FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE part 3, July - Dec 2010

NualaBuala

ceridwen wrote: »

NUALA BUALA

Wasnt it you thats interested in that?

I've just seen this and thought I'd share:

http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com/2010/07/simple-solar-cooked-meal.html

I wonder whether this would work in a particularly shiny stainless steel mixing bowl I have actually.....:cool:

Yep, that was me! Thanks a mill C, that looks so simple - now all I need is some sun. July has been rubbish weather-wise ... here's hoping August is better! It's a nice blog ... how do you keep up with them all Ceridwen?!

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Hi cw18...sounds like you have the dreaded sawfly on your fruit bushes,:eek: they eat all the leaves and the female lays eggs on whats left of them. If you G***le the word 'sawfly' you will be able to identify what sort yours are and then find the correct treatment for them.

I had them on my Gooseberry bush last year and then this year the plant died but I am not certain if that is connected or just coincidental as they were a bit neglected this year what with me being in hospital a couple of times , sorry to be the bearer of bad news.:(

aeb....wow is it 9 months since your babies arrived, seems like only yesterday, well to me anyway but probably with all the work they give you not for you. If I remember correctly they are girls, hope all going well for you now.

NualaBuala

Hi :wave:

Looks like my circumstances are set to change. Less money and will now receive it weekly rather than monthly. I think I'll manage on the reduced amount thanks to frugalling. But I'm used to budgeting monthly - most of my bills are monthly and I've set up my spreadsheet monthly. Any advice on how to make this work with a weekly income?

Thanks in advance!

***Happy update!***
Just got a few raspberries from the Aldi bushes I planted earlier this year.:j Only a few berries as the birds and snails beat me to it but there are more to come. Plus the overgrown brambles I'm working on clearing have unripe fruit I will keep an eye on. Won't be clearing any more for the time being!

cw18

I currently get payments all over the place...

CTC and WTC are weekly on a Monday
CB and WPA are weekly on a Tuesday
Widows Pension (company scheme) is next-to-last working day of each month
Salary is every 4th Friday


And, like you, most of my bills are monthly with a few annual ones (mostly car related, but also my bldgs/contents insurance).
The others are the ones I pay cash/debit card for (window cleaner, groceries, petrol etc)

I run with two main bank accounts. My incoming money all goes into Account 1, and I then transfer money across to Account 2 for my Direct Debit bills (all my D/Debits are on the second account). This way I know that I can't accidentally spend bill money when out and about. All my cash/debit card spends come out of Account 1 as I can easily see how much 'disposable income' I have left. These accounts are with different sections of the same bank, so transfers are instant. But I also have a third account with a different bank where transfers are processed within 2 hours, as they're both set up for the 'Faster Payments' system.

It's just a case of working out how much to transfer across on a weekly basis. I found it helped to start with enough in Account 2 to pay the bills for month 1, and I then transferred 1/52nd of my annual bills across from Account 1 each week from Day 1 (so by the end of month 1 you should - in theory, but depending on the number of weekly pay-days in Month 1 - have enough in the account to pay the bills for Month 2.

But you need to be careful if you have any annual bills, as you probably won't have the full amount in there when you need it (so it's actually best to transfer over more like 1/48th of your annual bills each week and build up a small 'emergency' slush, as you'll then have less to find when an annual one is coming up due)



If you need any help with adapting your spreasheet, please feel free to give me a shout. I've helped others sort out problems/niggles with their personal copy of my spreadsheet, and I'm sure they'd be happy to confirm I've never made any comments to them about how much they spend/allocate to certain items - and I've certainly never mentioned the contents of any of them to anyone else either. (In fact, I barely register their category names or figures as I'm busy working with formulas to get things up and running again)

NualaBuala

Thank you so much Cheryl, you're so generous with your time and expertise. :T:T:T I would trust your integrity completely but think I'll make do with what I've got for now, and perhaps avail of your kind offer of help if I get stuck.

Luckily my annual payments are due to go out in September so I've got almost the full amount put by already in a long term bills savings account. I have 2 other main bank accounts and I think I will use these to juggle the money for bills.

I think what I'll do is cut right back somehow so I have a month's worth of bills money to start off, a bit can come out of savings to help with that and I can repay that fund as I go. Then the weekly money can cover the weekly outgoings like food and get siphoned into other accounts to save for bills/yearly expenses. I think I'll go with putting aside 1/48th for yearly bills like you suggest so I have a buffer. And maybe 1/4 for monthly bills.

