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

candygirl

Hiya fellow frugallers:j:j
Have had another NSD today, mainly due to the fact i've been dying from a major hangover, and haven't been to the shops:rotfl::rotfl:Had a fab night last night, but drank far too much vino:o:o
Have got Boo again tonight, as DD is going to yet another do, she's just screamed the house down, and gone to bed:D:D
Have realised that my 2 cold weather payments n travel insurance cover the cost of the clothes i've bought this month, so feel a little less guilty now;) plus the leccy and gas is well in credit so yipee:T:T
Very cold here tonight, hope it's not gonna snow again:(:(

ifonlyitwaseasier

evening,

well i've got a cooled batch of laundry gloop but it's not particularly gloopy. in fact it's set, solid, almost like a big bar of soap! (well several as i had left it to cool in the pan and had to chop at it to get it out!)

i used 3.75 ltrs as had 375g of soap, added 3.5 handfuls of soda crystals and voila hm soap mor ehtan gloop, so any ideas apart from what i've thought of, which is melting it down a block at a time in a little more water to make it gloopier (is that a word? gloopier??)

apart from that i did little else all day and i loved it!

ioiwe the confused

JayJay14

cw18 - we had no problem with birds with the strawbs in hanging baskets, and there were no slugs either , which had always been our biggest problem.
Went to Bradford today and dropped of DD1 at her friends while OH and I went to junction 27 -spent very little, just £5.97 in Ikea for 2 packs of chinese bowls reduces from £7.99 to £1.99 each and a pack of AA batteries. Then we went to the hot dog stand at the exit and had a treat lunch (hot dog, coffee and doughnut) not the healthiest but it's a rare thing.

We then went to an asian supermarket near DD's friends house, I was in heaven - just wish I'd thought to make a list. But got spices, snacks, bread, ginger, chillies and lichees. Spent just over £12 but well worth it.

Then went to costco and had a bit of a blowout. Bought some chopping boards for DD1's birthday in February (joseph joseph ones she has wanted for ages) and got dog food and big tins of tomatoes. I have also stocked up on bacon and ham and milk. I also bought a bag of pancake mix, it's a special treat for me as I really love them and the bag will last for months, and I will be having treat breakfasts at weekends.:D

Right off to look at 'curry from scratch' recipies, now I have the spices I have no excuse:rotfl:

victoriaplum1

thanks for this useful forum, love all the links to other things at the top - will have a good look thru those. I always mean to be frugal but fall off the wagon quite easily, though been good today as I have raided my 'rainy day present cupboard' (where I have stocked half price things and other bargains that can be used for presents) instead of buying more and have just text my other half (who is out at the pub) telling him not to bring a big takeaway home as I have had chinese from the freezer, hopefully that will save a good few pound as after a few beers he usually brings enough food home to feed an army!

homegrown_life

good evening all. Struggling a bit to keep up with the thread and reply to people. I am reading though.

Going well here. I'm onto my next months grocery budget as I budget food 4 weekly so it won't always fit neatly into the beginning and end of the month. Does sometimes make my figures a bit iffy but hope it will all even out in the end!

Managed to get mysellf a nice pair of jeans from the charity shop today for only £2.50. They look hardly worn

A heads up to anyone with a Sainsburys nearby, the shampoo and conditioner is all half price (all brands) so one of the cheapest MrS make is 20p a bottle (coconut). Think I'll get some on Monday, think it's on till 2 Feb.

Keep going everyone, I've thoroughly enjoyed the first month doing this. Feels really brilliant to know I am in control.

KazLA

NualaBuala wrote: »

Hi KazLA and welcome on board! Never too late to start being frugal

I think setting a budget makes me more focussed - you see where your money goes. I love seeing other people's as I'm usually inspired to try to trim back a little more. It's all baby steps for me!

Good luck, and let us know how your budget is looking!

Just realised, my garden isn't ready for planting fruit bushes yet but I really want to get those in Aldi on Thurs. Do those offers come around again? Or maybe I should just plant them anyway and hope for the best.

Thank you, I will try to work on the budget over the next few weeks.

I think you could probably just put the fruit bushes in the ground as it is and then move them once you're sorted, they should be happy enough as long as they're in the soil...

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.

Thanks NYK! I didn't reply to your PM, as I thought it would be yet another email to clog up your inbox.

