Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

mooomin

Morning folks

Well yesterday turned out spendier than expected as I didn't make lunch to take to work (Bad Fresian!) so that was £2.95 down the drain. I did spend £0.65 on some ham though so will make sandwiches today Yesterday also saw me spend £2.19 on my latest Graze box. Having followed the advice of someone here to try and leave them and therefore get a cheaper weekly price, one of my Twitter followers had taken a free trial via my link and so I got another £1 discount :j

I also received an email last night from Quidco confirming the payment of £89.97 this month and have been told that we should receive our annual bonus from work next month too, so it just might be a good time for extra income I will probably use the bonus to pay off the car tax and insurance which are both due within the month, although not included in the budget for this challenge.

Tonight I'm off out for dinner with my aunt who is in town for a couple of days and will then be coming home to make a few cards to send to a friend who is selling them for me.

I have another card order to do too (!!) as a friend who was staying with us last night saw the ones I had done and asked if I would do a Mother's Day one for her and also a birthday one. She's paying me £2.50 per card as well which I'm thrilled with

Sandra the poem you did for Grandma247 was lovely :j Grandma247, congrats on the birth of your grandchild and Lola, Get Well Soon!

Sorry to anyone I've missed and apologies for the mammoth post!

patentgirl

Morning all
Congratulations grandma 247 what great news
Flying fresian well done on your quidco payment I got mine £4.54! still it all helps
Ruby Tuesday well done on your ebay item
Applemint I too cant wait for nice evenings to get out in the garden when I finish work for an hour or two
Dizzie Lizzie & SandraScarlett - the poems are lovely :T
Lola Lemon hugs to you hope you start feeling yourself soon I had similar infection earlier in year so know how you feel
we have had few bills in latley so next couple of months are going to be a struggle to catch up, including a large payment to tax man which my DH owed from an error last year which he is hoping to get back when they look into it but had to pay or risk getting fined all to do with private health care scheme that he was in with his old employer :mad:
a NSD again today 2nd of the week

23rdspiral

sorry about the long post. there was a lot to catch up on. and comment on. thanks also to everyone else for thought provoking and motivating comments. not long till the end of the month now.

dizzy_lizzie wrote: »

Aw that's so sweet. Your valentine night sounds really lovely.
Thanks for the rose, have a glass of vino my dear...
(Still loving those smileys hee hee)
Luv dizzy x
♥

Thanks! we had a nice night, despite the 2.5 hr break in the middle! he gave me a super cute card with guinea pigs on, not a trad valentines one, so not a silly price either!

SandraScarlett wrote: »

I think the sense of euphoria and excitement that we had 6 weeks ago is decreasing rapidly, and our get-up-and-go has got-up-and-gone!

err, yes. i've just made myself catch up on this thread and catch up on almost a week of the SoW, and do feel better for it. i was beginning to putt my head in the sand again and that's not good.

i spent 5.79 on 9.55 of goods in Morrisons - those frozen prawn skewers were lush! (on offer at 1 not 2quid, BUT the self checkout didnt give the discount, i told the lady and she didnt quibble and put them in at 1. BUT she didnt remove the 2quid!!! :mad: luckily it was the 2nd thing in my bag so i could add up myself and tell her - though she wasnt happy! so i'll keep a better eye on the adding up in future!

cw - thanks for the tip about moving the finished pages in the SoW.:T
chicka - :eek: about your payday loan! but well done on paying it off! :T i think Martin has a thread on them somehwere to help campaign for better rights and rates.
ruby - re sewing machines & quilts - its the weight of the fabric and that it wont fit under the arm of those little ones that's the problem. maybe search / ask on the sewing thread, they're very helpful there.
Grandma - congratulations to your extended family on the new baby! :T
erme- glad to hear things are feeling a bit better now. good luck with everything.

Flying Fresian - those new cards of yours are lovely!
i spent 4.00 in poundland yesterday - a cute cupcake money box that i dont really need but never mind, 2 cardblanks packs like i've just used, and 100g of sequins (14g of branded was 1.49 in a craft shop!:eek:). i've plans for about 30 of the sequins but there's hundreds there!

23rdspiral

grandma247 wrote: »

RE: WEAVILS IN BARLEY after I had this happen twice several years ago and then it happened again last year I now keep barley in the freezer.

