Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Kerfuffle

23rdspiral wrote: »

hey, thanks CW18 - i've taken a new look at the spreadsheet, and with your help i think i have figured it out.:T

went to the sales today with OH but i didnt buy anything! :T he bought a new suit but very much reduced

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Can i ask, what do people do about individual spends like this? for me it was a happy NSD, but not as a couple. his spending is quite different from mine, and he earns a lot more than me, but we share some bills though he pays most of the mortgage. any ideas for how to show this on my graph??

Hi 23rdspiral,

I suppose it depends on whether you're following a budget for the year and both yours and your OH's earnings and spends are taken into consideration, if they are then I would count it as a 'spend day' as money has been spent. If they aren't then as it hasn't come out of the budget so then it's a NSD.

I count everything that passes through my hands as to whether it's a NSD or not, otherwise it could be difficult keeping up with the OH spends. Luckily for me my OH isn't allowed money :rotfl::rotfl:so everything does go through me.

Toodles

cw18

I think I've picked up all names to this point - but please post 'missed me' or similar if your name's not there......

Apologies I've not been around a lot since starting the thread, but I've been a tad busy/distracted

Saturday I went to meet someone, and we took my dog for a walk around a country park - then sat in my car and ate a picnic I'd taken. I was out for about 4 hours in total, but over an hour of that was driving.

On Sunday I 'nipped' over to a friends house (about 35 miles each way) to get Open Office and my spreadsheet onto his laptop - and ended up staying waaaaay longer than planned. My poor mutt must have thought I'd forgotten about him, as it's a looooong time since he's been left for 12 hours - but he'd been very good while I'd been gone

So for someone who sits around the house all weekend, it was a very busy weekend for me !!!

And today was work as normal - after much less sleep that I should have had last night due to getting home not long before the witching hour (and not being able to resist catching up on here before I went to bed)

No extra days off for me this latest Christmas/New Year as the actual days all fell on weekends (which aren't days I'm contracted to work). But I did get a reasonable amount of overtime out it, as they should have reduced my hours (while leaving me on full pay) in leiu of the B/Hs but couldn't if they were were going to keep the section staffed to the minimum level (so the hours I worked that I shouldn't have had to all count as overtime )

Been to Mr T tonight for a few bits and pieces I [strike]want[/strike]needed. Been meaning to get over there for the last week, but haven't manged to summon up the energy. Still didn't really have the energy tonight, but knew I'd just keep putting it off and needed some of the bits within the next couple of days....

Don't think it'll be long before I hit the sack, as I've another 5:30am alarm call tomorrow :eek:

NualaBuala

23rdspiral - the individual spending thing isn't an issue for me as I'm now single. But I used to have completely joint finances with my ex - everything was in a joint a/c and we each got the same amount of pocket money to cover lunches, a drink after work etc. Anything else like a concert one of us wanted to go to or clothes was negotiated - we tended to take it in turns for "treats" depending on how much money we had.

Kerfuffle wrote: »

Thanks xnatalie81x, the next time I make some mashed potatoes I think I'll do some chips and parboil them in the same water, take them out and freeze them, just to see what they're like.

Toodles

Yummmmmy - will you report back to us how you get on? Sounds like a great idea.

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Yes, I need to squirrel 5k for a safespace for them, hence doing the challenge http://www.safespaces.co.uk/

I have a lot more acts of kindness from friends and strangers the last month than I could ever repay, trust me!

I'm sure that must be challenging, am so glad you have had support and of course we're all here for you if you're ever having one of those days. I had never heard of safespaces - looks fantastic - but crikey, 5k! :eek: Well worth it I'm sure though. And what a great motivation to keep you on the frugal path! Hope you find a little money for the occasional treat for yourself too, we all need it from time to time!

Oh and good luck with growing stuff - is now the right time to sow seeds?

elly68

well first spend of new year 17 in li** and 55 in mr a so have £28 left till next sunday and if not spent then will be banked although thinking about joining the padders is that what they are called doing the payment a day except in my case it will be once a week .told kids they could have £2.50 each pocket money so will be down to £23 and have banned them from going through kitchen cupboards youngest just starts and doesnt stop.
interested in the make your housekeeping last an extra day ,dont know how i'm going to work this really but can see real benefit to it will just have to work out my figures ,totally excited by all of this .
will be intersted to see what i do when i run out of more expensive items /or butcher meat think i will need to be more inventive on those weeks
we also caravan but we tend to be more frugal when away ,being busy you dont eat as much but consume more alcohol.
thanks for the incentive and ideas

oldestgnome

Think MSE is taking over, this thread is even longer than it was yesterday, it takes ages to catch up and make a note of all the good tips and ideas flying around, keep it up :A

2 out of 3 NSD days so far, a lot of household jobs done and dinner cooked ready for different friends coming over tomorrow and wednesday for dinner! Just trying to stay away for the supermarket as no dessert to speak of and nothing in the house I can think of to use, I've only got some tinned grapefruit and oranges and some sugar free jelly not sure I can make anything I would feed to my friends from those

itsallinthemind

NualaBuala wrote: »

I had never heard of safespaces - looks fantastic - but crikey, 5k! :eek: Well worth it I'm sure though. And what a great motivation to keep you on the frugal path!

