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

shaz_mum_of__2

:rotfl::rotfl:Hmm divorce or a massage voucher .................ask me again in a few years

rictus123

Give them some free hugs vouchers

top_drawer_2

Hi everyone,

And Frugaldom - very appropiate!

I am hating valentines day ;( sick of seeing the red everywhere I go - although Ive saved as dont have anyone to buy for (yay!)

Well I have had an interesting couple of days ... yesterday I had a wander along around where I have been told there is a pet food unit in an industrial unit. I found it and got some Forage Hay for the babies for £3.30 instead of the normal £4 ish from [EMAIL="P@H"]P@H[/EMAIL]. I also walked past a timber merchants so I asked if I could have an offcut of some Beech wood and some other random off cut to make a kind of handle .... I dressmake and this will make me a lovely Clapper - they absorb the dampness out of items when ironing and seal the creases etc into place. I have used one numberous times at sewing classes but looking around the internet they are around £30 to buy ... I asked how much they wanted for the off cut and he said they were free!!! So pleased, I can do finishing on garments at home now )

Today I also bought some really nice N£xt trousers for £3.30 in a charity shop, if they dont fit then I will put them on [EMAIL="EB@y"]EB@y[/EMAIL] and sell them....

I also got a Black and Decker Dustbuster thing off the market - I really hope it works well as the GP's make such a mess!

I also bought sandpaper and paint stripper to do the drawers this weekend ..... )

I am in the process of defrosting 500g of mince and thought I would make either a shep pie or lasgne with it tommorrow, how can I stretch it further so maybe I could do more with it ...... every little helps!

TD

hermum

top_drawer wrote: »

Hi everyone,

And Frugaldom - very appropiate!

I am hating valentines day ;( sick of seeing the red everywhere I go - although Ive saved as dont have anyone to buy for (yay!)

Well I have had an interesting couple of days ... yesterday I had a wander along around where I have been told there is a pet food unit in an industrial unit. I found it and got some Forage Hay for the babies for £3.30 instead of the normal £4 ish from P@H. I also walked past a timber merchants so I asked if I could have an offcut of some Beech wood and some other random off cut to make a kind of handle .... I dressmake and this will make me a lovely Clapper - they absorb the dampness out of items when ironing and seal the creases etc into place. I have used one numberous times at sewing classes but looking around the internet they are around £30 to buy ... I asked how much they wanted for the off cut and he said they were free!!! So pleased, I can do finishing on garments at home now )

Today I also bought some really nice N£xt trousers for £3.30 in a charity shop, if they dont fit then I will put them on EB@y and sell them....

I also got a Black and Decker Dustbuster thing off the market - I really hope it works well as the GP's make such a mess!

I also bought sandpaper and paint stripper to do the drawers this weekend ..... )

I am in the process of defrosting 500g of mince and thought I would make either a shep pie or lasgne with it tommorrow, how can I stretch it further so maybe I could do more with it ...... every little helps!

TD

Can you make these handle clapper thingys & sell them on ebay for £30 yourself?

top_drawer_2

I thought of that too - Im going to have a go at the one for me first and you never know I might have a raring trade soon!!

Jen

Fishcake_Random

Hey all,
Popping in to catch up and update lol. Its been an odd couple of days around here but slowly things are getting back on track. The finances have taken a bit of a hit though, OH has not really wanted to be in the flat so keeps finding daft reasons to go out and keep busy till bedtime and its so much easier to spend when faced with temptation. We have £35.57 left for the month so we need to be extra aware of penny spending.
Our plans for Valentines are splurging £2 on a nice gataux or cheesecake for pudding on sunday. We were originally were saving a lesuire voucher for a pizza hut meal but the £4 deal is only on weekdays and as we work 6 days a week we won't be able to do it for a while. We have agreed not to do pressies this year but will make each other a card.
My current frugal crafting is making a wrapper bag from asda magazines. Ill pop it on my blog in the next few days when I've finished it. OH's arsenal blanket is on a backburner untill the thread I need comes into the local sewing shop. I've ordered it but it may take up to a week to arrive!!
Glad to hear we are all doing well with our various ventures.
x x x x

crystals2632

whats a clapper? Im being really thick but honestly I've never heard of one. did dressmaking at school and sis did fashion design.

trip to the bank went ok put 80 quid in. What I thought was my last 20 turned into 40 one folded into another! blew 3.40 at macky d's thou.

phoned water company, nearly paid all my debt Just 22 quid owing. my repayments from feb will be £3 cheaper! wooho.

Found an old gold pot, and decided to put all my coins apart from quids in there. 20ps are quickest to save. so I now have a real pot of gold well almost but we mean well.

