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

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

kittiej wrote: »

Hello All

Well I got caught in the snow coming home, what should have been a half hour journey turned into 2 hours and in the end I had to leave my car down in the town as I couldn't get it up the hill which is a main road. Not much gritting has been done as the stocks are low apparently.

Spent 90p on 12 large rolls from work so that's £36.09 of my £3k budget


Eon Rep. Thanks for the advice. I wouldn't mind a copy of the 100 ways to save tips thingy. I have been on the interactive house also, more for the interior layout and decor lol. No I did pick up a couple of tips whilst on there.

My DD is probably £79 per month for gas because last year the heating was on 24/7. This year my CH has packed up so just using the gas fire now and to heat the water which I put on as I need it for an hour at a time so that's probably 4 hours a week.

I have just submitted my meter readings, and I always do when I receive a bill whether asked to or not. I don't want to be under charged.

I shall wait to see what my bills are at the end of the month.

Hi kittie

Glad you found the advice useful.

We will be happy to send you the booklet about saving energy. Give us a call or, if you prefer, drop me an email with your details to the address on the left. I will pop one in the post for you straightaway.

Really good you are taking regular meter readings kittie. This is definitely the best way to keep a handle on your usage.

Hope you have better luck if you are travelling through the snow again today. :snow_grin

Malc

Mischa

What a fantastic idea! I feel inspired and am going to sit down tonight and go through absolutely everything using the links above to see if I can make a difference to my finances and debts!

Karmacat

Morning! I'm pleased to find that other people on here do gardening in containers - and it sounds like some for the same reasons, i.e. moving this year. I have a chest of drawers I want to get rid of, quite big, so I'm going to use the four drawers from that for various things - earthing them up, for one thing, and using them to hold plantpots of cuttings or existing plant pots to take with me (if they haven't died in all this snow).

Not much else I can do on the frugal line, even batch cooking - at the moment, health wise, I'm still struggling to do my ordinary washing up, cos of illness recovery time, but I'm plotting and planning here..........

rozeepozee

A question. We always make our own bread but have run out of strong wholemeal. I have bought it by the sackful in the past but the prices went up and it didn's seem that cheap anymore. Got lazy and have been buying if from Mr T (99 for 1.5kg if my memory serves me correctly). Is there anywhere cheaper than this? I'm gonna try out chapati flour from the Asian supermarket when I next visit my mum but that wn't be for a week or two yet.

Hoping for a NSD today. Taking my son for a swimming lesson later and we'd normally have lunch at the gym but we'll be having a home made one and I'll be taking a flask of tea or hot chocolate to the gym for a post swim warm up!

kittiej

Hi Malc

I will contact you re the booklet.

won't be going anywhere today unless it's by foot as we're pretty much snowed in. Cars abandoned left right and centre.

Sky was playing up until OH went outside and knocked the snow off the dish lol.

purple_angel_3

Lots of snow overnight in South Wales, so working from home today. Will also have a NSD not plans to anywhere. No college this evening due to the snow.

Been accepted through work to do an NVQ 3 in Health and Social Care, anyone have any experience of this NVQ?

Taken some mince out of the freezer, will make a big pot of chilli later.That will be dinner this evening sorted, will freezer the rest into portions to take to work for lunches.

Hope very one has a safe, warm, frugal day.

purple_angel.

knithappens

just picked up a brio bed side cot off freecyle, beautiful condition, only catch - no instruction - going to attempt to put this yogether myself, but if anyone knows where i can get the instructions, pleasedrop me a pm, i have even messaed a lady on ebayu selling one to ask i she could photocopy them for me lol, well got to ask....

Kiwisaver_2

Had a bad day from start to finish and not much time for reading today. Started off getting out of bed on the wrong side, with a yell from OH as he was leaving the house 'It's QUARTER TO EIGHT!!' Oh right, thanks hun I leave for work in fifteen minutes and you think to wake me as you are leaving. :mad:

No lunch prepared, so had to go to cafe and buy something, plus a coffee for myself and a friend. In my rush I left the larder door open all day (it has an automatic internal light that only goes off when you close the door). Grrr! :mad:

Had to get petrol on the way home and went and did a small shop for any bargains in freezer and store cupboard stuff that's getting a bit low. I did quite well and spent slightly less than 20 quid on 2 litres icecream, 1kg frozen peas, 500g frozen chicken breasts, huge can of hairspray, 1kg icing sugar, couple of tins pineapple and a four tins of tomatoes. Did my mealplan and shopping list for Friday and there's not much to get and most of what I bought today wasn't strictly needed.

Another frugalmeister dinner, sausages from freezer, jacket potatoes, corn on the cob and coleslaw.

cha€€97michelle wrote: »

I'm having a NSD today, but i have a dilemna that i am going to have to fork some cash out on i think. My DS2 (20 months old) has climbed on a chair and got hold of my glasses out of their case and snapped the arm off one side of them completely. I don't think we will be able to bodge them, so it might be a repair job, in which case my next optician appointment is March so it might be better to have a retest and see if my prescription has changed before doing anything else.

If you work with a computer, doesn't your employer provide or re-imburse you for eye-tests? There's nothing to stop you having the eyetest earlier and if you can reclaim the costs why not. Check the company DSE policy as they may also contribute towards cost of glasses - if they are 'needed' for work

grandma247

Shaz how did your dehydrated meal go?

shaz_mum_of__2

grandma247 wrote: »

Shaz how did your dehydrated meal go?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Sounds like space food!!

My soup was lovely and very quick to prepare so i will be drying more veggies as and when i can was a bit disappointed with some of the fruit(bananas) but the fruit rolls worked well but a bit sour but i think that was because of the fruits i used i should have added sugar. Tinned pineapple was lush but might work out expensive at the rate my lot devoured it! hopefully use fresh when in season , i was getting three pineapples for a £1 last year at the market

Debating what to grow this year as time is in short supply i think i will have to stick to easy to grow , very productive veg that needs little attention its a big step back in the garden for me but i have to be realistic about by health and time restrictions .

Better get this tart started

shaz