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

Kiwisaver_2

NualaBuala wrote: »

Did my Imeasuring and I used less gas and less leccy than the previous week - thrilled with that result! Haven't had readings this low since November. Using the open fire is making a real difference - yay! :j

I did mine today as well, it fits well with my dustbin day as I check it when I put the rubbish out every Tuesday and just interested in what is LOW for your winter time readings. Mine's been the same for the past two weeks 134kw and although I get a B rating (compared to similar users) - mine's a summer reading and I obviously come out favourable comparing with the northern hemisphere. Come the winter here I'll be getting off the scale F rated when you're all in summer mode getting A+++. :rotfl:

xnatalie81x

Morning all

Yesterday went well - i saved lots in food as my diet day went gooooooooood!!!

Tuesday's frugalness:
1. Eat healthy and cheaply while sticking to p*ints
2. Have shower at work so free hot water
3. Earn money at work
4. Keep DS2 out of nappies from 9am-6pm (with one for nap time)
5. Continue with 'air drying' work t shirts and swim cossies (no more tumble and wash only when needed! as have been wasting energy doing every day)
6. Banking

This week's focus is lunches and again packed lunches are under 50p (egg mayo sarnies with cucumber and tom/yog and hm cake) and DS2 and me will be having approved food pasta and sauce (and OH) - 3 packs totalling 27p for all 3 of us plus 2 little pots for Thursday lunch boxes (as wed is already sandwiches made and ready)

Am thinking next week's focus will be on nappies and wipes and reducing their usage right down! DD still wears to bed and she is 3 and a half now. And DS2 is 2 and uses potty at home.

top_drawer_2

Morning all,

I woke up to a lovely fresh baked loaf this morning so I hope I am back on track .... I've also been looking into making my own cosmetics, has anyone else tried this? I am running out of moisturiser and normally I would buy it at a cost of around £10-12 from lush, I am also running out of facial cleanser and on my last bottle of shower gel from a bath set........... Not sure whether its false economy.... I've looked at some recipes and a few mention using a blender so I could finally christen my new blender.......... yay!

jedbo_2

Been saving 1,2 and 5 pence peices since my son was born. On his 17th birthday it was a grand total of £1100, which paid for his driving licence all his driving lessons and one test which he past first time. thank God.

mama67

budgeteer wrote: »

how much do you charge for your eggs if you sell/swop them. I think mine work out to about 10p an egg....... would probs do 6 for £1........ is that good for free range and HAPPY eggs. I haven't bought eggs for ages!

You can get value Free-range eggs marginally cheaper in the supermarket, but I am very happy to have bought 12 eggs from my work colleague for £2. I know he loves his chooks and they are well cared-for[/QUOTE]


I pay £3 for a tray of 30 from the farm gate, can see the chickens running round, my lady also does duck eggs £1.50 per doz and goose eggs 40p each.

She sometimes has bantums as well at 90p per dozen

NualaBuala

Morning everyone!

It's freezing here this morning. I've opened the blinds wide on the south side of the house to let the sun warm the rooms. It's currently a chilly 13.5C but am wrapped up in layers as I type!

I've just been out to feed the birds - I got some 35c Value lard and put out small bits of that, and some seed and crumbs. I might make fat balls later.

Kiwisaver wrote: »

I did mine today as well, it fits well with my dustbin day as I check it when I put the rubbish out every Tuesday and just interested in what is LOW for your winter time readings. Mine's been the same for the past two weeks 134kw and although I get a B rating (compared to similar users) - mine's a summer reading and I obviously come out favourable comparing with the northern hemisphere. Come the winter here I'll be getting off the scale F rated when you're all in summer mode getting A+++. :rotfl:

Hi Kiwi :wave:, haha, you're making the rest of us look bad at the moment! :rotfl:I'm quite embarassed as mine is very high.:o I'm in a fairly big house (for just one person) and it's hard to heat, worse, some of the controls are stuck on high so I can't turn it off in the unused rooms (but someone is coming to sort that soon). My leccy tends to be fairly ok and doesn't change a huge amount between summer and winter - about 40kWh. Gas is just ridiculous in the winter - the highest during the cold snap was 1,267kWh as the heating was on so much. :eek::eek::eek: So I've got it down to 390 which was a big improvement even though it's still high. On the plus side, gas will be about 11kWh or lower in the summer so that's something!

top_drawer wrote: »

I've also been looking into making my own cosmetics, has anyone else tried this? I am running out of moisturiser and normally I would buy it at a cost of around £10-12 from lush, I am also running out of facial cleanser and on my last bottle of shower gel from a bath set........... Not sure whether its false economy.... I've looked at some recipes and a few mention using a blender so I could finally christen my new blender.......... yay!

