FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 1. (Living on £4,000 a year)

minjara

Ok thats me just spent £28.73 on Approved Food but that was with the discount from Facebook, woohoo. Any idea roughly how long they usually take to arrive??

God its cold in here....BRRRR!!

Minjara

KarrieBee

Please can I count myself in to this challenge?
KarrieBee
Allthis talk of frugality and dreams chimes well with me at the moment. over a year ago OH and I moved to the country as we were seeking a better lifestyle BUT now we commute to 2 different cities, my journey to work takes an hour and a half on a good day and on a long term basis it just isn't sustainable.

We both want to stay in the area we are in - I love being able to walk out my door and get straight up into the hills. But we (me in particular) want more time to get involved with the community and appreciate the beautiful place we live.

LT plan is that we are living off OH wages and saving mine for a house deposit. This is to give us some practice for when we have little ones as we want me to be able to be a SAHM.

This year is the official year of belt tightening so this challenge is ideal!

Please could you PM me with the spreadsheet and I wil post my budget?
Thanks all!!

candygirl

Woohooo I just put hairdryer on an extension lead and blasted the pipe outside and it moved the ice:j:j:jI've lived here since 86 n this has never happened before:eek::eek:Just lagged the pipes with cardboard , so fingers crossed:D

Frugaldom

fayjmck wrote: »

NYK - out of interest - how much did you do her wedding for - I've costed mine so far and with celebrants, legal stuff its over £300 already without even travelling to get there or having anyone come!

Top tip - if it can be made at home, make it at home - invites, response cards, place setting cards, favours etc. As a lot of people had to travel and stay over, we hired a bus for the full day & night, so nobody got lost on tiny winding back roads. :rotfl: I'm also an active member of our LETS group and that was great, as it meant family & friends were found accommodation despite all local hotels being fully booked. I should add, though, that my DD had a very big wedding with the costs split among both families. This also means that nobody actually knows the true cost of that wedding! :rotfl: My guesstimate would be :eek::eek::eek: but it was their choice to do and they've now bought their first house and got moved in a week before Christmas. :j I just hope DD remembers some frugal ways - she certainly got all the frugalisation tools needed in gifts, like massive stock pot & pans, breadmaker, baking trays etc... you get the picture.

xnatalie81x wrote: »

...Bit odd but have some scholl gel things showing on my order summary - no cost so hoping its a free gift -

It's a free gift - it tells you about it on the main page of Appr0ved F00ds

Bails - it's a group they have set up - I'll send you the link before the offer runs out but Dan's said he'll repeat it if he gets 1000 names to join his discount club.

bails wrote: »

...My current dreams for the future ie after completing the one I'm currently living are to marry my gorgeous man, start a family, find my dream job, and own or build our perfect eco home with enough land to grow our own and get a horse :rotfl:

I CAN SEE THAT! I hope it means it'll be a very tiny horse! I'd have one of them in a minute!
In fact... look what I, err, umm... FOUND? :rotfl::T:j
It's frugalpony!



Porridge for breakfast, cuppa with the neighbour, homemade soup for lunch, caught up with work, almost caught up on here and now I need to go back outside to see if I can clear a corner to make a decent sized shelter for feeding the hens and ducks so they aren't walking on snow and ice all the time. Then I'll be back to work some more on my 'masterplan' for 2010. :rotfl:

XSpender

Only Sky DD out today though food shop planned for tonight/tomorrow.

DH suggested handing his car back last night on a VT. :eek: I have a company car, work from home 80% of the time and will be on mat leave from mid April so we can share mine. He has also discovered that if it is not too bad walking to work in this weather he would enjoy it in the summer and it means he gets his exercise done before he gets home and doesn’t have to go out again when baby arrives. I have wanted to get rid of his car for a while but he would then have to rely on me not using mine or bussing/walking to work so I haven’t pushed it. It is an old thing with a lot of miles on the clock so no value in selling it.

We are on an IVA so we would not save all the money on the HP and running costs as part of this would go the creditors but we would be able to keep some of the money to cover extra diesel and bus fares when he needs them as I do not think it would be worth him getting a pass as he would not need it every day.

I have also been advised that if we change supplier and reduce our utility bills we can keep the difference so benefit from the saving.:T I think this is to encourage us to go through it with one of their advisors but they did confirm that if I organised it myself I could still keep the saving. I have avoided doing this as I thought that the creditors would benefit from me going to all the trouble of changing suppliers.

There are so many changes happening with our finances at the moment with me going on mat leave soon that everything is a bit up in the air.

