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

Twinkles08

flying_fresian wrote: »

Frugal plans for today

1. Take lunch to work with me (HM soup, HM flapjack, reduced grapes, reduced crisps)
2. Take full advantage of free coffee at work
3. Charge phone at work
4. Pay Very bill for cheap clothes bought before Christmas
5. Slow-cooked chilli for dinner, hide some from Mr Fresian and freeze it. He sees 3 litres of chilli as a challenge, not a batch-cook :rolleyes:

Aiming for a NSD today, but might head to M&S and see if they still have £1 items in their sale.

Love it!!That tickled me as my hubby is the same-perhaps it's a man thing!lol

Paulgonnabedebtfree

A rather expensive weekend for me ( ouch!!) even though money is very tight. Still, that's the last birthday for anyone until October so a chance to put money in a tin for that one. Will update the totals later.

I_want_a_baby

Hi all,

Been reading this thread since 1st Jan it is SO INSPIRING!!

Am not going to participate in the 4k/6k thing but am going to try and come under in every budget I have so that I can save more. (this is being made more difficult lol as im on maternity leave but gotta learn to live on just one wage as hoping to be a SAHM).

Frugal things that I will do today:
1. Breakfast/lunch/dinner all from storecupboard/freezer.
2. Dry washing on airer.
3. NSD - hoping to wait until tomorrow to get cheese & milk.
4. Was going to buy an A4 notepad to stick my recipes in (cut out of magazines/printed of internet) but decided to use one I have already. (LOL I don't know what it is but I am obessed with buying notepads I have no idea why I do it but I love it lol this is a BIG step for me!)
5. clear space in store cupboard in anticipation of approved foods delivery this week.
6. create meal plan for week in diary using freezer and store cupboard list.
7. spend some time knitting a dishcloth - enjoying a frugal hobby whilst listening to the radio (using less electric than tv etc).
8. check my purse for change and put anything under 20p's in change tin.
9. see if hubbys pile of change is still there if so put in change tin lol
10. investigate moving hubbys ISA to brittania so get members rewards as well as interest.

CW18 - defo don't count coat in budget - your 'discounts' are completely justified - well done for buying quaility even though it is expensive im sure it will prove to be frugal in the long run!

- does anyone know how you go about opening an isa when you have one already? do you transfer the balance to the new account - just confused how they keep tabs on how much you have invested in a certain tax year?!

I_want_a_baby

£0.92 cash from purse
£1.90 cash on dresser (hubbys)
£2.82 total cash into cash tin!!

thats 8&9 off the list done!

rozeepozee

flying_fresian wrote: »

5. Slow-cooked chilli for dinner, hide some from Mr Fresian and freeze it. He sees 3 litres of chilli as a challenge, not a batch-cook :rolleyes:

I have one of those!

pink_numbers

hmmm frugal things to do today:

1. Mend OH's glove as the thumb as become "naked".

2. Make shoe laces out of yarn for OH boots.

(He's a lot tougher on his things than I am!!)

3. Continue crocheting my niece's blanket for her birthday (in September...)

4. Pray lots that the vet bill won't exceed the budgeted amount for our two cats' vaccines and check ups.

5. Try making soup with lentils in (never tried before!)

babyboysmommy

After taking DS to pre school I went to M&S to get their 3 for £10 deal. I got a really good size chicken, pork joint that's huge & gammon with almost no fat on so more meat for your money I went through all the chickens etc to find the biggest ones

The screen on my mobile is broken, I called in at the shop to find it's not covered by the warranty. I wasn't surprised as it's impact damage. It's costing £44 to get it repaired, it's a good phone so worth doing & the environmentally friendly option.

I'm hoping I can find the energy to finally tackle the kitchen. I know there are lots of things I can rehome & free up some much needed cupboard space.

DS never eats the crusts on his bread. Instead of trying to make him I cut them off when I make him a sandwich & store them in a plastic box. When we have enough in the box we then use them to feed the ducks, something my 3 year old loves doing

findingmyfeet

hi all,
not been posting much but still in here lurking and doing all good stuff. half of this month has been nsd's so already done better than last year, really pleased with myself. discovered if i dont go browsing i dont spend money!!!!!!!!!!how simple is that?? taking a list everytime i go to town too.
This week intend to start planning allotment for this year and buy seeds needed.
off to read more post from the last week

X

knithappens

can anyone help, trying to make all bubbas baby dinners from scratch

using the mash from yesterday to make bubba fishpie (salmon) with cheesy mash so will freeze in individual .portions, just wondering how to make the sauce for the fish as i usually use a packet, but dont want to with her, or should i just poach the salmon in milk, and then thicken the milk up to make a suace, but not sure how to thicken it.

Frugaldom

Knithappens - a little bit of cornflour will thicken the sauce if needed.