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

NualaBuala

Hi frugal friends :wave:

Erme wrote: »

Nuala you could make that cushion by hand. It would take you forever but a good summer project (and you'd finish it before I finish my log cabin afghan for my sofa LOL). Cushions are not difficult to make. And you wouldn't want to do any embroidery on a machine till you was well used to it (unless it cost you about £500 plus).

No chance of embroidery Erme, I can barely thread a needle! And you're so right - would take me forever but I don't mind that. It sort of seems appropriate somehow for a meditation cushion and I could turn the making of it into meditation in itself. Though knowing me I won't be feeling at all spiritual, just sore from stabbing my fingers with the needle :rotfl: You'll have to show us a pick of your afghan when it's done (or even progress pics), I love them and someday will make one.

Glad the chat went ok with your son Cheryl, I loved the story of how you knew each other and your 80s skirts! I'll stay tuned for your next installment of "the romance" Hope it turns out to be whatever you would like it to be!

Hope the rest of you are doing ok. It sounds like everyone is having bad weather. We had snow here today which I wasn't expecting! I was delighted with it and changed my plans so I coud stay at home and cosy up in front of the fire (kept the central heating off :A).

I'm very proud of myself today because one of my downfalls is takeaways.In fact junk food in general has been my biggest waste of money in the past. Today is my birthday and I had promised myself a takeaway but instead had open fire baked potatoes and HM lasagne which was better than anything I could have ordered in! And instead of having expensive nights out to celebrate I had dinner in a friend's house and having home-cooked lunch next weekend with family which will be much nicer (not to mention more frugal) than restaurants. :T I insisted on a "no pressies" rule as most people I know are broke and I truly feel I have everything I could want and more besides. It's been the most frugal but one of the nicest birthdays ever!

Hope you all have a lovely evening! Hugs to anyone who'd like one.

candygirl

:bdaycake: Happy BIRTHDAY NUALA XX:A

Blairweech

Happy Birthday Nuala!! Sounds like you have had a fantastic day...although I uh, notice my invite got lost in the mail...

PaganGirl - The car used to belong to my Mum, then they gave it to me. When I go to uni in October, I won't be needing a car at all - so rather than putting it through the MOT/Tax (due in June), I decided to sell it whilst it still had 3 months left on it. It also had some issues - needed a suspension mod, and some welding (all mentioned in the sale), which would have cost at least £500 for a car thats only worth £1000. My Dad doesnt understand this logic however and is convinced I will be replacing it with a shed which will break down every week - heaven forbid I could make an informed purchase decision because in his eyes I'm useless at everything and a complete waste of space. He still hasn't spoken to me :rotfl:


Anyway, todays spends were just Ebay postage and 49p for a download - 'Campaign to get the Wurzels to No.1 in protest of cider getting 10% tax' :beer:. All the profits go the charity, so did not mind.

I am currently compiling a list of free things/ideas to do, will stick it on Google Docs if it turns out any good!

Skint_Lynne

Just a quick pop in, I'll need to read back to see what's been happening over the past day or 2. The weather is really bad here, I'm meant to go to Dundee tomorrow, so will need to find out what the roads are like before I set off. Still being good and watching the spends.

Hugs to all. xx

Kerry_Woman

Hope you had a great birthday Nuala.

ceridwen

candygirl wrote: »

:bdaycake: Happy BIRTHDAY NUALA XX:A

Belated Happy Birthday from me as well Nuala:D:beer:

Thinks...."should I burst into song at this point?"....errr...."I am a cider drinker....I drink it all of the day....I am a cider drinker...." (sung in Wurzels soundalike accent).

lynzpower

Oh huge belated birthday from me too Nuala.

I am a little green eyed of you with your open fires or wood-burners, I just love love love them.

Just a quick one, as I have to get ready for W***

I had got a sick note for a week due to hand but I am really worried about my employer POV about it so I am going in and enforcing reduced duties. Basically I told my manager how it is for the next 2 weeks I simply cannot do XYZ. He seems to be ok with it but he can be really difficult at times I have had a stern talking to from mother who tells me WTH is the point of me paying for private health policy if I dont use it when I need to- I was worried about premiums going up and should only use it when desperate, she says this is desperate, losing the use of one of my hands is about as desperate as you can get. She is right of course. Sometimes I just need my mum to talk some sense into me!

