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

Lily_The_Legend

pagangirl wrote: »

Was doing well today til sat on me glasses could be a large spend unless I can get 'em fixed, will go to opticians tomorrow. Please keep fingers crossed for me.

Sorry, probably a bit late with this, but I wear glasses and got my last pair from Asda and they were really cheap and that was with thinned down lenses. Think it came to £100 including eye test, glasses and prescription sunglasses. Usually the lenses alone cost me about £200.

charliechopstick

Hello all,

Im new to this challenger per se but have been keeping up with the thread and joining in (quietly) since 1 Jan! It's been tough, but even tougher now that my OH has decided he doesnt want to do it anymore (we had seperate budgets) so I'm hoping to become a regular poster here!

So a quick hello from me! :-)

Lily_The_Legend

charliechopstick wrote: »

Hello all,

Im new to this challenger per se but have been keeping up with the thread and joining in (quietly) since 1 Jan! It's been tough, but even tougher now that my OH has decided he doesnt want to do it anymore (we had seperate budgets) so I'm hoping to become a regular poster here!

So a quick hello from me! :-)

Hi charliechopstick! :hello: Love the name!

Me and my OH keep our money separate and he does his own thing when it comes to the budget, so I am in the same boat as you!

katey1979

Oh Nuala, I would love to see a pic of your poncho! That sounds like something I might be able to make, I am rubbish at anything with button holes!

Spending today has been £3.90 on buses and £5.30 on train, and £1.94 on seeds. It could have been much worse except MIL bought me and DS lunch and also 2 tops for DS- I will never complain about her again!

rictus123

Hey everyone hows it going? Payday today:j Had another good quick day at work, dont think im working tomorrow though as not much i can do in this weather,its too cold to build. Was supposed to be having a night in at mine with the gf tonight but found out at the time she said she would be here her mums not letting her drive cause its meant to be low temp tonight! :rotfl:19 this year and mummys still telling her what to do, i think its a joke! So id say thats more or less ruined my night, im not going there as her mum will just natter on about unsafe roads etc so not worth it! Dont really know what else i can do besides laptop and tv. Some Friday night for an 18 year old! Ahwell its frugal

katey1979

Lily, and Charliechopsticks- I am in the same boat too. My DH and I have always had seperate finances and also take responsibility for certain bills each -him mortgage, sky, internet, TV licence, me gas, electric, water rates (he earns much more than me, especially since I am now part time after having DS). Lots of people seem to think this is weird, so nice to know that I am not the only one in this situation!

Rictus- I am just watching TV too. Roll on the live Eastenders! DH is having a rare night out with friends so I can watch all teh trashy telly I want!

rictus123

Iv had a little flutter on Ryan killed Archie at 7/1 to cheer me up if it hopefully comes in! Iv thought it was him all along, now fingers crossed, will know in half an hour!

lynzpower

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.

My vote is for you to get your needles out and knit them a lovely teacosy. You could splash out on a nice pair of mugs or some lovely HM cake in a tin to go with it.

Teacosies seem to be pretty hard to buy these days too!

ceridwen

Erme wrote: »

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.



Blessings

E

Oh well...put it down to experience.

Look at it this way - from where I am standing then you are obviously good-hearted. For someone who IS basically good-hearted then - we all of us get one or two "episodes" like this somewhere along the line. So - dont take it personally. Live and learn - and at least you tried.

There ARE people around who just need a "hand-up" once in a while - and there are others who want a "free ride". With age comes experience - and the ability to tell the difference between those who just need a little bit of help in extremity on the one hand - and those who are just out for whatever-they-can-get on the other hand.

slowlyfading

evening everyone

well, just watched Ea$tender$ and just gonna say, didn't expect that!

Haven't been anywhere today, so that makes my 11th NSD for Feb. I need to pay a cheque and get some food shopping tomorrow, so that won't be, but it's looking okay at the moment Still can't believe how quickly the half term has gone! It's gonna be a mad half term until Easter though - the number of lessons I'm expected to teach has gone up dramatically, which means LOTS more paper work. Sigh.

Hope everyone is having a good evening

Really boring post from me, sorry!