Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Barros

hi guys how are you all?

its been a while since i posted - feeling a bit down. spent a hideous amount over my budget already this month (grr). and its still 19 days to payday!! also - the utility bil hasn't arived yet (so nervous for these) so my savings will go down again to pay for that! wish i could start this month again afresh

so going to try and just spend £10 this week on my exercise classes and no other cash. we'll see though. think i might take the gas and elec meter reads so i know where they are at!!

Blairweech

Hugs to you minnie. Hope the roof doesn't cost too much to fix.

redglass_2

Erme wrote: »

And I tried out the Mr L 'Formil' washing powder the other day and that's also good...

I have some of this for washing stinky exercise clothes (the eco stuff I prefer just doesn't cope with these, I'm afraid) and Which? gave Formil a really good rating. It works really well. The only thing i don't like so much is that the Formil bio itself has a powerful smell (I dry my clothes over the stove on a ceiling rack, so it is sometimes the smell of my living room).

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Like Slowlyfading I am just plodding along at the moment. I cleared out the last of the late MrC's clothes from our bedroom last week....and found £10 in a trouser pocket. It was like getting a present. I feel bad as my friend took the clothes to the tip for me. When MrC first died I gave all the stuff he hadn't worn in the last two years to the charity shop, and his really good coat went to my uncle, but we live in a small place and I'm not really ready to see people walking round in his favourite clothes.

Then that was the right solution for you, (((Cranky))). I discovered yesterday that actually my mother has still got a few garments of my father's (it's a year since he died and she gave away most of them then) and she is now preparing to give away the last few. Everyone has to go at their own pace and do what feels right to them....

cw18 wrote: »

I may also be about to 'test' our friendship. We're both happy with being just friends (something we both need), but I've been asked out on a date by someone else - and I'm not sure how current friend will take it, nor how the other fella will accept the fact my best/closest friend is male (something I'd rather tell him face-to-face, so if we do go out I'll be making every effort to make sure it's a very low-key evening!)

Hope it all works out smoothly, CW, and that your friend is happy for you. Life is complicated, isn't it? But in some ways it's a good problem to have. I'll try not to send you any more SoW complications for the time being....!

Minnie, am about to PM you.

cw18

redglass wrote: »

I'll try not to send you any more SoW complications for the time being....!

Don't worry about that - they don't take long to sort, and most are that 'minor' I can do them while chatting to one of the other of them on the phone

rubytuesday

Don't feel bad Cranky, when my first boyfriend's father died, his wife who I am still very close to had a huge bonfire, perhaps for similar reasons. You have to do what's right for you.

rubytuesday

So strange reading your post Minnie as it reminded me of my dream, which was that I felt drips of water on me, then a crack appeared in the ceiling and the ceiling started to cave in. Now that's enough of that as apparently other peoples dreams are very boring, although we love discussing them in this house!

Sorry to read further how stressed you are feeling - deep breaths!

minnie2

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Big Hugs to you Minnie2 - you sound very frutstrated and no wonder!!!

Blairweech wrote: »

Hugs to you minnie. Hope the roof doesn't cost too much to fix.

thanks everyone

rubytuesday wrote: »

So strange reading your post Minnie as it reminded me of my dream, which was that I felt drips of water on me, then a crack appeared in the ceiling and the ceiling started to cave in. Now that's enough of that as apparently other peoples dreams are very boring, although we love discussing them in this house!

Sorry to read further how stressed you are feeling - deep breaths!

Argh I hope that dont happen here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ceridwen

minnie2 wrote: »

argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! help!!!!!! we have a leak in the roof spotted it last night in our second bedroom,had one of my kids staying over hence why i was in there.Theres a massive stain appearing on ceiling and wall. not good!!! worse thing is i ran through to hubby screaming and he calmly tells me he know and apparently its been like it for a while, when asked not so politely why the hell he hadnt said anything he said he assumed i knew about it! argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no i did not and surely if i did know i would have done something about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what is the matter with him??????!!!!!!!!!!!! then he says dont worry the insurance will pay for it!! - yes but our premiums will go up we have to pay an excess plus if something had been done about it sooner it may have been a small job we couldve just had done - now it may be a big one!!!!!!!!! he says the bit on the wall wasnt that far down last time he saw it- i asked how long since he spotted it and he just says a while.i am banging my head against a brick wall with him!! i love him dearly but hes such hard work! why did he not think to mention it?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How old a house have you got? Have a lot of other roofs in your road clearly been replaced?

You need to check out the "state of play" on neighbours' roofs to work out the likelihood of it being just a small solvable problem (ie replace a few roof tiles and thats it - done:)) on the one hand OR whether neighbours tend to have modern era roofs but yours is still the original one on the other hand. Fingers crossed for you that yours is a "modern era" roof - because, if it ISNT, ummm....errrr...ummm...dont know how to put this - but it will likely be a case of "a small repair now - and the whole roof is likely to go in only a year or two time". Don't ask me how I know:(:(:mad::eek:

never_too_old

minnie2

can you describe roughly whats above the leak i.e chimney , just a tiled roof , slate roof, flat roof and i ask dh what could be the problem ( hes a roofer)

wrenlegs

rubytuesday wrote: »

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

LOL! I think there must be a few of us about Hubby got a 2 pack of A4 ring binders from poundland today so will be shortly moving said paperwork off any horizontal surfaces. My grocery shop came in at £70 again BUT huby asked for a box of red wine so that ate up £13 so I would have been under £60 this week had it not have been for the vino. Where can I get cheap boxes of red wine? My mum is off to France in a couple of weeks - can they pick it up in Calais any cheaper? I managed a spend free day yesterday too. I am obsessed with not using the phone and cant wait to get my next bill The next point on my list is to stop using my overdraft so want to build up so Im not in there at all. Will have to roll my sleeves up...