Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

cw18

SandraScarlett wrote: »

We pay for our gas and electricity by Direct Debit, and, a couple of years ago it used to be about £60 a month. It's now nearly double that, and set to rise more. B*gger all you can do about it though, and though we only have a 2 bed bungalow, with good insulation, I'm sure lots of you have even higher bills.

I can't believe you're paying that much if your insulation is good :eek:

My house is a 4 bed-detached (with integral garage, which means the bedroom over it is generally colder than the others), with pretty good insulation as it's not quite 9 years old. I'm currently paying £43/month for gas and electricity (combined bill), but am aware it would be about £46-47 if I weren't in credit.

Mind, it did go down when DS2 moved out (I was paying £47 up until then) - he had a very energy hungry desktop computer, and even when he switched to a laptop just before going he still used a fair bit due to being on it for sooooo long every day/night.

youngmummy

NSD for me today ... not feeling too good. our rabbit died last night too hope everyone is ok x

SandraScarlett

Lily_The_Legend wrote: »

Another thought, my mum gave me her old engagement ring and wedding ring a while ago to do with what I liked. I'm thinking about selling them (my parents are divorced so don't feel like they are really a good thing to keep/wear/melt down into something else).

Has anyone sold any gold? Is it best to go to a jeweller rather than one of these websites? The engagement ring has a diamond in it.

I'm sure there's a section on this site/thread on the forum about it, so i'll go and take a look for that. Just wondered if anyone here had any experience of it.

Last year, we unearthed a gold ring that was given to DH by a previous fiancee (I was Number 4!), about 50 years ago. We took it to a jewellers, who weighed it and said "£60". We had no idea what it was worth, but I said "Oh, I was thinking nearer £90 or £100", so she weighed it again, and gave me £75!

Lily_The_Legend wrote: »

That sounds like a lot Sandra, I can't remember exactly what we pay for gas and electricity together per month but I'm sure it's about £80 a month, we are in a two-bedroom terraced house though.

Could you go on a comparison site and see if you can switch to get the bill down?

We get Tesco points for everything we spend on our bill.

Thanks for tips Lily. I've been on umpteen sites, and the one I'm with, Scottish and Southern, always comes out best. My DH has Multiple System Atrophy, and though Aricept has stopped it advancing (for which I thank God daily), one of the symptons is that he feels the cold badly.

Another problem is that he leaves lights on like Blackpool Illuminations (he genuinely forgets this), and he has the TV on for about 18 hours a day, even if he is asleep in the armchair. But I might have another look at other providers, cos the points sound tempting. :T

Thanks again.

xx

23rdspiral

another NSD for me! :j (am glad i bought pie yesterday to take to a friends - she fed me a lovely lunch!!)

it would have been a Chip Shop night, but i've defrosted some whoopsied breaded fish to eat with the end of the own brand oven chips. that's good for my purse and my waist! :T

tomorow will be a spendy day i imagine though - going on an expedition to sewing/quilting and charity shops with friends . i've a 20quid xmas voucher for one quilting shop i know we'll be going to, so that should help. I'm already feeling anxious about any spends as I Cannot Lie to the Spreadsheet Of Wonder, but then days like this only happen a few times a year, so maybe it's ok

i drove last time, so they are driving, so i'm glad about not having that cost, but i feel bad putting it on them.

cw18 wrote: »

It's honestly not that bad once you get going - and I think the number of folks who actually use is pretty good proof of that

it really isnt that bad - it just tooke me a little bit of time to get my head around the codes ect... i was totally perplexed at first, but am now quite happy using it... i've even figured how to copy code from one month to another and change it for the right month! (jan grocery on totals hadnt updated since 9th jan, so was quite under!)

??? one more question though CW - when i open it it asks to link to another version? if i say no it's fine. if i say yes it says it cant find it. I can only assume this is from when i copied some dates/places/item names accross from the 'non whoopsied' version... any ideas how to make that message go away?

