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

BigMummaF

phoebe03cat wrote: »

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.

There are many times when :wall:seems to be the only option in this house too Phoebe so I hope you get the results you deserve very soon.
Have you been watching that programme on BBC2 about edible gardens? I like that they are using a bog-standard house for a change & with very few 'luxuries' like heated propagators & dibbers but I wish there was a little more 'information' for the more novice among us :whistle: And your last sentence just about sums up my opinion too

XSpender

Hello All

I am still here plugging away at being frugal but have not been keeping up with the thread as much as I was. Baby due on Sunday so if I go missing again for a bit you will know why;)

Electric smart meter thingy (free from Npower) arrived yesterday so we spent last night going around turning things off and on to see what was costing the most to run. The kettle was the most shocking thing we found so far.

Budget wise things a bit lopsided as I knew they would be as we had so many one off expenses that occurred in the first quarter. I also got an unexpected bonus which has thrown things out a bit but I am still writing everything down we have spent so I have an accurate record.

I do need to cut back on my monthly spending though as I am now redundant and no more big one offs are expected. I am sure this will happen when the baby arrives as our entertainment budget expenses will be a lot less.:o Good news is DH income is increasing a bit each month as they have adjusted his bonus targets at work so we are getting about £150/month more than I had planned for.

Kiwisaver_2

Here we go with my results after four months:

If Spends< $5,000 = One :j Kiwisaver

Ta daaah!! Kiwi has spent $4,787.38 and has $212.62 leftover. Woohooo!

Stocks in the larder are pretty good at present and I'm hoping May will be a cheap month as I must concentrate efforts on making sure stuff gets used up before we depart these shores in four weeks time.

I must attack the remaining saladlings in the garden and make sure they all get used too and make one last ditched attempt to sell the remainder of my books.

slowlyfading

I have spent £97.00 exactly for the month of april - not bad at all I think. Having some issues at the moment but life will return to normal soon I expect.

Skint_Lynne

Hugs to you slowlyfading. Hope things are back to normal soon. xx

Erme

Hi guys. Burnt the candle @ both ends on Thurs - so not good. Wednesday was worse than Monday ...Ma freaked me out Tues/Wed so spent about £10 or £15 going out to the woods (would have been less if taken a flask of coffee - lesson learnt)...and got a juice book from the charity shop (big book of juice for like 75p) and 2 cd's for 75p each. ...

I know it was more expensive than the drop in but it was more effective. Kept me sane!!! Bearing in mind with all the stress by now caused by ma I would not still be here able to be online etc normally this is no small achievement.

The health board don't like me. I emailed the paper about the lack of tea/coffee on the ward (they hardly get it..how are you supposed be psychotic and detox off coffee/tea? Or how are you supposed to buy your own when the nearest supermarket is Mr S and they don't have smart price stuff???) and they ran a story:rotfl: Och they will learn! When - well don't hold your breath.

Communion season here so lots of services then training scheme on Monday. Seriously thinking of taking a filter for coffee to work and some grinds so I can have a cup of proper coffee when I get to work. .

Want (coveting) 70's saddle bag (sometimes this fixation is worse than others) but know I don't need one and like eating playing up so like living off mung dahl and basmati (kitchari basically) but hey ho - it's frugal.

Anyone else noticed that the price of dried milk has gone up by 50% pretty much everywhere:eek:

:bdaycake::xmassign::xmastree::happylove:heartpuls:A :bdaycake:

to all the newbies....

This is a lovely board and everyone has their ups and downs but is so friendly yet will tell you if you do a major whoopsie (like the honesty)

Blessings

E
PS. Hosp appt went well. No surgery needed:j and Ma says she's going to try out the B+B this year then seriously think of just checking in there next year cos like it's handy (no more than 15 mins walk from my pad) purely cos it's too stressful staying in a 1 bed flat with me (though praise God I have a bunk bed so could be worse)...

Have thanked as many guys as poss...so if I haven't replied directly check your thanks...

E

JayJay14

Just a quick update for month four.

April was a pretty good month but then we don't have many of the annual bills in at that time.

We are spending far too much on diesel, especially considering OH is not working, so we are going to have to curtail that a bit. The kids ask for lifts all the time cos he is at home and he is a soft touch really. But with the price of fuel being so high they will just have to catch the bus.

Haven't spent any money on clothes for me and OH his year yet and shouldn't need much in the way of summer casuals as we went on a cruise to the caribbean last October so all the hot weather stuff we have is still new.

Have just about stuck to the grocery figures this year, need to do more planning though so that I use the resources better.

Had our first garden product last night - rhubard crumble for pud. Hopefully lots more things to come.

Kiwisaver_2

Erme wrote: »

Anyone else noticed that the price of dried milk has gone up by 50% pretty much everywhere

Yes indeed the price of dairy stuff is on the up again - our dairy farmers co-operative 'Fonterra' (the Anchor butter people) produces about 30% of the worlds market share for milk powder. They hold a monthly online auction to determine the market price of the powder and in April's auction the price went up by about 25%: eek:

landregistrylass

Optimistic Pair - totally agree. Although I am not completing a detailed spending diary, life itself seems to take up time let alone all the additional planning "frugalisation" demands. Sure it will get easier for us newbies, and then we can post more often! Car boot sale this morning not quite so rewarding but still worth a walk in the sun, chatting to the regular stall holders and feeling smug when seeing tomato plants @70p each and thinking "No, dont need them, have my own". Yippee

Frugaldom

Hello and Happy May Day to all. Ours started off frosty, brightened into warm sunshine for a couple of hours - long enough to get the washing out - then it began to rain. It's been raining non stop since before noon and my towels are dripping on the line. I guess it was wishful thinking that it was just a passing shower.

Good luck XSpender, hope all goes to plan for you this weekend and that frugalmite arrives safely and in a timely manner.

Erme, you are doing well whatwith controlling the spends and hopefully managing your eating whilst coping with the stress of mother-visit. I guess parental visits are stressful for most people but more so when living in a situation that doesn't afford any 'get away from it for a while' space. I sleep on couch when parents visit but it's still a bit of a trial as stuff like perfume and hairspray have a weird effect on me but my mum's like a chemical junkie when it comes to aerosols and cosmetics. Not helpful when she'd rather hide in MY room and open the window like a kid would do trying to smoke a fly cig without the adults finding out! :rotfl: Keep up the good work, stay strong and think beyond the problems that can be encountered. That's all I can suggest.

Budget is doing OK here but I've had loads of practice over the years. I know where it's possible to cut down (junk when grocery shopping) and know where it's impossible to even try (electricity) so things are pretty much as expected. I have £2,758.16 left out of my £4,000, which means I have spent £1,241.84 over the space of 4 full months. It's averaging £72.44 per week as opposed to the budgeted £76.71 per week, so I am slightly ahead of the game at this point. My 'Everything Else Kitty' or 'EEK' as I call it, is back in black. I've earned extra income of £588.71 and spent £557.77 of that on garden & livestock project related items. LETS trading has been a God send, as I've been able to trade out all my surplus eggs for an assortment of goods, including fruit & veg. I'm well in credit with that and plan on making the most of trading, swapping and bartering.

Savings are slowly growing, although I cannot see any way of filling an ISA as I simply don't earn that amount of spare cash. :rotfl:

It's DS's 21st next week but I've managed to save everything needed to cover that, quick recovery after DD's wedding last year, thanks to the frugalisation technique.

Enjoy bank holiday weekend, everyone.

PS: I am a complete and utter numbercruncher with numerical OCD, so I account for every penny and hate loose ends. As soon as the interest goes in on my savings, I try my best to round it up to the nearest whole '0' ending number.