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

BigMummaF

NualaBuala wrote: »

....Any ideas for a frugal pressie for my friend who has moved out of home for the first time? ....

Not sure what you're after, but what about a collection of dried herbs & spices? MrT has some on offer at 2 for £1:50 & cumin at only 50p. Then again, with the frost & more snow forecast salt would be gratefully received, providing you can find any on the shelves

Have you noticed how often they use 'frugal' on the telly now? It's getting the "latest thing" & it makes me smile when I hear "experts" trying to tell you how to manage by using cheaper cuts like braising steak in place of rib-eye for a casserole :rotfl:
Meanwhile, things here are swinging twix :eek: & with the meters read yesterday but swilling out the empty cream liqueur bottle with black tea to make one helluva cuppa No fruit trees for us this year; I need to conquer difficult stuff like lettuce first & Ald! are over an hour's drive from us Grocery spending is ticking over, running a bit more than I am aiming for on the GC but more or less in line for an annual budget. Last month wasn't really helped by the weather & this month I've had a trip to MrA SIZE=1]only get there approx 3x a year[/SIZE but I am determined to use what is in the freezer especially over the coming weeks so I can a) defrost & clean & b) get some meals in there for those left at home whilst I--hopefully!--go visit the rellies for a week.

Erme

NualaBuala wrote: »

Hi frugal friends :wave:

I'm been doing a big catch-up here today. Being back at college, exhaustion and computer problems have kept me away for a while. Hope this finds you all frugal and fab.

SlowlyFading – congratulations on getting the job! I’m thrilled for you! They obviously knew a good thing when they saw you and snapped you up.

Budgeteer, - I’ve had Aha moments too. I’ve switched to using cloths instead of kitchen roll. I have lots of clean tea towels and cloths to hand so I can just grab as needed. I love your idea of using a towel in the veg drawer and will be trying your hot choc!

LilacPixie, sounds like a hard situation and hope you’re ok – hugs. Lets hope your OH has a lightbulb moment and joins you in the frugal life.

Erme, I’m not a Christian but I believe in kindness and compassion so I think you are doing something wonderful – so long as it’s not harmful to you. I’m sending all my good thoughts and wishes your way that your lodger gets a job and finds a home of his own. Hope you got on ok at the Dr.


Fishcake, Hooray! So happy you have a new home. And great to have a little patch of garden!

Cheryl, good luck on your date and keep us posted! I’m deeply committed to staying single so my romantic side lives vicariously through other people’s love lives!

Thriftkitten – grrr! Hope the car is sorted and you recover from the hit to your budget. Great idea organising the pancake race, sounds like thrifty fun!

ChinaTea – hope you’re doing ok. I would never have thought of the flour for the oil, what a great idea.

Top_Drawer – so sorry to hear about your Grandad, big hugs.

Homegrown_life, I can identify with not feeling up to cooking when you’re low, hope you’ll feel better soon. The broccoli soup sounds yum – well done! Sounds like you’re in superwoman mode now!

Xspender – great that the iron is kicking in. Worth every penny!

Lynz, I wish I’d read your post with compost info before I bought a bag of peat-free compost from Homebase. B&Q is further away from me and I depend on others for lifts so can’t be too fussy. I wonder can I add a feed to it to make it more nutritious. I’m planning to use it in containers to grow herbs and a few veggies.


I've been good taking my lunches and snacks to college. But have been bad by spending a ridiculous amount on takeaways this week because I’m so exhausted. I am still within budget as I've saved in other areas but it is still a waste and I need to do better. I am hoping to do a big batch cooking session when my energy levels improve.


My knitted poncho is just about finished - just have to sew up one seam tonight in front of TV. It will be so cosy and will save having heat on when I'm working at my desk.


I think I mentioned I got a bird feeder from Ald1 a while ago. Well the birds just LOVE it - a bit too much! I'm using a 2.5kg bag of mixed seeds I got on offer in Homeba$e. Well the birds are addicted - I filled the feeder about half way and it was empty within a day or two! I love watching them feed though - it's better than telly. I used to sprinkle the seed on the ground, or on the coal bunker and it lasted much longer.



Any ideas for a frugal pressie for my friend who has moved out of home for the first time? She and her bf have got their first apartment together and I’d love to get something that they’ll both enjoy. Something housey maybe. I don’t think my baking is good enough to inflict on them and ideally it would be something non-perishable as I’m not sure when I’ll get to see them. Not booze as they’re not much into drinking.


Have a fun and frugal Friday folks!

