Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

elly68

well thats the first week in march over and grocery spend only £50 well pleased .need to do butchers this week so expect it will be slightly higher but hopefully not ,going to hang out from today till monday and do lidlsfor next week .
i'm in town today to drop ds at party but using a £10 gift card that i traded him for the gift so feel ok with that.
love reading this thread and using tips ,my oh has become a cc padder without knowing it and is currently moving dd about so we are in th overdraft less days of the month mse has well and truly bitten him on the bum lol

redglass_2

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

I've even arranged it than on the days the bus runs (Tue and Thurs) the driver will stop outside my house to let passengers drop...well not drop really...jars outside on my grass verge so I can collect them from there.

:rotfl: That's amazing and I'm very impressed but I hope you're not offended that I also find it very funny - I wonder if the driver calls out, 'Anyone to drop jars?' as the bus approaches. There'll be a Jar Shrine on the verge soon!

JayneC wrote: »

Just found out today that I'm not being kept on in my current job, I was kinda expecting it but still... Fortunately I have a job to go back to (I was seconded to this one) but the pay is quite significantly lower. Have been doing sums on bits of paper all afternoon and reckon I can still manage part time tho!!
jayne x

I'm sorry to hear about your current job, JayneC and I hope that with all the frugal ideas you'll pick up on here, the part-time one will be manageable and maybe more enjoyable, even...

elly68 wrote: »

my oh has become a cc padder without knowing it

Don't know what that is, Elly68, does it mean that the credit card is being paid off? That's what I guess anyway. It's obviously something good achieved by stealth so well done...:T

CW has fixed my SoW after I mucked it up yet again. Such generosity with her time deserves a virtual statue somewhere.

:T:T:T

Hugs to all that need them.

elly68

hi redglass yes the padders on msetry to make a payment to a debt everyday regardless how small .oh has been doing this once or twice a month as we are paid at different times it is making a serious dent now that i've cut the food budget in half with you guys .feel the cost of petrol is stopping my money making though so going to try selling on gum tree

slowlyfading

Hi guys, I'm still here.

I never know what to post - my life isn't exciting! Still plodding along nicely that's about it!

rubytuesday

Oooh Applemint I like the sound of that sausage casserole. I have some reduced sausages in the freezer so may get them out now for tomorrow. I think I have some red wine in there too and I've got the other ingredients so wouldn't need to buy anything else if so.

Well a lovely day today and I emptied and turned my compost for the first time in years! I found my beautiful silver spoon with a starfish handle so that was good. Unfortunately I did not find my back door key!!

Going to go and tidy the bedroom now and I will have a relatively tidy house for a change!!!

wrenlegs

Well, after reading much on this thread earlier this week, I have had a fairly major overhaul of my finances. Ive switched elec supplier and car insurance and have looked at my outgoings. I rceognised that we were overspending on the phone so the one aim I want to achieve this month is to just use the free calls we are entitled to (AOL £7.55 for bband and landline UK daytime and evening calls). All 0845 etc I have been pre-checking on 'sayno to 0870' and only call mobiles on my very cheap bargainous giffgaff provider:D Thus far, thus good:D

Groceries are our biggest hit. £70 last week:eek: (for 3 people) and we dont eat meat (double:eek:). So, am trying to get that down a bit - £50 or less would be nice but Im not sure how viable. Its the big shop tomorrow so will try to see where I can cut corners (and we really are not extravagent). Im not into clothes but did splurge £12 in primark last week and £3 top on ebay too. But that will be if for a good few months. One thing that has happened is that Ive had a major clearout of my son's wardrobe. I had two massive sacks which went to the charity shop. That was a nice feeling. Will do the same for myself too. Also want to get my filing sorted - have paperwork on the stairs, kitchen table, desk, bedroom...
If I manage a no extra spend on my phone bill Ill be a happy lass this month:A

rubytuesday

Hello wrenlegs - hmmm now why does your house sound like mine!:rotfl:

Blairweech

Hello everyone,

Well, it is some time since I posted - I have been so busy with uni I have only just had time to update my spreadsheet.

