Goodbye February, Hello March

Spring is definitely in the air and it's lovely to feel.

Today I have been to the stables with my daughter and enjoyed seeing her ride her pony and a friend's pony too.  Following this we all went to the father in laws for a lovely Sunday lunch.  This afternoon has seen me take inspiration from notjustgreenfingers' blog and whip up some chocolate chip cookies, flapjacks and currently in the bread-maker is a dough to make rolls.  Following her advice I will slice them and freeze ready to make up for the packed lunches.  Great idea!

I've been making bread in the BM weekly now when we run out of shop bought.  At the moment, we rely on shop bought to see us through the beginning of the week and I top up with homemade.  Eventually I may get to homemade 100% of the time but for now I'm happy with the balance.

It struck me the other day how far we've come since our journey had it's initial, dim spark.  I say dim as it's taken me a long time to start living a more frugal lifestyle but the fact is, we've come so far.  We don't buy things that we don't need, we make do and mend, make the most of free activities and generally live a happy yet frugal lifestyle. 

So this coming week I have my meal plan done, shopped yesterday to get everything I need for it and have the treats made to fill up the lunch boxes and after tea requests.  I'm going to make some rice pudding later in the week.  I think I will use the slow cooker as I've never done rice pudding in the slow cooker before.  That will be or Friday's soup and pudding night.

Two years time we will have our house up for sale and the farm will be in our sights.

Dusting off the January blues and looking forward to Frugal February

Happy Monday :)

Well pay day finally arrived.  I've been sitting, waiting for it to arrive and although it took its time, it did.  A welcome one indeed. 

So we have made it through Christmas and most of January and are now ready to bring on Frugal February.  The idea is to spend as little as possible on groceries and get back on an even keel after the Christmas spends.

Life is good at the moment.  Yesterday saw the family gather together for a Sunday lunch cooked by yours truly and I must say, it was thoroughly enjoyed.  We followed it with a lovely walk with the dog and by the time we came back, the children were worn out.  An early night was had by all, most welcome too!

We went to view a little property on Saturday.  We're not looking to buy yet but whilst we were over that neck of the woods we called in.  It was lovely and plenty of inspiration to keep plodding along and get into a position to be truly looking.

In the coming weeks I will be planting some potatoes after they have chitted and I'm on the look out for something else to plant.  I don't have a lot of room, it's a  small veg patch, not bags/borders etc so watch this space!

Speaking of potatoes, we have a lovely butternut squash and sweet potato soup for lunch today.  I made it last night.  It has a bit of chilli in it to keep us warm on these colder days.  Although, having said that, it's becoming increasingly spring like today.

So, now we're starting Frugal February, I'm reinforcing we are still determined and looking more than ever to the end goal.  2 years to go!

I might even start planning a little......let's start with pigs......