Hopefully it'll work!

NualaBuala

Just thought I'd share a little experiment I did today. I've been looking for an eco-friendly and frugal homemade dishwasher detergent. I found a lot of recipes using borax which seems to be hard to get nowadays as it was reclassifed by the EU or something.

So I tried bunging a tablespoon or two of plain old washing soda crystals in the dispenser and it did a reasonably good job. There is still rinse aid in the reservoir (which I plan to replace with vinegar when it runs out) so that may have helped.

It wasn't as good as the tablets I usually use (had a tonne of them bought at half price). There are water marks and a little residue on a pot. But the stuff is clean and I'm happy enough with the results - it's not worth the money and environmental cost to keep buying the dishwasher tabs.

Some recipes add citric acid so if I can get some cheaply I might try that but I think that will just make it fizz a bit and then neutralise some of the alkalinity of the washing soda which helps degrease and clean. But I will go by whatever gives the best results.

candygirl

Hi everyone,I've totally fallen off the FLC bandwagon as was trying to pay my way with mr meerkat even though he knew I couldn't manage it ,so am now totally in the red:(:(:(
I do read the updates and think of you all all the time:D:D
Have dumped Meerkat and am back with ex OH so will try and be frugal again :A:A

rozeepozee

I really should be in bed as I spent last week in the children's hospital with the twins who had a nasty cold virus and were struggling to breathe with it (altho hospital's main worry was that it could have been something more sinister so wanted them teste dfor everything). Couldn't resist doing a super speed read of the last couple of pages. No time for personals but HELLO to everyone.

I'm constantly playing catch up with my spreadsheets and budgeting and I've fallen off the wagon too - lots of eating out as there's so little time and I'm constantly tired and the hospital didn't feed parents so I had to buy food from the hospital canteen etc.

I'm hoping that I can get things sorted once I recover from the setback of being stuck in hospital and my mum comes to stay and gives me some time to do some admin.

Meantime, I dream of being frugal again!

On the subject of raspberries, we've had one or two from the aldi plants but punnets and punnets from the Costco plant I bought last year. It is so productive, it's amazing and it's HUGE now, loads of very tall canes. Supports my belief in the quality of Costco products yet again.

slowlyfading

rozeepozee - hope the twins are better and that you are looking after yourself as well x

knithappens

Just popping on the say hi, have not posted here for a while, life has just gotten in the way, started exercising etc and i have very little time for online time, but I have been keeping up with my blog as best I can.

So far I am sticking to my budget, I have manage to almost be sub 4000 on my cc debt and have started over paying my mortgage from any money i make from ebay sales etc. I seem to have more cash now that i did when i worked full time so to speak, mainly because before i was waisting it, and now I am making the most of my money

I had to buy a new car as my old one fell apart it was either a banger or a decent car, I mamnagd to haggle in a private sale to £3000 for a 2005 honda Jazz, had it checked over etc and it is great, this was the first time I have bought a car by myself, a little research goes along way it makes it look like you know what your talking about lol. The best bit of all is that I paid for it cash, I would never have been able to do this 6 months ago, so I am so happy. It meant nearly all my savings were wiped out but I am back up to £600 in savings so will get there again.

My electricity and gas consumption is right down, infact I am waiting for another credit balance to be returned to me, but i have asked them to keep my monthly direct debit the same so it will even out over winter.

the garden is doing great i did not get planted all that i wanted to , but the strawberries have been abundant which is a good job as my 1 year old is a strawberry fiend, more so than my eldest and i thought that was impossible. This morning i have had a few toms and spring onions in my morning omlette, so tasty, and my blackberries are coming on nicely , so too are my carrots will be pulling up some of those later for tea

I am trying to get fit for as free as possible so I have taken up running, I can now run 3 miles, and no gym membership in sight, plus walking every where with the kids which has also kept petrol costs down.

At the moment it is trying to get through the summer months while we are all off school for as little money as possible , i have alot of free days planned out, tomorrow my son is having a 2 hour kayaking tatser session as part of the rochdale canal festival at hollingsworth lake, and the best bit is it's free, plus we are spending 3 days in York next week, thanks to tesco, as we have booked an ensuit family room through the YHA, and used days out vouchers for Yorvik etc so hopefully the only thing I will have to pay for is petrol and food, which we can prepare ourselves in the hostel.

So thats a little update from me, I am going to read back through the posts now and try and catch up, hope every one is well


rozeepozee- hope the twins and a lot better x