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

candygirl

I'm back off hols having spent too much, so am reigning it in now and trying to be good:o:oHope you're all ok and will catch up on the thread asap, when I can sit still for 5 mins.Am off on the boat tonight:j:j:jlet's hope it stays sunny:D:D

Frugaldom

Patchwork cat, have you tried doing a search for anything about the fruit trees on communal land? I'm not very up on stuff like that but I do go foraging.

Hope everyone who has been feeling under the weather is improving/feeling better and hope nobody has been directly affected by the outrageous goings on in Cumbria. Thinking of all those families who are now having to cope with two tragedies within such a short space of time.

May budget has been OK here, despite being a bit over in the grocery department - Approved Food and Food Bargains were both blessed with Frugaldom orders to stock up even further.

Here's the state of play as of final day in May (amount in brackets is original allocated budget less the amount remaining):

General groceries (£900 - £469.93) £430.07
Toiletries (£35 - £14.42 ) £20.58
Cleaning products (£5 - £1.12) £3.88
Electricity (£1,200 - £530) £670
Coal (£115 - £69) £46
Logs (£200 - £160) £40
Internet (£165 - £125.05) £39.95 (introductory offer included 3 months free)
Mobile (£20 - £10) £10
Telephone (£150 - £105.23) £44.77
Clothing/footwear (£40 - 35.70) £4.30
Gifts (£250 - £204) £46
Misc (£235 - £181.87) £53.13
Travel (£240 - £225)- £15
Insurance (£50) NIL
Contingency (£250) NIL
TOTAL = (£4,000 - £2,576.32) £1,423.68

Average weekly spend is now standing at approximately £66, I have managed to get ahead of the game in my 'everything else kitty' challenge (EEK), I'm well in credit with LETS and I'm trading almost every week. This week it was a load more comfrey for growing to use in home made fertiliser/plant food and around 5kg or rhubarb. This has now been stewed, baked into crumbles and a kilo of it is in the process of being turned into sparkling champagne style rhubarb wine.

The garden is now producing greens, salad leaves, herbs, rhubarb and, of course, fresh eggs every day from hens & ducks. The recently hatched quail are now 6 weeks old, so I'm awaiting the laying of the first Frugaldom quail egg anytime. More hen chicks hatching in the incubator as I type this and the ducklings are now a fortnight old. I really cannot think of anything to grumble about other than still waiting for Sophiesmum to move in next door so I have fulltime neighbours on both sides. :rotfl:

NualaBuala

Evening all :wave:

Hope you're all ok.

Hugs Erme and Fishfinger - hope you're both doing better soon. (Sorry if I've forgotten anyone - my brain is like a sieve these days).

I'm rejigging my budget (again) as I've accepted that I just didn't allocate enough to my groceries budget. I could spend less but trying to eat healthily plus buying organic as much as poss is costing a lot more than I 'd allowed. But I'm spending less on other categories - no regular prescriptions now and spending less on transport so it's all balancing out - phew! I've spent €3893.96 so far this year. I originally aimed for €10k for the year but am hoping to spend less now.

My seeds are sprouting - am very happy to see their little green heads poking through! So far radishes, spring onions and salad leaves are showing signs of life. I think I sowed them too densely in the container - so I think I need to thin them out.

Have a lovely evening everyone and hugs to anyone who'd like one.

Puddleglum

Good Morning everyone. Hope that things are working out all round for us all.

I have just been updating and rearranging the spreadsheet and so far have spent £3290.53 of the £7855 allowed for the year. This figure includes the purchase of a microwave/combination oven and a large 2 metre long vegtrug for the garden.

Our old microwave went pop instead of ping about 5 years ago and I hadn't bought a new one as I wanted to get a combination one and couldn't afford it. The one which we have got has allowed us to turn off the gas powered rayburn for the summer which apart from a little 2 ring portable hot plate was my only way of cooking thing. This should bring down the gas bills:beer:- fingers crossed. The vegtrug has given us loads more space for growing veggies and currently holds, amongst other things, all the brocolli, brussel sprouts and kale for the winter.

It has been a bit of an eye opener about how desperately optimistic I was about the amount of money I hoped that we would have for this year. All that extra money (our little windfall) and I still am on budget for the year. We probably will end up going over as we are having some essential repairs done to the house which were going to have been put off to another year and we still do not know how much it will come to.

All round however :beer: woohooo!

JayneC

Hi all,

Thanks for your kind words nuala, Hope evryone doing ok today.

I've just done a review of my budget and trying to be more organised. I'm planning to put different 'pots' of money in different accounts with the hope it will help me keep better track. I'm a bit haphazard with filling in my spreadsheet so gonna try just doing a notebook spending diary with occasional online updates on spreadsheet and see if that's better ( can't always get on computer with kids!!) I will have an account where all direct debits come out another where day to day money will be and then a savings account for one-offs (hols/xmas/etc)I've allocated an amount for kids and will put the money for them - school trips clothing, etc...- in their own accounts. I think it may work! I was hoping to save up for a wood burning stove and back boiler but not sure I'm going to be able to afford it now, I may have to consider some money making plans! Did a mystery shop recently but they don'y pay that well - infact I didn't actually make anything but managed to get a shredder for only £1.99, which I did want!!
Well I think I've rambled enough for now, will be back soon xxx

mama67

Good morning all,

We have woken to rain after some spectacular thunder and lightening storms last night, sky was electric blue.

