Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

landregistrylass

Morning all. Off to SIL for weekend. Really looking forward to it. They have a new (to them) cottage so have bought a couple of gifts - a stained glass star for a window, and one of those candles in a tin which honestly smells exactly like fresh cut grass. And the best bit..............????? They were money neutral! I had bought what a chap sold to me as "an old blanket" at the car boot sale for £2.50. What he didnt know was that I had looked in the bag and discovered it was metres of authentic stamped Harris Tweed fabric...........got £50 for it yesterday from our local sewing shop. Result! I have set myself a target of making £100 pcm from bargains, so if anyone needs a brand new sketching easel, PM me LOL. Have a good weekend.

natnat13

landregistrylass wrote: »

Morning all. Off to SIL for weekend. Really looking forward to it. They have a new (to them) cottage so have bought a couple of gifts - a stained glass star for a window, and one of those candles in a tin which honestly smells exactly like fresh cut grass. And the best bit..............????? They were money neutral! I had bought what a chap sold to me as "an old blanket" at the car boot sale for £2.50. What he didnt know was that I had looked in the bag and discovered it was metres of authentic stamped Harris Tweed fabric...........got £50 for it yesterday from our local sewing shop. Result! I have set myself a target of making £100 pcm from bargains, so if anyone needs a brand new sketching easel, PM me LOL. Have a good weekend.

That's a good idea about setting a sales target as well. I have a few bits on ebay at the moment and tend to keep the money in paypal and then buy other things when needed. I will do a couple of car boots this year as well.

I didn't think we were going to be able to get on here today, yay!

Hairdresser is due in a minute. I have just run out of bread but I think I will resist buying any more today. I will have to buy some tomorrow for packed lunches on Monday and will hopefully be getting my breadmaker from my friend next week.

natnat13

Haircut's were £20 for the 4 of us. Then got a phonecall from my brother he is having a clear out and offered the kids all his old ghostbusters, thundercats, farm stuff and lego but wanted it gone today! So off we went, he also had a hamster cage and 2 CD racks which I know will sell at car boot so I took those as well. Boys are thrilled with toys, not sure if any of it is worth anything, does anyone know?
Went to Li**s as my brother lives just down the road, it was really busy, I think more people are shopping there than Mr T's (the only 2 major supermarkets in the town). Spent £17.40, got fruit, veg, chesse, milk, bread so hopefully have everything I need for next week, plus flour and yeast for when breadmaker comes. Went to look at toilets but didn't buy one.
Now waiting for a new bathroom unit to be delivered, some local mums run a furniture restoration business, all shabby chic type stuff and I'm getting a lovely old blue / white distressed finish wooden unit for £40, cheaper than buying MDF in Argos and nicer hopefully! I have put the money aside from some bits and peices I have been selling so I'm not including in my spends.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, (((hugs))) to those that need one x

never_too_old

natnat13 wrote: »

Haircut's were £20 for the 4 of us. Then got a phonecall from my brother he is having a clear out and offered the kids all his old ghostbusters, thundercats, farm stuff and lego but wanted it gone today! So off we went, he also had a hamster cage and 2 CD racks which I know will sell at car boot so I took those as well. Boys are thrilled with toys, not sure if any of it is worth anything, does anyone know?
Went to Li**s as my brother lives just down the road, it was really busy, I think more people are shopping there than Mr T's (the only 2 major supermarkets in the town). Spent £17.40, got fruit, veg, chesse, milk, bread so hopefully have everything I need for next week, plus flour and yeast for when breadmaker comes. Went to look at toilets but didn't buy one.
Now waiting for a new bathroom unit to be delivered, some local mums run a furniture restoration business, all shabby chic type stuff and I'm getting a lovely old blue / white distressed finish wooden unit for £40, cheaper than buying MDF in Argos and nicer hopefully! I have put the money aside from some bits and peices I have been selling so I'm not including in my spends.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, (((hugs))) to those that need one x

Would imagine lego and farm stuff would sell well , £ 20 for 4 haircuts thats brill:)

Erme

cw18 wrote: »

You have to go to the stores via the relevant links within Quidco
They then (eventually) get the money from the retailer and credit it to your Quidco account
Within your account you can set it to pay out if there's any money due, or only if your balance is above a certain amount (mine's set to pay if anything's due)
At the end of each calendar month they pay me into my bank account (via BACS, the same way as an employer pays your salary in)

The only money you don't get is the first £5 earned in a membership year - they retain that as your 'membership fee'

there's a whole thread on MSE about click sites and cashback sites...I can't remember what it's called off Hand (and having a bad day) think it's eager learners or something...you could spend all day on the click sites earning money...deffo top cashback is not the only one so double check - please

lynzpower wrote: »

Im a facebooker and its been fine for me today.

Isnt BT vision expensive? I dont know, i know we looked at it once and decided against.

We went from BT to02 for broadband an we found 02 a lot better. 02 is a lot better than virgin which we have at the mo.

