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

grannynise

Aeb Although I'm more of a lurker than a poster I had to respond to your story. What an amazing person you are and how lucky your children are to be growing up with you as their role model. I hope so much that the plans that you and your OH can still be realised, but, if not, I have no doubt at all that you will make a success of your life and your children's lives in some other way. Thank you so much for sharing your story.

lynzpower

Frugal things Ive done today is:

Go for emergency NHS dental it was only 16.50 for now. They are telling me i ned to spend 850 on one tooth :eek: Well therefore need to be uber frugal, hence joining a number of challenges :eek:

*Storecupbaord food all day
*Walked out of Lidl after thinking things were too expensive :rotfl:
*found a cartridge for a printer we no longer own so will put that on amazon
*found on a disgusting bottle of alcohol free wine ( bought for mulling for pregnant freind at Xmas bought 2, it was disgusting) tryme love me on the back- so am taking that back for a refund ( 2.99 iirc)
*have a bag full of items I need to take back to shops ( from the sales) this is about 70 quid so really really need to do this tomorrow, however its snowing again here and I just really DONT fancy it! have assembled all receipts etc. ready though.

I would love to get a sewing machine. I remember being taught at school how to use one and OH MY I was totally rubbish. I have very poor hand eye co-ordination and cannot to this day thread a needle! I saw one somewhere recently though ( starter type) for only about 30 quid and I thought it was a good buy and have bene considering it. Whether I get any further than that I dont know but I thought it would be useful to whizz up basic curtains and take up trousers.

Savethekipper

Hi all

Wondered if any of you "frugalers" had any advice on the best place to sell books on the internet? Preferably an easy to understand website.

They are mainly hard back books that are pretty large and I am wondering if the cost of posting them out to any buyers may make selling them worthless.

I looked on amazon, play etc and they seem to take a cut of your sale price as well, then pay pal take a cut. It seems to me that by the time I have sold them all the money will go on fees/postage.

Thanks

warney27

managed to find a steak in the freezer, so i made some beef satay and micro rice. was tasty! and now finishing off the xmas mince pies with some custard. get in there all from the cupboards

rozeepozee

Kiwisaver wrote: »

I have had an AWESOME day! Awesome not being a normal word in my vocabulary and not being used lightly here. Thanks to Rozeepozee who mentioned having money in an overseas bank account, I was reminded that I still (after five years) had an account in the UK that I had left open to pay some direct debits, a couple of donations and to pay my Ma's phone bill.

Long story shortened; I fluffed up my password and lost access to the account. The Halifax refused to re-issue passwords or send statements abroad - so I lost track and had absolutely no idea how much was left. :eek: Coinciding, my memory to call, with time differences and overnight computer shutdowns made it a nightmare to deal with from afar. BUT today I phoned and managed to successfully get through the telephone banking security to get my balance. Wow £1,561.92p :T

Imagine that? One quarter of my year's budget sitting there; converted into dollars it's a sizeable chunk towards my mortgage overpayments. So, I've been on the net most of the day on a big sending spree (still have Debit Card) and booked almost all of the remaining accommodation costs for our trip home in June. Just five more nights to be booked and paid for. :T

I'm delighted to read this, Kiwisaver. It's really made my day! All I need to do now is follow your example and sort out DP's money. It's from selling his car - about $A15K - and his pension pot - about $A25K :eek: SHOCKING that it's just been sitting there since 2004! Funny thing is, with the weakening pound, he may actually be better off when we exchange - there's always a silver lining! Might be able to top up the money "lost" to the camper van more quickly than we'd hoped.

nykmedia wrote: »

Sorry to come across as a grump but I am really struggling to keep up with this thread and most of my time is being spent reading questions that have been answered many, many times. Might I suggest anyone wanting to take part reads post 1 and checks out the handy links list.
...
Re the supermarket bargains, it is easy to just click the link in post one list of handy links. For those with no time to read it, the link is HERE The page carries a list of supermarkets, times of reductions and percentages. It also now has a link to the Approved Food discount info.

I feel your pain, nyk, I was mortified to find this thread had moved on 6 pages since my last post as I find it hard to sit at the computer for too long and I've been working today (new tenant moved in). Also, think I may have asked one of the stupid questions ..........:o

Savethekipper wrote: »

Hi all

Wondered if any of you "frugalers" had any advice on the best place to sell books on the internet? Preferably an easy to understand website.

They are mainly hard back books that are pretty large and I am wondering if the cost of posting them out to any buyers may make selling them worthless.