This will give the garden a very much needed general watering.

All the plants in the garden seem to be thriving, we are now just having to wait for things to be ready, although we do have rhubarb, salad leaves, and spring onions. The cucumbers also now have small flowers.

Yesterday I planted out the sprout plants and Friday the leeks ready for winter.

DH has decided he wants us to try to be self sufficient in veg next year, which will be a challenge; I did point out that we did not have enough room to grow all the potatoes we eat, so we shall see.

xnatalie81x

Good Morning

I don't post as often as i could but i do read - glad we are all doing so well! Last year i started to flag around June/July but this year i am still well on track!

The reason for my post today is my rekindled enthusiasm now that i have peas, broad beans, tomatoes (about 6 flowers on biggies and 10-15 on my hundreds/thousands) and 2 cucumbers growing along with mega amounts of salad leaves, my first courgette of the year plus all else is growing well - am soooooooo excited and happy and already planning mega frugal meals with it all!!!

To give you a run down of how i am doing here are my monthly spends
Jan 859.41 /1125
Feb 950.77 /1125
March 780.34 /1125
April 1081.22 /1125
May 1627.26 :eek: /1125

My budget is to live on 13500 for 2 adults, 3 children and a baby on the way - i aim to reduce yearly and this in itself is a 1500 reduction on last year

Other frugal news: My car broke BMW needs gearbox - even with my mechanic hubbie too expensive so my daddy has given me his Frontera as he is buying a new car. Love daddies. Will try to talk hubbie into selling BMW - might be losing battle. lol

Holiday this year will be mega cheap - camping for a week with parents who run a car show so free just need tent and accesories - have always gone but last few years not bothered. Need holiday! New tent and stuff will come from savings and additional earnings and 'extra budget' - got camping grill, kettle, double bed, top of the range tent, plates bowls cups and cutlery set all for princely sum of £150 very pleased with frugal ness. My tent is 170 in argos. I got it for 99 on amazon and it is a top brand brilliant one!!!!!!!!!!!

My swim school is doing amazingly! Some of you on here were with me from the start. Jan 11th i started with 2 classes a week - 30 kiddies and 1hour and 4 teachers. 4 months later i now run 4 hours a week, 90 kiddies and 7 teachers/assistants and admin working for me - i am making enough to pay myself my hourly rate and i absolutely love it! I enjoy working and i am going to expanding more in future! (i won't be taking any maternity leave this time. I have to not work legally for 2 weeks but i will still be at the pool to oversee things - i cannot get into the water after giving birth anyway for obvious reasons lol but 2 weeks off is plenty! - my organised self has most maternity cover sorted and i am only 16 weeks )

grandma247

Xnatalie it is good to see you doing so well.

NualaBuala

Wow! What an inspiring post Natalie! I'm thrilled for you that everything is going so well - you've come such a long way! :j:T:j

Another non-frugal (but within budget) food shop yesterday at the organic food market. I got lots of nice stuff though and at least it's healthy. Am feeling exhausted and achey today so going to do as little as possible. I think this might be the aftermath of the shingles - am having lots of weird itching, stabbing pains and tingling too so it probably is. It's a rainy Sunday so don't think I'll do anything more strenuous than watch a movie on TV.

Hope you are all having a great weekend! Hugs to anyone who'd like one!:)

JayneC

Hiya all,

It's piddling down outside so no working in the garden today and house is still fairly tidy after giving it 'The BIG Clean' for estate agent visit on Friday so no urgent jobs to do today. Still feeling somehow guilty for sitting at Computer on a Sunday afternoon and feel the need to be doing something constructive (will try to ignore for as long as poss!!) I've sorted through all my paperwork file broke as too full!!so I've transfered it all to 2 ring binders and now got shed loads of shredding and put a fair pile in the recycling bin. so am occasionally shoving a few pieces into shredder as I'm here (does that count as something useful?)

I've just had a week off and back to work tomorrow:( Have been looking at my budget to see if I could possibly afford to go part time. It's not really practical at the mo but I should be debtfree by Mar 2012 so am counting down to then, with the plan that I'll just work 3 days after that. Would really like to run my own business but not sure if I could be profitable - great to hear you're doing so well Natalie. I know business link does free course so I might go along for some info. In the meantime I'll stick to trying to increase income in other ways for time being.

I've done really well with grocery budget this week - only needed eggs, milk, bread, butter and cucumber (!) as have stuff in cupboards and freezer. Garden is growing slowly - the slugs keep eating things! I've got salad leaves in a bowl and in a trough, but other lettuces in ground have been eaten by slugs!! Except the rocket - so more rocket is called for I reckon! Not got much else available to eat yet but have radishes, onions, shallots, new potatoes, spring onions, strwaberries, cucumber,courgette, tomatoes, raspberries, kale, celery, beans and peas, carrots, parsnips, leeks, apples and pears and several herbs all growing!!(Oh and broccoli). Also baked a cake yesterday - banana loaf, which was very nice. I will do some more today as I've been buying stuff instead for past few weeks and I'm sure that's having an impact on my grocery budget, so need to get back into baking.

Well off to have a tootle around the other boards.
Take care all xx