They start cheaper, but I would rather have the company come out, measure the room and build it to fit, window panels and complete mattress etc so that it can be altered whenever we were to move. Also then it can be used throughout adulthood if they are still self harming/have no sense of danger/needs a safe and sensory retreat.

Rather not spend 2-3k and it get outgrown.

MASSIVE motivator for me as I do not sleep well knowing they can be awake doing something, I will have my treats...my ciggies till I get the safespace and am not so sleep deprived and stressed :rotfl:

HOPING to get either funding or do fundraising for his SN buggy(friends have offered to do fundraising :)) as that is another thousand needed!

All rather expensive, so MAJOR cut backs needed

Kerfuffle

NualaBuala wrote: »

*snip

Yummmmmy - will you report back to us how you get on? Sounds like a great idea.

Hi NualaBuala,

Indeed I will, but I may be sometime. The freezer in my kitchen is currently choc-a-block (sp?), but I am waiting for a new chest freezer to be ready for collection and when then that's ready I will be freezing everything for all my worth. :rotfl:

I'm going to experiment and do the chips boiled and frozen, or just frozen.

Toodles

NualaBuala

itsallinthemind wrote: »

They start cheaper, but I would rather have the company come out, measure the room and build it to fit, window panels and complete mattress etc so that it can be altered whenever we were to move. Also then it can be used throughout adulthood if they are still self harming/have no sense of danger/needs a safe and sensory retreat.

Rather not spend 2-3k and it get outgrown.

MASSIVE motivator for me as I do not sleep well knowing they can be awake doing something, I will have my treats...my ciggies till I get the safespace and am not so sleep deprived and stressed :rotfl:

HOPING to get either funding or do fundraising for his SN buggy(friends have offered to do fundraising :)) as that is another thousand needed!

All rather expensive, so MAJOR cut backs needed

Sounds very wise - when you're spending thousands, you want it to last! And it sounds like it will not only be good for your child, but less worry for you too ... and that HAS to be good news! If you have a fundraising site or Paypal, could you PM it to me - can't promise anything but if I manage to sell anything would like to make a tiny contribution.

Kerfuffle wrote: »

Hi NualaBuala,

Indeed I will, but I may be sometime. The freezer in my kitchen is currently choc-a-block (sp?), but I am waiting for a new chest freezer to be ready for collection and when then that's ready I will be freezing everything for all my worth. :rotfl:

I'm going to experiment and do the chips boiled and frozen, or just frozen.

Toodles

Kerfuffle - I had to laugh at that because here I am looking for more ideas when my own freezer is choc a block too! :rotfl: I don't think I could cram a single chip in there as it is now.
But I am planning to deal with it by living off my freezer and store cupboard as much as possible this month so hopefully by the time you have been the chip guinea pig, I will have some room!

itsallinthemind

NualaBuala wrote: »

If you have a fundraising site or Paypal, could you PM it to me - can't promise anything but if I manage to sell anything would like to make a tiny contribution.

I do not think we can do that, safety blah blah, but thank you so much anyway

I have 6 whole crates of things to sell online(plus more in the house!) that I can list when my relatives come. If I list now and they have a bad day I would not get to the post office, so I am waiting till I have back up in the house Plus I need to build up some money for posting, after starting financially again

The tips I will pick up here will turn pennies in to pounds, sure there is much more I could be doing

The offer was REALLY appreciated though :)

Chipps

I have looked in the freezer tonight to see what we have - so how little I can get away with spending this month. My dear next door neighbour knocked on the door, she had 2 pheasants for us! They are now residing in the freezer...
So that's 2 meals I don't have to buy!

(actually she had come round earlier with the pheasants, but they still had their feathers on - & DH isn't good at that sort of thing, even though his brother is a gamekeeper, and I don't know what to do - so our very kind neighbour took them back home & came back later with them ready to be cooked. We are so blessed to have lovely neighbours, they are from the Phillipines. She said when she was a child she was taught how to kill & prepare food as they had to be self sufficient, living a long way from the nearest market. )