I looked on amazon, play etc and they seem to take a cut of your sale price as well, then pay pal take a cut. It seems to me that by the time I have sold them all the money will go on fees/postage.

Thanks

I'd be interested in this too - I have a big pile of books that I had a clear out of and they've been sitting in a box in my hallway for about 6 months now. Wonder if i should just take them to the charity shop?

Not a NSD today. I bought a present for a kiddie's birthday party I'm going to with my son tomorrow. Still it was a Home Bargains bargain, so less than £4. I've added it to my budget in the Anything Else category but I have a feeling that I need to allow a budget for pressies as my son has a better social life with more parties than I do!

It really helps when people do personals if they highlight the name of the person they're responding to in bold. With the speed this thread moves, it's the only way I have of vaguely keeping track.

loopychriss

lynzpower wrote: »

Im in a frugal dilemma. I hope the more frugal amongst you can direct us as to what to do.

We dont have central heating. We have the option of getting the gas turned on. The place we live is a very draughty maisionette ( partly secondary glazed)
The positive of this is that we have no gas bill. Electricity is included in our v low rent.
Our place is quite big, about the same size as your average 3 bed semi.

Its cold. Very cold.Weve covered the windows and are pretty much living in our bedroom where we have 3 oil filled radiators.Of course we are wearing lots of layers.
Ive been on comparisons sites and it looks like it would be about 1200 for the year, although in the spring Id be tempted to shut the gas down again.

Does this sound a lot to you? Can anyone think of anything that I mgiht have missed tips-wise in keeping warm. We have made draught excluders ( pointless, dont seem to do anything)

It all depends on your circumstances though. Are you in regular employment and could you find a place in your budget for gas?

If it was me I'd do anything I could to get heating - if you had gas would you get central heating or just a gas fire? I suppose it depends on how much you like being cold, is it worth suffering?

Our house is a 3 bed semi and the dual fuel bill every month is £111, so that makes it £1332.00 per year for both! (After reading this I have now changed to another plan which I hope will be cheaper). I have to say though, that at the moment our account is in credit, and that's after just paying a £348 bill.

So.... if the option's there and you could afford it.... go for it!

Twinkles08

Evening everyone!Just a quick post before I waddle to bed.Quite pleased as hubby and me have just achieved our 2 nsd.Not great by some standards but pretty good for us!Plus hubby has taken to the new plan ie budgeting and recording spending better than I thought he wd,as he hates thinking about money and finds it all v dull and tedious.(I love it!)On track so far apart from spending a little too much on ebay clothes for forthcoming baby and hubbys spar (shop) addiction (little extras adding up).Anyway night,take care all x

batcatz

savingfortravel wrote: »

Hi Everyone!
Batcatz-Wow, so much food from one chicken breast! Is that 3 portions in total?

SFT

Hi, yes it was 3 portions. I don't eat a lot of meat so a few bits of chicken and lots of chunky veg for me. It was lovely.

skint_chick

So I've finally finished shelving my understairs cupboard and it's looking amazing - it seems to have doubled in space and I've only shelved one side. I've just got to get my shoe rack down from the roof space and get DH to put the coat hooks up tomorrow and we're done. Hoping to get some plastic stacking boxes on next trip to Ikea for more dry food storage too

Before


After - clicking on the pic puts it the right way up!


BB- you're not the only one who couldn't handle living in the country - while I like the idea of a smallholding I love that my home is close to shops/entertainment/schools and the reality is that I just don't have time for looking after a garden - I struggle to find time for creative things as it is!

I'm trying to figure out exactly what my dream is - at the moment it's spending my holidays travelling to new places and sampling different cultures and educating myself more. I'd like to do my PhD although it might have to wait until I retire due to funds - and I think my ideal job is pretty close to what I actually do with a few tweaks. All I want is to be happy:D

Savvy_sewing

Finally I am back on line. Well actually I have been here since around 5pm. Just reading this thread, and I am only on page 22! I have got a sore finger and wrist from thanking and pagedowns.

My computer died before Christmas, been borrowing to get on line. But my wonderful Dad arrived with this new one today. He doesnt think i should be in the village without one. So I can still do my online banking, and food shopping etc etc.
My car is still "Snowed in". I am unable to dig the snow, due to my spondylitis, and so I havent left the house since last Tuesday.
Becoming a bit stir crazy. Luckily Dad has a 4 x 4 so he can get to the village. Just.

I will try and catch up a bit more another time.But I am going Stir crazy reading through. sorry.