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

Blairweech

Frugaldom - Ridiculous question, but how do you wake up with the dawn? Is it because of the cockerel?

JayJay - There was a voucher with yesterdays Daily Express for a free pair of secateurs at Lidl. Only 70p in the first place though, so I doubt they will be much cop!

Made an upside down peach pudding yesterday for dessert, which I was v. proud of But then my brothers GF brought a HM cake round which was glorious and made my offering look like it needed to be fed to the cat!! Oh well, I will eat it - had some Mr T Value custard with it which I thought was alright too.

I have accidentally listed one of my Ebay items as worldwide shipping and now I am getting lots of questions from scam artists 'Will you ship to Nigeria and get paid in US dollars by Western Union' :mad:

Right, today is a jobhunt day. Got a Jobcentre appointment this avo, and I was going to check out the agencies to see if they have any jobs going. Also need to go to Mr A for 20p Wispas and Mr T for half price Easter eggs.

Hope you all have a good day

BigMummaF

Frugaldom wrote: »

Well said, Lynz! I always check my receipts for VAT rated items and get so annoyed at essential toiletries and fresh orange. On the whole, I try to avoid taxable items at all costs, but if 'they' ever introduced a basic food tax, that would be impossible. Ald! has letters 'A' and 'B' next to stuff, 'B' being for the VATable stuff.

On a completely different subject, I am still trying to find out what signifies that a person is 'poor', 'poverty stricken' or 'living below the breadline'. Not being reliant on state benefits, I haven't a clue if there's an amount that qualifies - do they base this on personal circumstances or actual amount of income? For example, if someone owns their own home, valued at, say, £200,000 but is struggling to make ends meet from one week to the next, are they as poor as someone who lives rent & council tax free in a council house whilst struggling to make ends meet on basic benefits? Who really are Britain's neediest people?

I was thinking more along the lines of a tax on everything, as opposed to the stuff already included as 'luxury' food items, hence my reaction!
There's a fair bit on Mark88 thread about what allowances are made for food by some govmt agency or other, probably a few pages in.

lynzpower wrote: »

Agree with this.

Taxation isnt just a way of raising cash, its a way of deterring bad-behaviour and controlling the populace. I guess many people would drive more if petrol were cheaper? Drink more? Smoke more? Have the heating on more- Of course they would, so its a balancing act, so I think an increase in already vatted foods makes sense to me :cool: The problem is that would probably raise other vatted items such as fuel so not a good thing.

Maybe if bad food were more expensive more people would realise that making your own food is the only true option and more people actually cook. More people would GYO =less food miles= less co2=less burden of heavy taxes from the EU when uk gets fined for not doing enough to reduce co2.

Another plug for this interesting site if you have 10 mins its worth a browse.
http://www.capitalgrowth.org/
:)

Sorry, but I can't follow on this at all...when I first read through the news item about taxing food, I wondered how I would cope as it is a struggle now. Then I wondered where the poor politicians would go for their quails eggs once F&M put the prices up :mad:
I fully understand that we have to do more to help ourselves, but with our local water board threatening to increase the price of water in the summer months, how to I 'grow my own'. With our local authorities taking allotments for building, where do I 'grow my own'. Why the hell do the folk at the bottom of the income spectrum, have to suffer because the ones nearer the top can afford to use tax havens.

The fact of the matter is I really--truly--cannot afford to pay for the mistakes of the upper echelon any more.

lyndasharp

Hi all, just popping in as I'm now off work for nearly 3 weeks! Todays thrilling plan is to clean the bathroom and wash lots of clothes. Finally the weather is nice enough that I might be able to dry clothes outside - they normally just get hung up in the spare bedroom.

I'm glad we are making a real effort this year on growing our own food, after seeing the VAT discussion! Most of the planting will be done at the end of March though, as with being away for 2 weeks we don't want everything to dry out while we're away. We do have some potatoes on the go, and some early carrots and some lettuce in a cold frame. The cold frame was rather ingeniously put together by H2B from a see through wardrobe door and some spare decking planks - seems to be working well as there's some shoots appearing already.

