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

sophiesmum_2

SFT - I seem to recall reading somewhere on here that Mr T do an own label gr0lsch type bottled beer which is much cheaper but tastes good too.might be worth checking that out if you are going down the buying beer route.
Nyk did some elderflower champagne in glass lemonade bottles which we have sampled on a few occasions now (and very nice it ws too )

princessdawnie21

Just done a normal 3 weeks and kept all my receipts I can believe how much I spend on lunch and snacks at work!

Just been to tesco and have my packed lunches all worked out for £8 instead of spending about £30. :eek:

No purse coming to work with me this week so I cant buy any rubbish!

I am only really starting this challenge wen I next get paid and I dont have a monthly budget its more a 4 weekly budget to keep in line with wen I get paid.

Sorry for the long post just thought it was time I started posting or I will probably lose my mind alone! lol

Fishcake_Random

LilacPixie - It was a creme egg beach ball and a Lady Gaga T-shirt. Whoop whoop. It's only the 24th so may win some things yet!!!
I only enter comps for things I need/use or can give as presents to others. I find this helps with the clutter no end.

Knithappens - Hope you laptop gets better soon I love your posts!!!

Patent Girl - Comping online is my little frugal hobby. It doesn't anything but time and I have had a few wonderfull things that I would never have had otherwise. I am a massive believer in karma or the rule of 3 so I always share what I win where appropriate, I think it helps lol

Happymrsh - Look forward to the pics!!!

Today was spent with my parents, I had a lovely chat with my mum and OH went to pub with my brother to watch the football. In exchange for the seeds and seed trays I had for my dad (he's the gardener, mums the preserver lol) my mum gave me a lovely canvas backpack and a tin of biscuits she had left from xmas but didnt want. Not a bad trade.
I absolutely love love love backpacks. I'm a girl who loves adventures and exploring so I always have my backpack with me. I also get so annoyed with carrier bags, I like my hands free. Anyone else get this???
x x x x

Fishcake_Random

Forgot to mention (pregnancy brain), we have 2 rescued dwarf hamsters, we have had them for about 9 months now I think and they have always lived happily with each other, untill last night when I was woken up by squeaking, I've been researching on google and apparently they can fall out for no reason at any time and I will need to split them up. Hopefully someone has a spare cage on freegle I can nab quick as apprently they can fight to a very grusome death

jtb2412

Today has been a good day. Busy but satisfying.

DH took DS to football (first match they've played in weeks due to the rain and snow !) Took the opportunity while DH and DS were out to catch up on washing, only to be brought back a full load of muddy socks, shorts, tracksuit bottoms, jumper and t-shirts !

Cooked a nice roast chicken dinner and put the carcus straight into the slow cooker for a soup supper .

Spent the afternoon in the garden, general tidying, pruning raspberry canes, herbs have had a haircut and the greenhouse is ready to go (just need to smoke bomb it next weekend).

Have let DS school trousers down as he's grown about 2 inches since Sept :eek:. I have to buy them big for his little pot belly bless him so they're always too long but it saves me money in the long run. If he doesn't put any holes in them, I might get away with one more adjustment in a couple of months before the summer gets here.

Packaged up 2 ebay parcels and freecycled some clothes, books and DVDs - all collected this evening.

School uniform all ironed too, just having a well deserved sit down with a cuppa.

fishcake I've been comping for a while and although I've not won much, what I have won has been great ! Me and DH off out for a 'meal for 2' win next weekend at a very posh restaurant . Still waiting for the 'big win'. I'm looking forward to spending more time entering once I give up work .

rictus123

Had to get 2 new number plates for my van so a bit more on the spending front £388.29 spent now, really hope i can keep it under 2k until at least May.

SavvyStudent_2

Hello all!

I feel physically sick. I've just sat down and gone through my accounts and worked out I fritter away £807.89 PER MONTH after I pay my bills and put my monthly money across to savings. This is on food, entertainment, travel, presents, general wastefulness etc. I'm not in any debt apart from student loan, which I dont start to pay until april, as I've paid off my student overdraft since august, but my spending just seems like such an absolute WASTE! I'm currently saving £500 a month but would love to save a lot more, and I think a frugal living challenge is exactly what I need. I've tried (and failed!) the grocery challenge in the past because of sheer laziness (I've no other excuse I'm afraid), and its time to change.

Can I please join in? We've been living *pretty* frugally since the start of Jan as we're trying to save up for our wedding next year, but I didn't realise there was an actual challenge, and today after doing my little bit of working out, I think a little 'structure' is in order!

:jIs this what people mean by a light-bulb moment? :j

*toddles off to brew up and get onto the internet bank to work out what I've spent since Jan 1st*

Savvy x

Edit: Despite my thinking we had lived pretty frugally in Jan so far, it would seem its been an absolute disgrace. I'm so ashamed of myself. Will start challenge on payday (wed) and run it for 11 months instead if thats ok - so target adjusted to £3666!

lynzpower

http://1001daystill.blogspot.com/

Managed to unearth my blog that I aim to keep more updated this year! ( rolleyes)

There are some pics on there of the barren wasteland, I didnt really get many of the pics of the lean to that im aiming to use as an unheated greenhouse. There are no sockets up there, and cant run any extentions ( too damp)

Anyway- aiming to make the best of what weve got up there, hope the pics to follow are more inspiring!

Blairweech

Hello!

:wave: to all new people joining us, welcome along - you will LOVE it here

Congrats on the competition wins

Re: bottles for elderflower wine. Can you just use screw top glass bottles (eg old wine bottles)?

I think I am going to quit @rcherf!sh, have been doing it for about 6 months and have only just got to the £3 payout mark :rolleyes: I know its only a couple of clicks a day, but I expected it to be quicker than that...maybe I'm not doing it right??

Had a good day today, was a No Spend Day. Was actually going to buy a drink from work, but then decided I would rather have a NSD day so have actually transferred that money over to my savings now. This may seem silly, but because I made the conscious decision that I would rather save my money, I did!

Dinner was lamb casserole, with mash. I made a list of foods to eat over the next couple of days which will enable me to use up the perishables in the house and leave my fridge turned off whilst I am on holiday

Hoping to ring BT, ISP and council tomorrow to tell them I am moving out

Enjoy whats left of your weekend!

rictus123

Does anyone have a link for a nice online spreadsheet(cant get spreadsheets on my laptop, dont have excel:( ) Need to do one for now until summer holiday and then a different one after my payrise to see what i can do by 2011! Im addicted to this!