40 Day Food Challenge – Mealplans

OK - here we go the mealplan for the 40 day food challenge is written! You can view it and download it here: Cottage Retreatist Meal Plan1 All food is due to be homemade and as fresh as possible though at times the freshness will be mostly from freezer veg and long-lasting veg like root vegetables! One …

40 Day Food Challenge – Day 1

Well - here we go, I chucked the idea around in my head and with some feedback via Twitter I decided to go for it!   Welcome to my 40 Day Food Challenge - #40dayfood - in which I try to spend no more than £110 on all food, drink and toiletries until payday on the 29th August …

My Top 16 Requirements for a frugal Urban Existence

OK - this is my first proper 'listicle' as they say on Buzzfeed! Today I was over on the old-style money-saving forum at MoneySavingExpert which I love to do when I'm not on Pinterest or on this blog, and I was inspired by people's tips and tricks for a frugal lifestyle, so I decided to …

Muddling through July

We made it through June!!!!! Whoop! But what does July have in store?  Well - it's all about saving, saving, saving. June was a success! We stuck to our goals and made it through a really tough month.  See my post: The Toughest Times for details.   But now we're already 2 weeks into July …

Outfit of the Day – a Weekend dream!

  My favourite picnic outfit by cottage-r  Louche summer top / Flared skirt / Office slip on boots / Owl pendant / SELECTED black plastic sunglasses / sur la tete Milan Boater Straw Sun Hat from Village Hats. / Burberry Ladies The Utilitarian Watch BU7817 | the Watch Hut This post is being entered into …

Fake Law Firms!

You may have seen it a lot in the news recently (in the UK) about Wonga using false lawyers to scare people into repayment of debts.  But as we're finding out it's not just Wonga who have been doing it!   See the BBC article: Wonga chased debt using fake law firms for the background to this …

A Liebster award goes to…

Me?! I got a nomination for the Liebster award from the lovely Chickywiggle who blogs over at Chickywiggle's Blogspot.  Wow! Thank you Chickywiggle!! 🙂 Now as I believe it - the nomination is for small blogs (less than 200 followers) and new bloggers to share some favourite reads with others and show them your appreciation for their words. …