Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

23rdspiral

A NSD for me! (i did buy my new watch off amazon but work will pay me back so i'm not counting that - damaged old one in an accident there). (i also bought something for me that if i keep will come out of birthday/xmas money, so i dont think that counts either)
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Flying_Freshian - those cards are great! i love all your textures - how did you colur in the cute cupcake girls?. i've just made thank you cards for my 30th gifts, and am very proud of them (with cupcake stamps coloured with crayons!). but i've a lot to learn yet!

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Sandra - you are such a fantastic poet. and that poem actually made me well up . not sure why, but it did. thank you for sharing such nice things with us.

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but inner child is feeling traumatised. a nice lady spent an hour today trying to teach me how to do long subtraction. i wanted to just nod and say 'yes i get it' to make her stop, but i was brave and didnt. and you know what? after many repeats and interesting diagrams i think i might just get it. i feel proud for facing up to this. i'm doing a Numeracy course through work, a govt scheme thing.

fizz

Hi all, hope everyone is having a good week.
Had a mad de-clutter today as dd was at the theatre in Wolverhampton with school so I had an extra hour...bliss.
So, spent the whole day sorting out old clothes and now have ten and a half black bags sitting in my bedroom, and I still haven't finished.
Diddly 74 -the cash 4 clothes van will be stopping here too!:rotfl:
Transferred some money over to a higher interest account yesterday after the man in the bank told me off-bless him.
Anyway, still working on the budget but finding a job is now the priority..oh and mending the light fitting as I went to hang a lovely shade for the dining room that I had been given, and it was that heavy that it ripped the fitting straight out..well done me:T:D
Off to catch-up on the thread.
fizz.x

midwinter

flying_fresian wrote: »

I think that the thing that's going to make this challenge a success for me this year is finding ways to make extra money. I'm getting a good chunk of money from Quidco this month and have also made some from my cardmaking. If anyone's interested there is a link to my homepage when you click on my name. That's the bl*g where the pics of my cards are stored.

I must be doing something wrong, I've clicked on your name, and no link is visible, and yet others have found it!

But glad they sell, and even more so, that you enjoy making.

patentgirl wrote: »

Not alot to report here but this will be my 4th NSD on the trot so pleased about that getting low on milk but going to resist till tomorrow
Have a good frugal day everyone

Well done on the 4th consecutive NSD, been a spend day for me, but lots of spaving, so happy frugalist!

rubytuesday wrote: »

Horrible, horrible day for me today spent from 9.30am until 3pm in the youth court only for the case to be adjourned to July on our anniversary! Bumped into the defendants coming back from buying lunch to be greeted with teeth sucking and nasty glares. Feel absolutely shattered.

So sorry to hear that your good citizen turn, is becoming so stressful. But thank you on behalf of everyone local to you, that you're willing to stand up, and say what you have to xx

LolaLemon

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

ATM I am sat here waiting for the bread to bake so that I can go to bed. Am feeling like I am coming down with a cold and can't wait to get to my electric blanket. I did have one quick question for all the frugalists out there, has anyone tried soap nuts for washing, and/or eco balls? I love the idea of being eco but also the money saving is appealing to me, but just wondered what people who had actually tried them thought of them. Am really considering giving them a go, but not sure which to try??

Thanks, big hugs and night night to all.

Ive used soapnuts on n off for nearly 4 years now, whites havnt been an issue here, more staines (both me and 3 year old son are m-e-s-s-y!)... i buy some ecover and add a little with a messy wash n they come out fine...
i didnt get them for economic reasons, more for chemical reasons... my sons skin looked like he had been chemically burned after my mum washed 1 of his nappies that i had left at her house.... we have never had a reaction to soap nuts or ecover...
i add tea tree/lavendar/lemon/cinnamon/clary sage etc essentail oils in the conditioner drawer to give my clothes a 'smell' as the soap nuts dont.
also, as we are getting some sun durring the day, after washing the whites, i make a small mixture of lemon juice with water (loads of) and spray it on the whites/stains and get them out in the sun or at the window and they come up brilliant.

i havnt made washing gloop/saop/liquid with them yet, but it has been on my to do list



P.s. ment to add, i live in scotland, and get rain for approx 49 weeks of the year, washing at my window ALOT lol
(my nanas neighbour has put something over the top of her clothes horse, dont know what, but it protrudes a bit so if the rain is verticle he clothes get dried.... although we do see a lot of horizontal/bouncing/teeming/spray/cats n dogs type rain.... my parents old neighbour has a bit or waterproof flooring form a tent attached to her wall of her garden and he wall of her house, shes got up washing lines and sticks/poles that fit the gap -- i looked into getting a gazebo in the sales, but where i am, its windy as!)

mooomin

midwinter wrote: »

I must be doing something wrong, I've clicked on your name, and no link is visible, and yet others have found it!

But glad they sell, and even more so, that you enjoy making.

Click on my name and you should see "Visit flying_fresian's homepage" or something similar!