DH spoke to his mobile co today also who have offered us a cheaper broadband deal, free house phone and laptop if we change to them. I think he was feeling a bit guilty as he has spent £6 over his inclusive phone tariff and I was not a happy bunny.:o We are currently with Sky and I need bb for work so I think this needs some investigating before we make the switch. Seems too good to be true as we desperately need a lap top which means it probably is.:rolleyes:

I have only spent £31 out of the £60 allocated for this week’s grocery and dog food budget but we need to dig the car out and go to Mr M tonight for fresh stuff and some more costly things such as dog food, soap powder and coffee as well as fresh fruit and milk. I will be grabbing a load of their 30p f&V if there is any left.

SFT – Yes I am a veggie! DH isn’t though.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, will try and keep up with the posts tomorrow as took me ages to read the 6 pages from last night:eek: I have enjoyed reading about everyone's dreams and wedding plans today though:D

Frugaldom

minjara wrote: »

Ok thats me just spent £28.73 on Approved Food but that was with the discount from Facebook, woohoo. Any idea roughly how long they usually take to arrive??Minjara

Placed my order last night, got despatch notice this morning to say it's on its way

KarrieBee wrote: »

Please can I count myself in to this challenge? Please could you PM me with the spreadsheet and I wil post my budget?
Thanks all!!

Please go to post 1 of this thread to download a copy of Cheryl's free spreadsheet template, it's in the list of handy links. Welcome on board to both you and Minjara

candygirl wrote: »

Woohooo I just put hairdryer on an extension lead and blasted the pipe outside and it moved the ice:j:j:jI've lived here since 86 n this has never happened before:eek::eek:Just lagged the pipes with cardboard , so fingers crossed:D

My mum emailed to say she'd done same but her pipe is upstairs so she went up metal ladders with NO gloves! So guess what happened! Yep, her hand got stuck to the ladder! :rolleyes: When do parents ever learn?! She has now put a gel heat pad on the frozen part of the pipe! :rotfl:Waiting to hear if this works. :rotfl:

Forgot to say - spent £40 on another top up of electricity meter (now got £80 in credit in case weather takes a turn for the worst, plus 2 x 49p washing up liquids from village post office.

minjara

Cheers, let me know when you receive the goods from them! Well I've started cleaning the kitchen, hob and surfaces, got the dishwasher on just now. Cleaned the sink, toilet and bath upstairs too, but you know what.....I really can't be bothered!!! lol. :rotfl:I also need to clean Lucifer (hes my bunny) out but I can't find where on earth the black binliners have gone. I know they are somewhere in this house....I'm sure it eats them!

KarrieBee

Thanks Nyk! Will post budget shortly.
K

candygirl

OMG nyk I hope your Mum's hand is ok and her pipe defrosts:eek::eek:My Mums new boiler has gone off for the 3rd time in a month so the plumbers there now.I might train to be a plumber, what dya all think?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Love the pony NYK, that is one fo my dreams, to have a horse and a million more doglets:D

ChinaTea

Candygirl, my dad rang last night and they had the exact same thing happen when they tried to empty the bath. They've lived in the house 40yr and never had it before. You'd have though the heat of the bathwater would have thawed the pipe though. They also had an electric socket catch fire, had the emergency electrician and there was water behind the socket, they think it was condensation through the stone walls, now looking at a complete rewire.

Another NSD (6/8)here except for set books for OU £45:eek: but this is not included in the challenge and I will get it back when the course starts 3rd Feb.

Had a phone call from DCA at lunchtime offering a settlement figure on one of my debts I've had since 2006. Normally these are way over what I could pay but to start the offer was £276 on a balance of just under £500. Eventually got them down to £104 if it's paid within 14 days :T. Said I might be able to borrow the money from a relative but only if it was for a f&f not a partial settlement and that I need this in writing to show to said relative. Am waiting for them to ring me back to confirm the f&f. This will come out the budget but with the savings made on contents ins, phone/bb this week + some funds in paypal isn't going to affect the budget and I won't be making payments for the next 18 months. i know in the grand scheme of my debts, over £30000 this isn't a lot but it's a huge boost, the first of my debts paid.:j :j:j

I have always kept a diary to record just about everything more of a journal really. looking back at this time last year I had absoutely no money, no heating was on EC for electricty and was surviving on porridge and bread, I'd sold just about everything worth anything inc TV and wedding ring . How different this year has started, my income is the same but my freezer/pantry is full. I've replaced the TV sadly the wedding ring will never be replaced, my rents up to date, CT paid till April. All this has happened from lurking on this challenge last year so heartfelt thanks to everyone on the 2009 challenge:A