Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

mooomin

I went out for dinner with a friend last night and knew that would take me a smidge over budget for "entertainment" for February.

A few more French martinis than planned mean I'm over £20 over budget

I should be under budget generally for the month though, hopefully. I'll post on Monday night once the weekend is over and done with.

rubytuesday

Ooh I thought you were telling me off EFC!:rotfl:X

silvasava

Hi All

Erme - oh I did chuckle at your post on the rats - I too had a mental picture, something like comparethemeerkat sprang to mind! Thanks for that.

23rdSpiral - sounds like you're having a really nice day - can I come to lunch tomorrow 'cos the ham hock sounds yumm

EFC & RuTu - yep, I'm a cat lady too - I've been adopted by one who thinks my sole purpose in life is to be her cushion or pillow depending on whether I'm sitting or sleeping!

DH was a bit 'stir crazy' as he couldn't get out in the garden so he wanted to look for some tiles to go round the woodburner when he fits it (not starting 'til May but he does like to be prepared!!) I really didn't want slate for the hearth - I know its probably more practical but I just want to 'lighten' my sitting room. We went to a local tile store that does some really beautiful stuff just to look (famous last words) & they've got some 60 x 60cms cream 'riven' tiles that are even harder than slate REDUCED to £13.50 a metre - result!! We came home & measured up & will order on Monday. I'm classing this as a Spave - please?

Hope everyone has a good weekend

enjoyfinancialchallenges

rubytuesday wrote: »

Ooh I thought you were telling me off EFC!:rotfl:X

Which bit in particular rutu? I made such a mess of my last post I cant think how you managed to read anything into it, I cant!

SS sound like your builders were perfect even as far as keeping the radio volume down, please don't tell me they played Classic FM though! Any workmen I employ usually play full blast some program I've never heard before and wouldn't want to either. You are in Essex, just next door to Suffolk, when I need a workman again I will shout, you obviously know how to choose them I only know how to get the builder from H***.:rotfl:

ss yep, I know the bed or pillow bit re cats and they really get irritable when you want to move.

Very, very wet day today, I did nothing at all outside but made 7lbs of grapefruit marmalade and lots of cleaning, but spooky things are happening in my house, the other day I lost my mobile charger now I've lost the labels I bought to stick on my marmalade jars. I know I put them somewhere safe though, just senior moments I think. :mad:

Now going to work out yesterday's expenses, I may be gone a long time.

cw18

Don't know whether today was a Frugal or Non-Frugal day, as I spent what feels like a king's ransom :eek:

But I've done some spaving as I bought 3 months breakfast cereals (9 boxes on B2G1F) and 6 months pasta (9 bags @ 3 for £1.80 instead of £1.35 each), plus got 5 easter eggs before the half price offer ends (only thing being they still cost me what I'd normally spend, it's just the recipients will get larger ones than normal) and ladies products for several months (BOGOF) - and doing these offer stock-piles meant I could use a £6 off £40 spend voucher and got me a till-spit for 5p off each litre of petrol I buy on my next fill-up which now has to be done no later than 12th March in order to use it - so will do it as close to then as possible to maximise the saving, as I still have about half a tank of fuel at the moment but will probably use the car several times this next week as I'm off work and want to get some errands run (plus the intention is to get to the gym for a few classes and/or swims during the week)

I also managed to pick up birthday presents for younger GD, which came from two different discount stores (but are things I don't think I could have improved on in a high-priced retailer)

However I did give in and buy a silicon cake mould for £4.99 It makes a super-sized cupcake (18cm high, with a 17cm diameter), which I think will make a fantastic birthday cake for anyone regardless of age



And as for tomorrow, I guess it's looking pretty frugal for me - but (without meaning to sound ungrateful) I'm having a hard time with the thought of the money that'll be spent, as my new friend has told me he's aiming to come over and take me out for lunch !!

