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

kezlou

knithappens wrote: »

JAlso value rice from Tesco Asda, does anyone buy this, at the moment i buy Tilda basmati, and Tesco own long grain rice, but was wondering if the value stuff from Asda/tesco was any good - well edible, any input would be appreciated, .

I use own brand basmati rice as we prefer it to long grain. Long grain needs to be cooked longer and is quite stuff. I bought 10kg of natu basmati rice(pakistani) for £7.49 out of a local asian food store.
We used Aldi own brand and they were quite good not sure about ldil though sorry.
Tilda is always expensive because its a well known name.

Kiwisaver_2

Hi all, am looking forward to the new quarter and a new thread as I seem to have lost my mojo a bit over the past few weeks with some unplanned spending. I think I will still be on plan for the end of the month but I have had to do a lot of faffing around and re-crunching categories to make it fit.

Way back last year I signed up (possibly stupidly) with a door knocker who was offering a two year car service plan with a local garage, whereby if you signed and paid $79 NOW you got the labour costs free for two annual services and quite a few other extra checks. Anyway I took the car in yesterday for the first of these, waited all day to get the bloomin car back and then ending up paying $200 almost the same as I did a year ago at the AA. :eek: I was a little miffed but not overly bothered as I felt it was my own fault for being a sucker. I simply said to OH well I won't go there again!

The guy reeled off a load of things that will need my attention in the next year due to the age and mileage it has done, blah blah about how important it is to get the automatic transmissions flushed every 80 thousand kilometres and how my car was well overdue for this along with the brake pads needing to be done and the disks skimmed. Considering I had them done 2 years ago and my car has only done 62 thousand kilometres in 11 years (approx 40 thousand miles), I would say the chances of me getting to 80 thousand within the next year are pretty slim.

Knowing I'm easy prey when it comes to getting stuff done on the car, I am always paranoid about being ripped off and I was sure this guy had seen me coming. Anyway at 8.30am this morning he rang me with a huge apology and said they had mixed up the bills and he overcharged me $113 Phew, my faith restored in car mechanics and it was quite a saving after all. :T

I'm going to do my last shopping for March this afternoon and update my final figures later. I still have a good bit of grocery budget left and my plan is to get most of my Easter weekend stuff in this month to ease some pressure off the April budget and avoid the queues later in the week. Hopefully it won't be busy today and I can take my time and browse the bargains without all the manic crowds.

Lovely wedding pic Lynda thanks for sharing.

Xspender well done on clearing the debt, it must be a fab feeling to have a clean slate

ETA: End of Quarter results

3 Months Budget $3,750.00 (£1,500.00)
Actual Spent $3,479.37 (£1,391.75)
Remainder $270.63 (£108.25)

I'm happy now, been to get my cash back from the garage and that more than paid for my shopping, plus a pillow I was wanting for my travels. So I am back on plan and feeling good that I'm not going into the next quarter with a deficit to catch up and perhaps in April I can afford to get the new glasses I so desperately need. :T Still I have to be careful and not get complacent as a larger part of the underspend is electricity and that will start to ramp up now nights are longer and colder. Fortunately it's still been very warm and dry during the days: looking back at some notes from last year we had the electric blanket on at Easter (granted it was a week or so later) but still hoping we don't need to use any heating for a few more weeks yet.

knithappens

kezlou wrote: »

I use own brand basmati rice as we prefer it to long grain. Long grain needs to be cooked longer and is quite stuff. I bought 10kg of natu basmati rice(pakistani) for £7.49 out of a local asian food store.
We used Aldi own brand and they were quite good not sure about ldil though sorry.
Tilda is always expensive because its a well known name.

Thanks for this will give it a go

kezlou

Morning,:)

Knithappens - sorry didn't reply last night about the nappies.I used to use Sainsbury's own brand nappies and Aldi's own brand on my youngest son. They worked out well, kept leaks in and his bottom dry, he was allergic to pampers products, so i had an absolute nightmare with him. But it all depends on the child, some are fine others (in my case) not so good. Oh and sainsburys do an eco baby sensitive wipes for 89p i buy these now for hands etc and they work really well on newborns.

Kiwi - glad everything worked out with the car. We had to a new exhaust fitted on ours £120 and it wasn't fixed. took it back yesterday and forced them to sort it out for free.

mama67

knithappens wrote: »

Just popped on from cleaning and itemising stuff to put on amazon, ebay to ask a question. I am tryignto cut my shopping bill still further. Does anyone have any experience of using Lidl own brand nappies, are they any good?

Also value rice from Tesco Asda, does anyone buy this, at the moment i buy Tilda basmati, and Tesco own long grain rice, but was wondering if the value stuff from Asda/tesco was any good - well edible, any input would be appreciated, well back to taking pics of stuff to sell - I hate listing things, buit love when they sell - so off i pop again.

I buy the basmati in boxes from L!dl its £1.50 approx per kg box. hth

Erme

cw18 wrote: »

At Mr M we have to challenge you for ID if you look under 25, even for things with an age classification of 18. This is because a lot of 16/17 year-olds (esp girls) can make themselves up to look a good few years older.....