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Somebody posted about weevils which made me laugh because......... I lived in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe for nearly 20 years, and found plenty of weevils in dried foods but they all die during the cooking. I can now hear the shock horror gasp of breath around me but most floated to the top first anyway and could be scooped off. My children never asked what the bits were. :rotfl:Most people eat meat anyway so whats the difference and they don't transmit disease.

Nearly forgot to say yes, freezing foods is a very successful way to prevent weevils spreading and they will if not prevented.

I don't eat meat by the way.

That was me! you, know i did think about washing the barley to remove the blighters, but worried about maybe there's eggs laid in the grains? i had another jar, with a good seal, so got rid this time.
i like the idea of freezing, maybe if we get a chest freezer i'll do that.

oh, and on your 'added protien' comment, well, you know those little tiddlers that come in the flour? well, if theres only a few and i have no other options, then i have been know to use the flour anyway!:o:rotfl:

rubytuesday

Lola goodness me you sound rough! I hope you'll be feeling much better soon!

Chika even though my children are too old for party bags now (twenty five next month and eighteen) I had a look at that link for little fun gifts for little ones I know. They've got some really nice bits.

I forgot to say I got weighed at the Doctors yesterday and have actually lost a stone since he last weighed me in July. So it's been in the last six months that it's really started to shift! I was very pleased!

silvasava

rubytuesday - congrats on your weight loss:A

chicka - GOLD STAR for paying off the payday loan:T I'm sure its a weight off your mind too.

sandrascarlett - what a lovely 'pome' I only have one grandchild - girl & very unlikely to have any more so she is doubly precious to me. She'll be 17 next week and still has a cuddle with her Nan (long may it continue!)

Made soup with the stock from the chicken so my chickie ended up doing 11 meals for a fiver - thanks to all for the inspiration and encouragement along the way

slowlyfading

Still plodding along - had another NSD today so that's good!

ruby - well done on the weight loss - wish I could say the same!

rubytuesday

Thanks everyone I am chuffed.
Forced myself to join my walking group despite it being wet and grey so that lifted me a bit. Very low spend in Lidl, seven pounds, got the cat food coming tonight - they'll be all right.
Trying to think of something different to do with the left over roast chicken; usually do a spicy rice and beans, peppers stuffed with spicy cous cous, a cous cous soup, a pie or a white sauce topped with breadcrumbs and a little cheese with sweetcorn and peas. None of this is 'calling' to me tonight. Maybe just a soup but haven't got any carrots I don't think.
Six watchers now!

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Ooooh! Ive just received 10 parcels, can you imagine it and all filled with jam jars, lids and labels, I'm so excited anybody would think its Christmas. Just need to buy more fruit and sugar now and I shall build up a stock of marmalades for my 'car boots'. I was really impressed with the speed of delivery and have already phone them to say so, I ordered at 1.56 AM yesterday and the order was delivered today at about 2 30 PM, pretty amazing stuff. I've run out of sugar so will have to wait until I go shopping tomorrow BUT my Credit card is now nearly up to my self imposed limit. Still will need to work it out carefully and do what I have to do but mustn't overspend on it because I must pay it off every month, this sounds like its what some of you call spaving or speculating to accumulate.

I hope you are feeling a bit better today LolaLemon, I just love that name probably cause I'm in love with marmalade making at the moment. Connection? well I can see it.

Glad to hear your new grandchild has made it appearance, next one you say due next week what a prolific family you have! Grandma247 +1.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hello everyone, hope a good day had by all.

Have managed 2nd NSD in a row but left a prescription at the chemist so will need to pick up & pay tomorrow - £3 (which I think is a lot cheaper than in England?).

Pre-pay certificate has just run out & they (Gvmt) still haven't decided if they're going to be free or not come April so don't want to fork out for a new one yet.

Have been planning what I can feasibly try to grow in my teeeeny garden this year (as doubt the "plot" issue will be resolved by then!).

So far.....

radishes
spinnach (usually grow tonnes of lettuce but have finally decided to be honest and admit I don't really like it!)
1 tomato plant
Runner beans (have scrounged an extra recycling box and a couple of unused potato type growing box things DM made a couple of years ago)

Not sure what else I'll have room for / are easy to grow - any ideas?

Have a good evening all.