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

mumtoomany

Hi All,
been missing for a while. I spent all my spare time for a week completing the dreaded tax return! so was not logging on as I knew that would stop me completing on time (and didn't want a fine). Since coming back I have spent all my time trying to catch up. I don't think I'm doing too bad on the budget front. The weekend before last I bought 25kg potatoes, 10kg onions, 10kg carrots, 3kg mushrooms and 15kg bananas all for just over £10. These should last a while.
Now confession time. If I have a coupon to save money on things I would normally buy, I HAVE to use it. Last Friday DH came home with the Metro, two coupons inside, £5 off £50 and £10 off £100 at Asda.(had to be used that weekend). The month's grocery budget almost gone! I thought if I bought lots of beans, rice, dog food etc, it would last. By Saturday morning had come up with a list. Then DH walks the dog and returns with the Sun, 2 more coupons! AHHH. DD1 and partner came for the weekend and between us we spent the required £300 (split at the till into 4 lots, thus using all coupons, sorry if it was you behind me.)
My challenge now is to not spend any money on dog food, toiletries, household stuff or food, for the whole of February. I have two £5 Morrisons vouchers and about £5 nectar points so if I need milk, bread or fruit towards the end of Feb I am hoping to use these. Wish me luck, I will keep you all informed how I go on. So far (other than DD's) 5 no spend days this month.

Hope you are all well and good luck to you all,

Mumtoomany.

sophiesmum_2

cw18 wrote: »

I was seriously tempted by both the pole style feeder and the 'ornate' bird bath.....

Managed to convince myself they were definitely wants rather than needs - helped by the fact I'm sure that in one spot the box declared it to have a 7'4" height, but in another it said it was 6'1" above ground. As we have heavy soil I don't fancy trying to secure it at all

Anyone wanting one of the bird feeder stations I picked one up a few weeks ago in Poundstretcher (Instore) for £4.99 (box marked at £9.99 but were reduced on shelf) They had lots in our store.I have two the last one I picked up in garden centre for £6.99 last year - both identical to the aldi one.
They push really easily into the ground, even when it is mostly stoney like our front garden.

cw18

Might take a trip out tomorrow to see if ours has any

Dawned on me as I got up this morning that I still haven't allocated the birthday cheque I got from my parents, so I could use that for the "wants"

Ches

Cherly didn't you put the birthday cheque towards a new coat? or am I thinking of someone else?

weezl74

hello NYKmedia, bails and all the lovely frugals and fruguys:)

I was wondering if I might be able to recruit a few of you as frugal recipe testers for my latest mad project, but I thought I could say it on this thread because the recipes will all fit into a low budget, I'll compile the recipes etc elsewhere I just wanted to get a feel for if people would try out some recipes and rate them for cost, ease, taste etc.

Much love,

Weezl x

ifonlyitwaseasier

Weezl you know we all love your recipes (ie lentil pate!!) count me in for sure!!

had a frugal day, only spent using b'day book tokens and was bought lunch and coffee so all in all a lovely time

Frugaldom

Weezl - I'm always up for trying out recipes as long as I have the ingredients in store. If you compile them somewhere else, PM me the link so I can add it to post one for the trial participants to access it or 'save to faves'. Hope you and family are all well, not long to go before the Weezl family increases again. Thanks for popping in and thinking of us as fru-guinea pigs.

rictus123

Hey everyone hows it going? Payday for me :j:j:j And im finally getting some overtime,working tomorrow Even if its just a half day,every little helps! Today is a spend day, £20.05 on desiel(thought it would have been more so :T) but i went to Tesco then realised Morissons is cheaper by 1p a litre and closer to work. Always thought Tesco was cheaper but hey live and learn, il know for next time. Also in the papers it said construction workers are top for winning more than £50k on the lottery so with Euro millions at a massive £85million, 5 of us paid £2 each and got 5 lucky dips, winnings to be split by the 5 of us, the boy who bought them scanned and printed out the ticket so we will know the numbers! £17million each if we got full scoop or £200k if we win the £1million UK raffle. IF ONLY....:D

But anyway away over to gfs at half 6, work tomorrow then she will be at mine tomorrow night and Sunday for a relaxing day;) The next 6 days should be NSD Enjoy your weekend everyone, make the most of it :j

cw18

Ches wrote: »

Cherly didn't you put the birthday cheque towards a new coat? or am I thinking of someone else?

Nope, that was my Christmas cheque (And my C00p dividends from last year, and what was left of my £8k budget from last year)

knithappens

weezl - i am up for tyig some new recipes