Someone posted a really helpful PDF with recipes around the start of the new year, was it grandma? I'm not sure if I saved it or not but can email it to you if I have it. I haven't made any recipes yet but would love to try. I've been using oils on my face (when I bother do anything at all) and they seem to cleanse and moisturise but I would like to make some stuff, for the fun if nothing else. So I'd love to know how you get on. Hope you have fun using the blender! :rotfl:

Today I will be trying to stay warm without it costing a fortune, trying to stay awake and getting some work done.

Don't know what's for dinner - probably pasta and HM fridge-lurking-veg sauce.

Have a great day frugallers!

top_drawer_2

Thanks Nuala Buala that would be great, I must have missed that one. Keeping up with this thread is a fulltime job!

chika

Hi Frugalites,

Ok after my pmting incident at the weekend I've sorted myself out. I went shopping on Sunday and bought a pile of things I didn't need but have taken them all back so my halo is restored.

I must confess to having one really terrible non frugal habit that even my housemates who live on takeaways think is extravagant - I buy bottled water. I'm not that princessy I just hate the taste of the water from the taps here in Manchester. I don't mind it at home in Yorkshire but it tastes chlorine-ish here. Normally I have 2-4 litres a day of Evi4n which comes up to about £10 per week.

Today I've invested a fiver in two nice jugs and a couple of metal bottles and I'm going to be boiling the tap water cooling it and drinking it like that. which is going to save a tenner a week instantly. Ohhh don't you just love it when you get a frugal brainwave!

top_drawer_2

chika wrote: »

Hi Frugalites,


I must confess to having one really terrible non frugal habit that even my housemates who live on takeaways think is extravagant - I buy bottled water

Hi, my friend in who went to Uni in Lancaster claimed a similar thing though she bought a brita filter thing and although it was more expensive than tap water it was still cheaper than bottled.... she said that buying a more expensive jug was better than a cheap jug as then the company made their money back from the replacable filters
in a similar way to printer companies.

Jen

NualaBuala

top_drawer wrote: »

Thanks Nuala Buala that would be great, I must have missed that one. Keeping up with this thread is a fulltime job!

Tell me about it, this thread is like a runaway train hurtling along at full throttle!

Turns out the discussion was back on the Intro thread - the PDF is courtesy of Grandma247, I hope she doesn't mind me posting the link. Ceridwen, a mine of info, has also made some stuff, one of her helpful posts is here.


Chika, not sure if you've tried this but leaving water to stand is supposed to help. Just stick it in a jug in the fridge (or left out), apparently the chlorine is released as gas. Wonder if you could get a brita jug or similar on freecycle? I gave mine away as my water isn't bad and I was moving house.


I thought I'd share some of the things I started doing last year and am continuing this year. I'm challenging myself not to buy more stuff till I really need it - hoping stuff will last till the end of the year.

• [FONT=&quot]No more shower gel - have plenty cos of BOGOFs and a little goes a long way on a scrubby thing[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more shampoo (have loads but using bicarb and vinegar so probably won't need to buy ever:D)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more toilet roll till June[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more washing up liquid (when gone, will make my own from soapnuts) [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more washing powder (have loads of soapnuts left - should do me till the end of the year)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more fabric conditioner (have some but don't like it, using white vinegar now)
  [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more cleaning spray (have about 3 but prefer water/vinegar/bicarb now)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more dishwasher tablets (had 72 in December) for the year[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more soap (have loads)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more tissues (using hankies for sniffles and have enough tissues for anything infectious that needs to be used once and binned) Hankies are much softer on the nose and greener (as in environmentally friendly :rotfl:)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more face cleanser (using oils)[/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more books till I've read all I have - this will be difficult
  [/FONT]
• [FONT=&quot]No more kitchen roll - have a few but using reusable cloths and washing them for most things.
  [/FONT]