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

pagangirl

Done budget for month (£490.13) and 1st quarter (£1485.81) both under budget (just), so well pleased with that and have updated sig. Spreadsheet has really opened my eyes to the highest spends - - my main problem is having a cup of coffee and....... when I'm out. Suppose it's a social thing, mixing with other people coz I live by self - always someone to talk to ! Note to self - just the coffee will do, don't need the toasted teacake or scone/butter/jam etc.

Happy Birthday for yesterday NualaBuala :wave: sounds like it was a good one (and thanks for the hug) !

Candygirl - I'm an October baby too ! Love the autumn, especially when the trees change colour and Hallow'een really my time of year.

Annie123 - another lover of Primano fleecy pjs & thermals here.

Blairweech - hugs hunny, sorry re 'dad' problems. Hope things get better for you.

Lynzpower - hugs to you (and grandad), sounds like things are rough atm - be good to yourself over that hand, you might do more harm than good if you try & do to much.

Winchelsea - enjoy your holiday, hope it goes ok with OH.

No snow here yet, but gales/rain, some sleet earlier - think it will be another frugal NSD, no way am I going out in this wind.

Optimisticpair

Frugaldom wrote: »

Remember this is only an average, which means one month could be £100 and another £733.32, so it's all relevant. Don't think of the amount as a limit just carry it forward and recalculate your new average for the remaining 9 months.

.

I am ok Frugladom thanks. :beer:

I just replied to explain how my own two spreadsheets work and lost the post as I sent it. I've no time to explain again.:mad:

Sorry to hear so many of us having problems of some sort I do wish I had time to give everyone a personal message of support and cheer.

Erme

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NUALA. HUGS...

Sorry no pics of afghan...currently trying to justify rechargeable batteries for camera (managed to con myself into a memory card)...

Still hormonal - argh...mega grumps and mega sleeps. Bought orange juice yesterday from corner shop in wind and rain. Helped. Needed it.

But didn't eat lunch.

The disaster of yesterday was £10 for a phono cable for CD player off Mr L. should have cost half that max :eek:....

So now am sitting here just having had my afternoon coffee (proper stuff. Another thing. Cheap coffee beans - preferably espresso...anyone know any good places..Mr SB is just too expensive. Not least now that budget is down to £5 a month), Ice cream night tonight . Knew that was a good buy. So need it ...

I have found one of you wonderful ppls on my other addiction (blue and white social networking site) anyone else on there? Not least Nuala -? Be good to hook up....

Welcome newbies by the way. This challenge sounds impossible when you start but we're really friendly and like Rome wasn't built in a day.

Also many thanks to whoever put about the savings thing for folk on benefits in July. M my friend in S has already told half her care workers!!! Thanks so much

Anyhow best go. Pray this cycle comes on soon. FED UP OF BEING HORMONAL...

E

jtb2412

Erme, sorry to hear your feeling carp, have a dodgy hug and a bar of choccie :grouphug::EasterBun:D Hopefully the grumps will disappear soon xx

Cottage pie has been demolished, I was hoping to save some for my lunch tomorrow but DS has just put pay to that. Just out of interest, I was wondering how many portions/meals you all get out of 500g of mince? I can get 5 maybe 6 portions with bulking but maybe I need to do more? Any help greatly appreciated .

Frugal activities this evening will be:

watering seedlings in greenhouse - hopefully they haven't all hidden from the awful weather :eek:

card making - 4 birthdays (must do) and easter cards (if I get time)

packing for the weekend

hide the cakes in the freezer, mainly from myself

have a dig about in present stash for said birthdays

not so frugal, pick DD1 up from her b/f but he's only down the road and his parents do their fair share of running the two of them about as well so I don't mind.

She's desperately trying to get a job but nowhere will employ kids now until they've finished their exams. I can't afford to keep subbing her, especially since giving up work but I feel guilty knowing she wants to go out and about and it's not exactly her fault she can't get a job. Catch 22 situation I think, not sure it will change in the current climate but living on the coast I'm hoping she'll get some summer seasonal work.

Right, must get this card making started. Have a nice evening everyone.

(Waves to NYK and hopes she's managing ok in the snow !) xx

annie123

jtb2412 wrote: »

, have a dodgy hug and a bar of choccie :grouphug:

Confused, I looked closely at the 'hug'........:eek::rotfl:can't believe Martin and his team haven't noticed just how dodgy that hug is!! :rotfl: nor me for that matter, I've been here since '04 and never noticed.
Will have to be careful how and where it is used;)

goes off to get cloth to clean tea off keyboard:D

kezlou

Hi everyone!

Happy Birthday for yesterday NualaBuala !!!

