Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Aril

Hello all frugallers:j
Have just caught up with the thread once again...hugs to Cheryl and Cranky.

Twas a busy week at work last week and have seemed to have lost the last few days somewhere. Spent one day updating my first aid cert- the trainers were really good this time and I feel that I've now got a far better grip on the basics.

Haven't really had much of a chance to spend although it's been more by luck than design:rotfl:Did however, invest £3 in the most beautiful beaded wallhanging in the local CS which is now hanging up in my hall...I simply fell in love with it and knew that I wouldn't see another one at that price.

A friend has set up a craft group at a local cafe....it runs over lunch hour so I can pop in for a swift cuppa and get some crafting done. It's ladies with all sorts of different skills so I'm looking forward to learning new things. At the mo' I'm converting a linen lining from a basket I was given into a bag for my runes...I've traced the spiral carving from Rocky Valley and am now embroidering it onto the bag. Seems to be working ok so far

I noticed some talk of Easter eggs...the following came into my inbox today if anyone fancies having a crack at making their own version of creme eggs
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Cadbury-Creme-Eggs/
I'm not a fan but I know the original have a firm band of followers:D

Will also be trying these uber cheap bean burgers from Frugal Queen's blog that she posted yesterday
http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.com/2011/02/beany-burgers-for-15-pence-each.html
Hope the links are of use to someone!
Aril

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Thinking about Cheryl's gentleman friend and SS DH and sending healing vibes out to them both and to their families. Its difficult to have someone in your family not knowing whats what re health, for them and for you. I hope all goes well with tests etc.

I lost my last post which was very frustrating especially now I know how to avoid it but there it goes it just happens. I've had a good day, I put about four items on freecycle and it looks like two will go tomorrow, I also won some kilner jars and put a wanted post asking for jam jars with lids so lets see what comes from that. I eventually made the scones for the farm manager and delivered them and had a walk as well. Tonight was the usual I watched a film on TV and made marmalade. this batch only made 5 lbs but looks and tastes good. I've also shredded the fruit for tomorrows batch. I'm a bit cross with myself though because I spilled the juice of 4 lemons which was the juice from the fruit I had just squeezed and shredded, so wasteful .....and very sticky. :mad:

Tomorrow I must get my chilli seeds planted, the fruit I shall use to make Chilli jam, its a savoury jam and delicious, lovely with cheese. I bought the seeds from Amazon so I hope they germinate OK I've never bought seeds that way before, has anybody else?

By the way is there a vegetarian alternative to eating an elephant one spoonful at a time?

Time to sleep now its 1am. Goodnight . XX

mooomin

Morning folks

I've had a reasonably frugal weekend, which as consisted of a fair bit of housework, the spending of my Groupon voucher for the Body Shop and a trip to the seaside.

The house is a lot tidier now, which is fantastic, and I'm considering what to do about our lodger. Although she's driving me demented I have to say that the money is handy, and it normally goes straight into my savings account and covers emergencies. Without the money things will be tighter. That being said, I want my space back. I'm going to speak to her this week and see what her longer term plans are. She was only meant to be staying with us "short term" while she saved some money, and it's been over a year :eek:

My Body Shop voucher from Groupon cost me £6 as I had credit sitting in my account, so when I "spent" £31 I only had to hand over £1 cash on top of the £6 I had already spent. I do feel that their products are overpriced, but was happy enough with what I got.

On Saturday I went to Ikea with a friend. The only thing I bought there was a lamp, but it doesn't work so it's a saving (when it goes back!)

My main frugal thing yesterday was dying my hair. I've been doing it myself for too many years to remember and have done a pretty good job. The only time I got it coloured professionally it was a mess, so that was a frugal lesson learned a number of years ago!

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend. Don't let the Monday's get you

never_too_old

Cheryl thinking of you x

CRANKY40

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

By the way is there a vegetarian alternative to eating an elephant one spoonful at a time?

Mine is a virtual elephant (a real one would stink), but you could make your elephant out of just about anything I guess :rotfl:

elly68

well due to my ill health my food budget in feb went out the window so going to be seriously frugal for the whole of march .so here goes ,do you think i can suddenly make my kids like baked beans lol

grandma247

Hugs to cheryl and anyone else needing them.

An aunt died last week and a friends son was found dead on Saturday very sad as he was not quite 40.

Re: petrol. We have no choice with that for dh as he goes to work at 5am so no buses and he is too close to retirement and does a very heavy job to be cycling six miles to work. We do have ds motorbike in the yard which is not being used so if it comes to it he will use that but will be unable to give others a lift like he does at present. They do pay him fuel money but who knows how much it will go up.


I rang the cable company on saturday and gave 30 days notice for the telephone and tv box. We will keep the broadband and use skype and our mobiles. It will save us between £40 and £50 a month.

My car insurance has doubled this time and they have warned us dh is going up but don't know how much yet. Mine is still cheap compared to others. Seemingly all insurances are going up not just cars.

I am not doing my budget yet with all these changes going on. All our bills look as though they are going up this year. Council has said their part is frozen but they did that last year and it was still £50 higher than the previous year due to others putting up their bit. I am just trying to keep everything under control and spend as little as possible.

I started to put away an emergency fund in the credit union a few months ago and went in and asked how much was in as i pay by standing order. I got a shock. we are only £200 away from my £500 minimum target.
I have also been spaving a bit by buying stuff from app foods etc. All things that will be useful for the rest of the year. Not overspending though because i already had good stock of things. I just need to concentrate on meats now I think.

