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

sabs10

Hello All,

Just an update - another NSD today.

On the frugal front made soup for lunch with goodies from the freezer fairy, with HM bread. And tea was to use up remainder of braised mince in a cottage pie. Made two so second is in freezer ready for next week - planning a FREE week to use up all goodies in the freezer - i try to do this at least once a month. Even have a left over portion for lunch tomorrow.

Have a good eve all
sabs10

thriftylass

Hello, hugs to Edaniels, sorry to hear about your MIL.

Had another NSD and a wee money chat with BF, I'll tell you about it tomorrow.:T

cha97michelle

edaniels sorry to hear of your loss, and hope you can get all of it arranged without too much difficulty.

shaz another one drooling over your loaf. I love my BM but find the bread a bit too chewy by day 2, so it's a good job my boys and DH are foodaholics. Also found the same as you with the dehydrating the bananas. I only tried those and apple. Apple worked really well, but the banana was disappointing. However, i can report back that a good 6-8 months later those pieces i did are still edible.

rozee great story about your DS and the locker. They love doing stuff like that don't they, and it must have been nice to get ready without any whinging of 'i'm hungry'. My 3yo DS says to me all the time 'My belly is rumbling' even if he has just eaten.


Glasses - great result on this i think. I have been researching on line my options. I could go online and buy some glasses with cashback and discount, or DH reckons he can fix them if i get a spare arm. So i have ordered via ebay a new pair with the identical arm and dummy lens in them for £9 instead of £15 with a hard case i can then use for my sunglasses and cashback on the purchase. Result. DH already owns a small screwdriver that will fit for work, so in a few days i should be back in operation. :beer:

So a lot less than i thought, and then they will be going so far out of reach you would not believe so i don't have to repeat the mistake. Lesson learned. :rolleyes:


Todays less appealing news - DH informs me that his car is showing signs of another problem. It only had £400 spent on it last month so i will keep my fingers crossed that it is cheap. Cars are usually the downfall in my budgetting plans, and winter is always worse for it than summer. He was also mentioning some new tyres as his were struggling a bit, but he put the newer back tyres on the front to give him better grip for now and was happier with that. His car is his obsession i'm afraid, but as it gets him to work and helps us travel anywhere we all go together i can't complain.

DdraigGoch

Just popped in whilst playing with the Budget Brain :money:http://www.budgetbrain.com:money: to say, do try the MSE IQ Test. It really is fun and teaches you a lot, just like everyone on this forum.:T I'm so chuffed at my score as I wasn't sure of a few things, 140 even though I got ALL of the maths wrong!:rotfl:

Right, back to lurking and filling in forms :A

Hardup_Hester

Morning all
I had to spend some money finally on a prescription & I popped to the Co-op next door & found a reduced shoulder of lamb for £3 & it's done us 3 meals each. I also bought some milk & some other stuff, but spent just under £10 & all on stuff we'd run out of.
Hester

weezl74

cha97michelle wrote: »

Glasses - great result on this i think. I have been researching on line my options. I could go online and buy some glasses with cashback and discount, or DH reckons he can fix them if i get a spare arm. So i have ordered via ebay a new pair with the identical arm and dummy lens in them for £9 instead of £15 with a hard case i can then use for my sunglasses and cashback on the purchase. Result. DH already owns a small screwdriver that will fit for work, so in a few days i should be back in operation. :beer:

So a lot less than i thought, and then they will be going so far out of reach you would not believe so i don't have to repeat the mistake. Lesson learned. :rolleyes:

:T:T:T:T:T well done michelle

if it's any comfort, Fergie (DS1) chewed my nokia mobile and split the rubberised keyboard the other day

weezl74

loopychriss wrote: »

While I was looking at the food hubby was looking at the gas cookers: we do need a new one as ours is 18 years old and I think very inefficient, as I have to have it on Gas Mark 8 to get a decent heat to cook anything.

We had no intention of buying one today though, but somehow we were drawn towards them 'just for a look'. There were 2 which are in my price range (and lots that were in hubby's more expensive price range!). The 2 were display models and would be what we would get - one had a small mark on it and the other one was just an old model. The one I like was £295.... plus £75 connection fee and £9 to take away the old one. And that was half price. Didn't realise cookers were so much. :eek:

We're 'sleeping on it'.... I do need a new one, but going to check out Amazon and other sites first. We do have the money as it's our savings and we're living off of them and OH redudancy money.... Still, I suppose that's why I'm an MSEer now... to think about purchases, shop around, and hang onto our money as long as possible!

So..... an NSD today.... just!

hi loopychriss,

Have you looked at comet clearance? It's new stuff, but ex-display or with a tiny dent in or something. It's run like an auction site. I got a freezer for £55 from it

ceridwen

annie123 wrote: »

Have contacted my local LETS group and won't be using them, they use cash ontop of the soft currency seems to defeat the point Does this happen anywhere else?

In my LETS group too there is an element of this and I would prefer for there not to be that.