Haven't done much today but it has been a NSD, its horrible here so much rain its unreal. It feels too cold to snow, but its forecast so who knows.

Going to find my trowel and plant the rhubarb out now. Need to sow some tom, cucs etc, well evreything really. Been waiting for it to warm up before i did them.
OH is doing the worktop now, just posted our old one up on freegle.

Tomorrow think i have to go and pay DS1's violin fees so another £51 to go, but i don't mind as it helps his concentration. He also loves music so i'm happy yo pay.
Good news on the weight front, i can fit into a pair of jeans!!!!!!! So i'm chuffed :j, OH said get a pair and i yes i think it will. So now my legs have been toastie warm instead of cold in tights.Didn't want to spend £12 but as its the only thing i have bought myself clothing wise since 1 January 2010 i thought go for it. Only thing is, now they falling down on me :rotfl:.

cw18

((hugs)) for those have a rough time and/or with poorly family and/or not being 100% themselves

NualaBuala wrote: »

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!

Many Happy (if late) Returns. And I'm with you on the h/m being better than a take-away..... I gave up on the latter some years ago, as I just didn't enjoy them enough for what they cost!!

NualaBuala wrote: »

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!

Last night went really well Meal was another first - Tagliatelli (which I'm fine with) with smoked samon and mussels (neither of which I've ever had before). Quite enjoyed it, and have picked up some Whoopsied (and freezable) smoked salmon trimmings on the way out of work tonight so I can try that again in something else.

Got there around 7pm, had a brew, watched him cook (which he didn't seem to mind, even though I can be funny about having an audience), had tea, watched a DVD (he'd turned off the cricket he was watching as soon as I arrived with a "I don't suppose you're interested in that", which I thought was really nice), and had a good long chat. Stayed over as planned (but could be more tricky next time as I think he said his guest room has boxes belonging to his son they've not yet got into the loft - so will depend when they get those shifted), and was woken up with a cuppa this morning at a (for me) late hour. Ended up going straight from there to work (after filling the fuel tank in the car up again en-route - another £31 gone!!!), and haven't been home an hour yet..... in fact I'm really surprised DS hasn't been downstairs yet to make any sarcastic comments about the fact it's 24 hours since I went out

Our schedules are a bit out-of-sync for the next 10 days or so, so unlikely to see him again until at least a week on Friday - and could easily be the following week. But I think it's safe to refer to him as my OH now


Off to sort something for tea - then I need to add spends from Monday and today to my spreadsheet to I can report an 'end of first quarter' position......

Puddleglum

Hello Everyone,

Dodgy hugs all round, I love you all!

Just reporting in with the results from the first quarter - this will take a bit of time as I need to get the formating right.

limit spent
water 370 £0.00
gas 1404 £351.00
electric 1080 £303.00
phone 350 £76.03
tv licence 145 £36.87
sky 486 £123.00
mobile 120 £30.92
pet food 185 £46.13
vets bills 150 £0.00
cat extras 20 £5.48
groceries 1595 £362.25
toiletries 50 £2.81
dentist 50 £0.00
prescriptions 40 £7.20
alcohol 280 £82.99
haircuts 50 £5.00
clothing 100 £27.00
presents 150 £26.60
anything else 400 £227.91
contingency 400 £0.00
Kilve 430

7855 1714.19

Hm looks ok at the moment, see what happens when it gets posted.....

There has had to be a bit of tweaking as DS and DD both want to go on an activity holiday in the summer which hadn't originally been counted in.

Talking of holidays - just one more day of work and then I get a holiday too. As much as I love my job it is getting very hard to get out of bed and out of the house on time in the mornings now. A break will be very welcome.

Hope the weather isn't too awful for those of you in the far North.

Puddleglum.

phoebe03cat

HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY NUALA.
CW18: We are all waiting for the next information bulletin;really excited for you.
Erme: Hope the hormones are giving you a bit of respite!

Made some lemon curd today and surprised myself how easy it was:dh very pleased it's his favourite.Also made the butternut squash risotto from Weezl's board...very yummy but not very frugal with the parmesan, vermouth and olive oil I was 'helped' to put in. Still....... enough for tomorrow.

Does anyone know, if you make yoghurt with 'on-date' milk does it extend the life of the milk ifyswim? I seem to remember a few posts back someone was buying up whoopsied cream to make cheese, so am wondering if changing it makes it last longer?

micron_2

Hi, I've just come back to the MSE site after a few years absence and would like to join for the second quarter of this challenge. I haven't worked out how much I can live off for the remainder of the year but will do so over the next few days and post my figure. After years and years of spending money willy nilly its time I buckle down and start being a little (ok not a little, a lot) more frugal.