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

mooomin

Morning all!

I've been reading rather than posting recently as I haven't had that many frugal successes to speak of. I normally don't go out much (I like being at home!) but this month has been quite social already and as a result my entertainment budget is £10 over already and I possibly have another couple of nights out to go on...so I'm trying to glean the money from elsewhere!

My parents are visiting this weekend and have brought me lamb for the freezer as well as the normal "care package" my mum brings with teabags, washing up liquid etc. She's been doing this since I left home at 17 (I'm nearly 30 now!!) and it always comes in handy. She would be horribly offended if I refused it

I received my Te$co Clubc@rd vouchers this week and they don't seem to have linked my old card to my credit card so I got two lots of vouchers. Many of them are useful too - extra points on milk, bread, fruit etc. I've also exchanged £22.50 of vouchers for - two tickets to Edinburgh Zoo (normally £14 each), a Cineworld ticket (I have the Unlimited card, but it's nice to take Mr Fresian sometimes!), £5 of Pizza Express vouchers and £7.50 of Bella Italia vouchers (worth £20 and £30 respectivally)

We have a short break in York coming up which cost £47 for three nights in the Travelodge sale so the meal vouchers should sort us for two of our evening meals :j

Have a Frugalicious Friday all!

Karmacat

Thats some good news there, FF. I'm not going out much at the mo - I normally need a lot of my own company, but even I am a bit stir crazy right now, with having a virus that saps my energy for so long..... still, the break in York is definitely a result for you. I've got a UK week away later in the year, and I'm going to get cheap virgin train tickets to go see my mum next month (£11 one way london to liverpool) which is really good.

Frugaldom

Good morning frugalers, just a quick pop in to see how everyone is doing before heading back to fight the good frugal fight.

It's a beautiful day here, ideal for working outside, so I'm trying to hurry work along then get out to 'play'. Frugal living definitely needs to have access to some planting space to supplement the intake of fresh fruit & veg. We're not quite at the level of having preserved all we need for throughout an entire year just yet but hoping that we'll achieve that status one day. Having DS here with him eating 6 meals a day is more infuriating than frugal! :mad: I am sorely tempted to sit him down and explain that his 21st birthday money is NOT going to be handed over whilst he hasn't the maturity to budget! Instead, it will be banked until he has genuine need for it, like setting up his own home!

Apologies for the rant. I guess I should be grateful that he has no debts.

BigMummaF

The 8BC's D1g-1n Campaign is being relaunched on March 1st if you're interested. That's the only info they've mailed out so far...

FrankieM

Morning,
Doing some tidying today so I can get out into the garden tomorrow. Here's hoping the weather stays nice!
I noticed that next Thursday Specials at Aldi include 20L compost for 99p so I may hold out until next week to do the seed planting.

Those of you who have chickens..? Do you have a 'normal' sized garden and neighbours all around? If you do, do they cause problems (either the chickens or the neighbours!!) Also do your savings on not having to buy eggs cover your costs? And what do you do when you go on holidays?

Hope someone doesn't mind answering my questions

frugaldom I have one of those children. She spends everything that comes her way. It's difficult to know how to help her.

candygirl

Morning everyone:j:j
Watched the first half of dream farm last night, but switched over to corry for 2nd half.How did she go on in the end?I loved those alpacas:D:D
Having a frugal day today, I hope, going out with Mum and niece and nephew, 3 and 2, so it should be fun fun fun:j:j
SF good luck with the job;)
Have fabby frugal days everyone xx
ps got a valentines card off the ex today:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I really don't do commercial stuff like Vs day:o

cw18

I've never been dig on V's day - and one of the advantages of being single is definitely that I can just ignore it completely

Ihave two children who don't believe in credit/store cards (all good), but neither of them sees an overdraft as a debt :mad: One drifts in and out, but the other is always up to the max allowed apart from the first week (or less) after a monthly pay day :eek:

My third is totally different..... he's always saved for things, and just saved for savings sake if there wasn't anything specific he wanted. Of course my frugalising has been made much easier by the fact he's the only one left at home

patentgirl

Afternoon everyone

Been reading avidly but not posted for a week or so, doing reasonably well this month so far nothing unexpected or unaccounted for cropped up yet had a heavy layer of snow here over the last few days so NSDs but unfortunately looks like our planned allotment day tomorrow is off annoying as will have to wait for next weekend now.
No we dont do Valentines day here either I was tempted by getting the M & S offer as MIL gave us a voucher from ther for xmas so could use that not made my mind up yet
None of my 3 have a credit card only bank ones my DS struggles but so far not given into temptation
Thanks Bigmumma will check online for info

Frugaldom

FrankieM wrote: »

...Those of you who have chickens..? Do you have a 'normal' sized garden and neighbours all around? If you do, do they cause problems (either the chickens or the neighbours!!) Also do your savings on not having to buy eggs cover your costs? And what do you do when you go on holidays?

I have chickens, ducks, quail, pheasant... in a normal sized garden, but what's a holiday? :rotfl: It does NOT* cost less to keep hens than to buy eggs. That's the short answer. Never had problems with neighbours although some hens can make more noise than the cockerels at times, this could be an issue if you live in a street where anyone works shifts.

*When you factor in housing, feeding, supplements, veterinary, replacement hens every year or 2, hot water & disinfectant for cleaning, time spent 7 days per week dawn & dusk, chicken sitters for when you're away etc, etc, etc.

babyboysmommy

Not much to report here. I'm cross stitching a present at the moment, just hope I started it early enough. It's for a 65th birthday, I have everything I need to complete the project so a very frugal gift but one that I know will be well received. I'm trying to keep most of my gifts this year home made as I have so many supplies all they should cost me is my time. Having said that I do plan on buying a sewing machine but I was given the money for it so that's free as well

I've almost finished going through the house, lots thrown out, freecycled, put on eBay or Amazon, charity shops etc. I can't believe how much we had that was not being used, just gathering dust. It feels good to have done it.

I need to do some baking today, some banana cake to use up the very over ripe bananas & some small cakes of some description.

We keep valentines day simple, always have. Just a card & chocolates exchanged, normally a box of quality street or something similar but as we don't normally buy chocolate of any kind it's a really appreciated gift.