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

top_drawer_2

Hello everyone,

It feels like ages since I was here last .... I feel like I have so much to do at the moment, I dont know where to start!!

ThriftKitten - oh no ... I suggest drinking hot water as that can speed things along, the faster its out of your system the better. On the up side you have lots of time now to start research Christmas presents/your next project :j

I seem to have been on a spendathon too here - I bought some violet washing machine dye and dyed my drab dressing gown which kind of saves me wanting a new one :j

Last Thursday I bought some Nxt trousers for £3.40 - well I shortened them a little and theyre perfect so I could take the black trousers I bought for my Gdad's funeral back to Pr!mark and get a refund of £7.

I also walked past the food we!ghhouse on Thursday and priced up bicarb (1.50/kg) and baking powder (2.50/kg) and they seem to be much cheaper and I can buy in larger quantities (for beauty product making). Also so pancake mix (2.60/kg) and some white bread flour (90/kg). I havent tried the bread flour yet but intend today, if it works it will be much cheaper than the ones I currently buy from Mr M.

I also went into [EMAIL="Homeb@se"]Homeb@se[/EMAIL] - this is my real weakness at the moment:D I bought 5x brushes (9.99), a stapler (99p) and staples (2.79) stripper (6.49), tester pot of Ball and Gamble Pointing point (apparently the best paint about !!) and some undercoat (8.99) all in aid of making my set of drawers look lovely .... I am also planning on doing my table/dresser mirror/electric box ..... can you tell Im kind of enjoying it despite how cold it was last week!!

I also couldnt resist any longer last night buying two albums on Amazon and one turned out to be just the background music - Melissa Etheridge's Bluegrass album - what on earth would I want songs with no word included for?!?! :mad::mad: I also bought some stuff for Gym Use only, Happy Hardcore - not a chance I could listen to that at any other time ........ Anyway Amazon have very kindly refunded me and so now I think I will have a look to see if I can buy the same again with words included:rotfl::rotfl:

Now normally I would have just fumed about this but last night I shot off an email telling amaz on about it and got a refund - I've noticed this a lot lately, my biggest change is not being afraid to conplain/ask for a refund if its something I now realise I wont use or wont do as I expected.

What everyone else's biggest change?

Morrisons are selling theyre black flower buckets for 99p just in case anyone is interested.

Anyway, I need to move off the settee and get dressed and motivated or else nothing is going to get done today!

TD

BigMummaF

top_drawer wrote: »

....some white bread flour (90/kg)....it will be much cheaper than the ones I currently buy from Mr M.
....normally I would have just fumed about this but....I've noticed this a lot lately, my biggest change is not being afraid to conplain/ask for a refund....What everyone else's biggest change?
Morrisons are selling theyre black flower buckets for 99p just in case anyone is interested.
Anyway, I need to move off the settee and get dressed and motivated or else nothing is going to get done today!...I'm keeping quiet cuz I said similar an hour ago :whistle:/QUOTE]
Is the bread flour just flour or a bread mix, cuz you can get 1.5kg of flour is anything from 68p up in most places. Mind you, I have some of the mixes in the cupboard too, so I could whip up some rolls at relatively short notice if needed
Me muvva now hovers as we pass customer services in our local supermarket, as I've been there a fair bit lately getting over-charges & things sorted out. It's all down to entering my exact spends onto the infamous Spreadsheet that I take more notice & really quite shocking to think how much I have potentially given away before taking more interest in my finances I'd always considered myself a savvy shopper but I was merely playing at budgeting till I found yooze guys!
Thanks for the heads-up on the buckets; I always forget to ask when I'm in there as it's not a local store so I'll put it on the top of my list. Mum & I have different lists for different stores, as we can only get the value tinned fruit in juice from MrS; gammon hock from MrM & the 'bones' Pup likes from MrA And wouldn't you know it? Our 'local' is a MrT :cool::rotfl:

Optimisticpair

rictus123 wrote: »

Iv been looking at cars and dreaming! Know it cant be too good for me but its a reminder of why iv got to be frugal now, so i can get the finer things in life when i want them!

If you are saving for something specific like a car maybe you could draw a picture of it and label bits which cost x amount and as you save up that amount colour them in. This reminds you daily of what you are being frugal for and keeps you motivated to not to be tempted by other goodies and it is cheerful because it shows you how close you are to reaching your target amount.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

I have found another way of making a (very) small saving on my costs. It's not much but, as they say, every little helps.
In Poundland, I notice there are refill pads for £1. They contain 400 sheets (a normal packet of paper is 500 I think). The paper is poor quality (very thin) and has punch holes in it so is no good for quality work. However, especially as I am self-employed, I do have a use for poor quality paper for certain types of jobs and this does the job just fine. Not to be used for marketing your business if you want to make an impression but certainly adequate for printing out internal records etc. that customers will never see. Indeed, for some things I even use the plain backs of received mail (ensuring that there is no confidential info contained within) as it's only for making photocopies of banked cheques, printing out work lists etc.
I haven't seen any packets of paper for £1.25 or less so presumably this represents a small saving.
If paper is to be used anyway, I suppose that thinner paper is a bit more eco-friendly as I assume it takes less raw material to make. It can be recycled too (after shredding if necessary).