However - the way it works is that if someone is for instance making me a pair of curtains - then they charge me for their labour in LETS credits and would just charge me cash for the "cash element" (ie the cost of any materials they had had to buy for my materials). So the "bill" would look something like:
for making 1 pair of curtains - 20 LETS Credits for labour
- £1 for a reel of cotton in the correct colour

At LETS Trading Events people bring along goods to "sell" and it is standard practice to "pay" in LETS Credits only. A typical Trading Day "haul" for me for instance might be:

a bag of apples - 2 LETS Credits
a bag of spinach - 1 LETS Credit
3 handmade cards - 3-6 LETS Credits

Where cash plays a noticeable part is that SOME people who are specifically offering skills that they get paid cash for anyway in the World at large will offer those same skills in a LETS scheme and charge say 50% LETS credits and 50%cash. Thus - for instance - one might get the services of an osteopath who normally charges £30 to their customers charging a fellow LETS member 15 LETS Credits and £15 cash - so still a saving to them in cash (if not quite in the LETS spirit IYSWIM).

I often get lifts from a particular LETS member - and we worked it out basically that he charges me LETS Credits for his time and say £1 for petrol costs (still way cheaper than taking a taxi or even a bus). Since we've now become friends personally - then it tends to turn into "a lift from you and I'll buy you a drink or feed you a meal" sort of terms.

The only time I've felt a bit "hmmmm...." about any cash element coming in was on one occasion where one of us was doing something for the other (cant recall if I was helping her or she was helping me - except it was at her house) and she offered me lunch with herself afterwards and charged me cash for it (£1 I think?). So I always make it quite plain exactly what the position is about refreshments - eg when I've had LETS people doing something at my house under the scheme - I've agreed with them that I will "pay" them so many LETS credits per hour for their "labour" and come mealtimes they will be eating with me as my guest.

Various "direct" "trades" tend to come up after a while in a LETS Scheme - eg a member I get a lot of help from turned round and requested if he could sleep on my floor for several days whilst there was some temporary problems going on in his neighbourhood - so he kipped down on a futon for one night he knew would be a problem and had a key to my house so that he could come over if he needed to for other nights he thought might be problematical. Whilst we were on the subject he incidentally kept an eye on my house and watered my plants for me (as I was away for those subsequent nights). All sorts of "mixing and matching" tends to come into play after a while and I've been quite surprised at some of the things I've been asked to do (even though I hadnt specifically listed them as offers of mine) - so sometimes I found myself doing things quite different to what I thought I would be asked for..There is a bit of an unspoken assumption (in my group anyway) that its acceptable to ask another member for help with something that they've not offered if you both know its something that they could actually do (ie are capable of) and no offence is taken either way - the member accepts if they want to and doesnt if they dont.

thriftylass

Good morning,

Had a little break through with BF :T. A while ago I mentioned that we should have a little money/house move chat but then I usually leave it so that he starts it whenever he’s ready . So yesterday he came to me and showed me his mortgage statement, which is a first. It’s good to know now where we stand (it’s his mortgage and his flat but we’re obviously both paying it) and what the terms are (overpayments etc, don’t do this yet but he didn’t object when I suggested it for the future). Also getting a new house together isn’t that scary anymore as I came to realise we won’t need that massive deposit if we just change this mortgage for the new house (I told him I still like to have as much money as possible saved though and explained why). Additionally, you know what it’s like, some men like to think it was their idea or at least it’s easier to get certain things done if they think it was . So I said we shouldn’t bother with GCH or anything for our sake or the move because if a landlord buys it he’ll just shred the flat anyway. His response was, oh no, we should do it and also do the flat up a bit before we sell so we increase our chances of selling and our target market. That nearly floored me . All my subtle hints etc must have hit home somewhere, result.

Anyway, as we’re rather comfortable atm we probably won’t move this year but went back to our old plan to do it before the wee one (that we’ll have at some point in the future) goes to primary school. We’re both happy with that and that gives me definitely 2010 to save (and start my windowsill garden again) and not to worry about the costs etc of moving.

Sorry for the long post. It might not come across right but yesterday’s chat meant a lot of progress. Bless him

shaz_mum_of__2

sophiesmum wrote: »

i love the bananas too, maybe you over did them or sliced them a little too thinly Shaz

Maybe may try again at weekend when DS is home on leave(chief taster)

liloandstitch wrote: »

Shaz that loaf looked gorgeous. Did you just use chappati flour or were there any seeds etc in the loaf - I am drooling!

Happy frugalling everyone - Lilo

Theres a few mixed seeds in

weezl74 wrote: »

hi loopychriss,

Have you looked at comet clearance? It's new stuff, but ex-display or with a tiny dent in or something. It's run like an auction site. I got a freezer for £55 from it

Just what i need another freezer....lol

NYK its just a cheapy @rgos B/M


Shaz's seedy bread recipe:

410 ml water
675g chappatti flour
2 tsp salt
2 tblsp sugar
2 tblsp milk powder
25g butter/margarine
1 and half teaspoons easy blend yeast(sachet stuff)
3 tablespoons mixed seeds(sunflower, sesame, poppy,flax,nigella) i mix these myself from packs bought from asian supermarket

I use the small loaf setting on a medium colour the milk and butter help with crust softness and keeping qualities . Let the loaf cool under a thin teatowel which will stop the bread drying out and once cool store in a plastic bag(i use an old bread bag but pedal bin liners are the right size too) oh and we cut it horizontally as its about a foot tall

I have had other Breadmakers and dont see any difference between cheap and expensive ones but recipes need tweaking til you find one that suits you


Hope that helps