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

edaniels1983

citroennut wrote: »

Ceridwen, I had exactly the same thought as you when our last washing machine died after too short a time. I wanted a Miele as they seem to last for donkeys but they were too expensive.

We found the site, www.clearance-comet.co.uk which is a sort of auction of appliances which may be slightly marked or ex-display and managed to get one for the price of an average machine.


This was a few years ago now (it's still going strong!) so I don't know ifthey still have them or not. Ours was slightly scratched but as it was going into a utility room we couldn't care.
HTH

there is one on there
http://www.clearance-comet.co.uk/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=113630435&prmenbr=37087214&aunbr=113977145

Fishcake_Random

Hello fellow frugallers,

Today has been a good day as OH let me have a luxurious lie in till daft O'clock and then when I waddled to the shop he surprised me. He's finished clearing the shops back room and even furnished it with a little desk,chair and foot stool which he picked up free from someone this morning. I can now sit out there and do my internet bits when baby arrives to my hearts content. I am so proud of him and I definetely feel very loved and cared for.Bless him.
In other news, we may be moving house shortly! Although we are not actually leaving the building we are in lol, we may be moving into our late neighbours flat downstairs which meens we will have our own entrance to the flats and be futher away from the "problems" we currently have! The best things tohugh are the fact it has a little garden so fishfinger could play in the summer, and I can line dry clothes and possibly have a hanging basket of two. Also the kitchen is a seperate room as oppossed to the kitchen/lounge we have now which is a lot safer with a baby.
Please can you all keep your fingers crossed for us. It may just be the break we need!
x x x x

Karmacat

citroennut wrote: »

We found the site, www.clearance-comet.co.uk which is a sort of auction of appliances which may be slightly marked or ex-display and managed to get one for the price of an average machine.

Wow, thank you! I'm watching a fridge freezer auction that ends at 7pm tonight as an example, to see how the bidding goes - its a Samsung frost free one, list price £380, currently £165 is being bid. I'm hoping to buy a house later this year, I'll be coming back to this site.

cw18

Not a lot to report from here at the moment.....

Today was my 5th total NSD in a row :T

Totally unheard of in the past, and the best I managed in 2009 was 4 days without buying groceries (managed that twice).


The only other news is that I may have to adjust my budgets to increase my petrol allowance and set aside some money for socialising (after saying just last week or the week before that I didn't have need of a budget for this!!!) Subject to nothing cropping up in the meantime I have a 'date that isn't a date' in a little under 3 weeks, and if things go well I'm going to be doing about a 70 mile round trip from time-to-time which has to be 'funded' from somewhere and will almost certainly include outings of some sort at least once in a while. We've agreed to meet to see how we get on as friends with no further expectations on either side, as we've both been out of the dating game for a long time - then we'll see how it goes from there. Weather permitting we're going to walk my dog around a localish-to-me park which is popular with locals. He accepted my wanting to play it by what I call the 'safe rules' we preach at our kids when meeting someone they only know on-line very easily, which I was pleased about. (If he hadn't, then I wouldn't have agreed to a meet at all)

'Chatting' to him - on top of extra hours at work - is another reason I've not been around as much in the last week, but I have been reading daily.

SF - congrats on the job

((hugs)) for Frugaldom - my 20 year-old son (21 next month) is exactly the same when it comes to not seeing why he needs to save.... but at least I don't have to watch him 'not saving' on a daily basis

Fishcake_Random - fingers crossed for you over the flat. The downstairs one sounds much more suited to a family with a young child

mama67

I had a couple of small pumkins/squashes left in my veg rack which were the size of cricket balls.

so I made up a batch of this soup.

500g tub of hm chicken stock(could use veg)
2 leeks finely diced
small onion finely diced, (used a serving spoon of the precooked)
3 carrots small dice
the said pumpkin small dice
3 tennis ball size potatoes small dice
2 handsful of orange lentils

sweat off the leeks in a glug of oil, add in the onions, carrots and pumpkin then add the stock plus the same again of water times 2.

let this all come to the boil then add 2 handsful of orange lentils and the potatoes, bring back to the boil, then turn down to a simmer until the carrots are soft,

Blitz with a whizz stick or similar and serve with pinch fresh ground black pepper and hm chunky bread.

This amount has made 6 x 2 ladel portions. It is a thick soup so can always be watered down further to stretch.

candygirl

I've had a NSD today, and have been catching up on housework, looking after Boo n batch cooking.:D:D:DBeen to the Docs tonight with a box of chocs n a card for her cos she's leaving, and she has been a rock for me recently:(
I've started a grandparents chat thread called Nutty Nana's on here if anyone's interested;)

eco

...

Just packed up and going to the mothership for a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to it but not the spend on diesel. I think I'll take my goddaughter to the local farm which is free and fun and investigate some of the free museums located around Yorkshire. Has anyone been to Eureka? Is it worth the fees? £8.95 each just seems a bit steep especially and the baby boo is only three and a half :eek:[/QUOTE

Chika how about the mining museum between Huddersfield and Wakefield, you can go down the pit for free, they have a few ponies and I think they have a play area, the Armories might be ok that's for kids of all ages, that's free but if you park there you have to pay for that. Never been to Eureka always thought it was a bit dear.

cw18

Took my DD to Eureka - but that was many years ago. It opened in 1992, so she must have been at least 8 - more probably 9 - at the time.... but I don't think she'd have enjoyed it half as much if she'd been any younger than that.

HOWMUCH

Just purchased a used once electric steamer and food processor off ebay local to me for £1.20 and £7.49. I've already collected the steamer and it's like new, just waiting to see when I can collect the food processor, mine gave up the will to live at Christmas, well I had used it since 1976 lovely kenwood it was. Currently use a hob steamer so cann't wait to use the electric one.

gilligansyle

Evening all

doing quite well on the frugal front, reduced my grocery etc. budget from £50 to £35 this week and still have £8 left.

Can sympathise with you frugaldom mine is 22, and still at home and although he doesn't do the shakes and stuff, he works long night shifts so eats HUGE amounts to recharge his batteries. He does save however, mainly because he has bought everything he needs, and has no time to spend the money. I was interested in your info about portion sizes. I eat off a plate thats smaller than a dinner plate and that's more than enough for me, he eats portions that a horse in the Grand National would have difficulty with.

fishcake_random hope it works out for you with the downstairs flat
cw18 good luck with the date that isn't a date - love that terminology, its difficult to know what to call things when you are no longer in your twenties.

It's my sisters birthday next week, so have made her a card. She quite likes hand made stuff. For Christmas I got a glass jar and filled it with sweets that reminded her of childhood, so jelly tots, love hearts, those necklace thingies, foam bananas etc. It probably cost me a few quid for the supplies, but have got enough to replenish her jar for her birthday. I've got some blank fridge magnets, so will cross stitch her a saying and put it in.