Miss Thrifty

Were you wondering why I had been quiet these past few days? Well, this packed cool box, which was sitting in my kitchen on Friday, should provide some clues as to why.

It contains:

- 2 x locally caught trout, neatly packed
- 1 x empty plastic jar, filled with homemade seafood chowder
- 1 x empty ice cream tub, filled with tomato soup made from homegrown tomatoes
- 1 x empty peanut jar, filled with cream of tomato soup made from homegrown tomatoes
- 1 x jar of homemade quince jam
- 1 x jar of homemade greengage jam
- 1 x jar of homemade blackberry and apple jam
- 1 x jar of homemade orange marmalade

It can mean only one thing…

(more…)

Do you know Yorkshire’s Thriftiest Granny? Perhaps you are Yorkshire’s Thriftiest Granny? If your answer to either of these questions is “yes”, I have the perfect competition for you.

Yorkshire Water has launched a contest to find… yes, you guessed it!

The utilities company is asking for tips, photographs and video clips of the region’s thrifty seniors in action. The prize: a Yorkshire-based family holiday worth up to £1,000.

The competition is open to all Yorkshire Water customers and the closing date for entries is 19 July 2010. Visit the Edna and Mary section of the Yorkshire Water website to enter.

Trust me: there is no shortage of eligible candidates up here. The region has a reputation for frugality: you are not allowed to live here if you haven’t perfected the art of sucking air through your teeth and saying ‘Ow much? in suitably scandalised tones. (FACT.) To my delight, there is even a special Yorkshire word that means to be able to afford something, but to be unable to justify the expense. (more…)

Yes, cucumber. We’re talking chopped cucumber here, rather than a whole one wielded, lightsabre style, against the creepy-crawlie armies.

So you have a plant covered in holes? Salad vegetable to the rescue! Here’s the deal.

1. Chop a chunk of cucumber into little pieces.

2. Spread the cucumber beneath the leaves of the affected plant.

3. Wait a few days. Rejoice.

Frugal Grandma passed this on a few weeks ago; she credits it with the rehabilitation of her primroses and polyanthus, which were being eaten away by “beasties unseen”. I was about to ditch a half of cucumber in the composter – I hate food waste; sadly the fridge, for reasons best known to itself, decided to freeze (and spoil) half the the contents of the salad drawer – when I remembered this tip and decided to test it out. And… yup! Not sure which bugs it repels, but even in a saggily defrosted state, the cucumber certainly seems to work.

Apparently cucumber peel is also supposed to repel ants, but I’m not sure how that is supposed to work. I get all moody when ants try and come in the house, but I’m not about to create an unbroken force field around the edges of the kitchen floor. I’ll stick to sweet-smelling basil plants.

Image credit: viZZZual.com.

Frugal Grandma spotted the Six Thrifty Uses For A Lemon post, and kindly forwarded a couple of tips of her own. They have a lemon+saucepan theme:

When you boil a Christmas pudding – or any pudding come to that – put a slice or two of lemon into the water. It will stop the saucepan turning black; in fact it will clean it!

If you have a discoloured saucepan, cook plums,  rhubarb or apples in it (always putting a slice of lemon in with the apples, for flavour).   These clean the saucepan beautifully.   I don’t know the effect on your insides when you eat the fruit, but I’m still alive and kicking.

F.G.    xx

You know, for the forthcoming Miss Thrifty blog revamp, I’m thinking of giving this septuagenarian superstar her own section; what do you think?

Image credit: audreyjm529.

Yes, I know that Bonjela tastes nice, but here’s a cheaper idea from Frugal Grandma. Speaking from personal experience, it works very well. I must warn you though: this is a very British cure that isn’t for the faint-hearted. It is – quite literally – upper lip-stiffening stuff.

Frugal Grandma says: (more…)

Frugal Grandma is back from her latest bargain sunshine holiday. I popped in for lunch at the weekend; I left with a cupboard’s worth of homemade jam (plum, raspberry, blackberry and apple, and orange and lemon marmalade) and a giant pot of geraniums. I am so spoiled!

FG was also kind enough to pass on another of her frugal recipes:

Make your own Marie Rose sauce for prawns (or shrimp). It’s so much tastier and cheaper than the bought variety.

If you use frozen prawns, make sure that they have been slowly defrosted or they lose their taste.

In a bowl, add  a generous dollop of mayonnaise or salad cream.

Then a good splosh of lemon juice.

Half a teaspoon of horseradish, for that extra kick.

Enough tomato sauce to colour the mixture.

A fair sized dash of cream.   (If this makes it too pale, add more tomato sauce)

Stir the prawns into the mixture some time before you are ready to eat, as they will improve for standing.

This sauce takes no more than two minutes to make – even for those of us who are knocking on 80.

Image credit: morbuto.

Here are some of the interesting links I have been sent recently:

Refer Me Happy – This UK site pools all those “refer a friend” deals, for products ranging from contact lenses to mortgages.

Finance Dreams – a new UK personal finance blog. (Hey, the more of us the merrier!)

CashBack Automator – “Did you know most retailers give free cash rebates to online shoppers? Use CashBack Automator to find deals and save money.” I haven’t signed up for this site, because it’s a US one (also Canada, I think) and thus wasted on me. However, an impressive roll call of “supported retailers” includes Target, Gap and Expedia.

Approved Food & Drink – this tip came from Frugal Grandma, who spotted it in the Daily Mail (naturally). It’s an online retailer, selling clearance and out-of-date food and drink at rock bottom prices. They courier their wares around the country, with delivery prices similar to those of the supermarkets, and also have a cash and carry store in Worksop. All the other frugal grandmas must have spotted this one in the Daily Mail too, because Approved currently has an order backlog of nearly 12 days!

Finally,

Absurdly Cool – this site is an “automated free stuff aggregator”, which collates freebie offers and filters out the scams. It features offers from the US, Canada and the UK. A sister site, Oh! Big Deal! collates money off and discount offers in various US stores.

From my Frugal Grandma:

These African violets are more than five years old and the reason why they are thriving (they are past their best in this picture and heading towards their yearly rest) is because they have never had anything other than rainwater.   

Lots of people love these flowers, but lose them because they give them water from the tap or filter, which turns the leaves brown and poisons the plant.

My Frugal Grandma has been cleaning up recently! Her top frugal recipe is featured in the 42nd Money Hacks Carnival at the Financial Wellness Project. And her old school tips popped up in the 41st Money Hacks Carnival, at Ask Mr Credit Card.

In other news, my hotlist of Favourite Frugal Twitterers was featured in the 155th Festival of Frugality, at Greener Pastures.

I’ll be hosting the Festival of Frugality later this month, on 23 December, so if you aren’t yet familiar with it you’re in for a (lengthy) treat…

I asked my Frugal Grandma if she would provide holiday cover while I am away on my Thrifty Roadtrip this week. Frugal Grandma can do anything…

When you make fruit pies put the bottom layer of pastry in the tin, paint with egg and leave to dry. This stops the bottom of the pie from becoming soggy with juice. Use the rest of the egg to paint over the top of the pie before you sprinkle with sugar, and this will make it nice and shiny. Try not to put too much juicy liquid into the pie as it will make its own when it cooks.

When you make a bread and butter pudding, put a smear of marmalade in the bottom of the dish. This greatly improves it.

At Christmas, mince pies are often a bit rich when you have been stuffing yourself. So in our family we always make a lot of little apple pies, which seem to go much faster. Don’t forget to make the tops of the mince and apple a bit different so you know which is which.

- Frugal Grandma