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

candygirl

Had my 6th NSD day, and have had my lovely friend round for lunch, and a good natter, then took Boo to my Mums for the afternoon whilst DD was at college:D
Sadly her head gasket blew on her car, so the garage have sealed it, but said it's £350 to replace:eek::eek:
Mum gave me a big bag full of tinned toms, dried pulses, curry powder etc, cos she has decided she can't be bothered cooking much anymore:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I will cook for her don't worry;):D
Hoep you've all had fabby frugal days, and get well soon FF:A:A

Frugaldom

jtb2412 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Not had time to catch up properly on here yet, but I was wondering if anyone else has had problems getting milk? DH has been to 3 shops and they've completely run out !!! I would have thought the deliveries would have been getting through by now?

Will pop back later and read all what you've been up to xx

JTB, it might just be a knock on effect with everyone back at work. The problem here wasn't so much getting the milk to the shops, it was getting the milk from the cows into the tankers, as the pipes were freezing up, and the tankers off the farms to the processing dairies. Either way, it all has a knock on effect and everything always results in price increases. I always have milk powder, just in case, but have been buying UHT skimmed milk in cases of 12 litres. 2 cases from Ald! costs £11.76 and does us a month, but I believe places like A$da sell it even cheaper.

My Appr0ved F00d order is out for delivery but hasn't arrived here yet. My guess is that they've spotted the other delivery for next door neighbour for tomorrow and are holding ours back to do the one drop. Sensible on these roads, but it would have been far more courteous of the courier to have called and let us know. :rolleyes:

Managed to rejig the freezer contents to fit in the whoopsied finger rolls and 3 lots of the hm beef olives by taking out a bit stew and some mince. I'll cook it all together but not sure where to put it all if I bulk it out as the freezer is pretty much jam packed! :rotfl: Don't you just love frugal food, the way it expands and becomes another meal and another meal? I'm going to rename mince 'Nile beef' (or pork or lamb or soya or whatever), as it just stretches out for so long! :rotfl:It should stretch even further once my order arrives as there's some soya mince in that, if I remember correctly.

rictus123

Hey everyone, 8th NSD today. Glad i havnt spent anything this year, getting in good habits! Cant wait until payday and see my account a bit healthier!

ifonlyitwaseasier

well today was one of my biggest spend days for months! have had to sort out a new windscreen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i swear any car i use just wants to bankrupt me!!!

JBT - my local sainsbugs is out but lidl have plenty, nice long dates too

slowlyfading

Evening everyone.

Well, managed to drive to school and back this morning fine in terms of weather. However, I was shouted at! I was changing lanes after going through some traffics lights this morning (it was still dark) and the next thing I know I've got this cyclist banging on my window shouting and swearing at me! I looked before I pulled out, I'm a safe driver, but he's cycling down the main road with no bloody lights on! Shook me up a bit but never mind. Got to school fine apart from that.

Today is my 6th NSD for January I went into town after school as I've got some vouchers to spend, but didn't find anything I liked. I also had a vouhcer for Caf3 N3ro so I tried myself to a Chai Latte on the way home - for free!

lingo - thanks for the take care message
f_f - hope you're feeling better soon

NualaBuala

I've been trying to re-jig my budget to shave more off my costs. I just can't figure out how you folks are able to manage on 4k. I do find the UK cheaper than Ireland (where I live) but it can't be just that!

My budget is over 11k for just me - and some of you are looking after whole families and pets for so so much less. Thanks to you truly frugal people I feel compelled to challenge myself as much as I possibly can.

Do you ever have a night out or a takeaway? And how do you fund unexpected repairs? These are some of the "extras" I have included in my budget. My loans are not due to finish till 2013 and guess I figured I couldn't do without treats for such a long period. I've already overpaid enough that my loans will finish earlier but maybe I need to push harder.

I didn't do my baking as planned today - hopefully tomorrow. And had to fork out €80 for a plumber but no point crying over [STRIKE]spilt milk[/STRIKE] burst pipes.:D

Off to update my sig with my total spent now. Hope you're all having a good evening.

jtb2412

NYK, thanks for the info. Maybe I'll be coaxed into panic buying like everyone else next time, then I won't get caught short ! :rolleyes:

ifonlyitwaseasier ... it was Sainsbugs that have all run out, 3 different stores ! DH got some in the end but it's not our usual stuff and everyone in the shop was moaning about the lack of milk in the area ! :eek:

Right I'm off to fat club to get weighed, I shall endeavour to catch up with you all later tonight

I_want_a_baby

Hi not joining in with the challenge but reading this post for tips!!

Just about the question re Milk.

My in laws are dairy farmers and the tankers normally collect from their farm every other day. However the tankers have been having difficulty collecting milk (and they are situated on a main road) They have missed two deliveries and the inlaws have had to flush £450 worth of milk down the drains (they are not allowed to sell/give it to public due to H&S).
They only have the storage facilities for 3 days of milk at a push.

If the tankers can't get to them on a main road just outside a town then no wonder they can't get to rural farms which are normally up a long drive etc.

Keep up the good work folks!! a NSD for me today!!

slowlyfading

Nuala - there's just me in this challenge, as I live at uni most of the time. It just has to factor in feeding the BF on weekends I don't understand how some people manage it, as I can quite happily spend £50 at the supermarket for a week's worth of shopping that is mainly just me - I try not to, but sometimes it happens! I also have nights out, go to the cinema, get a takeaway but they're not very frequent. Makes me appreciate it more when we do go out though

Don't beat yourself up - I bet you're living on a LOT less than most people x

cw18

NualaBuala

A lot of the really low budgets (Nyk's included) don't include rent/mortgage, council tax or debt repayments. I've seen other excluding a lot of things like this, as they have no control over them.

My budget (for 2, plus a 3rd when home on leave - which equated to about 3 months in total last year!!) is at £8k but doesn't include mortage/rent, as I opted to retain a small mortage after I lost my hubby - but will be keeping enough in a savings account to pay it off if/when interest rates go sky high again !!! Also no debt repayments. The other thing I've excluded is anything to do with my hobby (cardmaking and scrapbooking), but I know I didn't spend as much there last year as in previous years - and have decided to make a real effort to get this really, really low in 2010. So far this year (yes, I know we're only 11 days in ) I've only purchased one small (and relatively inexpensive) item, but I'd normally have had loads of parcels winging there way from the post-Christmas/January sales.