Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

enjoyfinancialchallenges

silvasava wrote: »

Good Luck Minnie 2 & well done RuTu (my cat always manages to waft her large plumey tail either across the screen or under my nose!)

Talking of cats tails, as you were, my cats has just cost me £49.03 :eek: Unfortunately Poppy is a coward but when she turns to run she gets clawed on her tail which them seems to get infected and hence another visit to the vets this afternoon. I don't have a cats vet fund yet, I just cant seem to fit it in 'cause not enough money left but I really ought to. Poppy is insured but I have to pay the first £100 so anything less I pay up and no argument. Well I can argue if I want to I suppose

My last look at the £350 I want to keep under each month now stands at £627 which really and truly is silly, I'm feeling pretty stupid that I went public about it now as thats nearly double the intended amount and still no food for me. It does however include ingredients for car boot sale marmalades and some jars and labels I was forced to buy a few weeks ago. The word forced is my interpretation of it, in order to continue with my continue cooking I had to have something to put my preserves in.

I think redglass I would rather go with ss suggestion and eat the moon instead of a bean field. Far too much fibre in a bean field, not good when you want to make friends and influence people. :rotfl:.

Erme you were telling us about your rats not liking being bathed, I've never kept them but are you sure they should be bathed anyway, I though grooming each other was part of being a rat, or am I mixing that up with monkeys? Seriously though that could be why they hated it. Glad the tail is looking better though, tails seem to be a problem at the moment , either your rats my cats or ss cats one that keeps getting in the way on her laptop screen.

Good luck to all with problems either heath or financial, or anything else in between.

apple_mint

Good morning everyone :wave:

Just updating and keeping my motivation together. Big (((hugs))) to those who need one. I've been trying to keep up with the thread and I know there are one or two on the group who are going through stressful times. :grouphug:

Food spends last week came in at £28.45. I've also ordered a small flask off Amazon for OH so that he can take some coffee to work. We have some very good flasks already but much too large for one. It's £7.99 well spent as I shopped around to get the best price.

I got to the end of February well under budget, but of course there are less days to spend money in :rotfl: . I'm pleased though because my spreadsheet is showing savings on the food budget and a reduced spend on 'extra's'. I'm lucky that we didn't have any large 'williams' this month. OH's van is going in for some work next week though, which will dent the 'vehicle running costs' savings account.

The fuel budget was under, but I don't know how long I'll manage before I have to do some adjustments to this. I practice what I call 'light footed driving' but it is costing more and more to fill the tank. Has anyone else noticed how there are less and less people speeding past you? I think more and more people are aware of the fuel gauge and are also trying to drive at optimum speeds. Though the way the prices are shooting up, I'm going to have to get out and push it.

To help with the packed lunches, dinners this week, I did my usual batch cooking but also made a batch of pasties (filled with a mix of vegetables cooked in spices) to provide an alternative to sandwiches. I'll just take one out of the freezer on a morning and provide a little dip of some sauce. It will be defrosted by lunch time. I've also individually frozen some muffins.

Puddleglum

Good morning!
On the subject of speedy drivers, I'm beginning to wonder if it is becoming a status symbol to zoom past people on the roads. Brings a new meaning to keeping up with the Jones! Of course, company cars must make zippy driving easier for some too.
Have a good day everyone.

patentgirl

Morning all
Been away for long weekend paid out of last years budget xmas pressie to ourselves! managed not to spend too much tried to keep within budget walking alot and only going in charity shops
Hugs to Cheryl and Cranky
Aril thanks for link those cheap bean burgers sound yummy
Flyingfresian and Applemint well done on being under budget, had a quick tot up and think we have managed to come in ok for February just paid car tax and had DDs car bill but with no council or water coming out has evened itself out
Good luck Minnie not sure what it is though
Still not had a date for leaving work yet rumours going round should be here till end of year which is good news try and save as much as can to go with redundancy we will certainly need it cant believe how fuel keeps going i agree most people seem to be keeping to the speed limits or drivng along at a steady 50
off to allotment this weekend playing catch up as missed last weekend will be glad when we can go after work for an hour or two, miss the social life down there too
have agood frugal day everyone x

grandma247

Did anyone see the daft proposal to up the speed limit to eighty on the motorways? In the 1980's when there was a recession American president Regan actually REDUCED the limit so people would use less fuel. We should be doing something similar here if it gets much more expensive.

midwinter

silvasava wrote: »

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?

Definitely a spave

elly68 wrote: »

do you think i can suddenly make my kids like baked beans lol

I did the same last week, and the beans did get eaten, don't think I can push my luck too often though! lol

flying_fresian wrote: »

I'm under budget!! Mainly due to having no council tax, but I'm not going to quibble

FF, could you think of changing banks? I notice that you pay current account fees. I don't pay any current account fees, and they pay me each month for having a current account with them

Taken me ages to catch up with the thread, and only been away from the forums for just under a week!

My big five oh birthday was this weekend, and I was truly blessed by the company of all my close family. Had desperately wanted to see my "little" brother, and he was stood at my doorstep, having done a 6 hour drive up to me, at 11 am on THE day

March today, so hope we all have a good month, and keep on track, or return to it if we've wandered down the overspending path!

midwinter

grandma247 wrote: »

Did anyone see the daft proposal to up the speed limit to eighty on the motorways? In the 1980's when there was a recession American president Regan actually REDUCED the limit so people would use less fuel. We should be doing something similar here if it gets much more expensive.

I think the 80mph limit is a good idea, there are those who do need to get somewhere quicker than others, andd to them, the cost of fuel may well not be an issue.

On my part, I'm driving slower, but hate being forced to do speeds that are under my most economical mph. So the Sunday drivers, doing 30mph, on a 60mph road, actually cost me more for my petrol, because I'm following them!

And Grandma247, just remember, the speed limit is just that, a limit, not a target!

patentgirl

Midwinter happy belated birthday greetings had my big 5 o last year welcome to club x

midwinter

patentgirl wrote: »

Midwinter happy belated birthday greetings had my big 5 o last year welcome to club x

Thankyou kindly I think it's a rather nice age to be!

minnie2

chika wrote: »

Go Minnie, my friend also has a GTP interview tomorrow. Fingers crossed that you get on!

flying_fresian wrote: »

I don't know what GTP stands for, but good luck!

Off to finish making dinner now, then adding up the spends for February on the Spreadsheet of Wonder...:eek:

slowlyfading wrote: »

Good luck minnie2 - you'll be fine!

thank you!! it went terribly!! oh dear!! GTP is graduate teacher program.

hope your friend does better than me!! i messed up twice!!