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

candygirl

LILO thinking of you and your family hun:( My Dad was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer in March 2007, and he was given 4 months to live, and lived until Oct 2008:(
Have just got emails from my leccy and gas with up to date bills, and i'm well in credit with both, so that's a massive relief as i've had the heat n fire on a lot:o
Having a lazy day today, as just couldn't sleep last night, then taking veg curry round to my mates tonight, and we can catch up on all the goss;)

Aril

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Sorry I'm a bit behind with reading but hugs to those who need them.

With leftover bread I whizz it into breadcrumbs with cheddar and then it makes a very tasty topping. I also used an ounce of breadcrumbs in with the savoury crumble topping that I made with the veggie casserole that I did at the weekend [which dh kindly sabotaged by adding bacon to it:rolleyes:]. I also mix them with herbs and use them as the coating for my turkey nuggets.

The spending has been kept pretty much in check so far but I think that has more than something to do with the fact that my Mum is passing lovely things to me as she declutters her house so the material girl has stayed happily in her box. That might all change on Saturday though when I help out a jumble sale- I might give her one hundred frugal pennies [including the one I've found today] to indulge her shopping habit:rotfl::rotfl:

I don't know quite how it's happened [it wasn't intentional] but I've virtually stopped watching the TV in the evenings. That's meant that the frugal blind is progressing steadily and am making more discoveries as I work my way through the house decluttering. I'm not allowing myself to start any more projects though until I've finished my dollshouse carpet [except for making some coffee sweets and a Valentines card at some point]

Have a good frugalling day!
Arilx

Savvy_sewing

Looks like I may have to go out and spend some money today. Trying to put it off, but have run out of firelighters, and struggling to keep the fire going.
Low on normal milk, which DGD drinks, but still have UHT milk in the cupboards.
not managed to keep check of things as Twin2 gave birth to a baby boy on Sunday morning. So extra petrol, car parking at the hospital, and basics etc have been bought.
I need to get the receipts and add it all up, and see where I am on my budget.
Cost me £82.55 yesterday to get the broken computer back, with the harddrive in an outer case. No idea how to make that work. But it should have the information I had on my last computer and enable me to save things externally now.! Need lessons me thinks!

Have DGD with me for another 4 weeks at least. So budget has got to be increased while she is here.
DS came home yesterday, and so he is also eating me out of house and home, and not working so he is not able to pay me board! Thats another story!.

liloandstitch

Just a quick pop by to add my 2 penn'th re national insurance contributions. I was under the thresh-hold, but still paid my contributions. When I fell ill last year, I was able to claim contributions based Employment and Sickness Allowance - which is still being paid now. I will also qualify for Jobseekers allowance if and when I am well enough to return to work. I would have got none of this if I had decided to save the small amount that I have paid in National Insurance contributions. HTH.

Oh, and I blame you lot, I am seriously thinking of restarting my veggie garden this year .....

Lilo

PS thanks for all your good wishes, they meant a lot.

[Deleted User]

Aril wrote: »

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Sorry I'm a bit behind with reading but hugs to those who need them.

With leftover bread I whizz it into breadcrumbs with cheddar and then it makes a very tasty topping. I also used an ounce of breadcrumbs in with the savoury crumble topping that I made with the veggie casserole that I did at the weekend [which dh kindly sabotaged by adding bacon to it:rolleyes:]. I also mix them with herbs and use them as the coating for my turkey nuggets.

The spending has been kept pretty much in check so far but I think that has more than something to do with the fact that my Mum is passing lovely things to me as she declutters her house so the material girl has stayed happily in her box. That might all change on Saturday though when I help out a jumble sale- I might give her one hundred frugal pennies [including the one I've found today] to indulge her shopping habit:rotfl::rotfl:

I don't know quite how it's happened [it wasn't intentional] but I've virtually stopped watching the TV in the evenings. That's meant that the frugal blind is progressing steadily and am making more discoveries as I work my way through the house decluttering. I'm not allowing myself to start any more projects though until I've finished my dollshouse carpet [except for making some coffee sweets and a Valentines card at some point]

Have a good frugalling day!
Arilx

I know, I have to be very strict with myself and have only two projects on the go - it's so hard:rotfl:

grandma247

Mooloo Did they not explain how it works? if your hard drive has been put in a case then you should just need to use a usb cable to your computer and there should be a plug with ac adaptor to plug the case into the electricity. When you switch it on it should work straight away but if it doesnt come up you can just go to my computer or whatever the equivelent is on windows 7 and it will show up just double click to open it.

knithappens

picked up the boys clothes off freegle - wow all next etc, 2 black bags enough to see lil man through the next year, some brand new the rest look like they have never been worn, so greatful for these.