Way cheaper as well...

itsallinthemind wrote: »

I have home phone and internet through plusnet. I pay line rental to plusnet, not BT. Got great cashback through Quidco too. Never had a service issue, bar when it was my filter causing an issue, they just popped one in the post free to me. Their current wireless modem takes seconds to set up and they prewarn you of any scheduled maintainance. I was with them years ago and tried BT and Virgin with housemoves, both a rip off for the speed. When plusnet say the maximum speed they stick to it, unlike the others. That said, I am sure many hate plusnet

I've had a huge row with plusnet over my wifi being hacked it and it costing and extra £55 in total even though it's been blatantly hacked. they won't give me a penny of a refund despite my disability and the stress has really gotten to me..I had to pop up to the hospital yesterday cos I couldn't speak with the stress and they just followed procedure which put me at risk

Surprise surprise - the forums are up

Yay :T

anyhow NSD for me yesterday due to being out of it (bar the £71 to plusnet - regular bill just not reg amount) and it looks like being an NSD today cos am too paranoid to leave the house

I still have the cold and what too

but I made a yummy lunch out of chopped veggies and mayo in the food processor - just chopped up really fine and eaten raw - might be an idea for fussy eaters? Don't know....even if you put a tin of cheap tomato puree in the mayo and tell them it's tomato ketchup

Also going to try making the no nut nut roast out of the 'how to feed your family on very little' book. it was £12.99 and I got it for 1.99

Wish veg garden was open but everyone has exams:(

And the new carpet is down - about 1/2 foot short on two sides but feels fab under feet. Just put it down with double sided from hardware store for 1.75

E

saorsie

cw18 wrote: »

Welcome aboard :T
Have added you to the list

Thank you for the welcome - I shall try to be a good frugalista and do the thread proud

flying_fresian wrote: »

Hi Saorsie *waves*

Nice to see you here too

*waves back to Flyin'* - I promise I'm not stalking you from the PaD thread!

Now a little confession am afraid - when I was totting up the budget last night I added the full price of S*y to my list whereas OH actually pays for his sports channels - soooooo that is £120 to take off and in the spirit of nice rounded numbers am going to drop my all singing-all dancing-everything included target down to £9750 :eek:

-s-

mooomin

Afternoon folks,

I've been to four supermarkets today (sheesh...) and managed to spend a small amount. An honestly small amount. Update post to follow once I've added it all up and had a coffee *yawn*

mooomin

Tesco

£6.23 spent.

2 x milk @ 79p each
Half price cheese and a reduced chicken with stuffing (yum) which will be Sunday dinner and a couple of meals after that!

Sainsburys

£1.24 on teabags

Aldi

£10.06 spent, £3.59 of this on concealer which comes from my Other budget.

The remainder was spent on binbags, ham, veg (massive onions for 39p, mushrooms) fruit (apples, bananas, raisins) and handwash.

Morrisons

£4.29 spent on frozen peas, spaghetti, bread, washing up liquid and clementines.

So, the total spend for today was £18.23 out of the grocery budget, £3.59 from the Other budget for the concealer and £2.68 for lunch with my friend, which after 4 supermarkets we both needed!!!

dizzy_lizzie

jess444 wrote: »

(also I have just had my redundancy notice, so want to pay as much as I can while I still have a job.

jess hope it's not long before you find somewhere else. Fingers crossed

natnat13 wrote: »

Haircut's were £20 for the 4 of us. Then got a phonecall from my brother he is having a clear out and offered the kids all his old ghostbusters, thundercats, farm stuff and lego but wanted it gone today! So off we went, he also had a hamster cage and 2 CD racks which I know will sell at car boot so I took those as well. Boys are thrilled with toys, not sure if any of it is worth anything, does anyone know?
Hope everyone is having a good weekend, (((hugs))) to those that need one x

natnat All lego definately does well on ebay especially the older type. Some seem to weigh them into little bags and sell them that way. We have a small bucketful from when ours were little and I keep thinking I must get it on ebay

saorsie wrote: »

Thank you for the welcome - I shall try to be a good frugalista and do the thread proud

yay saorsie love that name - frugalista. I feel like I belong Bit like members of the 'glitterati' but the opposite lol I'm going to add it to my sig

flying_fresian that was a good shop. Some great bargains there. Oh I love a bargain

Got to go proper shopping yet and I've already spent a fair bit today, that's what popping into poundland does when you actually only want 3 things!!!! Have got my shopping list at the ready which DD has kindly done, I really am not in the mood but will try my best to stick to it.
My aim is to have spent £240 on all groceries for the month, or less would be good, so hopefully it will even out.
Luv Dizzy x
♥

mooomin

dizzy_lizzie wrote: »

flying_fresian that was a good shop. Some great bargains there. Oh I love a bargain

I'm quite chuffed with it too

Although I'm under budget for this challenge in terms of grocery shopping in January I don't get paid until Friday and only had £20ish in the food account before I went out today. I now have £2 in there which will do us for emergency bread/milk before then if needed.