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

whitewing

Hi Redglass,

I am going to be very unfrugal. To me, if you can budget for it, a new laptop is better value. (Not necessarily in terms of the actual machine, but because we do so much 'research' aka MSE forum, that purely having very decent internet access saves a fortune via deals, motivation and inspiration. I'd get the best that I could afford, whether that is upgrading via a computer shop or buying new).

whitewing

BTW, I forgot to tell you. After about 2 years of being registered, I have finally got to do the Royal Mail postal surveys. (You post/receive letters and log it online, and get approx £85 worth of stamps for the year plus extras).

It gets me and the bab out and about (sometimes in record time!)

rozeepozee

Thanks for all the slug advice folks.

I think I'll try the beer and nematodes. It's sooo disheartening to have all your lovingly nurtured plants get eaten.

Erme

redglass Initially I wouldn't do anything but try https://www.distrowatch.com and get a basic linux o/s like puppy linux for it and see what happens and what you can do. If you can get a CD external drive plus a linux disk you might be able to revive it very cheaply. (maybe for £50 tops if not less).

However I appreciate the logic of just buying new...not least when you can get a decent wee netbook for no more than ahout £250. Love my netbook. Huge memory (won't use it all before it dies)...fabulous...No CD drive on it but then I don't use that that often and just got a cheapy when I needed one.

Now for my frugal finds (have been thinking about them for a while) on the hunt for marshmallows....

bath gel/shower gel
What about cheap soap? Was 13p for 4 now about 13p for 3 but still a good buy. And I'm thinking about using the last of my shower gel for washing up liquid (have been using it for like bath stuff) with the odd bottle of essential oil from work when I'm desperate for fragrance. What I use long term other than cheap washing up liquid watch this space. Reckon it's going to be either bubble bath @ 18p (but don't think I want BLUE and like didn't have the room on bike am and have lost bungees ) or like shower gel @ 10p. What do ppl reckon or will you just let me experiment and report back...


:grouphug:

E

NualaBuala

Hi frunchkins :wave:

Jen, I don't think going over budget by £30 is bad! Lots of people overspend by that amount every day! Plus, March was a 5-week month so maybe that's why you needed to spend more - hopefully you'll do better in April!

Wow Erme, your rug is fantastic! And I'm well-impressed by your duvet dress (love the name!). I hope with enough practice I'll be able to knit and sew that well some day.

I sympathise with all of you who are having slug and snail problems. My garden is infested and I have a phobia of them. That's why it has taken me till this year to even attempt any gardening. I have a completely irrational reaction to them, I know they can't hurt me. The idea of killing them troubles me though. I have a couple of things in pots with the copper tape so hope that works.

I need to do a bit in the garden today. The grass really needs to be cut but the weather has been so damp lately that I've been putting it off. And I want to clear some weeds too. It was nice and sunny when I got up but it's gone grey now - hope it doesn't rain.

Hope you all have a great and frugal day. Hugs to all who'd like one!

cw18

Frugaldom wrote: »

PS - I don't class myself as IT savvy, I believe CW is the expert in that department, she may be able to tell you how to test memory, hard drive, processor speed etc.

That's actually DS2's department :rotfl:

I can buy components that will work together and build a machine, but no good at figuring out what will/won't fit into an old one (without sight of it anyway).

I have a very old desktop base here as well..... think the CD in it is 2x speed, and the modem is only 28k - which shows just how old. Have often thought about dabbling with it for a back-up, but doesn't seem worth the effort

I am going to clean it up and find a working monitor for it though - just as soon as I find a box with some floppy disks in. I bought (many years ago) a partworks collection with 'games' on it for young children which are all mental arithmetic and alphabetical type things (so very much educational, although my boys never realised at the time) - and they worked fine on that old machine. Plan is to bring it back into service for my GDs to run the disks.

Fishcake_Random

Hello strangers,
I am feeling much better now I have recovered from all my excitement and got into a routine with baby Anya so I am returning to the frugal fold lol.
Things might be a little slower and I may not reply as often but I will be firmly in the frugal mindset, I promise. So far for April I have had 2 NSD's but need to pop to Mr.T's tonight for a pack of steralising tablets for the fishfinger and some milk for me. I can't survive without my cereal or tea!!!!
Tomorrow is the official meet the baby day for all the rellys at my mums house. She's also putting on a lovely easter roast so we don't need to stress about food while we're out and I dare say there will be several pressys for the fishfinger so it should be a moneysaving day. We have been asking people for useable items rather than clothes as I have tons! My neighbour popped over on thursday and gave me 2 binbags worth of baby stuff, most of it Jasper Conran and M&S. Amazing!!! I did joke that OH should stop selling games and start selling baby stuff lol.

Happy Easter all.
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COOLTRIKERCHICK

Hi, hope you dont mind if i drop in now and again, i have been lurking and reading some posts etc...

i must admit i used to be pretty savvy when money was really tight, well i had to, but now that we are in better financial position, i have seemed to have slipped got into a comfort zone.

I want to save as much money as i can get my little paws on, so this means getting back on track, and watching the pennies.

we are a household of 4, 2 adults and 2 very greedy teenage boys. we have one very large dog, cat, and umpteen chickens and ducks,

there is no way we could run our house on just 4k so over this weekend i will work out our spending etc,

so do some of you include everything including mrtage/rent etc, or after the main things have been paid etc

enjoyfinancialchallenges

COOLTRIKERCHICK, I count everything all in but everyone seems to do what suits their particular income and life style. My initial aim was to get out of debt and since that is now reality I aim to get some cash behind me for emergencies etc. Nobody judges you on this forum about what you have and what you do with your cash but there is a general 'glow' of others being helpful and making suggestions on trying to live as frugally as possible or as you want to.

I live alone so living frugally is easier for me than for others and I am thoroughly enjoying this forum, I couldn't believe when I first found it that others also enjoyed making the money go round...must be to do with the fact I was born in 1939 and lived my first few years under rationing and with a very efficient mum...bless her she knew how to stretch the cash and I never ever was hungry. Mum was from the East End of London and had experienced hunger as a child so I can imagine she didnt want me to.

Must get out again into the garden, have just done a couple of hours on my hands and knees weeding and now Iv'e had a rest must resume my work. The ground is very wet but OK for weeding, the sun is now shining and I have my washing out drying in the sunshine. I cant believe we had hail this morning...strange weather here in Suffolk.

Fishcake_Random

Well said EFC.

I also include everything. I'm attempting to live on £100 a week. I work this out monthly to help me keep track. This month my dd's and bills etc come to £351.99 of my £428.57 leaving me with £76.58 for the month "free money". This pays for food and everything else unaccounted for. Now I have had my daughter I am trying to decide wether to add her Child Benifit to my weekly total or if I can live without it start putting it away into her child trust fund.
H2H
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