The snow & fog in his area kept him tied to his 'rather compact' flat last weekend, so he was going more than a little stir crazy (and we spent more than a couple of hours on the phone each day). He's also been unwell several times since New Year - the first time I went over to his a couple of times, and the second I spent several hours in A&E with him. Since then I've been over a few times, and a couple of weekends ago (when his transport let him down) I did the 70 mile return trip to pick him up and then again the next day to take him back. He's stopped here for a night a couple of weekends now (spare rooms come in useful sometimes ), and both times I cooked us a proper meal (plus took over the food needed to cook us both a meal at his when he wasn't so good one day). So I guess this is his way of saying 'thanks' (which is why I stopped trying to talk him out of it after about 10 mins, though it is still dependant on him being well enough to drive tomorrow) - but I know he's more strapped for cash than I am, so it's making me feel really guilty about him spending on me like this

SandraScarlett

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

SS sound like your builders were perfect even as far as keeping the radio volume down, please don't tell me they played Classic FM though! Any workmen I employ usually play full blast some program I've never heard before and wouldn't want to either. You are in Essex, just next door to Suffolk, when I need a workman again I will shout, you obviously know how to choose them I only know how to get the builder from H***.:rotfl:

Do you know why I chose them? It's because the ad said "Family business, established 1972 with the same phone number" !!!! I thought that nearly 40 years in business was pretty good. I don't know what music they were playing, because it was so low, that I only heard it whenever I took them a cuppa, but it sounded melodic!

xx

CRANKY40

Good morning,

Hugs to everyone with problems. I haven't posted this past week as I've been head up bottom due to half term, and a few minor problems of my own. I need to declutter as the house is still full of my late husband's things 17 months on. Clothes, books, uni stuff, dvds, camping gear - you name it, we have it. I know in my head that it needs sorting, but could really do with a hand. The only person who could make me laugh about it is my sister, but she lives in Cork, so it's not going to happen. I am going to try and do an hours clear out every day, starting Tuesday when the house elf is back at school. My best friend would help me, but she would cry, and that isn't what I need.

I've also been on antibiotics all week for a sinus infection. It's a toss up which has made me feel worse - the infection or the medicine. It had better work The arthritis has not been liking the weather either, and I have football shapes instead of ankles.

Due to doing nothing all week, I had a major cookathon yesterday afternoon and made lasagne for my dinner (and my two friends dinner too as it happened), I made a tuna and pasta quiche with red onion and sweetcorn, and a jelly with raspberries from the garden that were in the freezer. These were all diet friendly as I used spinach and low fat cream cheese instead of cheese sauce in the lasagne, and low fat cottage cheese in the quiche.

I also made 18 chocolate fairy cakes for the elf and friends who spent yesterday afternoon outside on the trampoline. Our neighbours must be so overjoyed that the weather is getting good enough for them to play out again We live on a flight path to Liverpool airport but I didn't hear any planes yesterday due to the noise in our garden.

The house wrecking cat has discovered next doors tree and paces around the branches yowling pitifully as if stuck....until people have knocked to tell me it's stuck or I shake the frozen prawn bag when it mysteriously becomes unstuck and trots in through the door. I may have to switch the doorbell off when the weather is good enough for it to go out all the time. Why is there not a "give me strength" smiley?

Erme your ratties sound lovely, but keep a close eye on them. My friend only realised that hers used to let themselves out at night because they were back in the wrong tanks one morning, and there were teeny tiny nibbles out of her wallpaper border when she looked more closely :rotfl::rotfl:

silvasava

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Good morning,

Hugs to everyone with problems. I haven't posted this past week as I've been head up bottom due to half term, and a few minor problems of my own. I need to declutter as the house is still full of my late husband's things 17 months on. Clothes, books, uni stuff, dvds, camping gear - you name it, we have it. I know in my head that it needs sorting, but could really do with a hand. The only person who could make me laugh about it is my sister, but she lives in Cork, so it's not going to happen. I am going to try and do an hours clear out every day, starting Tuesday when the house elf is back at school. My best friend would help me, but she would cry, and that isn't what I need.