Mum is v unfrugal and I must admit I felt a huge pang of the green-eyes when she siad her and dad are off to barbados for 10 days to lie around and go diving. "they just decided". She did say there were some jet2 flights from manchester today for 1p so will take a look in case we can grab one to somewhere nice.

I have had some bad news about my grandads health so we are off up home this weekend to see him. Mum says hes OK for now, but she is worried and having to take on a lot of caring responsibilities and im worried how she is coping emotionally.She says grandma has gone to pieces as well, this week is their 65th wedding anniversary and we were all meant to go for a hotel stay. I shall go up and see if there is anything I can do but knowing my family it will be "we are fine"

We were going to do the dover-deal coast walk but the weather looks decidedly iffy anyhow. That means I get *my own way* and we get to walk in the Peaks which is my idea of pure heaven. I get the feeling the weather wont hold out and I definitely need to choose an easy-ish ( but long) route as I need new boots so I don't slip off the side of a mountain :eek:

Otherwise not much else to report really- have managed to plan entirely form the store cupb. this week. Oh has announced he is going out tonight, so another meal can stay in the freezer and Ill eat up out of the fridge- Im sure I can assemble something.

Love to all xx

Winchelsea

When I proudly posted a NSD yesterday I completely forgot it was organic veg box day, and £12.45 came out of my a/c!

Never mind - lovely veggies, AND I've now amended my regular order so next time I'll get a slightly cheaper box. Will not have any for a couple of weeks anyway, as we will be on holiday from April 10th, a cottage for a week in Somerset, with DD no.4 and her family. They have to leave on the Tuesday though, as DD has to go back to work - didn't get the annual leave she'd hoped for.

Hoping it will be a good break, though DH has dementia and doesn't handle change very well. Had a hotel holiday in France last year, very nice in many ways but a disaster in others! Then, had a cottage in Cornwall in the autumn - more problems, especially night wanderings (including getting in bed with DS and his girlfriend!). But at least in a cottage we avoid other problems, like "interesting" events at hotel breakfasts!! :mad:

We'll see........!

grandma247

Lynzpower I am thinking of you and hope you all find the strength to deal with whatever happens.

Well I have finally sorted my budget for the year. I had to wait till certain things got sorted but all ok now.
I have settled on £6650 for the year and that includes fuel,gas,electric,food and other which includes anything not bills since most are DD anyway and I can not change them.
Here is a breakdown of the last three months and last years figures for the same months.

Jan 10, other-£16.88 groc-£362.61 gas -£137 elec-£85 fuelcar1-£137
jan 09, other -£5.10 groc-£190 gas-£142 elec-£103 fuelcar1-£100

Feb10,other-£98.93 groc-£152.28 gas-£122 elec-£93 fuelcar1-£140
feb 09,other- 48.81 groc-£189.83 gas-£127 elec-£76 fuelcar1-£80

March10,other-132.81 groc-135.28 gas-£50 elec-£67 fuelcar1-£171
march09, other-£18.59 groc-£84.70 gas-£57 elec-£60 fuelcar1-£111

edit: start £6650-£1900.79 = £4749.21 left

I am doing it this way because it is easiest for me to keep to.

jtb2412

nuala, hope you had a lovely day yesterday xx

Slipping back into frugal ways has been easier than I expected. I've been busy baking and keeping away from the shops :j. Back to sticking to a shopping list (which is being made a bit easier by the fact that we're away over Easter and I don't want to buy loads of food before we go). I've only bought one Easter egg this year, for my neice. We decided not to buy ours Easter Eggs this year, what with holiday and the fact that they get eggs from grandparents etc.

Dinner is made (cottage pie bulked out with mushrooms and the last of the 10p bags of carrots). Fairy cakes for kids pack-ups made and I also did a batch of honey and walnut cakes (no idea how they're going to turn out, I just saw the ingredients in the cupboard and thought what the heck, in for a penny and all that :rotfl:). I'll have one with a cuppa once they've cooled down a bit so I'll let you know if they're lovely or going in the bin .

I'm getting really fed up with the weather now. I need to get my spuds in and other things sown but it's just not practical to do it in thunderstorms, hail and rain. I think we might starve this summer if things don't get better quickly :eek:. I hope all those up north who have snow are ok xx

Ohh my soapnuts have just arrived :j. As well as vouchers from Mr S (2 x £9 off a £90 shop) - I can see me doing some stockpiling with those .