Erme

Forgot what I was going to say to Knit ...hmm will have to go back and check. I didn't know you'd be doing FL for 10 year frugal ...Och what an inspiration.

Almost Note Almost! Bought organic gyo seedlings online fae cornwall yesterday after getting the 'thrift' book fae the works for £2.99 yesterday. Wanted books (not just print outs) on bicarb etc so got them for 49p each from the Works as well . And blew £4 on two pairs of winter boots from the charity shop (but I needed them. Snow and leaky boots is so not good!) So am going to be £10 OB this week but that's okay. So long as it's less next week. NEED to save...

So yeah 2 weeks approx and I'm back to normal banking with debts (on debt account. Have one account for debts and one for normal banking) yeppas and DV I'll have enough after BEF (baby emergency fund/rainy day fund) next month and holiday £ (for April) to put some on debts. . First extra debt payment. Can't wait!


Yes you do need to have some emergency funds when paying off debts. For me it's £500 with £100 in an ISA. I keep £400 in National savings. For most it's 3 months living expenses. Just in case things go really bottoms up. DO THAT FIRST. If you can't get the 3 months living expenses get the £500. It's a start. Will pay for things like household repairs etc and save you getting more into debt. I learnt this from dave ramsey when first taking the head out of the sand with regards my debts 18 months ago. And then pay off your debts starting with the smallest first (so like CC/store card or OD whatever it is)... Aim to get the emergency funds within 4-6 weeks of starting debt busting. I had them, then blew them :P. (well 100) but I also paid off my CC's within the first 6 weeks and like I find I don't need a CC anymore. Visa electron works with most things .

Will check out the garden thing later Frugal. Looks good . Sounds good @ least. . Mite save my £25. on seedlings (live in a high rise but have grown cabbage and tomatoes on sills before now).

Anyhow breakkie now. Next week budget is not looking good. Need winter tights, rice for year (£5-6 for that amt in kgs) and toilet rolls (the cheap stuff does me perfectly okay) and porridge. ...Hmmm...

Hugs

E

cw18

Erme wrote: »

And then pay off your debts starting with the smallest first (so like CC/store card or OD whatever it is)

Totally agree with the idea of having an 'easy access emergency fund', but not sure I agree with starting with the smallest debt when paying them off.

Although it's nice to have fewer companies chasing for money, you actually pay them off quicker by starting with the most expensive (though, especially with loans as opposed to cards, you do need to check there's no penalty for paying off faster than was the terms when it was taken out)


Not a lot happening here, though the orders for my garden have started to arrive. Got home from work yesterday to be told by DS that he'd moved two 'rain water saver things' round to the side of the house - they'd arrived between me leaving for work (around 12:45pm) and him getting home (5pm-ish), and been dumped in the middle of my drive !!! Makes me glad I don't live on a main road where they'd have been in full view to everyone - my house is positioned such that they'd only have been visible to anyone leaving our estate from my side of the road leading to the main road....... So it looks like (weather permitting) my job for tomorrow is to get those installed :eek:

I also have an internal water leak that I'd rather have a plumber in to fix, but I can't find one who isn't "booked up for the next month" or "about to go on holiday" or doesn't think "that's not a big enough job for it to be worth me coming out" :mad: The toilet in the cloakroom has decided to spring a leak -- but fortunately on the clean water fill, and between its individual stop tap (one of the benefits of a new build ) and the cistern...... so I now have a screwdriver in there and just turn it on to fill the cistern when I need to 'use the facilities', then turn it straight back off again.

May have a stab at fixing this myself next week, as DS is away with DD, GDs and my Dad - and (although I have a 'few' extra hours at work) I don't have any voluntary work in school due to it being half-term. But I'm also debating leaving it until my first week off work (only 2 more weeks to go before then, and I've managed with the screwdriver since Tuesday )

JayJay14

cw18 - wished you lived closer cos I would have sent OH round, he's a dab hand at things like that (for an accountant - he's just replaced the mixer shower in the en suite) and having been out of work for the last two weeks he's getting really bored.

Well a trip to Asda last night cost me 12p:D SP toilet rolls, some crisps and a woopsied tub of cream - I had a moc floating arround my purse that I had forgotten about.

Also found in the same purse tidy were, £2.50 of Tesco vouchers and £4 of M&S, plus I got £7 more M&S yesterday. DD1 has agreed go to M&S with me (she has her OH's 20% off card) so I'm hoping to have a look at the meat offers. I don't use my M&S card much but had forgotten that I put a large purchase through it just before Xmas to get the vouchers.

Well need to go to work now - Friday:j