£1.33

Things are very tight at the moment. Paying off my credit cards has meant that the savings have been severely reduced.  It is time for major belt tightening.

A difficult time compounded as I got another flat tyre last week. Same tyre as I replaced about 3 or 4 months ago. I went into work late on Friday, as I visited Mr Tyre in the morning and they put the spare on so they could look at the offending article.

Another blasted nail. And again it is located at the edge of the tyre so it cannot be repaired. Luckily I know that Mr Tyre have the cheapest tyres around me at £51 per tyre. So on Saturday I went off to have it replaced.

4 new tyres in less than 6 months, plus I know that the last original one will have to be changed early in 2013. According to the nice garage men, it has about 5000miles left on it.

The Plumber came round on Saturday to service the boiler and prepare the gas safety certificate required to let out my little flat. Whilst I had his undivided attention I also got him to have a look at the bathroom sink which was draining slowly. The waste pipe was full of the most revolting gunk!

He also re-programmed my heating so now no heating in the morning and no hot water. An effort to reduce the quarterly bills. Not that I will hopefully be paying them for much longer.

And finally, he checked the shower. It is completely bust. If it was up to me I would just live without it, and have a bath only. However, as the flat has to get rented then it needs replacing.

Sigh…. Always money to be spent that I can currently ill afford. But, it has to be done, so we are both hoping I can get one for about £60 plus fitting costs.

Oh, did I mention the telephone bill arrived £90…

So, I need to reduce my food bill in November.

I had a £15 voucher from Tesco, and spent some of Friday going through the store cupboards to work out what I had in stock.

This is how it got spent.

Pasta                                  .98

Eggs                                  1.19

Cheddar                            1.99

Smoked Bacon                1.64

1x Tin Butter Beans          .69

1x Tin of Peas                   .21

3x tin of sweetcorn           1.45

Chorizo                              2.00

Lard                                    .39

1x Courgette                        .46

Celery                                 .89

1 x Butternut                     1.48

Potatoes                           .99

1x red onion                     .15

1x onion                            .12

1x leek                              .74

Wholemeal Loaf              .47

1xjar peas & carrots        .49   

Total                                     16.33

Voucher                               15.00

Left To Pay                             1.33

This food combined with the freezer and store cupboards will have to last me until 29^th November with the exception of buying milk.

I researched my purchases using mysupermarket.co.uk to ensure that I was getting the best deal and so I knew what my final spend would be. For example  the website told me the cheese was on special Lake District Mature Cheddar was reduced to £1.99 from £3.98 for 350G. I only like cheese melted on pizza or used in cooking so that amount will last me ages.

I did buy a Butternut Squash.

I have eaten it before, but never cooked it. Looking at the size of the thing I am not sure what to do. I was thinking one third roasted and put into a quiche and one third to make some soup and one third mashed with butter. Unless, you have a better idea?

£1.33 is the sort of shopping trip I can get used to!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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