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

Former_E.ON_Company_Representative:_Malc

JayneC wrote: »

Hello everyone

Feeling very pleased with myself today. Had a call from EON to ask me about switching. Deal sounded ok but wanted to check it out online and check whether had a cancellation fee with Scottish Power (current supplier) and check my actual usage as am paying WAY over what I need was £200 in credit at last bill.... Anyways worked out my actual usage and compared with EON, found they had an even better deal so switched to that - £15 per month less than my current 'real' monthly usage + £60 per month less than I'm actually paying !!!! Also went through Quidco so got £70 cashback too AND I'll get back my £200 credit back from Scottish Power. Time well spent methinks, thanks mr EON person for motivating me to check it out...

No problem Jayne. Glad we were able to help. :beer:

Well done in using your actual usage in kWh. This is a much more accurate gauge than inputting previous monthly spends.

I always recommend customers enter their usage when looking at the comparison sites; both when checking out our tariffs or seeing if another supplier is better value.

If any of our customers are struggling to work out their actual usage, either give us a call or give me a shout as I am always happy to help.

Malc

pink_numbers

Well, today I lost my driving license (through medical condition, not any silly driving).

Silver lining is that it's going to save me the £100 per month that I used to have to put away for various car related cost

ifonlyitwaseasier

NualaBuala - Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. i use a body shop shampoo as i've tried a lot of other brands and found them to make my hair too greasy or i react badly to them (H&S!!)

NYK - just to say the same as everyone else, Thank you for inspiring me to try to cut back and frugalise my life, and if you need a hand with the thread i am happy to help while i am jobhunting , and even once i get one

treated my friend to coffee today but didn't buy anything else, still have book vouchers to spend so amsorting thro my current ones and seeing what i have and haven't got, i am very much a book geek, i have a deep 3 shelved bookcase and it is about 1.5m wide i can do 2 rows per shelf and stack above as well, it's overflowing! and no i can't get rid as i really do read them all, some more than others but i am voracious in devouring them (last HP in 4-5 hours on the day of release for example)
i'm not sure whether to get some more foodie books or to go for some nice junk fantasy fiction ....... anyone got recommendations?
(i like sci-fi/fantasy/crime/period drama/horror/random chick novels, have all the brontes and most dickens, lots of eddings and R jordan, most anne rice and a lot of anne mccafferey. mixed )

also i made cottage pie with leftover roast pork, haven't got a mincer (yet) so i chopped by hand added veggies and gravy and topped with mash and cheese, nomnomnomnomnom

right off to eat some hm cake

ioiwe

ceridwen

NualaBuala wrote: »

Today was payday - hurrah! I looked at my figures and realised I am living on less than I would get on the dole so it's nice to know I could survive in a worst case scenario. In fact I'd be better off as I'd get free prescriptions, dental treatment etc.

In that case I dub you "MSE Miracle Worker of 2010". I know exactly where you are coming from in thinking like this (once one has been unemployed than you never forget it in my experience...). All these years later - I'm terrified of ever landing up back on the Dole again - and thats with my memories of it dating from the pre-Massive Cuts in Dole Era that took place years ago now..

I hereby award you the "Loaves and Fishes Award" of 2010 (as in the "feeding of the 5,000"). Kneel Lady Boala - whilst I get my virtual sword out to tap each shoulder with:)

pagangirl

Afternoon all - just wanted to echo everyone else and thank Nyk for all the hard work on this thread - you have made me take a good luck at my finances (a necessity now unemployed) and have now realised how cheaply I can live as most needs have turned out to be wants. Please don't drop out altogether, even if you just drop by from time to time!
P.S. I have used the links on the first page, and very useful they are too

Happy Birthday Natalie81 - hope it's a good one

Hope NualaBuala and Candygirl are both feeling much better.

Sort of a frugalling day here - when working, was doing Maths skills update class, only 2 hrs week which was ok as work only round corner from college. Now finished work, it is a round trip on 6 buses = £10.20. Have spoken to tutor and can now practice on internet site - she will mark me up, and let me know when exam will be, so that's saved £10.20 week :T

Found out Mr A are now doing their own soya yogurts 4 for £1.00 if anyone else is lactose intolerant, so have got some to try, that will save extra 49p on Alpr0 ones. Also got 4 soda farls for 57p and 6 crumpets for 24p saving 40p plus 2 potato cakes that didn't go through on the receipt (not my fault )

Will now be a convert to homemade froup as last night opened a tin of Mr T's Asparagus soup that had been lurking in the cupboard (still in date). Looked like thick wallpaper paste - will not describe the taste. Looked at the label (which I should have done before buying it) which read Asparagus total content 9% whcih is probably why it tasted so disgusting. Will be putting a complaint in about that, and definitely won't be buying any more. Yeuck !!! How they can get away with calling it Asparagus Soup with only 9% Asparagus is beyond me :mad: (rant over)

Puddleglum

Nyk,
I really want to echo everyone else and say that you really are an inspiration to us all. This month since discovering this thread, I have managed to prune more off of my spending than I had done previously over on the grocery challenge and that is absolutely fan daby dozi!