I hope everyone has a good day x

cw18

Frugaldom wrote: »

I'm sure decluttering just adds to the clutter. :rotfl:

I'm sooooo glad I'm not the only one who suffers from this conundrum :rotfl:

Didn't do my second tip run over the weekend - decided everything that wasn't for the recycling banks would fit in my wheelie bin, so shifted it out of the boot and into the bin for collection this morning (which has now been done). I'd also not realised (until I saw neighbours put them out) that this week was recycling week - so my bin full of plastic, tins and bottles has also been emptied - and it no longer looks like I had a week long party

Still a few bits in the car boot (some paired up footwear that my lads have outgrown, and an old pair of trainers and slippers of hubby's that I found in a cupboard), but these can wait until I have another bootful of stuff to take up

Kiwisaver_2

When you're as old as me the bottled water thing does your head in. What a marketing ploy that was, like selling sand to Arabs and everyone was on the bandwagon. I don't know of a cafe or restaurant around these parts where you don't either get served a chilled bottle of tap water and an appropriate number of glasses at the table or at least have a stack of glasses and a jug of iced water available to help yourself for free. Even if you just go in for coffee, quite often the water is still brought to the table.

Amazing the differences really and truly a sign of what the market will bear, Kiwis seem to have inbuilt frugal meters, because hardly anyone here would even consider buying bottled mineral water to have with a meal and equally it's perfectly normal to have a meal out and just have the free water without feeling compelled to buy a drink.

chika

I admit to buying bottled water - not so much out of frivolity but necessity. I did discuss it a while back and found that boiled tap water is ok but still has a taste. in this city the tap water tastes like its has come straight from the septic tank and had a genertous squirt of domestos added to it, I just can't stand it so I have to buy bottles. It's fine in Yorkshire where my mum lives but here in Manchester urrgghhhh.

krafty-kow

Hello all, i have been following this thread since the end of Jan, but never posted I seem to be spending all the time! I do save, and bargain shop! AND love ald1, but I always forget something, end up at a different shop to get it and spend a small fortune just to get one item that turns into 10 things that i'm sure I will need!

Today I have had to spend money - lol its my daughters birthday this week. but popped into pound1and and they have lots of fruit bushes!!!
I picked up Tayberry, Raspberry, and 2 blueberry's! but they also had, gooseberry x2 sorts, blackcurrant, redcurrant and blackberry.

in Wilko5 they are £3.99 a bush!

£land also has seed potatoes, strawberry's, millions of seeds, water retaining crystals!! (they are sooooo expensive)

I just have to re-jig the garden to fit it all in! I hope I get offered a space on the allotment soon!

Anyway, you all have so many great ideas and I now do lots of them! so thanks for a great thread :T

cw18

My fruit trees arrived this morning - one apple and one pear, but each with three different types grafted onto the one stalk. Really must start assembling my 'boxes' for the garden now !!!

ChinaTea

cw18 wrote: »

Only problem is, it's left me looking at my life and what I've done with the last 40+ years and where I see myself in the next 10 years (even 5 years, and - at the worst - 12 months), and I don't like what I'm seeing.....

Almost feel like I've got a baaaad case of 'baby blues' - so I guess it must be 'empty nest syndrome' kicking in early, now it looks pretty certain that DS2 is moving out in September

Looking at my phone bills/records over the past 12 months, all I see is calls & texts to DD, odd calls/texts to DS1 and a few calls to my parents. Other than that it's companies/government type places (Tax Credits etc)

Email history over the last 3 years shows loads of newsletters from companies I've dealt/registered with..... and a few from DD with photos she wanted me to print for her, or documents/letters she wanted me to proof-read (plus bookings for flights that DS1 needed me to print off for him due to on-line check-in)

Social life has been non-existant for over 20 years, and I can't find anywhere to hook up with people to start one now

I've had to face up to the fact that I don't have a single 'real-life' friend, and this is mainly down to late-DH freaking about me talking to anyone (I've finally realised this last week just how controlling he was, which has also hit hard). I used to have a circle of casual friends - but half of them were blokes and he didn't like that one little bit, so I lost touch long before we moved. He didn't even like me talking to his friends when he was in the same room, and that once caused a major blow-up with us not speaking for several days. And the fights to 'get permission' to go on a work social just made it not worth bothering most of the time (think I went on 3 nights out in the 10 years I worked for my last company, and those only 'cos they were leaving do's for people I'd worked very closely with so worth the fight in my eyes)

I do 'chat' to parents/grand-parents at school (and say hello in the street or if I see them around work), but the only one I'd perhaps be comfortable enough to go out with has her own circle of friends. She did invite me once a few years back, but I didn't feel comfortable about going - and even now I still wouldn't!! I'd have been the odd-one-out amongst a dozen people as they all have children of primary school age (and younger), all of them use this one night every 4-6 weeks to escape husbands, and they think nothing of blowing upwards of £50 each on a meal and drink...... which is £50 I can't afford, and I know they all get tipsy which would make me uncomfortable as I don't drink.



