Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

Rachel021967

Please can I join in - RACHEL021967.
Will be back with a budget tomorrow.

BigMummaF

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

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Nyk i have showed hubby the idyllic location but he still won't budge. he is determined to move southwards:rotfl::rotfl:
....

Hope he has deep pockets then The wages outside of London are a fair bit lower but the prices are not! My Yorkshire aunt holidayed in Eastbourne one year & my parents went to see her for the day. She's bought a hoover from the electricity board as it was then, for £60 LESS than the same one they saw while wandering around the town Like-wise, I was a Saturday girl in a supermarket & was transferred to a branch about three miles away; the prices were higher there because a 'neighbourhood' close by was predominantly second homes or commuters who worked 'in town'--ie London.

cw18 wrote: »

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1. not being sure quite what to set their budget at,...*cough..:whistle:..WIP (Work In Progress)*
.... I'm one who constantly tweaked the budgets for my individual categories throughout 2009, but am hoping that now I have 12 months under my belt I've managed to set more accurate/realistic figures for 2010....exactly my plan of action for 2010>2011.
....It's not a competition to see who can live on the least money, as I doubt any two of us have exactly the same income for the same family make-up in the same kind of location. As I understand it, this is all about being aware of where your money goes, so that you can utilise it the best way possible (and hopefully free up money either to clear debts that bit faster, or to save for that special thing you want - be it a house of your own, the holiday of a lifetime, or something else special to you).

Hope you don't mind me snipping & underlining the bits that particularly struck a chord with me Cheryl. I am aiming to do the best that I can, to keep the wolves from getting any closer to the front & back doors. I do look at the hints & tips people give; some of them are not for me but the majority have already begun to transform my life. I've never consciously eaten any kind of lentil before this year & now sneak them in to meals whenever I can :shhh: & the Offspring no longer ask what they can use to clean something as they know the answer will be white vinegar & bicarb :rotfl:
I desperately want to visit my dearest friends in their new home way up in northern Scotland in 2010 as with increasing health scares,I know time is not on their side. I don't have a passport & I'm really not keen to invest that kind of money when it could pay a goodly chunk of my fare anyway & what it will cost to fly in the coming months.

Aril wrote: »

....Got very overthrilled as after many years of "needing" [ok "wanting":D] one of these handle type gadget thingies that you use for pastry/crumble making ....
....book of simple gifts that I've borrowed from the library - it's got a few ideas that may find their way into hm pressies next year.
Aril

Do you mean one of these Aril? I've thought about one--usually as I'm up to my elbows rubbing the fat into the flour --but wasn't sure if they were worth the drawer space.
I too am beginning to think about what gifts I can make; I've a gentleman's b'day in Feb & was pondering on a bar of value dark choc & whiskey-soaked dried fruit to make a kinda boozy chocolate...something Like I keep saying to myself since finding you guys, WIP :rotfl:

patentgirl

Thank you for the spreadsheet Cheryl I am off work till Monday so will get down to it today and hopefully post my totals later cant wait to start I must be very sad!:rotfl:

shaz_mum_of__2

BMF - Hubby and i want to retire to a smallholding in East Anglia /S.Lincolnshire so not quite "down sarf" as it may have appeared He is originally from Kent and came up here to escape the urban sprawl and rising cost of living 20 years ago .

Nyks lifestyle on the otherhand has inspired me, and i am now trying to persuade him to move northward towards frugaldom.....................but he's having none of it:rotfl::rotfl:

Still done no shopping but may stock up on uht milk....yeuch in order to keep it that way !

Desk building today so probably be offline whils cables etc are rearranged see you all later.

LilacPixie

Nyk where are you?? boarders/dumfriesshire???

For those looking for HM gifts I soaked raisens in dark rum overnight and made rum and raisen fudge for a HM gift for BIL.

A day of bulk cooking ahead for me. I also need to look in my survey accounts, I have let these slip recently and see if daily clicks still exist. I am doing the turn £100 into 10k challenge too. Oh and there may be some movement house wise for me, we have been looking around for about 18 months but nothing has caught our eye but a family friend has split with his partner and is looking to sell up. Neither can afford mortgage alone Neither can afford the costs of putting house on open market and their solicitor has advised them to seek a private sale so he asked my DH if we would be interested. Lots of pros and cons to possibly going for it and lots to think about after all they only seperated 3 weeks ago and may well reconcile. If we do move it should not effect our living costs much if at all.

rozeepozee

grandma247 wrote: »

Please see the note above I would love to have mine that low:D

Hmmm, it is low and almost certainly inaccurate but the gas and electricity combined are the correct figure - it's a dual fuel statement on DD so it's all mushed into the same pot.

Your query has led me to check my last bill, grandma. I normally just file them away!

dated 7th September, it says:

"This is the amount you've spent on electricity from 19-02-09 to 18-08-09 £214.46 (partly based on a meter reading) your electricity balance is £186.72.... We are doing our best to estimate your bill but we really need you to give us meter readings for your electricity and gas as soon as possible"

Guess what I'll be doing today (I hate going down into the cellar!)?

RP x

Frugaldom

BigMummaF wrote: »

I desperately want to visit my dearest friends in their new home way up in northern Scotland in 2010 as with increasing health scares,I know time is not on their side. I don't have a passport ...

BMF, I can promise you that there's no need for a passport just to get to Scotland if you're currently in Eastbourne. :rotfl: HS is from there and, surprisingly, (apart from property prices & rental costs) it is probably much cheaper to live our lifestyle there than it is here: no need for heating the house 9 months of the year, mains gas, mains water, mains sewerage, large supermarkets with huge choice and own brand savers, more opportunities for finding bargains, much better served by public transport and far more likely to succeed with the garden than with our frost-ridden mud pit. :rotfl: I have never tried living in a busy town but it is very tempting to find out how much I could save if I had 'normal' central heating and was within easy reach of a major supermarket like Asda or Tesco. In town, everything is on your doorstep, so I guess it's not really that it costs more to 'live' there, just that there are far too many things tempting you to spend cash that you may, or may not, have.

Before anyone I know corrects me, yes, I HAVE lived in a real 'town'. It had 997 residents, but the part-time registrar in the county buildings meant it warranted 'town' status. :rotfl:

Aril

Yes BigMummaF it is one of those things. I loathe the sensation of rubbing fat into flour and my mixer does it too fine. We're big on crumble in this household so it will see a lot of use. I have very few gadgets so think long and hard before bringing anything into my home. I also bought the burger maker from Lakeland a few years ago as I'd seen my friend with hers. Another thing I wouldn't make by hand before but we now enjoy hm burgers on a regular basis. Will be back later with a proper post:D
Aril

Frugaldom

LilacPixie wrote: »

Nyk where are you?? boarders/dumfriesshire???

THAT'S CLOSE! We're in Dumfries & Galloway region, next to Galloway Forest Park which, coincidentally, has just become UK's first 'Dark Sky Park'. (There are only 3 other Dark Sky Parks in the world - Utah's Natural Bridges National Monument , Pennsylvania's Cherry Springs State Park and Ohio's Geauga Park, so southwest Scotland is THE place to be for spectacular skies in the UK. Hence my fascination for photographing it. )

Edited in - Just trying to convince Shaz's DH that they should head northwards instead of back down south. There's a London bus goes past out road end, HS gets that from town when he's going to visit rellies 'dan saff'.

salnew

I would like to join the Challenge please -
SALNEW