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

xnatalie81x

bails wrote: »

Thanks for sharing a little more of your story aeb - you really are an inspiration. I thought you were up north but you live in my neck of the woods somewhere :T

I am crab with directions - where is south west....... i know london and greater london lol

ceebeeby

Hi all, i'm tagging this thread to keep an eye on it, to help me on my way to costing less in life!!! I'm not sure how frugal I could possibly be so would like to watch and learn for a bit!

Tx

bails

Somerset, Devon, Cornwall way...

candygirl

AEB thanks for sharing your story hun:DYou ahve had so much to cope with and are amazingly positive about it all, and your house sounds fantastic:D:D
MUMOFFOUR glad your Dad's ok xx:A

xnatalie81x

bails wrote: »

Somerset, Devon, Cornwall way...

bottom of the map - i am really useless! Bails you will be shocked - i don't have a passport - the only time i have left the uk is on my dads one at 6mths to spain lol and the furthest up i have been is birmingham, furthest done........ erm Kent lol - know my way round London pretty well tho - born in n london now in ........ errr greater london or south.....east???

Thriftkitten

Wow AEB as I bow my head in shame, confessing to being stressed at 3 kids under 12 and on my own, you truely are an inspiration, Do I detect another Cornish Gal?? someone mentioned devon,cornwall way?

glendam

Thanks for telling us your story aeb I knew about the 6 young children but didnt realise the rest of the story. You are an inspiration good luck to you too.


chinatea- was amazed by your story to turn that situation around within a year well done.

Glenda

NualaBuala

Brrrr, it is so cold -9C here! I've just boosted the heating for another hour - am being very unfrugal with it and the gas bill will be horrendous. But it's worth it I think.

I enjoyed my dinner. The freezer mystery dish turned out to be a warming veg chilli and had it with mash. I had potatoes that were sprouting so cooked and mashed them all. There's enough chilli for lunch tomorrow and another 2 portions of mash so will have some with sausages (remembered to take them out of the freezer), onions and gravy tomorrow for dinner - it's warming comfort food all the way here!

nuala - thanks for asking, feel a bit better than yesterday, still quite sore though and need another early night!

Glad you forked out for a taxi, worth every penny to save yourself from another fall. Hope you're relaxing now and the BF gives you lots of TLC this weekend.


Hope everyone else recovering from falls, a hard day/week etc has a nice, cosy, relaxing weekend.

savingfortravel wrote: »

Nuala-Don’t worry about the choccie biscuits. You deserve them

Chika-Lovely presents from the boss…well done for handing in the tin ..:TI imagined an older person dropping it (or MS-using tins is so OS these days) and the thought of that breaks my heart.

.....
That’s all folks..goes to lie down

sft

Thanks SFT! How on earth you keep up so well, I just don't know! *takes hat off and bows*
I managed to leave ONE lonely choc biccie in the packet!:o I may need to get more, feeling hormonal, crampy and wobbly and chocolate in any form helps!

Chika, I forget if I said it earlier but that was a good thing you did and the knowledge that you did the right thing will bring you more happiness than the money could have.

MushyPeas wrote: »

Evening all, sorry to those who have had a bad day, roll on the weekend

Just a little frugal note from me (oh and thanks for cooking tips)..tonight I grilled some chips in my oven and figured out that I could heat beans and apple crumble in the bottom of the oven at the same time. It's a small thing, but wouldn't have thought of it unless I'd been reading everyone's tips so thank you

Thanks for passing on those tips Mushy, never thought of putting beans in the oven. That will certainly come in handy!:T

mumoffour77 wrote: »

Oh I forgot to mention......my Dads operation went well:)

Great news! :j Hope he's back on his feet soon.

Ches wrote: »

Same thing happened here over Christmas but we found there was an isolation tap on the inside wall (behind kitchen cabinet but has a hole to access) so we could turn that tap off without it stopping the rest of the supply in the house. Worth a look.

Thanks Ches, great idea.:T I found a something that sounds similar - a tap inside a hole in the back of the kitchen cupboard - but it turned off all the water. I will have another poke around though as an isolation tap is just what I need. I am thinking of asking a neighbour to help, maybe clamping the pipe closed. It's shocking how much water is being wasted and the pressure inside has dropped. I feel guilty as I heard on the news that the reservoirs are low because people are leaving taps running to prevent burst pipes.:o

NualaBuala

Aeb, your story really touched me. People like you inspire me to keep going on the days I'm not sure I can. Your children are lucky to have such a wonderful Mum.

warney27

wow aeb the first part of your story sounded like my dream come true, i would love the big house and run it as a B & B, but i really don't think i could have coped with all that you have been through.

Thanks savingfortravel for asking how my plans went, well here goes
1. make scrambled egg on toast for lunch, using up the bread from the breadmaker experience yesterday, which turned out very nice indeed. DONE
2. maybe make a chocolate chip and hazelnut cookie dough and freeze for future snacks NOT DONE
3. Enter the competitions that have been added since last night NOT DONE
4. Finish reading the "turn £100 into £10000" thread which i got 16 pages into last night HALF DONE got to page 56 out of 127
5. Work out a plan for how I turn £100 into £10000 HALF DONE had a couple of ideas , maybe make and sell gluten free products
6. Spend some quality time with the family DONE I have been in the ball pool with the daughter and she has helped/hindered me when i have been sorting dvd/cd's
7. Cook turkey stir fry for tea DONE not that great , it was a packet Wan Thai Ferry which was out of date in december, thought i would use up. should have just done my own
8. anything else that comes up DONE thought we would sell all DVD's and CD's on music magpie. Done all the dvd i wanted to get rid of and have been now been going through all the cds and have starting copying all the good ones onto my itunes before i get rid of them.
it breaks my heart abit all the money i have spent over the years and i am selling 131 discs for £68.88. I need to check each one on ebay first though, just incase some are worth decent money, anyone know where else i could get better money? also does anyone know where i can sell videos? got loads i need to get rid of.
cheers