Post to follow, just sorting out receipts...:eek:

mooomin

23rdspiral wrote: »

Flying_Freshian - those cards are great! i love all your textures - how did you colur in the cute cupcake girls?. i've just made thank you cards for my 30th gifts, and am very proud of them (with cupcake stamps coloured with crayons!). but i've a lot to learn yet!

The cupcake girls were coloured in using Promarkers which are professional-grade colouring pens. I bought a load of them from Ebay last year for about £1 each (Normally nearer £2) and add to the collection as and when I find bargains If you're interested in making your own cards, I can send you some 'stash' - papers, sequins, stamped images to colour - if you like. PM me your address if you want some bits and pieces to start you off.

I've done a biggish Tesco shop tonight and spent:

£10.80 on the first transaction (Saved £5.40) which yielded a £3 tillspit.
£45.08 on the second transaction (Saved £14.23 in multibuys + £3 tillspit) and then got an extra 150 Tesco points thanks to my vouchers which is £4.50 when converted to deals.

My best buys were the 3 for 2 on catfood and they also had 3 tins of Tesco beans (as in kidney/chickpeas etc) for £1 which was good when they are normally 48p each.

Off to fill in the spreadsheet of wonder now....!

rising_from_the_ashes

Just had a "lightbulb" moment - can't find the post (been back quite a few pages!) or remember who was talking about loo rolls @ Mr M.....

Anyone know how long this is on for?

Didn't sink in as don't have a Mr M near me but going to DM&DF on Sunday and there is one reasonably near them (would add around 8 miles to journey home but may be worth it & could also stock up on cat litter as a "cheapy" shop also in the town).


Just been onto SP website, gas/elec was £120 in credit at the start of week (checked as meter reader came last week).

New bill has just been added and now -£125:( but Feb payment still to hit the account so will "only" be -£63 which I guess isn't too bad for the coldest 3 months of the year.

Laushappy

RubyTuesday - sorry to hear you have had a hard day, sounds like a very stressful day to me. Big hugs.

Redglass - thats great that you got the garage :T

jade86123

Evening all.. ((())) Rubytuesday, I'm sorry to hear your good deed is turning into a nightmare, it seems you can't do right these days when trying to help someone..

We do have a talented lot don't we?! Amazing cards, cakes and poems and all in my first week as frugalista!

Well I slipped up today and had a Starbucks as I was feeling sorry for myself (Morning sickness is really dragging itself out this time )
But I kind of redeemed myself when I managed to get 2 homemade shepherds pies out of one small pack of mince beef (bought as whoopsie and froze) by bulking it out with some sorry looking carrots.. and then also got three portions of homemade soup out of leftover butternut squash from last nights dinner and a few 'nearly past it' veg hanging around my cupboards and fridge
So thinking I've evened myself out?!

Hoping tomorrow will be a NSD, then going to MrA on saturday for some bread etc but going to do a list and stick to it! Shouldn't be more than 5er (fingers crossed!)

I'm intrigued by these soap nuts, think I may send off for the free sample and give them a go.. washing powder is so expensive!

Right'o, I've babbled enough, I'm off to bed 'see' you all tomorrow

JayneC

Hello all,

Rising - re talk of allotments, have you looked at the Landshare scheme? It's where you try to match up with somebody who has land they can't manage and are happy for somebody else too make use of in return for a share of the produce. You register online and if/when there's a match you/they can e-mail the other. In our area there a local scheme run on the same basis but overseen a little more closely. It was started by Hugh Fearnley -Whitinstall(sp?)there's a link from the River Cottage website if I remember rightly.

Nuala - good to hear from you x. Have missed you - hope you're ok?

Sandra - I have to confess I was a little teary reading your poem, it's brill x

Had A NSD despite having a bit of a trawl around charity shops to kill time between appointments. Was out of town so couldn't go back to office (2Hours away!!). I was in knaresborough which I;ve been to before but had to walk from the outskirts of Harrogate (Starbeck if anybody knows it) - I went by train as work will provide a warrant and so I don't have to fork out for petrol and have to wait up to 2 months to get the money back - well my first appoitment was in Starbeck so got the train to there and decided to walk down to Knaresborough afterwards (about 40 minute walk)as it was a nice day and I had nearly 2 hours to kill!!Walked along the river and then up to the castle and it was really pretty, not been to that part of town before. It's surprising what you find when you're not really looking and didn't cost anything:p.

Nearly bought food on way home but managed to resist - mainly because my train connection was actually in the station, so didn't have time then and then when got back to Scarborough I decided I was nearly home so might as well not bother, went from considering chinese takeaway, then fish chips, then cr*ppy ready meal from T*sco, to I will wait til I get home. Ended up with egg n beans on toast which whilst not very glamorous did the job.

After DD and DS complaining about tea on Monday I have now charged them with making tea every Monday and other DD to make tea on a Thursday, so we'll see how that goes

DS homework tonight (he's 12) was to write about what he would if he only had 10 minutes left to live - nice!!:eek: