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

babyboysmommy

Confession time... not a very frugal day today.

I bought a new bin for the kitchen, a want really. It's a lot smaller than the old one & we are now throwing so little away the big bin was taking up space in my very small kitchen.

I also bought an apron, I can't really claim that's a necessity either but it will get a lot of use. One cross stick book is also on it's way, ordered second hand from Amazon so just £2.75. I'm hoping to use the pattens for some gifts. All of today's 'wants' have been funded by the books I've been selling on Amazon, I've earned quite a bit more than I've spent which is good. I'm keeping the money I make in a separate pot for luxuries like the above At least a lot more is going out the house than is coming in

Did some grocery shopping & I did only buy essentials.

I spent some time in the garden emptying out the containers, they all need new compost for this years vegetables. We have 1 raised bed that I'll dig over during the week.

Other than that it's just been some housework & playing with DS, a lovely day really

lynzpower

I feel like today has been a very productive day. We have cleaned out the mud from the guttering on the flat roof that looks like it was contributing to the leaks. We will hopefully dry this out a bit tonight, although its very co.d. Found a larg piece of sheet ice on one of the patio chairs up there so definately not time to start planting! however, we had a good clean out of some old pots with plants in from "previous occupant" Will upload to the blog in a while.

have made the butternut soup- was a resounding success with yesterdays HM loaf warmed in the oven. Very satisfying. Im in the middle of doing a Jamaica Ginger cake. Glad I didnt use th epineapples earlier they were no way ripe at all and only useable now ( lack of central eating has contributed to this!)

Have had a v productive sesh with OH and when we looked at his figures he has a spare 1k per month after all bills. :beer: Im glad we havent opted to have the gas on- we would have that "millstone" to look forward to paying. Although it is cold, I like the frugal effect of putting extra socks on etc and cuddling up to a hot water bottle.

We both need to just buckle down now. I am in the final stages of budget setting tonight, and will post up my spreadsheet when I can get it to work I worked out if I spend the same way Im spending in Jan for the rest of the year I can get it to just under 4k. I think. I have to play around a little :cool:

Hope everyone has had a good day

Hugsto sassy student-I've been there- keep trying youll get there in the end

loopychriss

BigMummaF wrote: »

Starting to have a look at cooker prices Saw a couple in Spicy Meal that look interesting but have to add on "£89:99 for express delivery, connection & taking the old one away"; I was very tempted to ask how much it would be for standard delivery but couldn't be bothered to listen to all the sales spiel, seeing as I'll likely not be buying from them anyways

Is this for a gas oven? I'm looking for a new one too and one online site I looked at said they wouldn't deliver with a connecting pipe, as all connections now have to be done by a Gas Registered fitter. I saw one in John Lewis that was an ex display model, and their delivery and connection charge was £75. I think that unless you're a registered fitter or know one that would do it for less, you're over a barrel!

NualaBuala

nykmedia wrote: »

I'm dealing with these via PM, KazLA's name was added to the list a day or 2 ago, when I PM'd them.

Oops! Sorry for the confusion!

lynzpower wrote: »

I feel like today has been a very productive day. We have cleaned out the mud from the guttering on the flat roof that looks like it was contributing to the leaks. We will hopefully dry this out a bit tonight, although its very co.d. Found a larg piece of sheet ice on one of the patio chairs up there so definately not time to start planting! however, we had a good clean out of some old pots with plants in from "previous occupant" Will upload to the blog in a while.

have made the butternut soup- was a resounding success with yesterdays HM loaf warmed in the oven. Very satisfying. Im in the middle of doing a Jamaica Ginger cake. Glad I didnt use th epineapples earlier they were no way ripe at all and only useable now ( lack of central eating has contributed to this!)

Have had a v productive sesh with OH and when we looked at his figures he has a spare 1k per month after all bills. :beer: Im glad we havent opted to have the gas on- we would have that "millstone" to look forward to paying. Although it is cold, I like the frugal effect of putting extra socks on etc and cuddling up to a hot water bottle.