I'm quoting from a post here that I made a few weeks ago. If I try something out as a way to save money. it's only fair that I should post again if that item doesn't work out.
OK then. The above didn't work out. Due to the thinness of the paper, there were multiple jam-ups and wasted sheets. In fact, there were so many wasted sheets that it would probably have been more expensive than using normal paper. To make matters worse, I lost a toner cartridge over it (fortunately one that didn't have much toner left in it). The paper got jammed up somewhere inside it. I dismantled it as far as I could but to no avail. I got peed off with it in the end and slung it. This is a great pity because I usually return them intact on ecological grounds when they have expired. I understand that some charities do benefit from this practice.

A QUESTION RE TONER CARTRIDGES

When I had dismantled the above cartridge (lots of screws and suchlike), I got as far as the channel where the toner powder lies (that's how I know there was hardly any left). Does anyone know if you can buy the toner separately and refill it yourself. I know it can be a bit messy but I can live with that if it saves me a bundle. Or is this a false economy for some reason? I've no problem undoing about a dozen screws, tipping in a bit more toner powder, and sealing it all up again if it's worthwhile doing it. Is the toner alright for all makes of printer or is there a compatibility issue?

babyboysmommy

We have run out of dishwasher powder. Is there anything else I can use in place of it that I might already have in the house? I'm not well so doing the washing up by hand is something I'd like to avoid if possible. Many thanks

JayneC

HI all, been spending the morning looking into the practicalities of running a smallholding!! Been watching too much My Dream Farm and now daydreaming about getting my own, but not really much idea of how much it would cost to set up and run. Am now alittle dazed at all the info but determined to do more research and see if it would be a possiblity.

Natalie hope all goes well with finding somewhere to live - remember it's not compulsory to inform your landlord you receive LHA - the money goes to you so as long as you're paying your rent it's not really their business!! Glad things are going well with your classes x

Just updated my speardsheet and doing ok. I was way over budget on groceries last month but looking like I'm very comfortably under this month so should balance out over the year. Went to sainsbugs yesterday and shop came to 31.94 but only paid £18.84 due to combination of various coupons and £7.50 of that was a birthday gift so actual groceries only 11.34 actual spend:D

Should be doing some baking so better get off and do it!

Hope everyone ok - hugs to those who need one x

Blairweech

Hi all,

I am catching up slowly! Hugs to those in need, congrats as appropriate etc

Am moving back into my parents next weekend. Handed my notice in at work (last day is next Friday). Currently at parents and have dismantled the furniture in my old bedroom and put it up in the loft. Plus moved my bookcase in, so progress is being made. Still got loads of packing to do though, and got to book the van yet.

Bought a new mobile today as mine broke (bought for a tenner 2 years ago so it has done well really!). Budgeted 50 pounds, spent 50 pounds. Don't need to get it unlocked though, so that is money saved. Hopefully it will last another 2 years.

Planning on chucking a sausage and bean casserole in the sc later, and maybe making some ham and pea soup with the stock I have in the freezer/some pulses out of my cupboards (trying to run my stocks down!)

Optimisticpair

Thriftkitten oh dear drink plenty of fluids and get better soon.
mama67 & lizzyshep I’ll be trying a batch when I’ve run out of stock also
Aril that’s an ingenious use for a heated pad.
Kiwisaver good for you
CW18 getting whoopsied raspberries that’s real luck
FF I [FONT=&quot]stocked up on loo roll too this month but I bought erm 72! [/FONT]
Frugaldom yes, we’ve got coal, candles, a toasting fork and a pan like we had in the 80’s cuts.
Top drawer I so miss having a food we!ghhouse.


We'll be under budget this month. Unfortunately we need to hire a van next month which isn't an item accounted for in the budget. I'll try to shave something off somewhere but to include it I'll be lucky to balance the books in this Jan-March quarter.

rozeepozee

Feeling very frustrated as the snow has stopped me from picking up my little boy from my parents' where he's been staying for the last four days Missing him now. Mum's gonna bring him back on the train tomorrow as the snow is showing no sign of clearing and driving over the pennines is not my favourite in the best of weathers.

A bit of advice needed please. Once we'd picked up the LO, we were going to continue on our journey and take him to see the inlaws. I'd defrosted the leg of lamb I bought on Xmas eve half price from Tescos intending to share it with the inlaws (I hate to turn up empty handed and they're pensioners so a lamb leg is a treat!) but we've had to cook it now - yummy, great for us, but once we've had our roast, there'll be loads left over - any suggestions on what we can make from lamb leftovers?

Also, what do I take when we visit them next week - do you good folks have any advice on the best time to get low cost meat from the supermarket. I have to say Christmas Eve was a great time to be buying any meat that was non turkey and we bough two huge legs of lams and a silverside joint for less than half price but I don't really want to be buying red meat at full price, it's so expensive.

TIA!

An enforced frugal NSD here as we can't leave the house :T

loopychriss

top_drawer wrote: »

Last Thursday I bought some Nxt trousers for £3.40 - well I shortened them a little and theyre perfect so I could take the black trousers I bought for my Gdad's funeral back to Pr!mark and get a refund of £7.

Did you wear them to the funeral in the end? You could certainly take them back to Primani and get a refund if you didn't. Your Next trousers sound like a bargain too ...