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

Pippilongstocking

rozeepozee wrote: »

She'll be called Marmite as she's "Samoan Red" in colour - nothing at all red about it, more like, well, marmite/ I think it''ll be one of those colours you either love or hate - we're hoping we''ll love it as we're going by a sample, it's a new colour and as such there were no vans of that colour to look at beforehand. I am very excited!!! :j:j:j

Thanks for replying thats awesome - I've a family of 2 kids and one OH we do lots of outdoor stuff and the saving with the VW is awesome - we often lunch out with him on the beach - 10p campervan noodles (sainsbugs saver noodles) are perfect camping food - and we never leave a restaurant without topping up with free 'sachets' sugar, tea, coffee, mayo, ketchup - use those zip bags - always have some in my bag - we're bad at making a game out of who can get the most diverse stuff or the biggest haul - I am not teaching my kids to 'steal' sachets so much as be resourceful (ahem)

Free coffee is so much nicer tasting

grandma247

http://www.sendspace.com/file/uu3r7b
is a direct link to a finance e-book. It is American but there are a number of useful things in it and I have only got to page 30.
Some may find it interesting. Its free.
EDIT: I uploaded it to sendspace. I could not get either one to work ?

rozeepozee

fayjmck wrote: »

Thanks for replying thats awesome - I've a family of 2 kids and one OH we do lots of outdoor stuff and the saving with the VW is awesome - we often lunch out with him on the beach - 10p campervan noodles (sainsbugs saver noodles) are perfect camping food - and we never leave a restaurant without topping up with free 'sachets' sugar, tea, coffee, mayo, ketchup - use those zip bags - always have some in my bag - we're bad at making a game out of who can get the most diverse stuff or the biggest haul - I am not teaching my kids to 'steal' sachets so much as be resourceful (ahem)

Free coffee is so much nicer tasting

Thanks for the noodle tip. We often squirrel sachets away for camping. I must remember to top up (although, I shouldn't be going in cafes buying coffee and such this year...). Another good one is hotels, I always make sure I take the tea and coffee stuff that's supplied (but ditto, I won't be staying in hotels much this year :rotfl:) Lunch on the beach sounds heavenly. We're miles from the beach, but very close to the Peak District and we're hoping we'll get to the East coast a fair bit once it's delivered.

rozeepozee

fayjmck wrote: »

Hiya

I have thought of keeping the rooms ready and set up as they are for 'shorter stays - ie for cheap holiday letting for friends of friends' wanting to come up to the islands in Orkney - but will see. I tend to keep that quiet or it might be slightly dodgy cos of the council tax (?)

We usually trade room space for tesco vouchers when folks want a holiday!

I'm sure as long as they're just visiting it won't be a council tax violation?

Pippilongstocking

Rozeepozee - we fill up sachets in the garage when getting petrol as most petrol stations now have mini-cafe's - I don't buy coffee (I have no shame) I like to think of it as some sort of reduction of duty on my fuel and also when on the ferry back and forth to where we live.

And - Yeah I think visitors are OK (council tax wise) and we also never exchange cash - always Tesco vouchers - which is use for whoopsies and bargains so then the money that's left goes alot further and everyone wins

PS you've probably got trees and mountains - we don't have any of those (well not many!) but yeah beaches galore

FrankieM

Campervan owners unite!!!......we have 2 VW's. Mine is a South African import. 1976 Type 2 Fleetline Bay Samba microbus.
DH has a 1973 Type 2 Bay, currently having an engine refit and welding done. We were supposed to sell his when we bought mine but it feels a bit like selling a child! So we've kept it. I am seriously considering selling mine though as we really don't need 2 and DH's is a camper, which is more what we need and it fits the 6 of us.
We were going to be having one more, which is why we were first looking at the microbus but it didn't work out.

Of course whether I can actually part with it is another thing altogether!!!

FrankieM

grandma247 wrote: »

here is a direct link to a finance e-book. It is American but there are a number of useful things in it and I have only got to page 30.
Some may find it interesting. Its free.

Hi grandma,
The link hasn't worked for me

sophiesmum_2

Paulgonnabedebtfree wrote: »

It sounds like my property is far better insulated than yours. It's a mid floor flat so is protected up andf down. Also it's double glazed and has had overcladding fitted to the exterior walls some years ago (this was because the old rendering was failing in places). I think it also helps that my airing cupboard is in the middle of the flat. It does give off a little heat from the hot water tank. Also, I leave the computer on constantly in my office (bedroom no. 2) which does keep that room a little warmer. My front door opens up onto an inside area. I only occasionally use the heating. Even I have stuck the gas fire in the living room on a couple of evenings recently. This winter and last winter are the only times I've used heating in the last few years. It probably helps too that I'm in the south. Usually a bit milder down here. No condensation problems or anything else like that either.

This sounds very much like our flat at work, double loft insulation, insulated floors, cavity wall insulation, front door onto heated corridor and double glazing - we have one small storage heater on in the whole flat and it is a constant 20 degrees in here, we don't pay for electricity here so could have all the heaters on if we wanted for no cost but it is just too hot,no damp, no mould, no condensation issues - contrast this with our frugaldom cottage 3 storage heaters, kitchen convector heater, open fire,dehumidifier, all going at great expense and can't maintain temp at 17 - 18 degrees despite the outdoor temps being about the same currently.Need to sort out more insulation somehow.

grandma247

Frankie I uploaded it to sendspace so you can get it now.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

viv0147 wrote: »

Hi why dont you read newspapers on line for free ?

I sometimes do.