Erme

Well sorry no pics of the new home yet...I was pretty stressed on Saturday (everything went wrong - including the fuse for the socket of the espresso machine LOL).... and then just crashed yesterday but gave the boys their first bath yesterday and they hated it!!!..

The boys got luxury bedding last week (over £4.50 worth for a small amount) so they have no need to make any bedding right now. I put a little in the corners of the bottom cage on Saturday and sawdust over the rest of it and Milo promptly dug down to the posh bedding then curled up...I think they've had paradise for the last week.As yet Bob doesn't know what pancake is where as Milo is in no doubt....he loves it (he only gets a little but always wants more)

Good news I took Bob to the PDSA this am (he was scared witless and pooed on me but ate half a banana chip @ reception) and his tail is fine. I didn't know but apparently the tail has no muscle and fat so takes longer to heal....so yeah it's just the salt water treatment till it's healed...suits me fine. I should have got his claws checked as they are getting a little long. Did you ever clip them and if so how? Towel round head and then a wee bit off? Is that how you do it with wee nail clippers?

And advise me about this bath. It was only shallow but they both hated it. Milo made a leap for it (praise God for shower curtains) where as Bob squeaked a blood curdling squeak. What did I do wrong?

Anyhow have a busy day today so when I get two minutes I'll post that pic of their new palace

e

Erme

SandraScarlett wrote: »

God Bless my DSIL. :A After spending a couple of hours in the loft with various plumbing items, he has fixed the cold water tank problem.

So now I have a non leaking flat roof, a non leaking cold water tank, and a warm home - they are the positives! On the negative side, I have paid some horrendous Giant Williams in the last week, but, hopefully, they will be the only ones for a while.

DH off to hospital tomorrow for his tests, probably followed by op, then DD in a fortnight, so may not be on here much, for a while. Someone mentioned the price of petrol. The way things are looking, in Egypt, Libya etc, I suggest us oldies guard our bus passes, more than our virtue, cos I reckon filling up the petrol tank is going to be a luxury.

xx

My Ma (this irks me cos when we were growing up we were always told how poor we were when we weren't....Money is king in her mind) still takes the car to tesco when she could quite easily use her bus pass and go to Mr. A but she won't go there cos everyone who claims 101 benefits from the housing estate goes there and she is not that 'low'...trying to get her to be frugal is impossible. She'll spend a fortune on an elderly bunny for example. Then she'll object to loaning me £5 spending money for a day trip.

I use my bus pass all the time and not least when I'm tired etc. I want to learn to drive at some point but am in no rush..I like my bike too much for the weekly shop :j...Good panniers is what you need (I think I paid about £21 for my 47 litre double Basil ones off amazon . Got that when I had the kindle and I got amazon credit for the stress of the delayed delivery )

chika wrote: »

I'm thinking of you Cheryl. Hoping you both get good news from the hospital.

Erme another washing machine? I may be mistaken but didn't you just buy one recently? I know Bosch ones are good, my mother has one but it has still broken down and sprung leaks in the time that she has had it. I don't think that it cleans clothes any better than my cheap (but unreliable) Beko one though. Maybe it would be better to save the money up in an account that pays interest and if your current one dies then you can replace with a brand new one without feeling the pain too much?

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Actually it was July last year Chika. I got it when paranoid and I just got second hand and what I could afford. it was only when I got it home I researched it and discovered it had a problem with grinding on spin (manufacturing prob)....it's past it's 6 month guarantee and well over 10 years old. The next model up from the one I'm getting was a which best buy in it's day...so it should be fine for a few years. My current one could go dead @ any point.

So yeah...I see you're point but then I disagree. I would not have gotten anything other than a Bosch...I have learnt...best buy Bosch...

Anyhow vet trip = mega stressful so just taken some prn.....(as required meds...just taken 1/2 mg - well within dosage) and have docs this pm ..

My eating is sporadic - just can't get the cooking of dinner together right now but praise God there's the mission Monday and friday ...Lunch is fine (cous cous and veggies) and breakfast is too.....It's just dinner....

And also Mr M have changed their opening hours again so when I went looking for cheap carbs (cos was stressed) @ 7.45 on Saturday they'd all gone :eek:...jolly expensive trip to Mr M...the only thing I got of any worth was eggs...

Anyhow best go get lunch

Blessings

E

redglass_2

(((((Cheryl))))) I really hope the news is good and am keeping my fingers x'd for you.

and (((((Cranky))))) you are in my thoughts too. As someone else said, take your own good time in deciding what to do and when.

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Tomorrow I must get my chilli seeds planted, the fruit I shall use to make Chilli jam, its a savoury jam and delicious, lovely with cheese. I bought the seeds from Amazon so I hope they germinate OK I've never bought seeds that way before, has anybody else?

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

By the way is there a vegetarian alternative to eating an elephant one spoonful at a time?

Eating a beanfield? I usually make jelly from the japonica fruits in the garden - method is the same as for crabapples -and last year I put in some chilli. It was fab.

Aril, I like the look of those beany burgers.

:grouphug:Hugs to anyone that needs them. We seem to be going through one of those rough patches where lots of people have bad news and/or very difficult situations at the same time.

My own bad news is only financial so not as bad as serious illness in family or friends, but I have had a run of household equipment breaking down/car repairs which have really hammered the budget so not too happy about that. I haven't come to the end of it yet as the first repair on the car didn't solve the problem so it has to go in again.

Edited to add: Erme, I agree with you about Bosch. I won't have any other kind, now. They are so reliable that it's cheaper and far less trouble in the long run. (I could say the same for Miele vacuum cleaners. Bosch and Miele should pay me for this!)