What about some books on bicarb and stuff. I saw them down the works the other week for 50p and 10p respectively? Or a copy of the thrift book I got down the works for £2.99? I dunno. Or something home made. Try https://www.thriftyfun.com or like some home made cleaners?

If they wouldn't take offence at the cleaners....tx for everyone's good wishes re HP...I will update more in a sec...

E

Erme

Right update on HP aka the Leech.

He didn't pay for groceries

He didn't pay for my tobacco he smoked before his pay day (even on his pay day)

He wasn't sleeping and was spending all his waking hours on MY pc on Facebook!!! Not looking for a job. Not trying to get somewhere to stay


so I threw him out yesterday

I phoned the police about advice about his bags and they said I had to try his work/the tory party. I phoned his work and they didn't want to know!!! I told them he was homeless. He said yesterday am he'd be back last night. Praise God he didn't come back! I got a text from him this am saying he was @ the library so I took his bags back in public. He didn't say a word. Not even a thankyou! And it was snowing last night and like all he had was the clothes he stood up in last night and like non of his meds. More fool him for abusing my kindness.

Apparently I've since discovered he got chucked out his flat for not paying a £450 elec/gas bill. And he was lodging at some other MF for 6 months last year and didn't pay them a cent!!

I knew if I didn't get rid of him yesterday (I tried first on Wednesday after he used all the hot water running a bath. he'd done that x 2!!! But failed) I'd never get rid of him. I knew I had to strike whilst the iron was hot.

And the elec cig is going well though it's nabbed £50 now of my budget (all my ebay earnings - dang) so not good but praise God at the end of this 4 weeks even though I haven't stuck to the FL budget I have £70 saved.

So next week I'm reducing my tobacco and going on elec cig (need more juice for it @ £7 or £10) and like just getting the mega cheap grotty tobacco from Mr C. and at some point I plan to come off the nicotine all together....

And I bought some saver deodorant to try out in Mr T for 30p this week (did I already tell you that?) but I don't know if it'll work on my sensitive pits.

Also the lump we think is an infection . She said had I got discharge cos if I had then it'd be an infection but I forgot I had but I see her next week so DV I'll get some antibiotics.

So need those boots I got from the charity shop now is this snow :P...Hope everyone is well...

Monthly stats on Monday . We'll see how I've done..could really do with some NSD's now. And I spent £1.40 and a lot of haggling in Starbucks on Wednesday cos it was such a nice day (so much for my no starbucks challenge this month. Though 1.40 for the month is fine )...

Blessings

E

FrankieM

Kids driving me crazy...I wish they'd all go out and play. Unfortunately its cold out and they're too old to play...well, like they used to anyway!
The house has had a 'general kinda tidy'. I'll be able to sort it out once they are all at school next week.
Not sure how gardening will go tomorrow cause we've had snow but it may all be melted by then.

rozeepozee

I'm so pregnancy sore that sitting at my computer has to be short and sweet but I am trying to keep up with everyone, even though I don't have the capacity to type personals!

Frugal life has gone a little bit out of the window in the last few days as my mum has taken my little boy to stay with her for 4 days. This is the longest he's been away from us and it's like being on holiday, so we've been out for a meal together and to the pub - in the afternoon which felt really naughty (I only had a half of lager given my condition!) Groceries have been expensive this month as we had a big clear out last month and had to restock and I tend to stock up in bulk. Hopefully, it will mean cheaper bills next month.

I read my meters and Npower sent me a proper i.e. unestimated bill. I'm pleased to say that my DDs have only gone up by £1 a month despite the cold winter we've had so the new boiler we had put in last year and disconnecting the aga as our heating system has worked wonders and out gas and leccy bills are £115 per month, not £150 per month. I still don't know if I'm on the cheapest tariff though.

Just come back from Aldi with two cherry trees (one for the inlaws' allotment) and a plum tree and OH has just gone off to get some of that compost that was recommended from B&Q (thanks whoever it was!). We also bought some shallot sets. More money spent but hopefully we'll see a return from it. I planted some seeds earlier in the month and I now have some baby Cos lettuce seedlings and some coriander starting to emerge too.

Have also been spending on baby stuff - some toys for my little boy. I'm trying to get a special bag of toys for him together that I just get out when I'm busy breastfeeding the twins so he was very specific that there had to be some Robot Heroes in there (don't ask!) and a very portable travel cot (secondhand from ebay) which can be used in the house as well as the campervan. (That's due to be delivered 8th March :T)

I've just discovered a great thing too - an Asian fella who sells out of the back of his van. I was driving to Aldi through an area where there are a lot of south asians living when I saw all these little Pakistani women queueing at the back of a box van and thought - I'll check that out. The food is incredibly cheap (Pakistani families tend to have loads of kids and big extended families and so need to be frugal). I got the most enormous piece of ginger I've ever seen and 2 bags of chilis for 85p. Apparently he's there every week so I'm gonna give him a try for my fresh produce - only problem is I don't recognise half of the veggies so it's going to be an exploration in what to do with them!