When I was a teenager my Dad found himself on the dole and practically unemployable as he was an industrial chemist living in a remote part of Scotland. He and my Mum made the difficult decision to try to become self sufficient. They suceeded in all but sugar and managed to bring up two children, letting us go to Uni for 5 years each, without ever demanding that we contributed to the bills. They went to incredible lengths, even breaking the cow to the plough in order to achieve a frugal life style.

I'm sure that I must have been an insufferable daughter to have around although, in my defense I did help out, not always willingly!

The point I am trying to make, probably badly, is that I know that I do not want to be that frugal, although if I had to be I could. I'm sorry if I come across sometimes as being a bit too flipant about all this. You are helping me and (I rarely set trends so expect that many others also feel this way!) many, many others reduce their costs and bring their lives back under control.

Whatever you decide to do with this thread, thank you very, very much for all your inspiration.

Puddleglum

Frugaldom

pink_numbers wrote: »

Well, today I lost my driving license (through medical condition, not any silly driving).

Silver lining is that it's going to save me the £100 per month that I used to have to put away for various car related cost

Well done on seeing the positive side of this. I chose to become car free in 2004, but have had access to a car whenever I needed to borrow one. As it turned out, that hasn't been very often. Now, however, after being told said car needs repairs amounting to more than it's worth, HS has agreed to do without one as well. I've rejigged the budget to reflect this and will explain all my changes soon. My new budget is in post one and covers absolutely everything except the rent and council tax.

Thanks to all for the lovely posts of support. I'm not giving up the challenge, it's been a part of my life for too long. :rotfl: I can only apologise for not being able to keep up with responses to posts. I do read them and PM people with individual responses whenever needed. I have updated posts 1 and 2 to reflect a couple of basic changes; it was a simple solution, really.

As part of my income is earned online, I nearly always have MSE open in the background, hence the reason many people think I'm on site by the green dot. If it's something important that needs a response, PM me so I get an email alert, as I'm probably not actually on the site at the time, just signed in with it running in the background.

Back soon, still catching up here.

Puddleglum - Wow to the cow plow! (I know it's actually 'plough'.) My frugaldom only consists of a small house and garden from which we're trying to be self-sufficient in as far as we earn enough from home to live debt free without 'proper jobs', as it's been referred to on several occasions. (To me, housekeeping and working from home & garden are proper jobs, as is being a housewife and/or mother.) The reason I omit rent from my budget is that I'm assuming there'll be none to pay by the time I reach retirement age. Council tax gets paid up front for the full year (to make use of the 3% discount).

gilligansyle

nykmedia wrote: »

Well done on seeing the positive side of this. I chose to become car free in 2004, but have had access to a car whenever I needed to borrow one. As it turned out, that hasn't been very often. Now, however, after being told said car needs repairs amounting to more than it's worth, HS has agreed to do without one as well. I've rejigged the budget to reflect this and will explain all my changes soon. .

The car is the one thing I wish I could get rid of. When I was working it sat in a car park all day, but to get there without it would have taken over 2 hours on public transport. The only reason I now have a car is thanks to my Mum. She is registered disabled and can no longer drive, so I am her designated driver and I have the car. She could give up the car and have the cash, but likes the idea that one of us can run her around or get to her in an emergency if necessary. You would think we lived in the sticks, not in a city!

Don't let everything get to you. You are definitely an inspiration.

annie123

nykmedia wrote: »

the reason many people think I'm on site by the green dot.

I had no idea about the green dot!, spent a min looking all over your post till I found it, thank you

JayJay14

I have to hold my hand up to having bought a brand new car last September (the scrappage deal meant I could buy our first new car - a more environmentally friendly one that my old nissan.) this challenge will, I hope, mean that I will be able to afford to keep it:D
In the long term it uses half the fuel, even in town traffic, and won't need an mot for 3 years. It is also my personal space. I know this sounds daft but when I passed my test at 44 I realised that having shared my home with OH and 3 kids for so long I had lost that space and the car gives me it back. It's an expensive space I know, but it also gets me to work in comfort - the nearest bus stop to get me there is a 1 mile walk and it gets cold here:rotfl::rotfl:

Back to more frugal things. NSD today and have made two lasagnes, one for tonight and one for the freezer. Pud was banana sponge and custard. OH has been put forward for the same job by 3 different agencies, which is totally weird but the job would be handy as it is for a one year contract with a bonus if he completes it. I'm just hoping one of the agencies calls tomorrow cos it would at least cheer him up a bit.

Nyk - glad to hear from you, my life is so different from yours but I can learn so much from you.