Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

ceridwen

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!!

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Err...Minnie...I presume the idea from Laushappy about buying clothing, wearing it and taking it back for a refund was a JOKE - and not a serious suggestion. We dont do immoral on this thread - so just take it Laushappy WAS joking...:)

EDIT: for clarification - its only the last three lines of this post that are "from me" and the first paragraph is me quoting another poster. I caused a bit of inadvertent confusion there - sorrees for that. So 'tis only me speaking beneath the line of asterisks......whew...!!!

mooomin

flying_fresian wrote: »

I got told today that HR have made a mess of something and my wages will be £250 (gross) less than they should be. I'll get it put through at the start of next month, but I'm not very happy at all. Good thing I'm a frunchkin

Wages received and looking suspiciously healthy. Another call to HR beckons methinks...

Still, I have put a healthy amount into my ISA in case it's a mistake so the money is away from my regular money. I also had a lot of overtime go in, so have kept aside £100 as myself and Mr Fresian are off for a long weekend in the Highlands staying with friends/relatives. Anything under the £100 won't count towards the challenge as it has come from additional income due to overtime. Hopefully that's allowed!

Happy Fridays all

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

Anything under the £100 won't count towards the challenge as it has come from additional income due to overtime. Hopefully that's allowed!

I'm planning on a similar system..... any extra I get will be split 3 ways, with one portion (40%) being for "fun" use that's not accountable within the challenge

I can't/won't use the full amount of anything extra, as if I'm off sick (as I was last for one of my long days last week) I don't get full pay - and my FL budget is pretty much my total nett income for the year, so I don't have any 'slush' to cover a loss of income otherwise.

reported these plans here

Laushappy

ceridwen wrote: »

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!!

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Err...Minnie...I presume the idea from Laushappy about buying clothing, wearing it and taking it back for a refund was a JOKE - and not a serious suggestion. We dont do immoral on this thread - so just take it Laushappy WAS joking...:)[/QUOTE]


Of course i was kidding!!!:rotfl::rotfl:

cw18

cw18 wrote: »

And I need to increase my mobile phone budget. My 'new friend' doesn't have a landline, so the only way to reach him is by mobile. My contract includes 100 minutes (landline or any network), but I practically killed that in just 2 calls :eek: I also get 100 texts (any network) and I've almost killed those since 25th Dec as well :eek: :eek:

So when I went over to see him last night I took a PAYG sim on the same network as my phone (which I got when I got my new handset, so that didn't cost me anything), and have set up an extra on my contract which means we have unlimited free calls and texts between us now So that's an extra £5/month, but I reckon it's going to work out a lot cheaper than paying for going over my limit (12.3p/text or 30.6p/minute) - plus means we're not having to clock-watch calls and I don't have to keep checking my account on-line to see where I am with my texts, so that's a saving on time as well

This is definitely proving to be money well spent while he's without a landline :T

My current month started on 13th, and in the first 8 days of this billing cycle (13th-20th inclusive) I've made 61 mins of calls and sent 68 texts from my number to the one I passed over to him (so I could set up this package). And he's called me several times (probably another couple of hours of calls that way) plus sent about the same number of texts using that SIM.....

Dread to think how big my bill would be by the time the next one's due if I were just paying for using extra texts/minutes :eek:

cw18

And I've just phoned my mobile provider. Minimum contract term expires 10th of next month, and would automatically revert to the £15/month 'deal' I'm on - except I've had a £10/month loyalty discount for the last 18 months, so I've only been paying £5

Asked what the best price was they could offer for me to stay with them, and was told the £5 rate was the best they could do - but they were happy to extend the loyalty discount if I sign up for another 18 months, rather than being in a position I can just give 30 days notice. As this was what I was hoping for I accepted the offer :T

I don't get a new handset by doing this, but that suits me fine. I paid £20 for a new one in Sept/Oct as I needed a smaller one for running pants pocket - and buying it as a PAYG handset was cheaper than getting an upgrade, which would have pushed up the price of my contract. While I don't want a new 'high-tech' phone, it seems this will continue to be the way to go when I need/want a new one

mooomin

flying_fresian wrote: »

Wages received and looking suspiciously healthy. Another call to HR beckons methinks...

Overpaid by 23 hours. Bah. Have to work those hours as otherwise they will debit my wages. Double bah.

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

Overpaid by 23 hours. Bah. Have to work those hours as otherwise they will debit my wages. Double bah.

But if you've already got the money in your bank - and leave it there until next pay day - you'd be no worse off for not working the hours.

Personally I wouldn't refuse 'guaranteed overtime' if it meant I could keep the money

seriouslyfrugal

Hi Everyone

today will be a NSD for me here :j:j


I went walking this morning ( healthwalks ) and I got given a £5.00 boots gift voucher the walking group had a collection for the walk leaders @ christmas but because I wasn't well this was my first week back which is why I was given it today - it was totally unexpected but really thoughtful of them




hope everyone is ok and having a frugal day

midwinter

Warmed up jacket potatoes, sprinkling of salt, knob of butter.... very nice lunch!

Trying out my new cake tin that I got in the sales.... shape of a flower...... if it works, a friend will have a rather nice cake for her birthday on Sunday!

Talking of birthdays, happy birthday to those who have one today~sorry, can't remember who they were!