Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

itsallinthemind

NSD partly due to me not finding my card! So 10 out of 13(Tesco/Co-op/top up mobile)

Tomorrow night is my planned shop day, so I still have a spend of £20.41 out of £30.00 for the groceries! I could probably leave it a few days, but Friday Night is a good whoopsie night here generally

Today I fed the children simple cheesy pasta, we are all a bit under the weather and the simplicity of that followed by some custard and banana seemed to hit the spot for them(refused food at school). I may just grab some cereal or toast shortly. I am knackered and feel hellish! Hopefully well enough for school tomorrow

I've not used the spreadsheet yet cheryl, just nosied! My spends are simple so far though

I am taking the child benefit and childrens activities out of my NSD and budget as now Christmas is FINALLY over we will be using that money at least three times a week for activities and so it will throw me out mentally to include it. I'll easily do the £30 a week as soft play is £10 for them

Sound like you are all doing well

seriouslyfrugal

23rdspiral wrote: »

thanks both! well, i had a cup and it tasted nice... and i'm not dead yet! brilliant as we'll have electricians everywhere in a few weeks so they can hoover the expensive looking tea up!


:T well done seriously frugal! good luck at your new job - it's at an abbey? what will you do there?

Hi the abbey is owned by the national trust so i will be looking after visitors and admin things like that really

enjoyfinancialchallenges

It seems like some of you are having pretty tough times at the moment but stay with it you will get plenty of support on this forum, as somebody said its sometimes a long tunnel but there is light at the end.
I feel bad now after reading what someone on the forum said about people with lots of no spend days being all lies but honestly I really am having them. Its sometimes useful having buses only on two days a week. However today I didn't have a NSD because I paid off by phone the second half on last months MOT and service garage fees, I also had to book Poppy (my cat) for another appointment at the vets for her annual injection and enquired how much I owe and was told that including the jab next week it will be £206.48 :eek: fortunately I took out an insurance for her in Sept but being as I havn't had to use them before am unsure how much I will get back, I need to have a good look at the papers first. Will let you know next week but whatever it is will need to be paid first and then claimed back. Her eye injury on NYD has certainly proved to be an expensive one but I'm happy that I did the right thing and possibly saved her from loosing her eye. She is lovely though and gives me a lot of pleasure.

In my bid to declutter I found out I already have a yoghurt maker, Oh dear, that's what having too much clutter around does for you, you just can't see what you do have because there is so much carp around. I got a slow cooker from freecycle last week to make yoghurt in but hadn't got around to using it because I had two large pots in the fridge that needed to be used first. Last night though I did try and because I use skimmed UHT milk I usually add a teaspoon of powdered milk to it, I hadn't got any but had an unopened jar of some coffee whitener that was BB july 2006. It lasted good and was thicker that the ones I made without it but just tasted too sweet for me and the texture wasn't so good so will not use coffee whitener next time.

itsallinthemind

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

I feel bad now after reading what someone on the forum said about people with lots of no spend days being all lies but honestly I really am having them.

I'm sure they did not word it correctly though?

My Grandma used to go 2 weeks without spending and never owed a penny to anyone (inherited her house) and yet she was a single mother to a few children, working hard to make ends meet. She was not a liar, just very resourceful and believed in no debt. I wish I could be like her!

NSD's for me will mean sticking to my budget, avoiding temptations by not trawling shops etc. But for others 7 LSD may work better.

What works for one does not work for another and we all have different challenges. Same as when someone said it is ok to have a little blow out. That may be fine for some, but not for me. There can be disasters, but not blow outs.

I am chuffed so far with my 10 out of 13, I have been in the co-op ONCE in January(due tomorrow or Sat) and I've worked meals from whoopsied vegetables. I aim to keep my spend days as low as possible throughout the ten months of the year we have no guests.

Keep going with your NSD's, I take my hat off to you. It is hard keeping away from the shops!

apple_mint

Morning everyone :hello: I'm in a flying rush to get ready for work and should really be doing the packed lunches by now.

Yesterday was a spend day in the Supermarket (Tesco). Really pleased because I managed to pick up some whoopsies (casserole veg 25p a bag x 2; organic avocado 39p for three; big bag of tomatoes for 55p and some sausages 49p x 2) and keep my part 1 monthly shop down to £29.41. I do the second half of the monthly shop in Lidls tonight.

Came home to a lovely pizza made by OH too

Just sorted my online banking and been able to move some of last month's salary in savings

I'm really pleased. Thank you everyone for helping keep up the motivation :T I haven't managed to read the backlog of posts but I'll save that pleasure for tomorrow

Now to get on with the packed lunches ...

grandma247

Not going in to shops and not spending in general does get easier. I have found that when I go in the supermarket I can't wait to get out of there and as for spending, sometimes you might need a crowbar to get your purse open. It has taken three years for me to get to that point so don't give up just plod along and don't think too far ahead once your plan is in place..

cw18

apple_mint wrote: »

I'm really pleased. Thank you everyone for helping keep up the motivation :T I haven't managed to read the backlog of posts but I'll save that pleasure for tomorrow

The forum is actually going to be closed for a large chunk of tomorrow
Announcement here

Means I've no choice but to catch up on some h/work :eek:

seriouslyfrugal

:hello:Morning Everyone,


It's raining here in hampshire so i'm having a day at home to catch up on exciting things like housework :eek:

the good news is that today will be a NSD


have a good frugal day everyone :j

lynzpower

Morning all , hoep you are all ok

I just have another question please about the spreadsheet ( im guessing cherls at work, but if anyone else knows?)

Yesterday I downloaded a lovely shiny new ss off the link on page 1 of the thread
Immediately I did it as a "save as" calling it 2011budget2011 ( to differentiate from all the others)
An hour or so later
I opened it and added some stuff in
and then saved, all fine
then I opened it this morning to get it all in order
and it is now showing as "readonly" at the top

If I enter, then do a save as
it will be yet another one

there are over 20 spreadsheets littered about the PC

Is everyone else doing this? Do I have something wrong?

I need to get this sorted today, no question bout it!

Any help greatly appreciated

cw18

No I'm not at work - not yet 1-5pm on a Friday.....

That's not something I've encountered though. Which version of the spreadsheet (and which s/sheet software) are you using?