Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

slowlyfading

:hello: and welcome to pipersky :j

Lily - families huh? Hope you feel a bit better about things soon

freedom2011

Just to let you know I got a versace & burberry aftershave in the Boots sale both for £8 ish to put away for my husbands and sons birthday. There was some quite nice stocking filler things too but I resisted. If you have a woman or teenage girl to buy for there was a really nice no7 makeup bag along with makeup for £5.33.

Fruittea

Hi Pipersky I'm new here too. But learning fast. I noticed there is also a sewing thread - it seemed very useful - can't seem to find it now but I think it was singer sewing or something like that. I'll keep looking and let you know.

One thing I did for Christmas this year was to make Towel cakes - again there is a thread. Basically towels and gifts all done up to look like cakes - I then wrapped them in celephane and I have to say they looked brilliant and expensive. Everyone really liked them. I'm hoping to do a few more for babies and birthdays. :T

pipersky wrote: »

Hi everyone

I have been following the thread, though not posting and all your tips and efforts always add an extra ray of sunshine to my day

I have been looking at ways to reduce our outgoings for a while now. Although we are not in debt (except for mortgage!) I have been on mat leave, then parental leave and finally handed in my notice in December as I have 2 DD's and a baby on the way! So we are down to one salary. The idea of using my money on things I want instead of spending it on things that the supermarkets/dept stores etc tell me I want is very appealing!

So in that vein I have been attempting to be more frugal (hence stumbling across this thread at the beginning of Jan!). My frugal activities so far:

1) I have started meal planning for the first time ever
2) Cooking from scratch
3) Teaching myself to knit (not going well so far but I will persevere! (sp?))
4) Digging veg plot and growing fruit and veg in garden (also on waiting list for allotment)
5) I unearthed my mum's old sewing machine today, set it up and read some of the manual

I have other things I am working on too but these are the things I think will be the most helpful to me and my family at the moment

I will continue to watch the thread with interest (mostly lurking but will sometimes poat so I'm not too much of a stalker!!).

Fruittea

Hi again. It's The Sewing room and there's also The new singer sewing maching. Sorry not sure how to post a link.

natnat13

Fruittea - My business is making nappy and towel cakes so if you want any advice let me know x

Lily_The_Legend

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

Liliy families can be anoying carn't they :mad: but as others have said we all need to let off steam ocasionally

Yes they are! :mad: And breathe Lily! :D

slowlyfading wrote: »

Lily - families huh? Hope you feel a bit better about things soon

Thanks SF.

Got home and me and DH ended up having a row about it! :eek::o

Anyway, he has now spoken to his mum. He's still on the phone now but I know what she said because I can hear her from here. :rotfl:

Apparently SIL contacted her and said 'I know it's a bit cheeky but would you mind if we come up Friday night and you can do a birthday tea for DS so you can see him on his birthday?'

What a bloody cheek! :eek:

DH jokingly said 'oh it would've been nice to have had an invite!' I've trained him well. :cool::rotfl: She is sooo going to mention that to SIL now and SIL will know we're upset with her. :T:rotfl:

We would still like to see nephew open his presents so as we won't have time to stay tomorrow night (and as we weren't invited anyway ) we'll have to arrange to see them another time at the weekend! :eek::eek::eek::rotfl:

Anyway, the important thing is that DH and I are on the same page. We're both upset about the whole thing. And in future we won't just go along with everything she wants when she's been such a biatch to us.

Sorry, seriously off topic there.

On topic, I had a NSD today. So far. I may need chocolate now. :eek::rotfl:

Fruittea

That's kind of you NatNat - I bought the towels in Mrs A's and just themed them for the person with Spa things and Dove. To be honest I bought the contents things from charity shop. One thing I was worried about was the pins - silly but I made them for mainly elderly ladies and was quite paranoid about them stabbing themselves. Would love to see some professional versions. Do you sell them on the web or just by word of mouth. Is it a good money making idea? Would love to know.
All the best.

natnat13 wrote: »

Fruittea - My business is making nappy and towel cakes so if you want any advice let me know x

natnat13

Have PM'd you Fruittea.

