FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 2, April - June.

BigMummaF

minjara wrote: »

Thank you JackieO for your kind words. My first hurdle before i even reach the pool is getting my anxiety under control that is related to my newly found IBS. Its a catch 22. I think if I'm out, what if I have an accident and cant get to a toilet n have an accident and that makes the iBs play up even more so I think once I have the anxiety panics dealt with I'll be fine, but I hate going anywhere at the mo as I find 20 mins on a bus too panicky.

Out of my little family of four & then me muvva, only ONE doesn't experience this type of IBS so I can truly relate MrS & $up3rDru8 both do a very good product that needs to be chewed as opposed to taken with water & we find simply knowing we have those in our pockets is a great help with the whole 'what ifs' part of it. Please pm me if you'd like more info as I'd hate to evoke the board censors when I am NOT trying to give any medical advice.

Glad you're enjoying your break SF; you've worked hard this academic year & deserve a bit of pampering before the final push towards your first employment

Methinks I may have broken my duck concerning cash back :T It looks like my motor insurance is going thru & I've done a bit of intel for No2's car that is also showing up as a few more coins in the coffers so many, many thanks for the gentle encouragement. I can't fully understand your preferred site tho Frugal but I'm not going to give up now :cool:

I thought my grocery target was comfortably tight but hadn't realised that £7 a day still only equated to 50p per mouth per meal (4 humans x 3 meals + 2 pets @ 1 meal ea) so small wonder I never achieved it :doh: ; somehow it sounded an awful lot more than that so I've upped by £3:50 pw to hopefully allow for the necessaries like toothpaste & tea bags I've given up a lot of frills & fronds that I now recognise to be nothing more than marketing ploys, but loo roll will NEVER be one of 'em :eek:

First quarter of exceptionally close monetary scrutinizing has gone well & encouraged me to continue recording where absolutely every penny is going. This was my biggest concern when I first started reading the exploits of this particular merrie band about this time last year, but it so obviously pays dividends (no pun intended!) that it would be foolish to chuck it all in now by thinking I can relax my book-keeping. So to everyone again, my bank manager, local stationers (for the biros & notebooks ) & I say a heart-felt Thank You :T

ChinaTea

Arghh!, just lost my long post. First day I've been able to see well enough to look at the forums and have just skimmed through the posts.

The pics of the chicks are beautiful, spring has really arrived. Hopw we get the good weather that's being forecast for the weekend I really do need to get in the garden. The apple and plum trees from Aldi are all in bud which I'm pleased about. The day after planting them we had a couple of hard frosts so a bit surprised they survived.

Will go off now and catch up properly.

Fishcake_Random

Hello all,

Yesterdays spends were £7.25 on a tub of formula and 45p on 2 reduced chocolate bunnys. Today is a NSD and theres some mince defrosting in the fridge for tonights spag bol. I'll make enough for tonight and a spare one for my lunch tomo. I've been up since 6am with the fishfinger today so housework was all done by 9am.
Frugalness;
Washing drying on line.
All leftover munched for a weird lunch rather than wasting.
2 bananas frozen before going mushy.
seedlings checked and watered.

Has anyone got some ideas on uses for formula tins? I have 2 so far and they are really nice metal tins so there must be a zillion uses for them!!! Also I have some baby clothes that aren't good enough to pass on due to stains etc, any ideas of something I can do with them??? I was thinking about making some little reuseable wipes from them but maybe you guys have better ideas?
x x x x x

knithappens

Fishcake, with my bubba's baby grows i just cut off the feet and they last a lot longer especially as PJ's just pop some socks on.

well i have just sorted out my seeds, i have tonnes of salad seeds, lots of beans, carrots, some tomattos, lotsof herbs, some sweet corn and beetroot and courgette and broccoli, not sure how many to sow, as i dont want too many and no where to put them.

I also managed to pay for my car insurance in full, almost 2/3rd cash neutral too, which i am so happy about.

going to plant some seeds tonight using the plastic inserts from easter eggs as want to reuse them before i recycle them

Erme

feeling mega spaced out and hungry....wondering how I am going to make this week's groceries last a week!!! :eek: Somehow it came to £10.05 @ Mr A this am so praise God I didn't have room for loo roll on the bike but sooner or later (methinks sooner) I'm going to have to 'invest' in some (out of savings methinks) and I still haven't paid elec yet that I meant to pay this week...dee dum dee dum (to add to the confusion tithe is still in purse from last weekend)

But yet most week's up until now I've been able to buy a week's worth of groceries (not counting milk from FF) for about £8 so where did I go wrong? Hmm....must examine at some point (when more with it). I was only (only she says like it's some sort of valid excuse) stocking up up on a few essentials :P. (like tinned toms etc. But they're almost 40p now :eek:)

Hmmm...one erme.

So there will be about £2 till next tues spare after paying electric and that will HAVE to go on loo roll. I'm going to aim to be very frugal till tues (bar the odd freddo and fudge in crisis). Praise God it's free dinners tomorrow and monday and the chaplaincy opens again on Monday after the hols (free coffee all you students - worth noting down and often free biscuits too and crazy folk pretending to be pious but in reality far from it)

Nuff of a rant...

E

Erme

Don't know how I found this exactly but looks good

[url] http://www.wen.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Household_cleaning_factsheet.pdf[/url]

:t

kezlou

Hi all,

Well spent a fortune this bank holiday weekend, ended up buying a membership with english heritage for £77. So we went to helmsley castle, lindisfarne priory and barnard castle, i think all together thats makes up half the money spent on the membership already. As the kids go free with us, only have to go on three more trips and its paid for itself. Still a lot of money but as a family tickets are between £11 - £20 its saved us in the long run.
Also planted some potato, rhubarb, garlic out today as well as sowed some salad leaves, climbing beans and tomato seeds. So quite happy today, spent £70 ish on shopping already, can't believe how much crap as been bought.

Think we might be getting a new car given to us next week, so hopefully that will save us on the MOT. Fingers crossed all goes well. Right going to make more drinks then sort children out x

The chicks look so cute.

cha97michelle

Managed to get a couple of loads of washing fully line dried today, and also got outside with the kids to do some gardening. We planted up some courgettes, beetroot, butternut squash and sweetcorn, and i potted on 2 tomato plants and a cucumber that have been growing inside. I am really pleased with progress so far, and hope the weather continues as it was today. Warm and a bit breezy. Lovely.

I've also spent a bit of time updating my spreadsheet and i had spent a bit more than i thought, but not much, so i think it is going well.

It was my birthday yesterday and i was over the moon with the economy gastronomy cookbook my sister gave me. There were some lovely pictures in it so i definitely need a good look at what the recipes include to give me a bit of fresh inspiration.

jtb2412

Just wanted to hop on and say to all those who are growing various bits and bobs, please be careful if you put things outside - there's still time for a frost or two and I'd hate you to lose your precious seedlings ! If in doubt then cover with some newspaper to keep the frost off or fleece if you have it. We lost a fair few plants last year in May as there was a really late frost. It got my spuds too but thankfully they were ok.

annie123

cha97michelle wrote: »

It was my birthday yesterday and i was over the moon with the economy gastronomy cookbook my sister gave me. There were some lovely pictures in it so i definitely need a good look at what the recipes include to give me a bit of fresh inspiration.

:bdaycake:Belated birthday greetings:bdaycake:
a lovely pressie to get.