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

cake21

larmy16 wrote: »

So what I am going to do is this. Each time I overcome a desire with my will power, I am going to write it on a piece of paper, date it and say what it was and place the piece of paper in my Billy Can.

this way, I can build up my confidence that I do have the choice to exercise what I eat or buy or whatever the case may be...............Thanks Nyk.

This is a brilliant idea - I'm going to allocate a page in my handbag notebook (also to be used to jot down cash spends when I'm out and about) :T

mama67

NualaBuala wrote: »

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a wonderful and frugal 2010 so far! I'm really enjoying reading all your posts - I feel that you're all being so much more frugal than I am. I've got a lot of room for improvement.

I was wondering if anyone here buys organic food or makes other ethical choices that push the costs up? I challenged myself to spend only a fiver a week on food for the month or so before Christmas (in addition to a well-stocked freezer and cupboards). What I found hardest was that I couldn't afford free-range and organic produce. Also, I have a budget category for charity - for me I think that is probably more important than giving gifts. I know these are not essential and if I cut them out I could repay my loans more quickly though. Just wondering if anyone else has encountered similar issues in trying to be frugal?

Of course in an ideal world I'd be vegetarian and grow my own veg but I'm not there yet!:D

I have an organic veg box weekly, get free range farm gate eggs, organic milk from the milkman.
Other things I buy which are organic or fairtrade are tea, fruit and sugar; meat is from a local butcher who can state origins.

I also buy recycled paper products and eco-friendly cleaning products the rest is as finances allow.

sophiesmum_2

Just checking through my spreadsheets and found I had been infiltrated by my youngest two kids on my gift list sometime before xmas. Suppose they can dream :rotfl: got a bit worried by DS' last request though :eek:

sophie xmas list
Another horse approx £3000
Cheque For £1000
insurance for audi
One Audi Tt In Silver (2009 Plate)
Horse box

Tom Xmas List

One Yamaha R1 Motorcycle In Black (2009)
Insurance For Above
One New Helmet, Preferably Shark
One pair of Motorcycle Boots
One Set Of Leathers
One Motorcycle Jacket
a years supply of red bull 365 cans
£9000 cash to buy laura her dream wedding ring

Needless to say they didn't get any of the above:rotfl:

mama67

nykmedia wrote: »

Nuala - I don't cook often on the fire, but it's handy for emergencies like power cuts. It does for heating stuff through, doing basic camping-style stuff in tin foil. I wouldn't risk sending a constant stream of steam up the chimney, just in case. If it's for boiling stuff, I'd drag out the BBQ and sit the camping kettle on it. I've even cooked pasta on a BBQ

Good luck with your plans for 2010 SFT and TTDB I am about to drag out the 'magic' book to see what progress I've made after 2009. Only then will I be able to start planning the 2010 aims and aspirations. Catch everyone tomorrow when I'll have had a think about frugalplans.

We used to get alot of power cuts so I bought a camping stove which runs on unleaded petrol, has 2 burners so can easily accomodate 2 pans.

Have made things like spag bol, mince and tatties,and stews, also great for just making a brew when needed.

rozeepozee

NualaBuala wrote: »

You know, I've been wondering about that. I'm a bit nervous - I don't have a clue. My late Mum and Dad were great gardeners, especially Mum who grew loads of fruit and veg. I wonder if I have a latent green finger gene somewhere?:D I think I'll look for a gardening book in the library next time I go.

We grew our entire veg crop in containers last year. I had "acquired" ten old plastic baths and we used these as "raised beds". We had a bath of beetroots (doubled as salad with the beetroot tops), carrots and strawberries, then the remainder was herbs and other salad veggies. Although you don't get much crop from some of these (carrots amounted to about two shopping bags worth) we had LOADS of sald veg as these grow really quickly. We were harvesting a bucket's worth of mixed salad leaves a day and adding a few eggs, anchovies, tuna etc and making it into a main meal. Really lovely and would have cost a fortune if we'd bought from the shops. Also the herbs helped us make gorgeous salad dressings which kept the salads interesting.

MushyPeas

viv0147 wrote: »

This is a very useful site you put what you have in the fridge and your cupboards and it suggests meals you can make. http://www.cookingbynumbers.com

Ooh this is wonderful, thanks Viv!! Though my two top meals were making a coffee or eating an apple :rotfl:

No NSD for me yesterday as I had to buy some software for work and spotted three lovely cheap gifts on Amazon But I did say no to some lovely bedspread sets I wanted, but don't actually NEED.

Was going to pop out the house today, but icy here so going to stay indoors instead. Downstairs has obviously got her heating on (she's back - hurrah!) so I think I'm ok to leave mine off today :T

Have a frugal day!

grandma247

We have had heavy snow today. I didn't know till dh got in as I had the curtains closed to keep the heat in.

debtmess

Good morning (just !)

had a huge tidy up today, have a few bits for ebay, a bag of bedding for freecycle and a few bits to pass to a friend

have been under the cupboards and found 4 bottles of washing up liquid, 2 of the big bottles of stardrops, 5 of handwash various cloths and sponges (but no microfibre as they started to go during the last year) so need to stock up on them in poundland on tuesday, 4 bottles of bleach, i think thats a good 6 months worth of cleaning products i just need to buy a spray bottle or 2 for the stardrops.

im good for loo roll for around 5 months which will help me budget better than last year

just need to do a food inventory and set my final budget

today and tomorrow will be nsd as i will make do with what we do currantly have, maybe monday as milk and bread will be delivered by milkman, tuesday i will have to spend on train fair and lunch as im at court

ive seen the subject of growing things mentioned, id love to give it a go this year but in pots, where would be best to get pots from that are large enough to grow in? will be gowing spuds in the bags that my woodchip is in once ive put that along front garden

any ideas for telling self raising flour and breadflour apart how and why ive forgotten which one was in each kilner i dont know or should i just make a loaf and hope for the best?

dinner tonight is cottagepie with brocolli and carrots, i can eeek it out to make a big enough one for 2 days of meals but with no microwave im unsure about heating in the hallogen or remoska (can i reheat safely this way?) the microwave had its day about a month ago, it was over 10 years old but i dont use one enough to warrant buying another

will pop back later to catch up and hopefully post my total amount for the year

bails

Hi everyone :hello: The challenge has begun! :j

I've just caught up on the old thread and before I forget I must say a couple of things - aeb I was literally just thinking about you today on our 8-hour bus journey home and hoping you were okay, so it was lovely to see your post :T How are all the little frugalmites doing? And I think it's a great idea to come and 'sit' with us regularly :T Be great to have you around, and well done on the doors!

Trex, a huge congratulations to you too, another frugal baby on the way :j Our family is expanding rapidly :rotfl:

Right, I'm off to catch up on this thread now but in the meantime Happy New Year to everyone, old friends and new x

sophiesmum_2

You can reheat cottage pie fine in the remoska,either straight into the pan or in a smaller dish, also the veg but would get the cottage pie almost hot enough and then add the veg for a shorter time or else wrap the veg in foil before heating it.