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

tiddles

landregistrylass wrote: »

YIPPEE.................... whoopsies on cherries, strawberries, blackberries, pears, potatoes, carrots, pineapple, houmous, yummy trifle, tarte aux fruits, runner beans AND 2 terracotta pots of hyacinths (3 bulbs in each!) All 10p each. Then 2 chicken breasts for 37p, pack sausages for 16p (x2). I only bought 1 thing at full price........ olive oil. Anyone know a good source of this more cheaply than Mr T?

Not sure whether anyone else has mentioned this, or whether it is cheaper than in Mr T's, but we usually buy olive oil from Lid!, and it seems to be good value.

Ches

grandma247 wrote: »

witworths sugar is beet sugar not cane sugar. It is ok but not as sweet and it does not store long term as it develops an off smell.

But we always used to have BSC (British Sugar Corporation) sugar which I believe was beet sugar and I though it sweeter than the likes of Tate & Lyle. It was coarser in texture and I didn't have any problem with smells.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

rictus123 wrote: »

What does everyone count for this? Im counting every penny i spend thats for personal living. Digs, deisel, nights out etc. Tomorrow il need diesel, new jeans for work on Friday and a new trowel for work. Total cost i think £40+£10+£25=£75 Not bad considering itl be the first week in the year costing £95, budget allows more than that.

It's different for everyone but I include:
Household bills
Food shopping
Personal care items.
Medical bills (dentist, spectacles, prescriptions, painkillers etc).
Diesel and general vehicle maintenance and repairs (personal proportions only as it's part business part personal)
Telephone and mobile (as per vehicle).
Internet services.
Computer stuff (usually zero these days ).
Leisure activities/ hobbies.
Meals out/takeaways (unusual these days)
Days out.
Chocolate. I know this sounds comical but I have decided to have a spreadsheet column just for chocolate because drastic reduction/abstinence would be a good idea for me.
Other sweets. A column for this too to ensure I'm not doing chocolate substitution. It's so easy to hide bad habits from oneself with a catch all misc column. Well I won't be doing that this year.
Fares (not often except on a day out to London).

Excluded:
Mortgage.
Debt payments.
Business expenses (including business proportions of vehicle, phone etc.)
One weeks holiday spending. (If affordable, I do need to have a week away from all this stuff to let go a bit).

candygirl

Didn't like my veg chilli thing in the SC , so have added a jar of curry sauce n a can of chick peas and it's yummy, and will last me for ages:p:pI am such a curry addict, even after eating them every day in Goa:o:o
Will prob be staying in tomoz too so hopefully another NSD then;)
Am watching Hairy Bikers, and loving that cheese n potato pie:p:p

grandma247

Ches wrote: »

But we always used to have BSC (British Sugar Corporation) sugar which I believe was beet sugar and I though it sweeter than the likes of Tate & Lyle. It was coarser in texture and I didn't have any problem with smells.

The smell comes from long term storage. I have noticed this in the past. The sweetness thing may be an individual thing but I noticed my family were using far more of the beet sugar than they do the cane sugar.

rictus123

Ok well im finding what most people would use there time to spend and shop, im going to try and keep using that time to earn! Best attitude to have. I hope to get all 3 things i need tomorrow or Thursday ready for work on Friday, dont want to go over £75 though.

Kittikins

Hi Tiddles and everyone else - The L!dl olive oil (can't remember the name) at £1.99 per bottle won the Which test recently, much cheaper and just as nice as other olive oils

I am going to lock my purse up tomorrow (although hopefully I'll be off work as it's starting snowing), as I went out at lunchtime and whilst I got bargains, I did spend money.....*sigh*

I bought lots of reduced price Atk!ns meal replacement bars, down to £1 for 5 rather than £5.75!! Oh well, it's cheaper than buying similar bars from the LL counsellor, using up old packs plus £5.40 a week's worth of bars is "free" rather than paying £70 a week...

UPDATE: the bars are VILE Looks like I bought a pig in a poke there, a friend had told me they were yummy, but made me retch, hope I can offload them to her!

flippin36

rictus123 wrote: »

Ok well im finding what most people would use there time to spend and shop, im going to try and keep using that time to earn! Best attitude to have. I hope to get all 3 things i need tomorrow or Thursday ready for work on Friday, dont want to go over £75 though.

Thats what I'm going to do! Saturday is traditional for us all to go to town and have a mouch around the shops, albeit Poundshops and Wilkinsons . But we often come home £20 lighter - and to be honest its mainly me. So I have decided to get a Saturday job which means I will be earning rather than spending.

kittiej

I spent my first £10 of this year on diesel, so Ive got £2990 of my budget left.

mooomin

Homemade wrote: »

NUT subscription is not needed. If you find yourself needing help in that sense you will find it free of charge anyway.

Counselling, obviously I dont know what your counselling is for but there are several places where you can receive the same sort of thing free of charge.

I am a rep for a union (not NUT or teaching related) and wouldn't necessarily cancel my membership in the current climate. They provide excellent help and support for members generally and many teachers have spoken up telling this poster to keep their membership. I cannot think of anywhere that would provide me with free representation if needed that would be recognised by my employer for example. Consider this one carefully OP! You may also get additional benefits with your union membership - mine is worth the annual subs for the holiday savings alone!

Good quality counselling can be hard to find for free on the NHS (My better half has been waiting for an appointment for CBT for a long time, and if I could afford to pay for it for him I would) I think that if the OP can find savings elsewhere they would be able to continue with these things that some of us might not see as essentials but which could better their quality of life (especially the counselling)

In my own frugal battles, I am happy with my "free" shoes (Woo for Christmas gift cards!) and had my second NSD of 2010 which I'm very pleased with. I have signed up to a challenge to have 120 NSDs through the year, which has been difficult for me in the past. I hope that this thread helps me to focus on cutting out these little spends.


Hope everyone is keeping nice and warm....we're getting more blooming snow here. I left the house for an hour this evening and by the time I came home the tracks I had made in the snow had been covered again :eek: I wish I lived further away from work and could get a snow day