Today:
I have bought meat from a farm stall on the market for the first time today - only sausages, but it's a start! Was surprised that they worked out as cheap as the ones we normally get from Mr A, and could really notice the difference - quite chewy, so I guess more meaty!

Also got some on-the-vine cherry tomatoes from the market - £1 for about 700g! I would normally pay over £1 for about 200g. Just hope they last...

We normally do our supermarket shopping on Sat/Sun, so think I will try to make regular trips to the market for fruit, veg and meat Sat am (I actually walk past anyway on way to/from daughter's dancing class).

We made eggy bread for lunch today - adding honey and nutmeg to the egg mixture first (a recipe from the back of a Fifi story book!) - soooo yummy!

Any suggestions on how to rid the kitchen of the cooking/frying smell though? Have a candle burning in there at the mo, but have a feeling it will still be horrible and greasy smelling in the morning...

I have managed to salvage a chocolate traybake cake we made yesterday - unfortuately the dial got turned from 180 to 240!! (and I didn't hear the buzzer, so it had an extra 5+ mins). Have sliced off the top and edges and covered in chocolate icing - good job I froze most of it as I can't seem to stop delving into the tub!

Thanks again for all the inspiration. Enjoy the rest of your weekends.

grandma247

KazLA wrote: »

Any suggestions on how to rid the kitchen of the cooking/frying smell though? Have a candle burning in there at the mo, but have a feeling it will still be horrible and greasy smelling in the morning...
QUOTE]

Put a piece of bread on a saucer and soak it in vinegar. Leave it overnight and the smell should be gone.

aeb_2

grandma247 wrote: »

KazLA wrote: »

Any suggestions on how to rid the kitchen of the cooking/frying smell though? Have a candle burning in there at the mo, but have a feeling it will still be horrible and greasy smelling in the morning...
QUOTE]

Put a piece of bread on a saucer and soak it in vinegar. Leave it overnight and the smell should be gone.

Grangdma247 - you are a mine of useful information, I hope it works on all smells - with stale bread of course!

I went in the bathroom this morning and horror:eek:I had left the water in the bath after bathtime, together with 3 x small bars of soap, all reduced to gloop! So, not wanting to waste all that (yukky) soapy water I heated 2 kettles on the woodburner to take the chill off and we had fun 'bathing' all the soft toys, slippers, trainers, a big duvet, some cushions and a selection of other things that wouldn't get put in the washing machine for various reasons. Oh, and some Dup*o and other plastic toys had a good soak too. Great fun was had by all mixing and mashing everything. DS2 fell in:D in all the excitement as he wasn't quite tall enough to reach over! Some spun in the washing machine (not DS2) and everything smells fresh. I'm only worred about one cushion which I thought was foam but turnes out to be feathers:(

My mum assured me she is getting 5% on her instant access savings 'because she is a long standing customer' but I checked and AFAIK she must be getting less than 2%. I told her to check because that's not the way it works nowadays. I do think it is unfair how rates go down after the first few months, it is so hard for older people (and young) to keep up to date.

Just a thought - when planting hanging baskets cut a circle of plasticto line it, up to about half way up the basket. Put this inside the liner/moss and it helps keep the moisture in. I do normally put just one small drainage hole in to stop waterlogging.

cw18

We've got snow again !!!

About 10:30pm yesterday we had a very, very light dusting of the 'hail stone type' on the hard surfaces, and it was really cold - so I left the heating on all night, albeit a couple of degrees lower than during the day Have got up this morning (at silly o'clock 'cos I'm at work again today - 8th consecutive day, with 5 more to go before I get a break next weekend) to a light coating of 'proper' snow, and it's still coming down though it was slowing as I watched it. At least the heating won't be on all day, as DS has been up on his computer all night and will now be in bed most/all of the day (will automatically turn off in about an hour as I leave for work, and I'll reassess when I come home for lunch just after noon).

Will be interesting to see if this light dusting is enough to start the panic buying at work again


ETA: 45 mins on and the snow's coming down quite heavily now. Could see sky between clouds earlier, but not any more :eek:

carolbee

Looks as if the seed swap season is under way, a couple here in Kent advertised. For those of you who have never been to one, you take along some unused plant/veg seeds and swop for something else, great fun to try something different. At ours last year you could purchase if you didn't have anything to swop.

Loving this thread and living by it even if I don't contribute to it.

Now, off to track down a LETS in the area!