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

landregistrylass

mrsmuggy - I too am having a week "away" in the summer. I am going to stay at my daughter's place in Yorkshire, but we are going to pretend we are at a hotel, and go out with the boys every day for trips, taking a packed lunch. I have been researching places which take the tesco rewards entry vouchers, and free things like the beach to keep the cost down. I have put my order in for good weather!

mrsmuggy

Landregistry lass - think its just nice to go somewhere different isn't it,just to chill out a bit.
The first weekend that we go we have my son and girlfriend,and my first grand childs coming too, she'll be about 10 mths then and has never been on the beach,so that will be nice and then we have the rest of the week to ourselves. We try and go away at this time of year because its our anniversary as well,when we got married we promised ourselves that we would go away,even if it was for a weekend.
So can't wait for that,i like to look forward to things,gives something for you to aim for doesn't it

Margaret54

Hi My dh and I will be having days out taking in lots of beauty spots here, and tasty packed lunches:) and hopefully the weather will be warm:) A treat will be the cinema if something is on which is of interest, and a bite to eat nearby, and we have lots of books to read as well. Might sound boring to some but we are very happy doing this:) Sitting out in the garden too, will be something I enjoy with a book or on the laptop signed in to this wonderful site of course:)

phoebe03cat

Frugaldom wrote: »

Hope everyone's doing well, quite a few gone missing in action over the past month or two but I guess that's to be expected. Frugalisation isn't everyone's cup of tea. :rotfl:

Hi, just wanted to post to say I am still here and still carrying on. Have just had another round of problems with my medical retirement as I'm trying to appeal..get's me all worked up again so have just not been posting. Feeling better now though:hello: and have caught up with the posts. We've lost several of our more 'tropical' plants in the garden this year so are in the process of turning it round into an 'eating' garden. Have had lots of good ideas from these threads and blogs. Gone over budget at the end of this month, but not too badly; Three family birthdays including a 21st-but it's been great to know exactly when and how it happened and to be able to sort of make the choice to do so.

mrsmuggy

This is my ideal setting too Margaret,just peace and quiet and a good book. Only thing is hubs doesn't read very much,he's a telly addict,so if i want to read in peace i go to bed earlier than he does and i've banned a tv from the bedroom. Unfortunately we don't have a garden as we live in a flat

grandma247

Just popped in to say ds2 has arrived at his destination. he didn't ring at 2am so I waited till 1pm our time/8am their time and spoke to the dad of the family he is staying with and ds2 is ok. His connecting plane was delayed twice so he just crashed into bed when he got there and they let him sleep in. He rang me just before 4pm so I can relax now I have heard his voice.

cha97michelle

I'm still about. I've lost track of spending a little this month as i have been really busy. I have been having a big ebaying session for me. I've currently got 17 things on there. I never normally have more than 5 on at a time.

I've also started being a mystery shopper.

Also the nice weatehr means the kids want to be out all the time and i have been tackling the garden, and tired when i came in.

The realisation hit that i am trying my best to be frugal, but all these little things were still not leaving enough to do everything we want to ie. give the boys money in their trust funds and pay off our mortgage. I did a SOA on my thread on MFW board, and learned how little we actually have spare.

I have also come to the conclusion that i am trying to keep an eye on too many things in to much detail. I know it is important to have spending categories, but i am trying to fill in a very detailed itemised spending spreadsheet and i don't get time to do it as well as it needs.

May might see me try just going back to basics and recording my spends with a pen and paper when i do them. It should then hopefully get easier. No point using the technology if it is not helping me. I'll try and report in more frequently.

stitching_witch

DH and I went to see his employers today regarding a phased return to work. He has been off sick for 23 months with just ESA as income and we have finally convinced our GP that light duties may be an option.:D

Unfortunately his employers do not agree and have offered him a small lump sum payoff. It actually just covers 1.5 years untaken holiday pay and a month's notice, but we do need it desperately. Although this sounds good in the short term and will pay rent/council tax/overdraft etc for a few months, in the long term it won't mean our income will increase. At least it gets us out of a deep hole for now.:j

On a good note - I set my Frugal Living Challenge budget at £6000/yr or £500/mth. Even though I thought I was doing very badly, I still have £3623.17 of the budget left to last me 8 months. That works out as a touch over £450 per month. It's only £50 less than intended. I can tighten the belt just a bit more, surely???

Frugaldom

Hello

Can you believe that it's almost the end of month 4? One third of the way through another challenge and looking not too badly, other than the ridiculous amounts spent here on electricity. never mind, only another couple of weeks and then the storage heaters can get switched off completely. Roll on summer!

Optimisticpair

Frugaldom wrote: »

Hope everyone's doing well, quite a few gone missing in action over the past month or two but I guess that's to be expected. Frugalisation isn't everyone's cup of tea. :rotfl:

I think some will be too busy to be clocking on and checking in. I have much less time to get everything done while keeping very detailed records.