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

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

ooh, i'm quite jealous! i'd love a job like. i've heard that the competition is really stiff, so you did really well! :T
i work in a museum and love it, but am for the chop with govt cutbacks

natnat13

Re gold, there was a programme on the other evening called rip off britian and it really slated all the internet gold sites and recommended going to a reputable goldsmith.

That's really cheap for gas and electric Cheryl, who is your supplier if you don't mind me asking? We don't have gas but our electric is £61 a month!! :eek: I am at home most of the time though (on here!) and it runs the immersion and I WAS a bit of a tumble dryer fanatic, those days are over though thanks to this thread

I have had my 2nd NSD today. :j
Tomorrow, we have haircuts but my hairdresser is great, she comes to the house and will trim all 4 of our hair for about £15.

We might go and buy a new toilet too!! We replaced the bathroom on the cheap last year and the toilet we bought doesn't flush very well, on investigation it has no enamel in the tube bit, so things don't slide down very smoothly :rotfl:That's probably far too much information for a Friday teatime but there you go! Going to buy a lottery ticket to as it's a rollover.

I'm worn out today so am going to have an early night. Hope you all have frugal days tomorrow, will catch up when the forum's back up

Nat xx

cw18

23rdspiral wrote: »

??? one more question though CW - when i open it it asks to link to another version? if i say no it's fine. if i say yes it says it cant find it. I can only assume this is from when i copied some dates/places/item names accross from the 'non whoopsied' version... any ideas how to make that message go away?

Most such questions (that I've seen) have an option to "don't ask again".
Which s/sheet software are you using? It probably just needs something turning off under a menu somewhere, but I might as well look at the right s/ware before I go hunting for it

natnat13

youngmummy wrote: »

NSD for me today ... not feeling too good. our rabbit died last night too hope everyone is ok x

Sorry about your rabbit

Kerry_Woman

youngmummy wrote: »

NSD for me today ... not feeling too good. our rabbit died last night too hope everyone is ok x

Sending you hugs.

cw18

natnat13 wrote: »

That's really cheap for gas and electric Cheryl, who is your supplier if you don't mind me asking? We don't have gas but our electric is £61 a month!! :eek: I am at home most of the time though (on here!) and it runs the immersion and I WAS a bit of a tumble dryer fanatic, those days are over though thanks to this thread

I'm with Sc0ttish P0wer, and have been since moving here in May 2002 - have yet to find anyone I believe can genuinely beat them (though others regularly claim they can)

I get a dual fuel discount, and also another for running my account on-line. And I changed to a No Standing Charge tarriff a few years back - means I pay more for the first ?? units on each bill (so if I use all these I effectively pay the Standing Charge) and then the standard rate for the rest. But during the warmer months my gas has always fallen well below the ?? units, so I win a few ££ a year on that one

I'm also on a 'general price less ??%' tariff (not sure of the exact details on this one as I've been on it a while so haven't read the fine print recently, but it seems to work for me).

But I also have to pay an IGT fee (independant gas transporter) as the builders used someone other than BG (or whatever the relevant leg of that company is) to put the gas lines in - and the worst part was they didn't tell us, so the first thing I knew was when the IGT charge appeared on my bills after about 4 years (when SP started to apply it to those who used 'private' pipes, rather than absorbing the cost across all customer accounts)

23rdspiral

cw18 wrote: »

Most such questions (that I've seen) have an option to "don't ask again".
Which s/sheet software are you using? It probably just needs something turning off under a menu somewhere, but I might as well look at the right s/ware before I go hunting for it

it's excell 2000, so whatever was the right option for that.

BUT i think you're powers are scary! :eek: i think the spreadsheet heard you and sorted itself out! i went and opened it again to look which version of excell i have and opened the sheet and it didnt ask me. i asked me every other day this week. i dont know if it will ask me again when i've turned the computer on and off. :think: i'll come back to you if it does if that's alright

thanks anyway!