yayy finally managed to order through boot 75% 0ff sale


i went to the local boots and picked up some stuff they did not have online so spend 73.15 but saved in total £211.75 - so i got £284.90 worth of items for £73.15, that is all birthday xmas, presents for family, friends, sorted, so just my own kids, so will come well under budget with gifts



also popped in costco they have their big box ( Giga) huggies nappies buy 2 save £14 - so got a size 3 ( current size) and size 4 they came in less for the equivalent number of tesco nappies


costco £27.48


tesco 2 packs for £10 (on offer) £30 = 360 nappies ( size 3 - size 4 less nappies per pack - so really a bigger saving if i factored this in)



costco deal today
size 3 = 192

Size 4 = 168
total 360 for £27.48


not a huge saving, but i like huggies nappies, and less than tesco's own brand - so a bonus, plus they will last me a while as i cloth nappy part time, ( drying issues) so should see me through the next couple months

so a great barginous day - spending the rest of the day cleaning the house.

mama67

Happymrsh wrote: »

Just wondering how close you all live to a Big Supermarket?

Our closest is now a Mr S which has only been open a month or 2 and that is 5 miles away and not very big. Other than that we have to go at least 20 miles for a Mr T, Mr A or any big shops like M&S etc.

Hope you've all had a good, Frugal, day

I live 5 mile round trip from the local PO/shop, 7 mile round trip from Sp@r, 10 mile round trip from C00p, 25 mile round trip from L!dl, Ald!, MrT, Mr S, Mr M and Mr A in varying directions.

gilligansyle

nyk and lilo - my query with HMRC is about the exemption, because I sent them the info ages ago. They were really helpful on the phone, and explained how it works if you have PAYE and are SE.
lilo I could claim contribution based JSA at the moment based on my full time contributions, but would have to give up the part time work. I started part time work to help pay debts off, and have increased the hours since becoming unemployed, and that is the money I am currently living on, hence being on this challenge!

This and the Payment a Day thread have made such a difference to the way I deal with my money and more importantly the way I am thinking about things. A small side effect was that the bins were emptied today and I didn't bother dragging mine up the entry because there was so little in it - recycling bin is full though!

Intergalactic_Floozie

I don't think I posted on here yesterday...

I'm down to £88 left for 'everything else' (there's grocery money and petrol money account for separately though), with 26 days til payday which is just £3 per day - EEEEK! I'm going to have to find some self control from somewhere SO WHY DID I BUY MYSELF A COOKED BREAKFAST, 2 X BOTTLES OF POP AND A CHOCOLATE BAR TODAY??? *am very mad at myself for lack of frugalism*

I got my mortgage statement yesterday and looked at the whole thing rather than just the total and was really surprised to see because the interest rate is so low out of my £366 payment, only £50 in interest is being added on each month! I think when the next two years are up and loans are paid off, then a year after that the credit card, I'd like to become a MFW!

So frugal things:
1. Got free Metro newspaper to read over breakfast.
2. Read another book (from the library).
3. Last night's tea was v frugal (Sausages, chips, beans and fried eggs) which worked out at £2.05 for the whole thing (£0.515 per head).
4. As of today I'm now three weeks into the new year and still haven't bought myself any new clothes. (it is longer than three weeks but it was my New Year's resolution).
5. Managed to get another 5p survey from one poll, which has taken me up to £5 (although pay out isn't til £40).
6. 10p added to my £365 fund (DS's bus fare is 90p although I always send him with a quid.
7. Have another frugal tea planned, fish pie (Value prawns at £1.17, Coley at £1.95, potatoes, peas, sweetcorn, red onion and cheese sauce with extra veg) will try work out costings later.
8. Didn't have a bet on stupid, useless favourite, crock-of-crap football team which was a good job as they lost 2-1. Am tempted to save even more money by not renewing next season's season ticket
9. Gas bill has cometh. On 29th October I was £38 in credit and on 14th Jan I was £59 in debit, which I don't think is too bad to say heating has been on near permanantly of late. Also price per unit seems to have gone down a teensy tiny bit.
10. Discovered car IS covered for business use, which means dastardly employers cant get away without paying me mileage. (please see 3 below)

Not so frugal.
1. Bought breakfast and pop, chocolate which came to £5.35 despite being almost destitute.
2. IPSOS sent me a survey which I clicked on, filled in I was female then it screened me out. When I re-read the e-mail I realised they had sent it to me for my HUSBAND to fill out who is definitely not a female.
3. Got bus to training course wasting £5.40 before discovering I could have driven and thus claimed £11 mileage. GRRRRRRRR.