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

Lily_The_Legend

Kiwisaver wrote: »

Perhaps the fact that I know the 'something' is vinegar and have a very sensitive sense of smell, I may be being a little paranoid about smelling like a chip shop.

LOL! :rotfl:

I want to start using white vinegar for cleaning, but I'm a bit worried my whole house will smell like a chip shop!

NualaBuala

Hello my frugal chums :wave:

ifonlyitwaseasier wrote: »

i thanked you by accident.

have you actually seen what mooloo has been thro? have you read her thread?
She is saving SS money by looking after her DGD and why shouldn't she have some assistance from them in order to do so?

Same here! Meg, perhaps you didn't realise but the tone of your post sounded harsh and judgemental. Minding grandchildren is such a wonderful (and expensive!) thing to do and it's fantastic that people like you and Mooloo do it. I bet you have lots of frugal tips and other valuable advice you could share. Mooloo, fingers crossed it all works out - you are a trooper! :T

Kiwisaver, I found the same about the smell. I keep asking my friends and family if I smell of anything and they insist that I don't. And I know at least some of them aren't being polite At times my bathroom looks more like a kitchen with the vinegar and bicarb :rotfl: Great for cleaning the bathroom AND my hair!

Hi Lillibet, I'm treating this year as a sort of training run. It's great to know where the money is going and I'm reining in my spending a little bit more all the time. You're doing great! :T

Lynda, that's so exciting! A fantastic motivator to save money.


I'm just making a shopping list as I've to pick up a few bits, mainly fresh stuff. It's lashing rain - days like this I think a car would be great. Am back in college next week so have to start thinking of what to bring in for lunches and snacks. I used to spend way too much time and money in the canteen. The new plan is to bring in frugal food and spend my free time studying.:A

DdraigGoch

Don't worry, Lily. Firstly it fades very quickly and secondly, remember that many cleaning products actually extol the fact that they contain vinegar! Best of luck.

ps if you're worried, either put a drop of essential oil in it or wipe around with a water/essential oil dampened cloth afterwards.

pagangirl

[ Quote from FrankieM] Sorry, I assumed when you said all heat was going out the hole that you weren't getting any heat from the radiator, so it made sense to me to just turn it off Sorry if I misunderstood. I guess I just managed cause I had to...and bundled up with blankets!]

No problem - was down to 0' last night, frost everywhere this am, but managed with no heat so far this morning, bundled up like the michelin [STRIKE]man[/STRIKE] woman :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

thanks to sophiesmum & cha97michelle for advice re OOD stir fry mixes.

thanks to Nuala for hugs - needed 'em after yesterday - worra day

good luck with the diet natalie81 - hope you get into cozzies soon

Mooloo - big hugs - have you tried the Citizens Advice Bureau, always found them quite good help benefit wise?

Lily_The_Legend

DdraigGoch wrote: »

Don't worry, Lily. Firstly it fades very quickly and secondly, remember that many cleaning products actually extol the fact that they contain vinegar! Best of luck.

ps if you're worried, either put a drop of essential oil in it or wipe around with a water/essential oil dampened cloth afterwards.

Thanks for the top tip! I think Lavender essential oil would be nice! Anything beats the smell of those chemical cleaners, which are doing god knows what to the environment and give me a headache! :eek:

BigMummaF

cha97michelle wrote: »

....
Wow. Itemising everything really does make you think doesn't it.

It's a shocker how much the prices change from one week to the next too. I hadn't realised how bad it was till I began comparing my receipts

Lily_The_Legend wrote: »

LOL! :rotfl:

I want to start using white vinegar for cleaning, but I'm a bit worried my whole house will smell like a chip shop!

It doesn't Things MUST be getting easier here, cuz Nos 1&2 were extolling the virtues of bicarb & vinegar to a couple of their mates who are about to take on a flat-share *gives almighty air-punch & wrenches shoulder in the process* :rotfl:

candygirl

knithappens wrote: »

thats it, the name escaped me.

Mooloo definately look into it, raising a child is expensive enough, but raising a child when you did not expect too, can be a big financial burden, my mum did it with my nephew, and she had to give up work etc to care for him which had a massive impact on our standard of living, we would not have changed the situation for the world, but if there is financial help available, take it.

Exactly.MOOLOO you are doing a fab job, and should get all the help you need, both financial and otherwise.I look after DGD a lot, and suspect would get her if anything happened to DD, for which I would prob have to gve up my career too.MEG, of course we love our Grandkids, but can't look after them on fresh air, and the state would have to pay for them to be looked after otherwise, so should also provide adequate funds if they are left with family members;)
Rant over:o:o
Got a cheque back from DVLA today, car tax refund, so am putting that in the bank and mooching around charity shops today:D:D
Have fabby frugal days everyone xx:A:A

Frugaldom

Good afternoon all, only just finished reading the thread in between updating work related stuff online and now making lunch, so apologies for no individual responses but appropriate ones can be assumed by all.