I then tried checking how my finances stack up from September (when I lose all the income related to having a child - and this all goes even if DS2 stays living here, as his educational level means I no longer qualify for them), and I can't afford to join any clubs or anything in an attempt to meet people.

If I stay on my 24 hour contract at work, I'm going to be lucky to cover the bills (and that's assuming that what I save on g&e by only being me here is the equivalent to what my credit balance is covering each month at the moment - which I doubt it will be). And that's also assuming I force DS1 and DS2 to pay their way if they come home for a visit :eek:

If I manage to maintain my 30 hour/week average (either by getting more hours on my contract or carrying on doing every extra shift that's up for grabs within the 39 hr/wk max we're allowed to do), then I may have a few hundred a year to play with - but £6-8/week won't go far, especially when I can't find any clubs or such within walking distance so would also need extra fuel for the car

It's really looking like I'll have to re-home the dog by the end of the year (even though DS1 has said he'll never speak to me again if I do) as I'm looking at around £650 year without any emergencies/extra vet bills, and may well have to give up the car within the next 12 months too (just over £1k/year - though some of this would almost certainly then have to be spent on bus fares, but prob less than £100/yr). But losing the car will leave me even more isolated with no chance to get out and meet people, so I'm not convinced this is a good move - even though my budget spreadsheet says it's practically essential that I do


GD1 wants to come and live with me, and DD (who often seems pretty stressed, even though she dropped to p/t hours to try and help her chill-out more) hasn't raised any major objections - though we both think GD1 would want to move back home pretty sharpish after she realises that I'm a lot stricter full-time than when she just visits for an odd hour . This would help solve my finances, as I told DD it would mean her signing over the CB (which would mean I'd get CTC as well, and still get WTC even though I'm under 30 hrs/week due to being classed as a 'single parent' again) - but it would also potentially mean another 10-12 years of parenting, with all the constraints on time to socialise/need for child-care that this involves. So in the long run I don't think I'd actually be any better off - or at least not mentally - and I'd be back to where I am now when she moved out.

CW18 - I've been on my own for nearly 8yrs now, although I'd never thought about it before the 'family' had been my whole life since I married aged 17. Late DH was almost 20yrs older than me and it was only after he passed away that I realised how possesive he was. This has meant that I have no real life friends, a few aquaintances (sp?) and a neighbour I go shopping with as she doesn't drive. Social life is zilch and all contact with the real world is through my DS, DGS and family that don't live locally.

Now I'm quite content with my little lot but it has been a hard slog to get to this point. I try to not look too far ahead as it scares the hell out of me. I'm quite happy with my own company but it is knowing that everything is down to me now, no one to shoulder any of the reponsibility with that gets to me now and again. Don't get me wrong I'm not 'lonely' just feel 'alone' at times if that makes sense.

Sorry to get so maudling will go and catch up with the rest of the posts now and will update later.

Fishcake_Random

Hello all,
I've had a lovely garden filled weekend, putting some baskets on my fence with some Pansy and violas in. Makes my little patch of green look so much nicer already. Did mean a few spends though but not to bad.
Today's spends are 66p so far as I picked up another free bottle of comfort, some lady pads 75% off and a pack of disposable razors for OH 75% off. I was quite pleased as it works out at about £4 before offers and vouchers.
I will need to buy some bolognaise sauce later for £1 though and I've been thinking about trying to make some of my own. But how should I start???
Where would/can I get the tomatoes from?
Is it worth still buying it untill a tomatoe offer comes along so I have the jars?
Does it store in jars or do I freeze it?
I'm a complete newbie on this one so I could really use your guidance ladies. I buy one jar of sauce a week so thats £52 a year on sauce!!! Scary when you work it out.
Over to you ladies..........
x x x x x