We both need to just buckle down now. I am in the final stages of budget setting tonight, and will post up my spreadsheet when I can get it to work I worked out if I spend the same way Im spending in Jan for the rest of the year I can get it to just under 4k. I think. I have to play around a little :cool:

Hope everyone has had a good day

Hugsto sassy student-I've been there- keep trying youll get there in the end

Lynz, snap!
- I also have a leak in the roof (old flat roof I can't afford to replace)
- also made butternut squash soup just now, smells yum! (new recipe, threw in carrots, and celery to use 'em up and have ginger, garlic and Indian spices so will be nice and warming)
- also have a pineapple bought a while ago but only just ripe - will find some use for it in the next day or so
Alas, have not managed to emulate all of your thrifty ways but am working on it! :rotfl:

Edit: I have to confess I have had a hankering for fish and chips all week and stayed on the path of frugalness. But tonight I feel myself weakening.

lynzpower

also have a pineapple bought a while ago but only just ripe - will find some use for it in the next day or so
Alas, have not managed to emulate all of your thrifty ways but am working on it!

Ive been looking at these pineapples for nearly 2 week! they have to be used.
Ive finally decided on this to try :drool:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2008/06/caramelized-pineapple-with-pineapple-sherbet-recipe.html

pagangirl

"Evening all" - (sounds like Dixon of Dock Green) :rotfl:

had to go to shops today but been very good (and walked both ways) - total spent £10.17, total saved £7.76, plus used £4.00 vouchers in Mr T's.

Offers found if they can help anyone:

Pure soya spread/marg in Mr T's 75p (usually 99p/£1.09)
Alpro soya yogurts Mr T £1.00 (usually £1.49)
6 mini Tear n Share loaves Home Brrrgains 29p pk. (Says part bake, but I just cut in half & put under grill - fine)
small ziplock/resealable bags for freezer usually 79p x 40 in HB, today found in Nett0 - 35p x 50 - got 4 pks

Nyk - didn't realise I had THAT much reading to catch up on :eek:

JayJay14 - good luck for OH, sorry to hear he has to sign on - it's no fun coz I've been doing that since 4th Jan this year.

Congrats to Hardup Hester's OH on new job

Fishcake_ Random - great to hear about your finances

Knithappens - hope you had great day

Hugs to others - sorry, can't remember all names

jtb2412

Today has been a good day here too, lots of spending but lots of bargains along the way. :money:

Took advantage of DS and DH being at footie this morning and jollied along to the car boot. I was shocked at how busy it was ! Lots of sellers but this particular one harbours a lot of dealers too so you have to snaffle out the 'real' car booters. Managed to get some lovely baskets for my xmas/birthday hampers (5 for £3 - will add a pic shortly), some things that I bought that I've decided I don't want any more so they'll go on ebay , and a Ravel handbag that caught my eye. I didn't need the handbag but it was lovely and a steal at £3. I've only got 2 others so I don't have a 'thing' for them .

Then popped to local garden centre to buy MIL birthday pressie (vouchers, same thing every year which makes it nice and easy for me). Incidentally, the money neutral present challenge is going really well. I'm currently sitting at £27 'profit' with a total spend of just over £100 so far this year (for birthdays later in the year).

I also popped to foc*s to spend my leaving present vouchers. Result = car boot full of fruit bushes/shallots/summer flowering bulbs/asparagus :j.

Sainsburys next port of call for weekly shop. DS wanted to buy avatar on Xbox so managed to reach £90 spend so that I could use £9 off a £90 voucher that they sent me :T. Had a few other vouchers too so total spend on food was £48.23, total saving £17.52 :j.

Popped home for a cuppa then instead of going to cafe (see, very frugal !) Then into town to buy DD2 some new school shoes. I'm afraid I don't scrimp on these so Clarks was first port of call - £32 spend. Scoured a few charity shops much to DDs rolley eyes and picked up a lovely Ware*ouse leather skirt for £6.99, and 2 next jumpers for £3.49 each.

DD1 met us in town after a jaunt with B/F to Brighton and wanted to pop to Mr T for some munchies (she pays !) - saw a great deal on Whey protein (DH has for his weight training) so bought 3 lots, total saving over £20 on what he buys on the net. Should last him a few months.

