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

lynzpower

top_drawer wrote: »

Thanks Rozee - I never thought of just asking one of those phone unlocking places to do it - I was thinking I would have to pay Three £10-15 for the code! Your idea would also mean if my finances improved in the future then I am not stuck in a deal forever either.

Has anyone noticed any side effects of not spending/shopping so much? I realised this morning when cleaning out the gp's that I dont have any plastic bags - obviously I do still eat so I am in and out of morrisons every week but I always use my bag for life. So now I am going to have to BUY some bin liners as putting hay/gp poo ate in the bin is not a good idea. Any ideas? I guess I could make a reusable one (fabric with a plastic bag sewn into it) which I empty into the big kitchen bin....

Jen

I always grab a load out of carrier bag recycling.

OH said he was actually going to buy some doggy-poo bags as we were running low on carriers. :eek::eek:

Sometimes I wonder if he knows what frugal means. :rotfl::eek:

Needless to say Sainsburys gave out the goods as usual, plenty of re-use befreo recycling :A:A

rictus123

Hey everyone. Got my private plate changed over today so £80 out. Now means van tax can get cashed in and van scrapped. So itl even out the cost. And it means i now get to drive about in my car so so much better than my van - also ran the tank dry on van, didnt think id make it home from work!

NSD to add from yesterday, hoping for no more spends this month. Hoping to save £2k out of £3k wages by the end of May :cool:

zarazara

a free cake at work

DreamerV

cw18 wrote: »

(trying to find out if DS's official last day of college is before or after 31st May, as this is the decider)

CW18, the date of 31st May makes no difference to tax credits. If your child is already past the 31st Aug following their 16th birthday, child tax credits would be paid until the date the child leaves non-advanced education (usually school). If this date was 30th May, ctcs would stop on 30th May, and if it was 27th July, ctcs would stop 27th July. If the child is going to further non-advanced education after summer holidays at least 12hpw, then you can continue to claim. This includes anything up to and including an nvq level 3. If they go to further education after summer, then you can get paid up until 31st August this year. If you find out during summer that they can't go to further education but had planned to, tax credits would stop the day before they found out. If the child goes to connexions after finishing school, you can get paid a further 20 weeks from the date they finished school...taking you well past the July anyhow

I know that's a fair bit of detail but I know the last thing anyone wants is an overpayment (or underpayment). Any questions, feel free to pm me.

I'm also looking forward to this savings gateway starting...although I will stop qualifying in August...I hope I'm able to open the account in time, as you have to wait till HMRC send the letter out!

cw18

I thought CTC was paid while CB was in payment, and as far as I understand the rules (and from the last letter I had from them) I'll get CB until end August as have confirmed last official date of course is towards end of June.

He's coming to the end of college, and will be starting Uni for the next Academic year - so I know I lose everything after then.....

Frugaldom

Good evening, just been catching up here.

Anaemia wise, liver, black pudding and finely shredded cabbage are what a friend of mine relied on.

Welcome back to those who have been missing for whatever reason, probably best to begin again on 1st April and use the next week as a trial run. New thread will start on the 1st.

After spending £41 ish on a huge Approved Food order last night, my grocery budget is shot to pieces. It's now time to get creative in the kitchen and start making the most of all these bargains, otherwise they aren't worth having. Dinner tonight was freerange eggs from the hens, homemade veggie sausages and baked beans. I am trying not to use as many potatoes this year, in an effort to grow enough to be self-sufficient in thos by next year.

Hope all the bumps and babies are doing well and that anyone under the weather is beginning to feel better.

Budget is still looking OK overall as we're almost quarter of the way through the year and I have not quite spent £1000 yet. My £4k budget is still under control despite huge spends on electricity and stocking up on food bargains. Hopefully, there'll be no unexpected bills in the next week before starting part 2.

jtb2412

All set up here and ready to go.

I popped into the small Sains in town before a Guide meeting tonight and picked up quite a few whoopsies :j. Have worked out that about 6-6.30 is a good time to catch the 'gunners' . I won't bore you with the details but I've got a freezer full of rolls and I'm currently browsing the 'things to do with carrots' thread :rotfl:. Whoopsie spend was £15.84 worth £40.35 :T. I just need to make sure I keep up the healthy eating and weight loss at the same time as cooking frugally - I'm sure it can be done, especially now I know my 'problem' is portion control

I also bought some soda crystals ready for the laundry gloop. Will have a go at making it over the weekend.

I can't believe I've been so stupid to let things slip over the last few months :mad:. But I'm going to look forward, what's done is done, I can't change it now.

Going to sit with my book for 1/2 hour before bed instead of looking on Ebay .

candygirl

Step away from EBAY JTB:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:says the official ebay addict:o:o

Erme

Sorry you've not heard from me for over a week. Another bad weekend (even worse than the w/e before) but sorted things out with CPN the other Wed then went out to the country on free bus pass and got an ice cream maker from a charity shop right out in the country :d. Anything to gain weight (am pretty desperate and am hormonal so it's not happening this week)..

Also (just recovering from night mare weekend...it actually started last Thurs @ GP) Kleeneze started hassling me to join up and I'm like 'wasn't going to do that till next week' so I didn't. Went with wikaniko (google them )...having a debate (well a wee one) on betterware v. wikaniko on the following thread http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2299655&highlight=betterware but that's where this week's savings (and last) have gone. Am going to have to be frugal if I want to start doing catalogues.

Also got elec bill yesterday and the monthly payments had hiked by 1/3 so I phoned up and got the social tariff = £50 off next bill and a few other goodies. Check it out with your supplier or else do the classic of research and threaten to change (and change if they don't bow to your bartering!!!)

Am on page 213 and concentration has just gone so will have to go and something else.

Blessings guys. Loved the lecture on cloth nappies...what's PCN? Still to do figures from last month (cos of bad weekend I haven't done them yet) which must get done and still to find out what paperwork I need for DWP with wikaniko

and also my training scheme starts in May

Hugs

E

jtb2412

Carrot Cake and Carrot Bread on the go here. It smells lovely here

Candy no ebay for me last night ...... it was like going cold turkey ! haha I can see me reading a lot over the next few weeks !

I popped into town this morning to buy a few ingredients so I could make use of the carrots (bought cheap carrots but had to buy ingredients to make things so not that much of a frugal buy !) However, I'd usually have those ingredients in but I've run cupboards down lately and need to restock so not too worried about the extra spend.

I've started a 'Money I've Saved By Not Doing Something' spreadsheet. Today's savings were £1.65 on a cup of coffee (I was in the queue and decided to walk away and wait until I'd got home) and walking instead of getting the bus saved me another £1.15 :j.

The heating has been switched off here too during the day. It's just on for an hour in the mornings now and 2 hours in the evening, just to keep the chill off. Hopefully a few more weeks and it can go off altogether .

The new allotment plot is coming along nicely and I've got lots of seedlings popping up all over the place. Lots more to do yet though and I'll be out in the garden most of next week (weather permitting of course !)

Off to get tonight's dinner started (chicken curry and apple/raspberry crumble - not together of course ! :rotfl:)