OH is going to put the fruit trees in this arvo and we'll have a clear out of the garage - something we'd never be able to manage with LO here as he'd be wanting to "help us"!

candygirl

Have spent most of last night and today listing on ebay, and already have bids on the things I thought wouldn't sell:eek::eek:why is that always the case?:rotfl::rotfl:
DGD is poorly again with sickness and a bad chest , poor Boo:(:(DD's been to the docs with her and the last doc had given the wrong dose of antibiotics (not enough):mad::mad:
Stll have to tot this weeks totals up, I think i'm still on target so fingers crossed.
Have fabby frugal days all:A:A

patentgirl

Afternoon everyone
Fishcake great news about your move
Rictus well done on all your NSDs
Grandma had to laugh at your phrase "got second batch of GDs" thought you was baking to start with lol
Erme well done on getting rid of the HP
Candygirl thats what i am planning to do later with the help of DD only brought of ebay before but need to start listing some items on ebay

Havent posted much lately but always try to read through daily
Month 2 of challenge going as well as first month cant believe how much we are saving instead of wasting on I dont know what, but it always used to disappear by the end of the month!
Hoping Aldis might still have some fruit bushes left couldnt go last weekend due to snow which has now cleared up for us
Need to do a food shop, pay a cheque in to bank and library after work

Frugaldom

Hello to all,

Sunshine and dry weather means earlier starts and less time for online, so it's a case of download work stuff whilst doing the outside at dawn stuff, update site, update blog and then get work out of the way so I can get back outside.

FrankieM, thansk for asking about the dieting, it's just portion control, so weightloss is very slow, but I'm still in the smaller size jeans and have lost the half stone I put on over Christmas & New Year. If I can reach my target weight by the end this summer, I'll be happy.

As predicted, spending during the first couple of months of the year has been high, owing to ridiculous amounts spent on feeding the electricity meter, filling the coal bunker, filling the log store and replenishing the hen feed and other stores. Signature now reflects how much of my £4000 I have left plus my 'everything else kitty' that's made up of extra income from eBid, free scratchcards, winnings, web clicks, cashback, surplus egg sales etc.

Never have a spare minute these days but hope everyone is sticking with the frugal living project. It gets easier as time goes on, so don't be disheartened by any hiccups in the first 3 months. By month 4 there are only 2 choices - sticking with it or calling it a day, when those that lack the real dedication give up and disappear. Hopefully, most will stick around.

I have a pot load of mince to make into meals, a pot of stock to strain & freeze, a huge chicken defrosting, some assorted citrus fruit chopped & stewed for making marmalade and I haven't a clue what's for tonight's dinner. Washing is on the line, all the hen & duck houses have been gutted and just about to clean out the fire before heading back outside. Can't plant anything, as the ground is still frozen solid but it's lovely and sunny, so should be heating the greenhouse up nicely. Going walking later to gather more cones, I think. May as well make the most of the dry weather.

Catch you all later.

[Deleted User]

NualaBuala Well done on your poncho.

Lily_The_Legend

Afternoon peeps,

Well I was thinking I'd be having a fairly frugal weekend, but it turns out we might go looking for new/newish cars.

Our car is 10 years old and seems to be costing us more and more to fix as the years go by. Getting to the stage where I think it might die. We had a lot of trouble with it last year, which made it difficult for me to get to work for a few weeks.

Anyway, the scrappage scheme ends soon, and we think our car may be eligible and if we go for a new model of what we have now we could get £2,000 off the price. My OH looked up what we could look to sell it for second hand and that is about £400 :eek: That would probably not even cover the cost of service, MOT and tax which is due in a couple of months if we sell it this year.

I have some money saved up and rather than get a loan from a bank for the rest, my OH's mum has offered to lend us the money. We would be able to pay her back in less than a year. So, yes, in theory we would have the money for a new car in less than a year anyway, but we would be worse off because of the lack of scrappage scheme.

Anyway, all in theory at the moment as we haven't looked at any cars yet and need to make sure we are eligible etc.

Sorry, guess this makes for boring reading, maybe I should've posted it on the motoring board!

Right, off now to read what you folks have been up to.

Have a good weekend everyone.