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

findingmyfeet

hi all,
according to my friend ald! have the 100percent extra free products in finally in this region- cornflakes, crunchy n cornflakes, pasta, teabags etc. cereals 99p a kilo, pasta 99p 2kg. so will get down there this week and stock up.

debtmess

findingmyfeet wrote: »

hi all,
according to my friend ald! have the 100percent extra free products in finally in this region- cornflakes, crunchy n cornflakes, pasta, teabags etc. cereals 99p a kilo, pasta 99p 2kg. so will get down there this week and stock up.

will have to keep an eye out here

Brighton_belle

gosh, what a productive day I have had.

1)Now 8 bin bags and 3 boxes of stuff for the dump or charity shop on Monday.
2)Took two bits of kitchen wall furniture to charity shop
3) gloves/goggle/mask on to tackle annual out of control bathroom mould and massive bathroom clean before lodger returns tomorrow from 3 week break.
4)updated out of date free antivirus software
5)Put more of OH's long term keepy stuff in attic
6)shredded another half bin liner of old papers & receipts
7) finally fitted new shower hose that has been leaking more and more for the last 6 weeks.

I'm beginning to feel on top of the chaos we have had here for the last month and I hope to have the house clean and ship shape now before lodger returns tomorrow - it is definitely good for us to have to keep the house clean because of him. Can't wait til I finally have the car on Monday and can off load all the stuff we no longer need on the house.

chika

Hi Everyone! Please can I join in? I did the challenge badly last year but this year it's crucial that I get everything under control. I'm not sticking to a set budget - I'm a student to my free cash is limited anyway. I'm just going to really streeeeeeeetch what cash i do have and look for ways to make more where possible. Main ideas so far...

Less Procrastination I am the queen of procrastination. If I can do all my uni work in a timely manner I can spend longer working to earn extra pennies. I'm also quite messy and often "lose" things in the clutter so I go out an buy another - this can be anything from notepads to new tops. If I can keep organised I can cut down on this expenditure.

Meal Planning - I like takeaways, far too much and they cost a fortune. I'm looking at the meal planning threads on the OS board and also doing a store cupboard challenge. CW18 you have inspired me to make an inventory. How I ended up with 18 tins of chickpeas I do not know but hopefully I'll be able to live off the stuff I have without going out to do a big shop.

I've got a few big expenses coming up so hopefully I can crack this frugal living lark soon. Best of luck to everyone on the challenge.

I really really enjoy reading your posts, you are all truely inspiring. I come from a house where my mum spends money on the most frivilous things without a care for what might happen tomorrow and I sadly inherited my mum's attitude to money. I don't think you know it but you are my inspirations, you all seem to have happy lives and its heartwarming and amazing to read about people on here living their dreams but not spending a fortune doing it. Anyway enough - I'm getting all sentimental...

:beer:HAPPY NEW YEAR :beer:

Debs08

Thinking of you in the days ahead momoffour77 these times can be very hard on a family but as you have found can really bring a family together.
You sound like you have a really lovely family and I hope that after this trial the rest of the year will be more restful for you all

Paulgonnabedebtfree

cw18 wrote: »

Sounds good - but (if you don't mind) one of you may have to help people get Open Office set up if they don't currently have that or Excel on their machines and need assistance to do so

I'm a little worried about putting Open Office onto my laptop in case it corrupts my version of Excel (especially as I can't currently find my disks to re-install it!)

If you don't have your disks for Excel, there may be a way around it in case it ever gets corrupted/hard disk failure etc.
I think the important bit is having the registration key. If you don't currently have this, there is a download that lists the keys of any Microsoft software on your computer (you can print it out). The download is free and is called Belarc Advisor at
http://belarc.com/free_download.html
I believe it is possible to download a free trial of Excel from somewhere on the Microsoft website. I've no idea if putting your key (as displayed by Belarc Advisor) into such a download would activate it or not but it may be worth trying if you are ever having a problem. Of course, if the software came supplied with the computer, it would probably be a OEM version so I reckon you would need the actual disks. You can usually buy a copy of the disks from the computer manufacturer - though don't expect it to be cheap. I believe Microsoft used to supply their software cheaply if you had the license number and ID verification. This is because the main payment is for the license so all they would be charging for is the replacement CD and any associated costs (plus some profit presumably).
Some of the above may be out of date info. I haven't kept up with things in recent years.

cw18

Thanks Paul

No, it didn't come with the machine - it was something I bought at the same time (discounted because of getting the laptop from the same store)

Will try and get the key off the machine to be safe, but I know the disks are in the house (only had the laptop/software 2.5 years, and haven't moved in that time :rolleyes2 )

lingojingo

Don't know where it went, I posted something like this 1/2 hour ago

First spend of 2010 was £40.66 at Petmeds getting enough flea stuff and worming tablets to last my cat the whole year - they have 5% off at the moment, and hopefully I'll also get cashback. Cost quite a bit less than anticipated, so it's also my first saving of the year :j

Welcome to all the new frugallers, you'll find this one of the friendliest, helpful and inspiring threads on the whole site, I've learnt so much over the past 2 years, can never thank Nyk enough for starting it and looking after us all.:T

NualaBuala

Hi folks - it's great to see so many people doing this!

Chika, what a lovely post! I know just where you're coming from with the procrastination and takeaways. And I've also bought new stuff as I haven't been able to find what I need with all the clutter! But I hope that I will get into better habits. I've been slowly decluttering over the past few months but there's lots more to do.

Citroennut, a woodburning stove with a kettle for tea on the go sounds like my idea of heaven!

knithappens

Mumoffour - you and your family are in my thoughts x