and when to use it up. It's not completely full proof as we sometimes forget to amend it, but it's a good system.
"Waste not, want not" was one of my mother's slogans. It is best that we all should be following that path today. Just so you know, I am a collector of quotes, scribbling them into a daily journal. Shrimpton and Perfect has a few there along with Rumi and the others.
ReplyDelete"I'm now in what I would describe as the third age of my life. This year I have been giving much thought about the direction my life should be following. What should I be doing with my time for maximum personal benefit, development, balance, harmony and contentment." OH yes, I am with you on this one, and look forward to more inspiration here as we move through the year.
Thank you kindly. All best wishes to you for 2023.
DeleteThe tuna dish sounds delicious. Like you, I've listed my freezer contents in a notebook. When sorting through it, I was amazed at some finds. Tonight we had spicy belly pork slices bought in M&S (yellow stickered), from June '22! I need to get through the stash!! Wishing you a very happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteHello and happy new year to you too. I've just got back from M&S don't often shop there but picked up a few bits for a film night at ours tonight.
DeleteHello and Happy 2023 to my wonderful friend across the many miles and ocean. Your pasta dish sounds (and looks) interesting and definitely creative. MY mother was the queen of repurposing leftovers and we rarely had the same dish prepared the same exact way twice...but all of them delicious. Me...not so creative that way. ~Robin~ (TheCrankyCrow)
ReplyDeleteHello my girl, lovely to hear from you. My mother couldn't cook for toffee. But one of my first boyfriends, who was about twenty years older than me, taught me a lot about life and cooking. Much joy and happiness to you in 2023. xx
ReplyDeleteYour tuna bake sounds delicious, Jean, and all the more so for using up all your Christmas scraps! xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks PP.
DeleteI used to have a chest freezer, It was kept in the cellar and I used to keep a list of contents inside my cupboard door, the girls, much younger then thought it was hilarious, they don't now they are older and have to fill their own freezers :-)
DeleteWe only have a small one now there is only two of us and I don't overshop anymore, I'm using up things this month and not stocking up again until I have too. Your tuna pasta bake looks good, great way of using up leftovers.
Hi Maggie, we bought our chest freezer to house our summer fruit crop. It's never really full and although 'self defrosting' we need to clear it to defrost the small build up of ice. Plus we should be eating what's already in there, it does last a long time but the taste of things does suffer if left too long.
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