But hello I'm 33! ...What is this? Discrimination cos I take fish oil? Have anorexia or what? I look WAY over 18 even if I do look 24. There's a huge difference between looking 18 and looking in your 20's. Boy I know...18 year olds look like babies. Can't tell the difference between them and teens! But I can tell someone in their 20's or over 21. Also is this about wrinkles? grey hair? Size of one's bust. What's it really about? Stereotypes of what 'over 25's' are supposed to look like. The citizen card is just not worth my while because I don't work and am not at college/school. It's so much hassle. They lost my business over this one I'm afraid. My friend lost my friendship. Sad but true (not least when I challenge her the 2nd time and she complains loudly to her supervisor and says I was out of order when I wasn't etc etc.) Sad but true. One thing political correctness is intolerant to is common sense. Has anyone else not noticed that?

Just a thought. If I sound grumpy - hello I am - hormonal and have a bug and it's raining and cold :P

E

knithappens

Thanks for the tips on the rice ladies, my next shop i will try the basic stuff, I have downgraded alot of my brand names, so rice is the next one, and will try a cheaper nappy too ( although bubba is in reusables most of the time).

I am finding it really hard to meal plan and stick to it, so that is my challenge for this month, I want to use up alot of what i have in the cupboards so will meal plan around what i already have in, so tonight is saugage and bacon on toast as we have a big tea last night so something simple tonight. Kiddos have already had their furit and veg portions for the day with breakfast and lunch so can get away with this.

Also i have just cashed in some of my clubcard vouchers, legoland have opneed a discovery centre at the trafford centre so got got tickets for us to go, and also cineworld cinema vouchers, to go see how to train your dragon, as they let you take babies in on PG and U films in morning performances and seeing that bubba is 8 months, I am going to take her along too, as that is one thing we miss out on, as i have no one to leave her with, but if she causes a fuss i will take her out so i dont spoil the film for others ( i hate when that happens to me), I want to do thing s with the kids that are cash neutral. - heres hoping I can manage this, i think lots of packed lunches, park and museum visits.

Erme

re rice I have about 6 or more kg I bought from my student friends. I have rice coming out my ears (near enough)..I actually prefer long grain brown but anyhow...Asian supermarkets are fab for this thing and don't forget to BARTER. Asian places do bartering more than us (and don't forget the classic trick of walking out if they won't shift/price is wrong).

Anyhow in the midst of my second stomach ache veg day (a)I'm stressed cos I just got the form for declaring my WFH to the DWP (and I've made a loss so far ). and (b) I could be worse cos I just a 'new' (well 2nd hand - c'mon I'm the Queen of the Charity Shops ) sony stereo (big...Like bigger the height of a 6 year old) for £10 with wharfedale speakers . And it works but has no CD but I think I have a CD player and I don't know if it works but if the CD don't work I think I'll buy new cos of risk of lasers dying if I buy second hand. First concern is that of the turntable (cos that's why I bought it cos it was cheaper than buying a new needle for the pioneer). and anyhow. Tape deck not as good as the pioneer but then that looked fab (had auto reverse) but was temperamental. And with the pioneer the radio was rubbish (cos I never got it set up proper) and the radio on this is fab. And it's in a wooden cabinet so guess which fool has just shifted her old hifi/tv cabinet downstairs :eek:

Need milk today. Made veggie burgers last night from soya mince (soya mince is a fab frugal item. Keeps and get from asian stores real cheap. Use for instant protein in any dish) which stuck together (main quest) but needed more flavouring.

Also does anyone know of any good cheap bread flour for the breadmaker and where to get it. Looked on which but am beginning to learn Which is for folk who aren't in debt... . MSE is for ppl like us.

With regards nappies...I'd make your own. Not buy eco friendly ones. Just make your own. Remember this is no.3 period on home made ST's from Mr. T cheap face cloths and safety pins and my botty can tell you how much comfier having real cotton next to skin is rather than paper. Sure your wee ones would agree.

Anyhow tis all my news....Soon be lunch rice and lentils and mayo for tea tonight (have lots of that in 2 . and I'm thinking of attempting to reduce the food and cig budget down from £35 a week to £30...Anyone else think this is a bit nutty but part of me thinks it's possible - at least for this wk?

E

grandma247

Erme my middle daughter who is 30 and her younger sister who is 28 also have the problem of looking younger than they are and are always challenged about their age even though they have seven kids between them. I do not see it as a problem it is great to be mistaken for someone younger. It used to happen to me a lot. People would look at ds1 and shake their head saying "you can't possibly have one that old."

jtb2412

Hi everyone

Just sitting down for lunch so I thought I'd pop on and catch up. Lunch is leftover spinach and ricotta canelloni (sp?) and fruit crumble (leftovers again):D. I'm trying to use up the spinach that's in the freezer left from the allotment last year as the new stuff is growing at lightning speed :eek:!

Rice, we use Mr S basics long grain, about 70p for a kg? Not sure how that equates to what others pay but it's ok taste and cooking-wise. I've never really bought the expensive rice so I'm afraid I'd never be able to compare it to the more upmarket brands.

knit, my mealplanning has been really poor lately. I need to get back on the wagon with that too but can't see it happening until after the Easter hols as we're away for B/H, home for 4 days and then off on a weeks hols to France. I love going away but really do hate the lack of organisation that goes with being away from home !

I have to pop into the bank this PM and order our Euros, I just hope the rate doesn't get better once I've handed over my money :mad: