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

pink_numbers

Thanks for adding my blog nykmedia

Fishcake_Random

All this talk of bins makes me worry as mine is always over flowing and there is only two of us. 90% of it is packaging though from whoopsies so its making me wonder if the catch 22 of me buying whoopsies is me being less eco. At the same time I don't have the income to buy non whoopsies with less packaging. Bit of a conumdrum. I do recycle what I can though.

This talk about being on the dole has been interesting to. I lost my job just after announcing my pregnancy, long long story but nothing to be done about it! Due to being on ssp for a long time due to mental health issues I didn't qualify for JSA but because my partner is self employed but works full time I can't claim income based jobseekers either. Allthough he was and still is only earning around £50 a week. As one jobseeker adviser told me "he's the wrong type of self employed". Luckily we qualified for benifits help and it was back dated as it took a long time to arrange. Now we are just surviving untill my MA starts, which is already late due to weather slowing everything down and OH starts getting his WTC and possibly CTC plus we will get standard child benifit. So we can really start some savings!!!

I had a NSD yesterday despite going to see my midwife (clean bill of health at 31 weeks:T) and having to pass Greggs. This baby looooovesss pastry. But I have spoilt it today by treating myself to a big mac, someone walked past the shop earlier with one and I could smell it for hours and couldnt resist. Could have been worse though as I could have brough the meal but once I actually thought about it realised I only wanted the burger!
We are currently trying to live out our freezer and I have done my first ever weeks meal plan!!!! So far we are on meal 4 without breaking our plans.

If anyone has an Iceland bonus card they are doing their scratch cards again when you use it. OH has been buying a bottle of drink for work each day (shop money) and getting one, so far I have saved 75p.

Hope we are all well.
Just need to catch with the last few pages
x x x x

ChinaTea

Another NSD here and should not be any spend days now until next Wednesday.

Was very frugal this morning. I needed somewhere for my books and only a narrow space for a bookshelf. Ar*os have a narrow one for £11.99 but don't like the chipboard material. Was having a sort out this am and put some books into a large white rectangular wicker basket. Was thinking about it over a coffee and turned the basket onto it's side and the books fitted perfectly using the bottom of the basket as a shelf. Have a smaller matching basket so put that on top on it's side secured with cable ties and now have a very nice wicker bookcase just the right size for the space and my books.

Made a yummy lemon loaf cake from the River Cottage book I got for Christmas, it used up some lemons and had all the ingredients in the cupboard. Very easy really delish and didn't need big quantities to make it although it made a 2lb loaf. Slices really well too.

Dinner today was a tuna and salad sandwich using half a tin of basics tuna (cats shared rest) and HM wholemeal bread and a slice of said cake. Tea probably spicy pumpkin soup from freezer basically free as got pumpkin free from farm last october.

Made £62+p on ebay sales, have spent most of afternoon packaging and will post in morning. Only 4 things not sold and have relisted these.

All in all a good day:)

[Deleted User]

Not a NSD day here. Had to have my hair cut, although I used a voucher which brought it down from £18 to £14, (I'm too old and too short to look nice with long hair)
Then I bought a cotton bra in M-and-S for £12 - yes I did need one, but all the same, I felt a bit undisciplined because I hadn't planned for this purchase before-hand.
I also had to order an ink cartridge which was £14.

It's interesting that since I've been OS, my feelings towards spending have changed. I never spend without thinking any more - and I continually tot-up the cost, each time I purchase, or plan a purchase. That's an alien, but rather nice feeling to have:j

rictus123

Hey everyone how are we this evening? Monday is Febuary :eek: already! Cant wait until the summer though, after 3 weeks off i start getting paid a bit closer to what i feel i deserve(nearer what others are getting for the same job!) Payday a week tomorrow, getting closer Still got most of my last pay sitting in my account waiting for March for my dreaded mot. Road tax due end of this month which will be going on card,adding to the debt but itl be cleared soon enough, not to worry! Loving this £6k spending challenge.

BigMummaF

nykmedia wrote: »

BigMumma, this is a brilliant idea and simple to implement. If we had a couple of different people collecting relevant links then it would just be a case of them keeping the info up to date, PM'ing me the links and I can update the main links section that gets included in page 1. Each new part of the challenge gets the original post copied over so there shouldn't really be any excuse for someone to miss the first post if they join the challenge. :T This should work. ....
...I'd quite like a list of blogs frm anyone doing this challenge, because I can then add a link to them from my own page and that makes it much quicker to see them if they're all in the same place. ....if anyone objects to this, please let me know. ....

So how many people do you think it would need?
I'll make a list of various catagories & then we can all have a think to see is some need to be smaller/ combined/ better defined...& also who might like to volunteer for the job
1. Blogs, links to & for.
2. Gardening A --Container; B--Garden
3. Allotments.
4. Recipes.
5. Home Preserving.
6. Debt Repayment.
7. Mortgage/ Rent, Utilities.
8. Poultry-keeping.
9. Pensions & Personal Banking [savings accounts etc.]
10. Insurances; House, Pet, Motor, Travel, Health.
11. Useful Hobbies; knitting, sewing, crafting, etc.
12. Green Living.
13. Motoring.
14. Family:- baby, school-age, older, elderly.

That's it for me just now & I need to serve up dinner anyways I'm looking forward to your thoughts but my weird & wunnerfullee smellin creation awaits

rozeepozee

Thanks for your words of encouragement Cheryl and LLL. My biggest overspend this month is on petrol, partly because I did some more driving than usual visiting the rellos over New Year and also as I'm walking less as my pregnancy progresses - but this still means I've underestimated so need to adjust.

On the positive side, groceries seem to be coming in a lot cheaper, partly because I'm shopping around more and partly because I'm more conscious of not buying stuff that I might not use or will get wasted. We've certainly used the bin a lot less this month!

Managed a NSD and yes, those lattes did taste miles better than they normally do. Delayed gratification is a great life skill to develop!

candygirl

Omg i'm soo excited(n sad)!!Have made the hm laundry powder, and am going to use it later on:j:jNearly chopped my thumb off cutting soap up to grate but hey ho:o:oWill report back with how successful it is:D:D

pagangirl

[Originally posted by Budgeteer ]

It's interesting that since I've been OS, my feelings towards spending have changed. I never spend without thinking any more - and I continually tot-up the cost, each time I purchase, or plan a purchase ]

Me too - have taken this challenge to heart - do not spend anything now without thinking about it first!

Nyk - just reading about your morning made me feel tired - can't wait to hear about your afternoon !!!!

Had to go to bank today to get savings sorted now have an ISA, small savings account and when April comes will top up ISA and keep just enough in the savings account to keep it open. THANK YOU MARTIN :money:
Better still I walked both ways, saved £3.40 on bus fare and spent ...................nuffin:j Without all support & tips on here, would have been impossible not long ago.

Got vouchers/booklet from Mr T's food club today, back page states " Have you tried cleaning your shoes with a banana skin - discover how, plus hundreds more money saving ways to go green" - for anyone interested www.tesco.com/greenerliving - wonder if they read MSE before compiling their own MS ideas :rotfl:

Have updated sig to include all spending for January including DD's - I might come in under budget if I can keep this up. Wish me luck folks !!!!

slowlyfading

Evening everyone.

Today has been a strange day. We had an interactive white board session at a school about 45 mins away this afternoon, but we were just sat watching someone else demonstrate how to use a whiteboard so it seemed a bit pointless.

But, in good news, I passed my Maths Key Skills Test today! Which means I've passed all 3, first time! :j :j :j So chuffed about that - didn't enjoy doing the maths one though, so I'm glad I'm not having to do it again.

Today is also another NSD so this takes me up to 18 for January. I hope I can continue this trend for the next few months as it'll make an impact on my savings for moving out in the summer

Nyk - your garden looks lovely!
pagangirl - well done on today its little steps that add up!
candygirl - have fun doing the washing! :rotfl: