Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

SandraScarlett

Went to Lakeside WHS, to swap a duplicate Christmas book, and found myself walking into Hotel Chocolat, as you do. They had Christmas dark chocolates, reduced from £11.30 to £2.26 and they were wonderful! DH and I shared them when I came back, and they were just awesome. I know that I should be feeling guilty, but I'm not! Well done to everybody who has signed up, and also to lurkers. The first month is the worst, like giving up smoking!

And talking of giving up, was it you itsallinthemind who has given up chocolate, cheese and coffee? How are you getting on, cos those are my mega downfalls in life, and I think you said you'd nearly completed the first month without them. Well done to you. I think you're the lady who said her children, or one of them, goes to school at some ungodly hour, like 7 in the morning! :eek: How on earth can you function without a coffee fix!!

I love Alta Rica, which is about £3.38, but Asda are doing it for £2. So I ordered 12 jars, plus food for the dog (which is heavy to carry), and that qualified me for free delivery. I bought a huge fresh chicken in Mr S yesterday, marked down to £2.50, and have 3 casseroles bubbling away in the oven now, plus the carcass for soup and dumplings for lunch tomorrow, with reduced harvest grain rolls for 17p. :T In stead of saying "reduced" should I be saying "Whoopsied"? Must get my terminology right!

Well done to everyone who has managed a NSD, or saved a few pounds, or even just committed their spending to a spreadsheet, or a sheet of paper. It's frightening seeing it listed, but that's the worst bit. Hang on in there!

xx

seriouslyfrugal

Hi

Nuala: My doctor suggested to me to get out walking to improve how I feel ( got put on tablets for depression and given prescription to exercise) and my disability employment advisor advised me to do volunteer as it gives me routine and looks good on my cv so I really just combined the two :j:j

rubytuesday

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

Hi

Nuala: My doctor suggested to me to get out walking to improve how I feel ( got put on tablets for depression and given prescription to exercise) and my disability employment advisor advised me to do volunteer as it gives me routine and looks good on my cv so I really just combined the two :j:j

I also go out with a walking group every week and try and walk nearly every day. It is has helped my mood so much and I half also lost just over a stone and a half. I'm supposed to be doing the walk leader training with Natural England but someone is coming to see me about Dog Fostering tomorrow and if they accept me I won't be able to leave the dog to start with.

Erme

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

Hi Everyone,


Welcome Laushappy - good luck with you frugalling and remember do ask if you need us i'm sure we will be able to help :heello:


Esme : I saw a book in the library on the w.r.a.p. system I will get the deails of it and pm it accross to you as it may prove useful to you


I am planning a NSD today :j

have a happy , healthy, frugal day everyone

Thanks Emma..are you by any chance doing the W.R.A.P or something similar? Have been on it for about 18 months and love it (note to self to clean this keyboard of tobacco tonight :T

SandraScarlett wrote: »

And talking of giving up, was it you itsallinthemind who has given up chocolate, cheese and coffee? How are you getting on, cos those are my mega downfalls in life, and I think you said you'd nearly completed the first month without them. Well done to you. I think you're the lady who said her children, or one of them, goes to school at some ungodly hour, like 7 in the morning! :eek: How on earth can you function without a coffee fix!!

I'm psychotic without my two mugs in the morning - that's my excuse - even though the acid from the coffee and the cigs has caused chronic gastritis in no rush to give it up. Smoking on the other hand .....well bought 25mg patches x2 weeks today in Mr SD cos like they were half price and I had that revelation last week (or was it earlier this week?) about it costing me £1000 a year which could be better spent elsewhere

Without cigs this challenge would be relatively easy for me right now.£1000 makes a lot of difference in this challenge

SandraScarlett wrote: »

I love Alta Rica, which is about £3.38, but Asda are doing it for £2. So I ordered 12 jars, plus food for the dog (which is heavy to carry), and that qualified me for free delivery. I bought a huge fresh chicken in Mr S yesterday, marked down to £2.50, and have 3 casseroles bubbling away in the oven now, plus the carcass for soup and dumplings for lunch tomorrow, with reduced harvest grain rolls for 17p. :T In stead of saying "reduced" should I be saying "Whoopsied"? Must get my terminology right!

Have you tried a cheap filter machine or a cheap espresso machine and the stuff from the £shop? You can get douwe egberts every now and again for £1 and all you need is a posh tin for it and no one is any the wiser ..

Also Mr S do a good range of fair trade filtered coffee if the former isn't an option for you. I get them when they're on offer - £4 for 2 bags though it might have changed? Don't know

Also if you want to be really frugal with coffee equipment then you could do no worse than semi turkish. Just heat up a pan of water with the grinds then strain using a tea - strainer....or go mega italian with a moka pot (you gotta love the chug chug chug of the moka pot). Alas it doesn't work well on ceramic hobs but if ya gonna do coffee @ home ya gotta do it in style and with ritual - sort of like tea - if you get my jift?

What was I going to say? This thread is slowing down :T is everyone in bed with the lurgy or just catching up on posts?

I got the veg bags from the £shop today. I take it you can wash them out and reuse...they were well hidden though...

and my prayers re budget were answered cos I went to Mr C cos I noticed they had some nice shoes and I tried a load of pairs on then walked out. If I need new shoes God will provide in his own time and like I have a perfectly good pair of DM's I got end of last year in a mad fit :eek:....

Also I thought they had thermo mugs in Primark for £1 but when I got to the till they were 2.50 so I tried negotiating then walked out..

Have a good evening folks ...

Sprinkling compost everywhere and sunflower seeds

E

redglass_2

Ceridwen, many thanks for having originally supplied that link. And I've now gathered that there is something called the Really Old Style thread, which I'm sure I won't be able to resist for long.

Cheryl, if your bloke can drive with sciatica, all I can say is, he must have nerves of steel! :eek: Hope he is soon completely better...I've got muddled (again) with the spreadsheet and thought I would put it here rather than PM you in case anyone else had the same problem. When I'm on the Jan Regulars page, how do I make successive entries? I have about £16 down for presents so far (I count presents as a regular expense), and today I bought something else, so I want to add it. But if I put it in the columns to the right it doesn't seem to come out on the totals. I tried erasing the original and putting the new one in, but of course that also erases the earlier purchase from the totals page! Where/how do I record dates/amounts for subsequent purchases of presents? I think what I really need is something like 'Spreadsheets for Dummies'

minnie2

NualaBuala wrote: »

Minnie I signed up for surveys and I find it's either a feast or a famine. I get none for months and then several come in a row! But it sounds like you have more than enough to keep you busy! Hope your hubby cooperates with you and things get easier.

thanx!! well i cant imagine that doing the surveys are going to make a great amount of differnece but every little penny counts i suppose - just a shame i havent managed to finish any yet!! I am like a swan - above the water i am calm and still underneath i am peddling like mad!!!! - except on here where i am being completely honest!!! i am terrified!!!!

with regards to ME have you heard of the lightning process? ive had a lot experience of ME and have been amazed at the results of this process!!!

CRANKY40

NualaBuala wrote: »

Cranky,how are you getting on with WeightWatchers? I got good results with it in the past but stupidly piled the weight back on then some! I am too stingy to join again (plus I'm not sure it's right for me) but I'm trying to be careful with my calorie intake at the moment and I am ignoring all the leftover Christmas chocolates! :A

I've only just started, but I'm doing it online. It seems easy enough. I did it after I had my son, and lost 3 stone then, so I know it works. I can't really get to meetings as I have nobody to mind the house elf of an evening. I've put on 3 stone comfort eating since I was widowed, so something has to be done. Most of my widowed friends lost weight when they were bereaved, but there's always one isn't there? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

seriouslyfrugal

rubytuesday wrote: »

I also go out with a walking group every week and try and walk nearly every day. It is has helped my mood so much and I half also lost just over a stone and a half. I'm supposed to be doing the walk leader training with Natural England but someone is coming to see me about Dog Fostering tomorrow and if they accept me I won't be able to leave the dog to start with.

Hi Rubytuesday the health walks scheme in my area is run by natural england the training is really good and not to taxing on the brain cells a lot of it is common sense really :j I hope you will enjoy it let me know how you get on

Erme wrote: »

Thanks Emma..are you by any chance doing the W.R.A.P or something similar? Have been on it for about 18 months and love it (note to self to clean this keyboard of tobacco tonight :T

Esme it is somthing my health team are currently looking at for me as my doctor is very much into multi treatment in other words you get exercise, tablets , therapy etc :j

I find that other people in a simular situation understand the most my motivation has gone awal at the moment just want to stay in a lot which is good for the spending Note to self : must go to the market tomorrow & library

Sprinkling compost everywhere and sunflower seeds

E

23rdspiral

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Well done to everyone who has managed a NSD, or saved a few pounds, or even just committed their spending to a spreadsheet, or a sheet of paper. It's frightening seeing it listed, but that's the worst bit. Hang on in there!

xx

umm, yes - re the frightening...

i know i spend a bit on materials for sewing but they are practical and therefore totally allowed(!) and i dont splash out as fabric is often from thrift stores... but i think even so i might scare myself now i'm adding it all up!

And i just went onto online banking to sort out using an almost redundant account for my 365 in 365 and thought i'd check my DDebit dates... and my car insurance has gone up by 4quid p/month :mad:. not happy about that. ok, so it's only a small rise but it's gonna add up. BUT i wouldnt have even noticed if it werent for this challenge.

~ thanks everyone!

rubytuesday

I have managed another NSD and have also made three days worth of meals with what we had in. M and S whole chicken cooked in red wine and redcurrant jelly (well Cranberry) wine left over and frozen from daughter's 18th, then left over chicken in white sauce with left over white wine, sweetcorn and peas topped with breadcrumbs mixed with a little cheese (including some lurking brie) and tonight I'm making a fish pie with half price prawns from the freezer and a half price tin of salmon.