It took over an hour to thaw out everything this morning when seeing to hens & ducks, then got fire cleaned out & lit before catching up with work. Last night I ended up baking another batch of cookies but made up enough dough to have 2 lots in the fridge to pop into the oven anytime it's on - like now, whilst doing hm quiche for lunch.

Gradually clearing some space in the freezer but it means we're having an assortment of frugal meals to use up previously frozen leftovers. DS and HS had beef olives with some boiled 'LETS' potatoes & veg last night whilst I had savoury rice served up with prawns, which tasted a bit like prawn fried rice Chinese style. Leftovers from that are for my lunch, HS is having the quiche (defrosted) ad I have a carton of broth defrosting to have at dinnertime tonight. I've also defrosted a pound of cooked kidney beans and will get some bean pate made up soon. I'm still using the App Foods kidney beans bought for a few pence last year. Some of the big tins got bashed in post so I opened them, drainede, rinsed and then froze the contents so I can use them as and when required.

SM - my croutons mountain has decreased somewhat as I gave some to LETS buddies yesterday, but I still have enough left here to last the year out. Trouble is, I eat them like crisps!

XNatX - despite my newly acquired crouton habit, February is my weight loss challenge month. I'm hoping to lose at least half a stone and drop a size by end of the month so I'm ready to start back on my 'get fitter, not fatter' regime to complete my C25K running programme this year. Injury knocked me out of it late last year but ankle is fully recovered now.

MooLoo - I was thinking about all the comments that keep being added here about your situation and think it's a shame that you don't have the help and support of family friends and neighbours in such circumstances. Are there any LETS type groups or support groups around and did you manage to sort out the child benefit and child tax credits due to you from DD whilst you have DGD in your care?

It's still white out with frost and the temperature hasn't managed to get above freezing here today. At least the coalbox is filled, log store more than half full and I have my pinecone kindling stash nicely dried out with a huge basket of them sat by the fireplace. I'd hate to have no window anywhere in the house at this time and reckon I'd be asking for some form of compensation to counterbalance the extra that would need to be spent trying to keep warm if the missing window was above my only heater.

Anyone struggling with the realisation that their money goes faster than expected, don't forget that it can take 3 months to establish a pattern if you're working on a monthly budget. I work on an annual budget and deduct my spends as I go along, so it means I'm always in full control of what gets spent, where and when. Last night, I splurged out £3.30 on 2 pairs of knitted fingerless gloves, a pair each for HS and myself, as pernickety little outdoor jobs like freeing frozen door latches are useless to do in thick gloves. Today I spent a further £40 on topping up the electricity meter, after paying out £46 for coal yesterday, too, so my monthly 'averages' don't reflect true months, only the overall effect of the combined spending over a full year.

Catch up again after lunch, hope everyone is fairing well in their frugal living attempts, despite what life throws at us in an attempt to hijack all our good plans.

Edited in, another page of posts since I thought I'd caught up - will make another attempt later.

Lily_The_Legend

Just been reading all the posts from the past couple of days and have a few replies!

Fishcake_random That's good that you get all those magazines. I don't think my mother-in-law buys any, and the only one my mum buys is the one I work on (she is keeping me in a job lol!)

Happymrsh Well done on getting all those bargains from Lloyds! :T

Top_drawer I think there is a thread on the old style forum which has advice on how to use up ingredients from the storecupboard/freezer. You could make up a meat sauce with the mince then add different things to make it into bolognese, lasagne, chilli, cottage pie. You could have the tortilla wraps with the chilli! I'm sure there are lots of fab ideas over on OS though.

rictus123 You might be able to get some advice on the van insurance over on the motoring forum.

cha97michelle Top tip on putting green bananas near the radiator. I can't stand it when they aren't ripe! :eek:

xNatalie91x Good luck on the weight loss! I'm on a diet for 2010 too, and it can be done! I lost half a stone in January!

bails

hi everyone! well, for some reason I can access MSE briefly so just popping in to say Helloooo

China is CR-AZY!! But we're going with it and enjoying ourselves - very expensive (2 nights' accommodation is a month's rent in Nepal :eek:) but soaking up some luxury before we head to the mountains the day after tomorrow in search of wild panda :j

Hope everyone's okay; I'm never going to be able to catch up but am thinking of you all.

We're here til the middle of February, just after Chinese New Year and then we're off to Mongolia :j Just loving our time out here and focusing on the now - this is my time :D

Lots of love to you all, I'll be on again when I can. Happy frugalling! xx

ps Thanks for the PM SFT x and I say def flights to Aus You've done so well with the mortgage already :T