Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

seriouslyfrugal

Hi everyone,


Well the last couple of days have been a bit full on as i'm trying to learn things about my new job ( history of the place & national trust procedure for example )


on the plus side this this the second NSD in a row :j:j

i'm now in the middle of watching my life in books (bbc 2 18.30pm ) if anyone is interested well worth a watch

Welcome to candskylove:hello:

have a good wednesday everyone

Barros

got my payslip today - not sure how i feel about it!

was upbeat when i wrote down my outgoings for the month ... then realised that the gas and elec bills are due and i know they are going to be high (too scared to check!) so all the extra i saved in january ... will be spent on that :@

JayneC

Hello again,

F_F good idea about splitting my ebay profits. I really hadn't thought of that. Doh!!

Nuala - Thanks for your kind words. I suppose I've gotten to the stage where I think theres no point worrying about things you can't control and if you do have some control - go for it!!

Redglass/Nuala - thanks for reminding me about the Story of Stuff I've heard of it before but not read it. The link is fab, I'll be looking more at that later X. I like taht it tells you what you could actually do to make a difference too.

Spent about 2 hours cleaning my kitchen this morning - fun! I don't think! Where does all the mess come from? I keep getting rid of stuff and then there's more, I'm sure it breeds

Managed to get up to my other garden too. Cleared another corner, think it will be a good spot for some tomatoes and cucumbers and planted some onions and garlic. There were lots of snowdrops out which look very sweet. DS came along and did a bit of chopping (bamboo, which is rampant) and digging, but got bored, was quite pleased we managed a couple of hours though. Hoping to get quite a lot of fruit and veg planted up there this year, I'm aiming to be as self sufficient as possible Think I could probably be self sufficient in wood too for at least a couple of years, must get that wood burner installed!

redglass_2

JayneC wrote: »

DS came along and did a bit of chopping (bamboo, which is rampant) and digging

You can grow bamboo in Scarborough? I never knew you could grow it in the UK. When you say you could have wood, do you mean you could burn the bamboo?

mooomin

Frugal things

Home-made soup for lunch (and really tasty it was too...om nom nom!)
Mr Fresian made dinner. Didn't save money but saved my sanity
No cash spent today
Opened savings account for next year's car tax/insurance (Not included in Frugal Budget for this year for various reasons)

Non-frugal things

Paid for this week's Graze box
Bought ticket for craft show next week

Now, although the craft show is technically non-frugal (as I will splort a silly amount of money up the wall!) I am not paying for it from my frugal budget. I've joined the VSP (Virtual Sealed Pot) challenge and have already saved £245 of money I haven't missed from elsewhere since the start of the year. This is my "me" money. I'm going to spend cash when I go to the craft show and replace it from the sealed pot, making it a "free" trip for me. I'm going with a friend and we're having late lunch/early tea in Pizza Express which is going to be paid for with Tesco vouchers, so part of the day will be MSE

never_too_old

having a rubbish day today:(
just want to pay off dh debts,getting tired of trying to sort it all out.
dgd fell off a breakfast stool at my house this evening and banged her face, mum and my ds are seperated so hes at hospital with ex feeling as guilty as hell even though it was an accident.
tomorrows another day and hopefully it will be better than today

ds rang to say gd is fine but to expect a call from social services because accident happened in my house

rubytuesday

Everyone.

Can't believe it's gone ten already! Had a bit of a spendy day today.

Went down to M and S and bought the five pound chicken with cherry pie - managed to get a chicken priced at about six pound eighty. Had the chicken tonight with cous cous and roast veg and will have the pie another night.
Then broke my no charity shop spending in Feb rule and found a Zara top for when I've lost more weight, a lovely tropical looking skirt and Paul Smith jeans and Farah polo top for OH. I got OH's waist measurement wrong so the jeans are a tiny little bit on the tight side really so I'll see if they're any good to his twin brother.
Had a walk to the city farm with my walking group and then popped into Lidl to get a few bits.
The story of Stuff sounds interesting - I was reading a book called The Book of Rubbish ideas about reducing household waste but have stalled with it.
Redglass I like your description of the door knocker system.

Welcome CanDskylove.

Sorry you've had a bad day I.m. hart - sure granddaughter will be fine. x

dizzy_lizzie

CanDskylove wrote: »

I like this forum. I’m lucky to have found so much great information here. Many thanks to you all guys!

:wave: Hello.

l.m.hart wrote: »

having a rubbish day today:(
just want to pay off dh debts,getting tired of trying to sort it all out.
dgd fell off a breakfast stool at my house this evening and banged her face, mum and my ds are seperated so hes at hospital with ex feeling as guilty as hell even though it was an accident.
tomorrows another day and hopefully it will be better than today

ds rang to say gd is fine but to expect a call from social services because accident happened in my house

Ooh big hug. Accidents will happen. All part of growing up. I remember when DS loved to jump off chairs and tables when he was a toddler, to the point of fracturing his ankle. Thank goodness it was a short phase he went through
The main thing is gd is ok and I'm sure everything will be fine

Luv Dizzy x
♥

mooomin

It's payday today in Fresian Towers. It's the first time in over a year I've had a wage without overtime in it though :eek:

All my bills are accounted for and money has been moved to cover bills, groceries, entertainment, birthdays and the newly-created 2012 car fund. I have £160 left for "me things" which for the purposes of the frugal challenge will be my crafting, clothing and other budget. I also make my PADs out of this, so it's quite a tight month.

In fairness, I have savings, and am well under on my clothing budget. I don't feel I need any new clothes at the moment, so I don't feel deprived.

I stocked the freezer with meat thanks to a £5 off at Aldi voucher last week. I have enough cat food/litter to sink a battleship thanks to the 3for2 pet offer at Tesco and the cupboards are groaning. I'm going to do a mini grocery challenge to myself this month I think!

Hope everyone is well - it's been very quiet on here over the last couple of days...

dizzy_lizzie

flying_fresian wrote: »

Hope everyone is well - it's been very quiet on here over the last couple of days...

Hi flyin_fresian. Could be peeps are busy with children at half term? It has been quiet, I've only been reading and not posting that much these last few days. Still love to read what everyone else is up to though. Good luck with the grocery challenge, I bet you do really well with it
rubytuesday those cs finds sound like a fantastic bargain.
seriouslyfrugal your new job sounds ideal. Hope the studying is going well
Started tracking my spends again and since yesterday already up to £40 odd pound. In fairness £33 pound was mine and DDs 6 month dental check up. Youngest DS gets it free because he's still in education.
Really going to try and keep spending to a minimum this month. Resisted a take away last night for myself and DD were as usually we would have just ordered one, so that was a good start Supposed to be going to the cinema at some stage with DD so that will be a spend but we haven't been to the cinema together for a few years so looking forward to that.
Wanted to do soooo much in the half term but haven't really done anything. I've crocheted the hearts to make into bunting, decluttered a huge drawer and........not much else. Think I'm starting with a cold too
Dismal weather which doesn't help and I feel quite tired too.
Hope everyone is ok
Luv Dizzy x
♥