I am so sorry to hear of people's redundancies and other woes. Hopefully spring will soon arrive and we will have some good news!


My good news is that I am under budget for both January and Februay :money::beer::j:cool::rotfl::T. I have never been under budget for 2 months in a row before, I am so excited.

My budget is £300 a month - would be £333.33/month, but I am putting the odd £33.33 into savings (not put into s/sheet yet). In Jan I spent £284.69 and had 11 NSDs, and in Feb I spent £269.72 and had 8 NSDS.

Jan totals



Feb totals




I am doing well on my quest to get an Amazon voucher every month out of Ciao, got both so far . Could possibly have a neutral Xmas this year, or use the vouchers to buy my uni books. Am going to have to tweak my budget categories to account for the car more though The amount I have budgeted currently is meant to account for all car related expenses but it is not even covering the petrol, and now insurance is going up for women too...(side: how are companies like Di@mond and Sheilas Wh33ls going to continue business now they cant be gender specific...?).

Went to Lidls today and have just discovered their 99p cereal, which is excellent. Have menu planned for the next week so I should only need to buy peppers at some point. Going home next weekend so that will save me some food (and laundry) pennies . It is mine and OHs 2 year anniversary on Tue, so will send him a (free) ecard and go out for dinner at the weekend

Plans for tomorrow are coursework, making lentil and frankfurter soup and sausage pasta bake. Aiming for a NSD.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend :T

youngmummy

OH spent £8 today for petrol for his bike and £3 on milk thats all so its all good, had a couple come and see the house today they seem intrested will be finding out monday for definate, if we move we should be able to save money as said previously and will be closer to OH's family so ills all thumbs up the only downside is LO will have a slightly smaller bedroom but the livingroom is a good size so we wont be any worse off and our bedroom will be a less akward shape.... ... so we are keeping our fingers crossed x

Erme

redglass wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much about doing the ironing at 9pm, Erme - I've done it then and also a lot later! But I thought you'd just bought an ironing board, or am I mixing you up with another frugalista?

On the subject of jars, I like Douwe Egberts instant coffee because it comes in a glass storage jar. I keep herbs, dried foods, nuts etc in these jars. Don't know if they stand up to heat for jam-making but you could always put one in the oven to warm and then test it with boiling water. The glass top has a plastic lining so couldn't be put on until later, but then you don't put the top on straight away anyway.

Local cafes and B&B's might be good places to ask about jars.

Yeah you're right I did just buy one in December - hands up- but it had a dent in it and I wasn't happy with it so was on the look out for another cheap one...praise God I found a good een for £5

Anyhow it's been crazy with my wee nicotine OD of last week and now I'm not sure if Dr. C is upping the meds or not due to all my symptoms of last week (voices and severe paranoia that distraction is doing little for)...

Then the DIY rat cage I got (spent about £20 on - just under) - decided to split on me on Friday ...so another £30 spent on the boys (it was the cheapest I could get - off gumtree - though a new rat cage - the rainbow rat cage is only about £40) so was feeling very guilty..

Having said that the new cage is a huge improvement on the old one (will I be saying that when I can't get the top off to clean them out LOL or I can't move it when I decorate? :rotfl:)..it's approx 2' high by 2' wide by 1.5' deep so well pleased. I didn't really want a cage more than 2' high (I have a life besides rats) but I spent (blew more like £4) on a hammock which milo is just getting used to and seems to really like. At least my vet bill this week was only £5 with PDSA..

Did anyone else get their free gardening guide and like seeds from which btw? The gardening guide looks really good this year for any novice GYO folk...

And I tried out the Mr L 'Formil' washing powder the other day and that's also good...that's the end of soap nuts for me cos the stuff gets it cleaner than the soap nuts did and yes maybe I did pay £8.99 for a big box but that should last 18 months to 2 years and if it makes my DIY ST's a bit cleaner (they never used to come anywhere like nearly up on the old stuff. Not even with vanish in) then it's worth it....

Only downside with the new washing machine is that there's a wee prob with the pump (it makes a bad noise) but hoping that rectifies itself soon and like it doesn't take up fabric conditioner.....otherwise a lot quieter than the old machine

e