I've also been on antibiotics all week for a sinus infection. It's a toss up which has made me feel worse - the infection or the medicine. It had better work The arthritis has not been liking the weather either, and I have football shapes instead of ankles.

Big Hugs Cranky - just take one day at a time & do just what you feel capable of. Remember - How do you eat an elephant? A teaspoonful at a time!:grouphug:

redglass_2

minnie2 wrote: »

we now have a baby spider who we have named Matilda and who will eventually grow into a curly haired tarantula, !!

Arrgghhh! I've no problems with rats or snakes, but spiders..._pale_

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Whilst they were on the roof, I got them to do some other jobs, involving the chimney stack, and the gutters, so though the bottom line was £1400, I'm praying that my cheque book can now live quietly in the drawer. xx

I really hope that's the end of it all Sandra, and that your roof is now in fine fettle for years to come.

CRANKY40 wrote: »

I need to declutter as the house is still full of my late husband's things 17 months on. Clothes, books, uni stuff, dvds, camping gear - you name it, we have it. I know in my head that it needs sorting, but could really do with a hand.

That can be hard, Cranky. When my dad died, Mum invited an old friend of his, who had been very helpful during my dad's illness, to take anything he liked from Dad's possessions as a keepsake. Most of the things Dad owned were shared between him and Mum, so basically the possessions on offer boiled down to clothing. Dad and his friend were both elderly and fashion wasn't a major consideration, which mightn't be the case with younger people...anyway, the friend was very pleased and took quite a few nice items. Mum was happy that the clothes had gone to someone who had been kind to Dad and would remember him when wearing them.

cw18

cw18 wrote: »

And as for tomorrow, I guess it's looking pretty frugal for me - but (without meaning to sound ungrateful) I'm having a hard time with the thought of the money that'll be spent, as my new friend has told me he's aiming to come over and take me out for lunch !!

lunch date is cancelled, but I'm now wishing it wasn't - typical female who never knows what she wants aren't I

but it's the reasons for the cancellation that have made me want it not to have been.....

he was in hospital from 3:30am yesterday morning, and was put through a whole series of tests over the course of 12 hours before going home totally exhausted and heading for bed pretty early (even by his normal standards, and he's an early bird compared to me)

but thanks to the inconsiderate resident below him (who likes to listen to music at high volumes at all hours but especially at night - and which ended up with the police being called for the umpteenth time in the last couple of months last night, which means more noise and disturbance) he's not caught up on his sleep yet :mad:

spoke to him in the last hour, and he was heading back to bed with his alarm set for around 1:30pm. depending on how much sleep he actually manages to get between now and then, there's a possibility I'll head over to his for the late afternoon/early evening instead.

hoping he lets me go over though, as I really neeeeed to see him to see how he's holding up. he needs to go back for more tests pretty soon (they told him not to book any holidays in the next 2 weeks, and I'm secretly hoping they come through for this week while I'm off work so I can be around for him), but the ones they ran yesterday indicate there's an 80% chance he's got the 'Big C'

(I've been more than half expecting this, as I've been looking up some of the symptoms he's been letting on he's been suffering from - but I could also tell that up until the last week he's been a bit reluctant to tell me how bad they were. Even before I did any look-ups the alarm bells were ringing, purely from pamphlets I'd been given to read back in 2006/07)

I know the only reason he's felt able to tell me is 'cos he knows I've "been there, done that, got the T-shirt" with my late DH, but I don't think he's been able to bring himself to tell his parents yet (Mum has health problems and Dad has cancer) which means he's pretty much trying to cope with taking it on-board on his own. Whilst I've made sure he knows I'm always at the other end of the phone (and that I won't get cross about calls at 2am this week, due to not having to get up for work), I still think some face-to-face time would be beneficial for us both.