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

annie123

Evening all, not had a chance to catch up yet, but hope everyone is well.

Problem: my watch strap has broken, cost of cheapest new strap fitted £7:rolleyes:.
Now, I know I could get a new watch for less than a fiver in argos, but thats not the point, if I can make a new one for free thats £5 saved:D

So, any ideas please?
Have to have one at work, I must be in the only office in London with no clock, but with things I must do at certain times:rolleyes:



Bails...........Happy and safe trails, can I hide in your rucksack please

kittiej

Hello All

I couldn't get on here earlier lol.

Well I had to put more diesel in my car and get bits and bobs from Lidl's

So spent another £24.71 -£15 diesel, £9.71 on shopping, so that's £74.80 of my £3k budget.

The panto on Sat night was absoluteley fab, they even had a skating rink. It was also very camp lol. John Barrowman was really funny.

Hope everyone's OK

lynzpower

Annie, I manage to do without a watch as I have mobile phone. blackberry, PC clock, sat nav. Lots of clocks but no time :rolleyes:

Being thrifty by using the M&S pork fillet ( cut it in 2 one portion for the freezer) with a dauphinoise & carro & parnsip rosti which is taking an eternity to cook ! Parsnips looking past best and needed to be used.

I have a packet of M&S aspragus that was reduced late last week. They still look fine- but can I freeze them for another time?

More stuff from the house clearance front I got a lovely terracotta herb planter, so this will take pride of place on the mini patio ( pics to follow of the barren wasteland) and a book of Favourite english poems- which has got some of my faves in.

Did run late this morning and have to spend some money on snacks ( diet coke, cr&p toast weak tea) However, I managed not to buy lunch- and finally remembered to use the co-op dividend card.

Managed to spend only £1 in the £ shop. A miracle, usually come out a fiver lighter with stuff we dont use. :j Did find a stray loo roll in the kitchen cupbaord, so that saves me buying for another day or so. We are on the last ones Im trying not to spend unnecessarily.

UNfortauntely our scales seem to be on their way out- have seen some AWT ones in dyas for 10 but I have an amazon voucher so should buy from there.

I have enough points in my pigsback for a cd but don't want any of them. I want to finish up with pigsback you dont get much out of them for the time investment.

Otherwise not much going oh, OH is not up for photographing on ebay and Im needling him to get rid of some stuff on freegle.
hugs to any frugalites that needs one

xx

Skint_Lynne

annie123 wrote: »

Evening all, not had a chance to catch up yet, but hope everyone is well.

Problem: my watch strap has broken, cost of cheapest new strap fitted £7:rolleyes:.
Now, I know I could get a new watch for less than a fiver in argos, but thats not the point, if I can make a new one for free thats £5 saved:D

So, any ideas please?
Have to have one at work, I must be in the only office in London with no clock, but with things I must do at certain times:rolleyes:



Bails...........Happy and safe trails, can I hide in your rucksack please

Annie,

Can you tell me what exactly has happened to the strap, has it snapped or has the spring pin come away at the top, or has one of the loops burst? Is it a leather strap or a metal one? Post a photo if you can.

NualaBuala

Bye Bails, bon voyage! I'm so jealous - would love to go to Nepal some day. You are a good advert for where frugality can take you judging by your sig.

I found a new way to save money today. I am not much good at lighting the open fire. I get it lit eventually but it takes ages - still it doesn't cost me anything. I picked up extra free local papers last time I was at my local shopping centre. They have them in Mr T's beside the checkouts and used them rolled up to start the fire. And I used leftover bits of candle wax to give it a bit of a boost. And I used the dry twigs I had from pruning as kindling. So free homemade firelighters to go with my free fuel - happy days!. I have a bunker full of smokeless fuel (was here when I moved in so it's free) but it has been uncovered so it is all quite damp. It burns fine though.

So from now on I'm making a concerted effort to make do with the open fire to keep my gas bills down. it will take extra time and effort but well worth it I think. I'll use the central heating a little to keep the house from getting damp or when it's very cold to prevent burst pipes etc.

annie123

Skint_Lynne wrote: »

Annie,

Can you tell me what exactly has happened to the strap, has it snapped or has the spring pin come away at the top, or has one of the loops burst? Is it a leather strap or a metal one? Post a photo if you can.

The strap is/was plastic with a fabric backing, I caught it, and it split right across just below the pin, the bit with the buckle is still attached on the other side if that helps?


lynzpower...No phones allowed, no computer access during the time I need my watch (all for security reasons, which I can understand), have spent the day asking others whats the time every 10 mins!

lynzpower

Annie if you really need to, are there any market stalls that do watch repair? OH gota real cheapie on a market stall for abut £3 and he fitted it, its lasted a lot longer than the one it came with. Had never really thought about markets for getting watch repiar, but now im aware of it, I notice it everywhere,...

Mind you lets see if someone can help you repair it? Could you have it in a chain in a pocket- it might be easier to attach a bit of chain?

candygirl

bails wrote: »

Hi everyone, I'm just logging on to say an official goodbye. We fly out tomorrow and I may get a chance to pop in during the couple of days we're in Nepal, but then we'll be in media blackout in Tibet then China for the best part of a month.

Wishing you all a happy and frugal few months; I'll say Hello when I can xx

OOOH i'm sooo jealous hun:o:oHave a fab time xxx:A

thriftylass

Auf Wiedersehen, Bails, I hope you have a great time.
Should make my NSD target this week.
Only realised today that I could sell my old iPod nano (comp win) on Am@z0n as I got a new iPod for Xmas.
Got loads of tinned tuna and salmon (brand ones, not just the MrT value I buy from 'fil' as he doesn't eat them, so that way lunch is sorted for while and the cat will have the occasional treat too.

Fishcake_Random

Hey all,
Well today has been an odd kind of day, a few sucesses and a few failures. I think the iron tablets my midwife suggested have really kicked in now as today I felt great for the first time in ages and my mood and energy has been been steadily improving for about a week now.(taken then 1 1/2 weeks).
I've washed and air dried some baby clothes, almost finished elephant mark 2 (pic to follow) and made a lovely pasta using up all my odd bits and pieces with enough for me and OH's lunch tomo.
On the disaster front I attempted to make muffins and they have turned into pancakes. Double checked the flour and its plain flour lol which I think is the issue so I will just eat them with custard for the next few days.

Annie123 - Do you have any scraps of ribbon you can attach the face to and just tie it on and be very chic and trendy? or could you knit or crochet a simple band and use it similer?

Bails - Have a fantastic time!!! If your taking a camera I dare you to take a picture of something with mse in it/on it. I see the letters mse everywhere now I am one of the ordained lol.

Glad we are all okay

x x x x