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

Kittikins

Gillian - I'd have thought your forgotten Christmas cake would be fine, as the icing would help keep it fresh? Yum yum, I wish I had some cake now!!

debtmess

well good morning x quick one from an excited me

had a really positive phone call not long ago and tomorrow afternoon im viewing a flat all being good size wise the currant tenant moves out the 24th jan which then means i can move in a week later when ll cleans the flat (he wont let anyone move in untill a deep clean and repaint is done)

so all hands on frugalness here, ive saved enough form half joing in last year for my deposit and 3 months rent upfront which has swung me from other people he had interested as i can come up with enough to support myself there untill hb is sorted

ive sepnt 19.67 this morning on cereals, bread for little one, jam and a few other bits n bobs and after tomorrow will know if im on use up, if i am every penny i can save will be saved even if that means inventfull meals

will pop back later after having a full read through

gilligansyle

Kittikins wrote: »

Gillian - I'd have thought your forgotten Christmas cake would be fine, as the icing would help keep it fresh? Yum yum, I wish I had some cake now!!

The icing just looks a funny colour, but think the cake is OK. Will just have to test some and see

weezl74

FrankieM wrote: »

my DH has been looking online and stumbled across a smallholding in Wales. Of course, I love it so I'm busy trying to figure out how we can afford it!
The thing is, i've never wanted to live in Wales, often got the impression they don't like 'incomers'.....any Welsh out there, please don't shoot me down..persuade me gently . Will the fact that I'm Australian make a difference???

Even as an English person, whom the Welsh are supposed to have a lifelong antipathy for, I have always experienced Welsh people as very friendly and welcoming. I've been here 16 years now and like it more than England

Hello all frugalers

Did my first approved foods order the other day on the strength of Nkmedia's inclusion of it in the linkies list. After initial scepticism, I'm actually rather impressed I've worked out the cost per 100g for delivery so I just add that on to the item cost so I can make a like-for like comparison to the supermarkets.

How do others do it?

Weezl x

thriftylass

Hello,

just came across this clothes swapping/selling site. Has anyone heard of this or used this site before. What do you think?

Ta

grandma247

ceridwen wrote: »

One only has to walk down the street any day of the week to despair - as you count up cigarettes and junk food eating and cigarettes and junk food eating etc etc and realise what a high proportion of people seem to be set on "self-destruct" - hence why WOULD they care about those of us who havent pushed that "self-destruct" button?

I walked back from work this morning past resteraunts and pubs and the ground is littered with a thick layer of ciggarette ends and other rubbish. The snow must have hidden a lot of it and now it is melting a bit it there for all to see.

There are a lot of ostritches out there who do not want to know how bad things could get. I already hate where I live. Very selfish people and I hate the way they treat their kids, inconveniences at best. Unfortunately those kids are the ones who will be running the show before long:eek:

grandma247

Larmy I was not getting at you. I got the feeling a couple of you were rather appologetic about your stockpileing but there is no need to feel that way. I think most of the people on this site only buy what they need otherwise they would not bother with this site.

grandma247

loopychriss wrote: »

I too buy things as I see them, to save money in the long run. My trouble though is buying stuff that I think we'll eat but never seem to get around to using. I just think maybe I could have hung onto my money for a bit longer!

The LDS people (mormons) have a saying "store what you use and use what you store" so I try to keep this in mind when I shop. When I see something new that we might like I usually only buy one just in case no one likes it. I would hate to have to get rid of a dozen of something.

Frugaldom

Hi fruguys and gals

Weezl, it costs about a gallon of petrol (£5 ish?) to get to our nearest big supermarket, so I base my Approved Foods order on that and try to keep within the lower delivery charge. It works out well, because a shopping trip always means I feel the urge to stock up on as much as possible to last the longest time possible so I don't need to go shopping very much, if that makes sense. We do have shops about 5 miles away, which is where I do my regular grocery shopping, but that tends to be only about once, possibly twice a month. I live like a hermit most other times. :rotfl:

Stockpiling - I do this whenever I can because we don't get home deliveries here nor can I just jump on a bus or walk to the nearest shop. But stockpiling also means making a year's worth of jams, jellies, preserves whilst the fruit & berries are available or turning a kilo of Nile Beef (mince) into 7 meals for the 3 of us and stockpiling those in the freezer. I, too, believe that people need to take responsibility for their own actions in all walks of life. I choose to reduce, reuse and recycle. I choose to not travel, I reserve the right to earn only as much as I need to afford to live and I reserve the right to spend my earnings in a frugal way, or not, as the case may be.

Frugal budgetting and NYK? Well I don't consider my lifestyle particularly frugal just yet, but I've never been a spender on consumerist products, hobbies or activities. My downfall has always been livestock. Rachelet - pay heed! :rotfl:

Clothes swapping etc - I ran an online fashion show once, but all outfits exhibited had to be created from secondhand clothing that would otherwise have been thrown out, then the outfits were placed up for auction. I ran an online art exhibition once, all works entered had to be created without spending any cash, then offered up for auction. :rotfl:That's where my original idea for 'Frugarments' came from - cheap and cheerful recycled & handmade clothing.

I can highly recommend joining LETS if you're pursuing a frugal lifestyle, it has/will continue to save me a fortune. Monthly trading meet is tomorrow morning, so more lemon curd and soup making on my agenda for today.

rachelet

nykmedia wrote: »

Frugal budgetting and NYK? Well I don't consider my lifestyle particularly frugal just yet, but I've never been a spender on consumerist products, hobbies or activities. My downfall has always been livestock. Rachelet - pay heed! :rotfl:

I am taking heed Nyk, I think livestock is my downfall as well!:rotfl:Although the duck and chickens that I have only just got may turn out to be more of a bargain than I first thought. It turns out that the guy who I got them from is now moving house and can't take his other animals with him, so has offered them to me , For Free!! So I am going to collect in a couple of weeks time another 6 chickens (2 of which are silkies and I can breed from to sell to other chicken owners, and 4 maran chickens which everyone seems to love over here and are quite sought after as well) and 4 pygmy goats. Two of the goats I am hopefully going to rehome at my friend's house as she has just moved and wants to keep a couple of goats and the other two I will probably keep to try and help keep the weeds down round my place.

I am hoping that the chickens will pay for themselves as someone in another part of France sells the silkie chickens for 40E each for a 4 month old bird!!! If I can get just a bit less than that, then it will pay for the feed for the other animals!

Not very frugal day today as I have to do a big shop but it should last me a couple of weeks before I have to go shopping again and I am trying to use up the meals in the freezer first before cooking anymore!