I'm now off to give a friend an ebay tutorial!
Bye x

23rdspiral

THANKS for the encouragement to stay posative re redundancy - i'm trying but its not very easy... i'm not doing a needed job according to the new govt. (smilie could be a fat cat banker waving my public sector job bye bye)

I was Sooo good in Asda - i bought marge and rice like planned, and only some salad & a ginger cake extra as they were seriuosly whoopsied, and a Fridge milkshake on offer at 50p!! blimey the thread of the spreadsheet of wonder is really working!!! i've never spent so little there!
BUT i did cave and spent 4.00 on magazines, but the gifts were worth more than that and i'd definalty have bought one gift seperatly anyway. whoops.:o (and i didnt go in poundland, and i didnt spend in the charity shop either!!) that's WAY better than normal for a shopping trip! i only spent 8.00 in total inc Asda!!! so i'm not going to beat myself up, just try to make sure i dont buy a mag for the next 2 weeks!

re magazines - i have a sub to my fave and am considering not renewing it and seeing if i Remember to buy it... but maybe i'm not that brave this year!

Lily_The_Legend wrote: »

It just seems a bit odd. Why have they had to organise a special meal out? :huh:

um, because they know you can get Vouchers?!?! (sorry, i've a mad mother and have sadly learnt to be sinical!)
am glad to see you and your OH are on the same page. good luck with the wknd.

minnie2

NualaBuala wrote: »

(((((Minnie))))) - you're doing great and the rewards will come in time. You're on the right path to getting where you want to be.:T

I wonder could you make do with something you've got for the funeral or maybe get something from a charity shop, or borrow from a friend. I've really stressed about what to wear in the past and I've gone to 2 funerals wearing ordinary clothes - jeans and tops. I apologised profusely to the families and they honestly couldn't have cared less, they seemed just to value my presence. I felt so bad about it though - until I saw people wearing the same at my parents' funerals. I didn't care or even notice, what mattered to me was that people were there, not what they wore. I was at another one where I was dressed in a black suit and actually felt out of place because so many people were dressed casually, even some of the chief mourners. It doesn't seem to be the norm to wear black over here now. I deeply regret now that I actually skipped funerals because I thought I would cause offence by not dressing "properly". But then I guess it depends on the person. Hugs to you anyway pet, it's so hard losing someone let alone having to deal with money worries about how you'll manage the funeral. But I'll bet if your loved one were alive they wouldn't want you worrying and getting into financial difficulty over an outfit.

Laushappy wrote: »

Minnie2- I have a cunning plan that will sort your funeral outfit without costing you a penny
Have a mooch round the shops and choose an outfit that you like, but make sure you can hide the tags when you wear it, be very careful not to dirty it and then take it back asap after the funeral and say you tried it on at home and it didnt fit.

Fruittea wrote: »

Please don't worry Minnie what you wear - nobody needs more black at this time or year - just be there for your frineds and be yourself. It will comfort others. And a word about flowers - why not take a flourish of holly or any evergreen with your own note - making it personal makes a difference. Take care mate. :A Blessings on there way........

QUOTE=minnie2;40419470]thanks!!! im hoping im just having a bad day

got to buy some black clothes for a funeral next week as i dont fit into my usual funeral suit anymore - and its bugging me that im worried and stressing about spending money for a funeral of someone who was very dear to me! how dare my money probs over shadow his death!!! anyway thats been upsetting me today too so maybe tomorrow ill feel better!! thanks for listening to my moans!!

[/QUOTE]



thank you everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and im liking the taking it back idea!! an going to leave it till the weekend when i have more time to think about it!!!! just one of thoses weeks!!!! we had a bit of a cry today organising lifts to funeral etc - good memories - its hard when they are kids though!!!! feeling slightly better today!! hope i dont get many of those bad days though! it was hard!!