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

rictus123

Hey everyone hows it going? Has any of you bought a car on finance? Think i might this summer, if i can get a years free insurance with it. Think Vauxhall do this for 19+(which il be end of June)so going to look around and hopefully save up a few grand for deposit etc.

shaz_mum_of__2

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

well done Mr and mrs happy H

How a bout a mini challenge......all the new money goes into a saving account and pretend like you never had it !!

Hope hubby likes the job better

Typing from bed as i am still full of head and tummy flu :eek:have been watching uni realted stuff on i player catching up on forums and surfing the net eyeing up kitchen gadgets.....sorry nyk .....although i haven't bought anything yet although i have a bid on something on e bay which is a tenth of its shop value



i have managed to mix a pate/terrine up as i had taken all the ingredients out on monday before i got poorly ,and there was no way i was throwing meat away !!:rotfl: never made a course terrine type pate before it smells good even through my bunged up nose(may have overdone the garlic :undecided)

ttfn shaz

Nyk cannot believe you missed this :rotfl::rotfl:


I am now the winning bidder on a new - whole fruit and veg juicer total cost inc p&p £6.72:T:T real value £60 I have wanted one for ages since mine died but even i cannot justify £70 on another kitchen gadget!

Hoping it will help reduce the amount of unrecyclable orange juice cartons that come into the house(our council doesn't recycle tetra packs) and it will come in handy for the homebrew too i also believe in the healing properties of various juices but have to hope i get lots of whoopsies to feed it with and any pulp will be composted it's coming out of my cashback funds so technically free

Feeling a bit better but my sinuses are really sore and more cold sores and mouth ulcers are appearing with each hour that passes:eek:........pretty !!


early night again methinks

Shaz

Frugaldom

Rictus, I already posted the link for the motoring questions when the similar question relating to a van was asked. Frugal living is about not taking on finance, as it could be the start of a slippery downward slope. Far better you earn, save and buy outright, that way you can't come unstuck if your income suddenly stops and you have no way of meeting the payments.

Shaz, well done on the mega bargain juicer! I'm afraid I only skim read the posts here, just not enough hours in the day to study them all, so missed your original one. Hmm, I don't recall reading about it alongside the plumber or car comments either - sneaky, sneaky. But can the juicer flush your toilet? :rotfl:

BBMommy, thanks for link to your blog, I've added it to my list of links on my blogsite.

Crystals, you're welcome to join this thread, give it a trial run and if you decide to stay then remind me to add your name to the new list at the end of March for part 2.

rictus123

I know Nykmedia, i just dont like my van at all, so many problems with it and useless at this time of year, doors freezing and heater not working etc. Seems like everyone i know except me has had parental help to get through there test. Asides my provisional(birthday pressie) i paid lessons,car,insurance,theory, practical, petrol, maintenance and it really does cost alot. Every old car/van iv had costs so much money as iv always run into problems. Yet i need to drive so nothing i can do really.

pagangirl

Shaz - our Mr T has Tetra recycling bin, is there one close to you? Congrats on the juicer, great bargain !

Got Elec/gas bill earlier today - and I had OVER estimated by £16.91 - so very happy bunny.:j Wil be paid tomorrow, so definitely not a NSD !

grandma247

Rictus you really need to research all your options and talk to someone much older. Preferably someone who knows about vehicals and what it costs to buy and run them.
At your age it is so easy to run before you can walk (sorry not talking down to you thats the grandma in me). You will always be poor if you have a car,its a fact of life.
Getting into debt for a car or van is dicey at the best of times but with employment so wobbley at the moment it would be unwise as Nyck said to get in over your head. A bad credit rating can plague you for a long time so it is something to think about very carefully.
Also if you save for your car you can hold your head up and know you did it yourself without help from anyone. That is one of the best feelings in the world.
My Brother did it when he was your age and he really values his cars.

cw18

rictus - the questions about car financing are much better asked on the motoring board than here, as I doubt it's something (m)any of us have looked at recently. I personally made the last car repayment in Feb 1999, so 11 years (and one change of car) ago !!





I hit our local A!di for fruit growing bits this morning - dropped GDs at school, came home, got in car (without even coming into the house), and straight out. Got two of the Strawberry baskets (one of two fruits I can eat until the cows come home), one of the Tomato baskets, and 2 of the fruit bush selections (one is Raspberries, Blackberries - weren't as many 'free' ones round here last year - and Gooseberries, the other is Raspberries, Tayberries and Blackcurrants...... no prize for guessing that Raspberries is my other much loved fruit :rotfl: )

I've also picked up locally 2 types of potatoes (an early salad and a maincrop), onions, shallots, rhubarb and asparagus. According to everything I've read I'll have to wait until next year to harvest the rhubarb and the year after for the asparagus ( :eek: ), but figured that if I don't get them started this year then I won't get them until another year down the line These have been added to the pile of seeds I picked up from A!di a couple of days ago (spring onions, radishes, carrots, peas and beans - but forgot the salad leaves and they didn't have any left today ).

Silly questions on the potatoes (and carrots)...... I'm assuming that if I plant up one container every couple of weeks, that in theory means I'll get a fresh harvest every couple of weeks? Just need to figure out a way to label up the containers so I know which order to harvest them in if in doubt according to growth I know people have said that spuds can be grown in bucket type containers, but how big do they need to be? I've managed to get 8 of the black flower buckets from work - and am going to try getting more - but are they big enough for a potato plant each? My SFG book says '4 to a square' (which is about 30cm x 30cm, but my bucket is round with a diameter of 25cm. This means surface area at the top is 490cm2, rather the 900cm2 of an SFG square...... so could I maybe risk 2 spuds to a tub?

sophiesmum_2

Cheryl - I have done spuds in the black buckets. I did some with one in and some with two, both grew and produced potatoes but I found the one with two tubers in produced roughly the same weight in potatoes as the one with just one tuber in which grew bigger spuds. If you like small spuds put two in, if you want a higher yield weight and larger spuds just put one in (don't forget a few drainage holes too)
Hope that makes sense:D

rictus123

Thanks guys. I dont want to take on debt its just so annoying:mad: But hey thats life. Its payday tomorrow :j Cant believe it has been a whole 2 weeks since i last got paid. Still got all of my last pay in my account minus just £30 :T

First time ever iv held that much i think. So i think il aim for doing it every second payday now iv proved i can £500 saved in 2 weeks. Sticking to my budget well :T

cw18

Thanks SM - will do a couple of the early ones (I like small salad pots, and they're always way tooooo expensive in the shops unless I fall lucky with Whoopsies) and one of the larger ones Just need to sort out a 'growing medium' now, and I can get ready to get started.