Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

minnie2

cw18 wrote: »

I've lost 3 of my grand-parents directly to cancer (liver, breast and prostate in that order), and the 4th was apparently found to have it at his autopsy (could have caused the stoke which caused him to come off his motorbike, though it was injuries from the accident that went down as cause of death). Late DH had testicular cancer, and an uncle of mine was diagnosed with lung cancer in the first half of 2010 (I've heard nothing since, but am sure my Mum would let me know if there was anything I needed to know)


Grrrrrrr!!!


Finger crossed your reaction to the meds continues to improve

thanx yeah its been one of those years. and now money troubles!! perhps its because last year we were so concerned wih other things - hmm yeah it makes sense now!!

Lost great nan,nanny, aunty, uncle, not this year but all to cancer, bowel, bone, lung, cervical

so you can imagine my horror when doc said referring to specialist as looks like a brain tumour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i thought that was it for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and there is always that element of doubt when they say benign as i havent had bi-opsy etc as its in centre of brain near optical nerve!!!!

Kiwisaver_2

23rdspiral wrote: »

??????????? re the spreadsheet... do i put petrol into the OTHERS page as i buy it, then transfer the costs to JAN REG? or do i just add up the total myself and pop it straight into JAN REG? thanks. (i do get confused easily)

Hi Spiral, what I did was inserted some extra columns on the REG pages, especially for petrol and a few other bills I pay fortnightly. If you insert extra columns before the amount column and then enter the formula to add cells together in the Amount column it will transfer to your totals without any problems.

cw18

23rdspiral wrote: »

??????????? re the spreadsheet... do i put petrol into the OTHERS page as i buy it, then transfer the costs to JAN REG? or do i just add up the total myself and pop it straight into JAN REG? thanks. (i do get confused easily)

Apologies - I missed this one last night/this morning when I got in

I put it straight into regular. If you total in 'Others' and transfer, then remember to delete from 'Others' or you'll be accounting for the spend twice

If I'm making multiple payments for one thing I just leave the date column blank, and add them up in the amount column

So if I had spends of £10, £4 and £3.56, I'd enter them as =10+4+3.56

If it's a category I know I'm likely to have multiple spends on, then I always enter the first with a '=' in front of it. When adding additionals I press F2 (edit cell) and just tag '+' and the latest spend onto the cell contents.

cw18

23rdspiral wrote: »

well, we wouldnt have had the fresh haddock if it wasnt on whoopsie, but i still think it's a great motivator!

I have the same 'problem', and am actually considering updating my own personal version (which has heaps more columns on the monthly pages, as it also rounds all spends up to the next 10p with the change going into my sealed pot fund - and also keeps track of vouchers and staff discount, moving those to my sealed pot as well) so I can also enter what I'd have bought as an equivalent.

In some cases this would actually be cheaper than what I paid for the Whoopsied item, but would also be a much lower quality item - however it would give me a much clearer picture of what I'd need to spend without access to Whoopsies. (Would also mean I'd see what I spent on 'treats', as they'd all get a big fat zero as the equivalent cost )

Erme

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Try not concentrate on your misspends Erme, they will only make you feel worse. Easier said than done I know Good news you can get patches on Tuesday though, will save some pounds on e cigs eh It is Tuesday today, did you mean today Tuesday the 11th or next Tuesday the 18th?

Good news about the carpet roll end-drag it? Dunno!

Methinks you are going to keep me sane this year Mind...Hugs...and thanks so much..Nope did I say tuesday? I meant thursday...but like right now having just had a hyper two days and feeling very down on Saturday I don't think it's the right time...I don't exactly want to be getting the iron out for non - clothes/crafts stuff do I? (how do I put this without getting the world and his wife to puke all over their cornflakes?)

I'm thinking I've only asked for a few feet of carpet so here's hoping it fits in my granny trolley and I can yank it back on the bus....watch this space...pics laters perhaps

Do you want me to pm you the pasta recipe I got in that cookbook yesterday? Or is that going a bit OTT for you right now hun

Let me know...off to get jumper and socks on and like go catch this bus (of which there are loads ) to this carpet place and go and see the chappie . Praise God I cleaned out the shoe cupboard the other day :T

E

mooomin

cw18 wrote: »

If your PAD is made outside your Frugal Living budget (but can be sustained without causing debt), then I'd say that anything paid for from this can be discounted.

If your PAD payments come out of your budget (ie. show as a 'spend' each day), then I'd also say you can discount the spend - otherwise you'd be double counting it (once when you PAD into your savings acccount, and once when you spend it).

Hmm...I'll think about what I'm doing then. I PAD into savings every day, but don't put aside money for things like clothes which are allocated to my annual budget and would withdraw from savings for these.

I do have an excess from the difference betwee my Frugal Budget and my income though. Ooh, it's all so complicated!

mama67

had to drop DS1 for refereeing at a footy match last night and Mr M is literally up the road, as it was just gone 7pm and they close at 8pm thought I'd see if there were any bargain whoopsies etc, which would extend the time to my main shop later in the month, and we needed cheese.

got
6 x 300ml dble cream @ 9p ea ( will make icecream)
5 x 4pk english muffins @ 9p ea ( i make my own mcmuff!ns)
massive piece of gala pie @ 29p (will go in dh packups 3 days)
2 x 4pk the best cookies @15p ea (suppertime treat)

also the red leicester cheese we like is on offer at £5/kg so got kg of that to split/grate/freeze.

grandma247

Erme I dont soak green or brown lentils. They take a little longer to cook but they are fine.

natnat13

Morning all
I have just been catching up on last night's posts, I went on my wii fit and over did it running round a lake then went to bed!!
I hope everyone is ok today.
We had a bit of a spendy day yesterday, hubbie spent £52.24 on parts for a tractor he is renovating, but will hopefully make money when he sells it so this will come back to us. I also spend £24.99 on his birthday present which is on Thursday. We have agreed rather than gonig out for dinner for his birthday I will cook a meal, he wants steak! I will buy rump and marrinate it in red wine, garlic and worcester sauce overnight rather than buying a dearer cut. Haircuts for all 4 of us on Sat as well so an expensive week but birthdays are only once a year!
I am hoping for a NSD today, car still has a little bit of fuel and I was invited to a coffee morning but not going, which I feel a bit bad about as it's raising money for our community centre but I have supported a lot of their events in the past.
Quick cleaning question - My dishwasher isn't washing very well and leaving a residue on the outside of some of my dishes, I have wiped it out, cleaned the filter and the blades but still the same. I am using expensive tablets and have topped up the salt and rinse aid. Has anyone got a way of cleaning in internally other than buying one of those awful cleaners, I bought one before and it stank of chemicals, anyone had this problem? Thanks Nat x

itsallinthemind

minnie2 wrote: »

Perhaps its because last year we were so concerned with other things - hmm yeah it makes sense now!!

Saying I'm sorry doesn't really help, but shucks, scary time for you It is no wonder your eye was not on your budget, plus frankly in times of stress we do not want to worry about costs, it seems so insignificant. Let's hope 2011 is an uneventful year for you and yours

Erme wrote: »

I meant thursday...but like right now having just had a hyper two days and feeling very down on Saturday I don't think it's the right time...

Do you want me to pm you the pasta recipe I got in that cookbook yesterday? Or is that going a bit OTT for you right now hun

Praise God I cleaned out the shoe cupboard the other day :T

See how you go, don't cancel yet. You may be fine come Thursday...just think of the £££££ going to the Doctors will save you :j

Yes Please! I am addicted to cooking Not that I ever follow the instructions! In your own time though, I'll not use it for a while as I have pretty much meal planned in my mind till Friday's shopping night and beyond!

Don't! I am some time over the next few days sorting my under the stairs cupboard out to be the PRESENT AND CRAFT Cupboard. The downstairs toilet will then store vaccum cleaner/carpet washer/mops/buckets etc. Waste of a toilet no doubt, but it works for me, well I think it does anyway!

Going to make some Black Olive pate for lunch(Sun grown olives at tesco are 39p for 230g(jar) yet Tesco Value are 69p for 200g(tin), both pitted) and try the discounted brand as frankly I can not see them being any different from Tesco standard ones.

Going to try shop around for my utilities later, my bills are astronomical, think it is simply the fact there is zero insulation though!