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

warney27

Near St.Austell

quick question does anybody know if you have to have a yahoo account for freecycle?

JayJay14

warney27 wrote: »

Near St.Austell

quick question does anybody know if you have to have a yahoo account for freecycle?

I think you do cos if I remember rightly freecycle is a yahoo user group.

Small spend for me this morning at Asda - will have to be more careful as I had not intended going in (took DD in to work there)

xnatalie81x

Have updated my original post BUT i feel this deserves a post all of it's own

I HAVE A SEWING MACHINE!!!!!!

Put add on freecycle and now i am arranging collection - i won't be around much today as i am off to find some patterns and things! In realtion to the challenge this will have the effect of lowering mine and my daughter's clothing budget (i hope - not re-writing until i know) originally mine was 200 yr an DD 150 but i will now be able to reduce that I HOPE but buying from charity shops and adjusting/making new things am hoping to reduce mine and DD from 350 to around 250

Don't know about making boys stuff but i will give it a try!!!

Any tips from those who make their own clothes etc - pm.........

Exciting

Savethekipper

Hi Kipper (if I may call you that), I've been thinking of doing the same thing but don't want the hassle if the P&P eats up the profit. I've never sold anything online, the thought scares me TBH. Some of my books are from my first degree and I was thinking of posting an ad on the relevant Dept. noticeboard if they'll let me. But for the rest I just don't know. Also I have tonnes of CDs and records I don't want and it would be nice to get some money for them.[/QUOTE]

I got rid of my Cds via Music Magpie. Didn't get much for them but every little helps as the saying goes. It was also very easy to do. You just go online, type in the serial number and they give you a price. If you are happy to proceed they send you a postage sticker and so there are no further costs involved. I got my cheque about 10 days after I posted the items. Wish I could fins something as easy to sell my books!!

Debs08

xnatalie81x I made my whole family's clothing including DH, especially play/ home/ sleep clothing and just had 1/2 smartish items for going out. Also helps not nagging the family when they are hard on their clothes as they cost so little. Stick to easy patterns ie pull on shorts/ trousers and t-shirts to start with, success breeds confidance.

Managed to understand most of your codes but have just had a light bulb moment and realised OH stands for other half not old husband. Was a bit bemused at first as you all sounded so sweet and then were a bit offish about the men in your life, thought it was the british sense of humour that I wasn't catching.

larmy16

I have sold quite a few books on Amazon. If you have a set of scales and a postal rates leaflet you can work out if it will be to your advantage. At least with Amazon they tell you upfront how much you will get.

The best deals are when you get slim books which will go as a letter rate.

Really heavy ones are a no no - unless they are worth a lot of money.

It's really very easy. I posted on another thread that I just sold a book that someone had thrown in the recycling. I thought I would check on Amazon or take it to the charity shop. It sold the same day!! I made £4.75 on it....ok not a great amount but still. Also a member of my family works in the PO so I don't have to make a special trip.

Savethekipper

Thanks for advice everyone but it appears it is probably too much hassle to sell these books and I think I will donate them to a charity shop. By the time I have sussed out how much each individual book weighs and, if I sell them, made several trips to PO which would have to be by car I think I would have used all my profit up!!

I have just sold an old digital camera though and will receive the vast sum of £7.19 for it!! Still better than it going for nothing.

xnatalie81x

Debs08 wrote: »

xnatalie81x I made my whole family's clothing including DH, especially play/ home/ sleep clothing and just had 1/2 smartish items for going out. Also helps not nagging the family when they are hard on their clothes as they cost so little. Stick to easy patterns ie pull on shorts/ trousers and t-shirts to start with, success breeds confidance.

Managed to understand most of your codes but have just had a light bulb moment and realised OH stands for other half not old husband. Was a bit bemused at first as you all sounded so sweet and then were a bit offish about the men in your life, thought it was the british sense of humour that I wasn't catching.

lol - thanx for the advice - am going to try a t shirt dress first - here www.lovetosew.com/tshirtdress.htm for DD who is 3

Just the 'gathering seam' bit i don't get - it is times like this that i really miss my nan as she was a brilliant dressmaker - even made my mum's wedding dress! I will see if my mum knows how to do it as the online instructions are a bit hard to understand

Off to see what dressmaking courses there are at the local colleges

NualaBuala

Debs08, another inspiring story, you're a real trooper.

Savethekipper wrote: »

I got rid of my Cds via Music Magpie. Didn't get much for them but every little helps as the saying goes. It was also very easy to do. You just go online, type in the serial number and they give you a price. If you are happy to proceed they send you a postage sticker and so there are no further costs involved. I got my cheque about 10 days after I posted the items. Wish I could fins something as easy to sell my books!!

Thanks a mill to you and Larmy16 for the advice on selling! I just checked them out and can't sell there cos I'm in Ireland. Same for Amazon and the Green one (forget the name). But on the plus side, I've found a shop in town that buys second hand books and CDs so might try them, will save faffing around with postage even if I don't get much for them!

minjara

Gee I'm cold, but apparently its 4C here and the snow is actually starting to melt a bit. It is forcasting more for snow still. 50% chance, so we will see. It has got a lot cloudier than earlier so we will see!

Ok well its been another NSD today, as was yesterday. I've got my initial interview with the jobcentre tomorrow at 9.40am, oh the joy! Then on Tuesday I have a blood test at the docs to see if i have celiacs or not.

Well the latest we are investigating is can we do without Sky. Over the course of this week we are taking a note of everything we watch and what channel its on. And if there is anything on the Sky channels we are then seeing if we can download them from online. If thats te case, cancelling Sky would save us £23 quid a month.

Still trying to find the bin liners for cleaning the bunny out. Also looking for threads on MSE about budget meals. Can anyone point me in the right directions cause I did find them donkeys ago.

Seeing as we are doing places, anyone around Fife?

Minjara