So, all in all, a great day ! I've got to have a NSD tomorrow to hit my target of 10, hence all the running around spending today :rotfl:.

CW I didn't net our hanging basket strawbs last year and didn't see any birds pinching them - had quite a good crop so not sure if any got stolen. You might want to hang an old CD from the top of the chain to deter them?

Congrats to those who've had good news (sorry I'm useless at names, no change from last year on that score ).

Re: switching b/b provider, we did a few weeks ago. Used to have AO-hell for b/b, BT for phone and Sky for TV. Now switched to Sky for all 3 and have saved £26 per month :eek:. A few promotional things in there (tv reduced by £10pm for 6 months, free unlimited calls for 6 months etc etc) so the £26pm saving is only for the first year. But a great saving nonetheless, I shall re-look at it next year come end of contract.

Right I've rambled for long enough (sorry !) Don't get chance to post much so tend to write an essay when I do .

Have a good evening everyone xx

SavvyStudent_2

Evening all!

Ham now in the freezer, thanks cw18! It is sort of medium-posh ham (OH!) but I'm planning to include it in pasta etc at a later date so I'm sure once its fried up with a bit of onion etc the texture will be fine..?

We've ended up having a weirdly frugal day. Didn't make it to debenhams in the end. We tried to take OHs old xbox (an original lol!) to the charity shop but they wouldn't take electronics?? But the chap behind the counter suggested we take it round the corner to the games shop - who do trade / sale! They tested it and in the end it wouldn't play games (so I'm glad it wasn't in the charity shop in that case) but he gave us a little money for the controllers which would otherwise have gone in the bin! £8 which bought us some lunch from a local outdoor BBQ, some chocolate which we're having with a nice cup of tea as we speak and a lottery ticket for later! Lol So a 'free' little day if that makes sense. I suppose we should have put the money in our pot but it was nice to have lunch out with OH as it feels like I haven't seen him properly in ages. Also got a big bottle of diet coke with the money and I'm going to have a well deserved malibu this evening in front of the fire lol!

Re: Strawberry hanging baskets, I'm looking to start an outdoor 'pot' allotment this year so these sound perfect! I'm thinking I definitely would rig up some sort of loose netting though to keep the beasties / birdies out? I've seen fruit plant canes in the local B&M bargains too - gooseberrys, blackcurrants, raspberrys etc and may pop down tomorrow and pick up a few - I can't remember exactly how much they were but I'm sure they'll pay for themselves in time. I can report back on pricing if needs be? Any ideas about what type of pot I should put these in? Would a big terracotta one do (theres one already in the back yard..)?

Savvy x

Edit: Forgot to say, I mended 4 items of clothing today! How times have changed lol

Vixstar

Got a little behind with this thread. Haven't recorded officially January's spends; due to the snow, spending the weekends at work and a few big spends my monthly spending has been somewhat unusual.

I'm going to work on an all in monthly budget as that'll allow for alterations when my living arrangements change - as that will affect almost all areas of my budget.

And to end on two frugal positive notes - I've managed to pass on my old television equiment to my brother, no one would've taken a 13 yr old TV on freebike but chucking perfectly working stuff in the skip really bothered me - and secondly I just need to "find" another £9 of free cash (or change pot contents) to make my £375 summer holiday cash neutral, something I'd've never thought of before MSE.

knithappens

cw18 wrote: »

Well done on the savings Nyk - that equates to one heck of a chunk of your annual budget :T




Q for the produce growers amongst you......

I'm very tempted to try strawberries in hanging baskets this year (the Dalmatian loves them, so growing at 'ground level' would probably mean he'd be the only 'occupant' to get any ), but am concerned about birds sharing them ?!?! My parents always put net cages over their fruit ('normal' strawberry plants, and raspberry, blackberry and loganberry bushes), so I'm assuming I'd need to rig up some kind of protective covers for the baskets as well ?

I have about 6 hanging baskets with strwberrrys and have never covered them, never had problems with burds getting at them or any creepy crawlies ( see my gardening knowledge i astound myself sometimes :rotfl:)