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

Karmacat

"Urban forager"!!! I love it! and isn't there a thread somewhere about saving the money you pick up on the street? I have no idea whats gone on about this earlier in this thread, but it all sounds a mite confusing. If it brings to my notice the term "urban forager", however, I'm all for it :rotfl:

Frugaldom

Congratulations SF!

Love the term 'urban foragers', it kind of reminds me of The Wombles and The Borrowers.

Lest we forget, this thread is not about casting judgements, it is simply a shared space for discussing lifestyle issues revolving around frugal living.

Received my free 'Nature's Calendar' guide from the Woodland Trust after registering on site to record an assortment of nature sightings - birds, flowers, trees etc, so it will be coming with me on our woodland walks until I'm familiar with each of the species mentioned.

Not intending spending any money this weekend as it's sunny, not too cold, and certainly looks nice enough to get out into the garden. Going to dig over the new square foot garden again, mix some wood ash through the compost. My rescued lettuce plant (the ducks got in at my seedlings) is coming along nicely on the kitchen windowsill and 3 of my 5 lots of herb seeds have sprouted. :j

I've just discovered that there's a right way and a wrong way of using greaseproof paper/parchment when baking. I don't normally use any but rehomed some that was heading for the bin. Last night all my coconut macaroons stuck to the paper! :mad: This morning, I showed SM and she explained that there's a right way and a wrong way to use this stuff and I'd used mine the wrong way round! :rotfl: OOPS! Can you tell I'm not used to using such luxury items?

SkintLynne, thank you for a great post. It isn't always easy for us 'small towners' (as I'vebeen called several times) who grew up outside of the towns & cities to understand what all the fuss is about when trying to earn a living from farming. Most would tell you it cannot be done successfully without huge investment and an assortment of tax breaks and Government subsidies, but these things are never mentioned in the TV programmes. (I don't think I've heard Single Farm Payments, subsidies or DEFRA regulations mentioned at all so far) I'd really like to see a TV programme made the opposite way round, depicting all time country-reared ruralites put into a cityslicker situation. I know people who have never travelled outside their own area in their lives, so they have never seen a city! Think Crocodile Dundee in New York - that was a bit like me in London! :rotfl: Personally, there are a lot of things I have never done that would sound odd to most, but I still count myself very lucky to have done as much as I have in my lifetime to date. I'm also very glad that I don't NEED to do the whole town thing as I'd probably crack up sooner or later. :rotfl:

Off out to play in the garden now. Sorry I don't post much but keeping the blogs up to date along with everything else is kind of time consuming.

KEEP ON FRUGALING, FRUGUYS AND FRUGALS!

Frugaldom

DS is learning more by the day! :j He's just loaded some surplus to requirement weight training equipment into his car and headed off into town for a haircut. He was chatting to barber friend through the week and has struck a deal for X number of haircuts in exchange for his old weights! :rotfl: I've sent him off with a warning that if the barber haggles too much to offer him some duck eggs to make up any shortfall for a year's supply! :rotfl:Frugaler and frugaler.

OK, going into garden just as soon as washing is on.

BigMummaF

Kiwisaver wrote: »

....counted the free $40 as if it were my own cash for the purposes of this challenge and have recorded the items at full cost in my spreadsheet....
Someone mentioned the freebie sites, so I had a scout around a few here to see if there was anything worth having, as I always forget to look for these....

I have a section on my spreadsheet just for vouchers that I've used against my shopping. The item/s are entered on at full price, then I put eg £5 c@rd points in the voucher bit so I can keep an eye on where I've used them.
Thanks for the reminder on the Freebies--guess where I'm going next

Frugaldom

Quick update

The Ald! offer for fruit trees is back this coming Thursday, 18th Feb. Belated Valentine's gifts - plant a mini orchard? They seem to have quite a selection of garden-related items suitable for keen fruit & veg growers so I know where I'll be going this Thursday! I have space for 3 more trees in my garden after the recent reshuffle! I WILL have an orchard one day.

Re the vouchers and freebie cash, I have a section in my budget spreadsheet for my cash neutral challenge, so it all goes in there so I can see exactly how much I have 'spent' over the year even although the cash was by way of alternative income such as points, vouchers, cashback, scratchcard winnings etc. Trying to stretch out the hen feeding until my aptly named egg card cashback arrives next month. :rotfl:

Glorious weather here, sunshine, blue sky, 20C inside the greenhouse but the ground's still frozen solid so still no digging yet.

JayJay14

Mornin',

Oh has been out in the rain building the last deep box for the garden - it's bigger that the other three cos he's made a mistake with the measurements somewhere, but I'm not bothered - just more growing space:rotfl:

Been out looking for compost for seedlings etc but ended having to rush back as I suddenly remembered I'd left a pan on the hob:eek: Suffice to say no frugal soup for lunch (OH has opened a tin and I've just had some cheesy griddle scone I made to go with the soup.)

We haven't opened our Aldi fruit bushes yet - still need to sort out the bed against the back fence then we can find out how many we have (knowing my luck at the moment I'll have been short changed:D)

ETA - nyk, just checked out Aldi and really fancy the cherry trees, £3.99, they were £9.99 in the garden centre and I was having a drool then. Can just see myself jamming and compoting.

candygirl

I've just upped my target by £500 to £7000, as just realised I hadn't budgeted for any kind of social life or holidays in the original budget:o:oI am soo dizzy sometimes:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Frugaldom

candygirl wrote: »

I've just upped my target by £500 to £7000, as just realised I hadn't budgeted for any kind of social life or holidays in the original budget:o:oI am soo dizzy sometimes:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Wassat? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Checked back on post 1 and this is my entertainment and socialising budget:

Internet - £164.00
Mobiles - £30.00
Telephone - £150.00
TV Licence - £142.50

candygirl

Frugaldom wrote: »

Wassat? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Checked back on post 1 and this is my entertainment and socialising budget:

Internet - £164.00
Mobiles - £30.00
Telephone - £150.00
TV Licence - £142.50

lol I know what you mean:o, but I do need to socialise now and again, and will be going away with the family in the Summer, albeit a cheapy hols:D:D

cw18

social life? holidays?

I've no idea what either of those is :rotfl: At least it means two less things to eat into my budget





Just debating whether I have space for a plum tree and a cherry tree.......

Also need to work out how much 'spare' compost I should have once it all gets here (and I get my SFG boxes built - was hoping to order the wood this weekend, but it's not happened due to DS going away today and my Dad expecting to see me/wanting a word with me when he collected DS If I'd known my Dad was going to be an hour late I could have done it before he got here, but can't get out to do it until Thursday morning now )