Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

mooomin

It's been quite a frugal day here in Fresian Towers - and a peaceful one too Mr Fresian is off to his grandma's for lunch, so I'm alternating between doing loads of housework and spending some quality time with MSE :rotfl:

I got my hair cut this morning - it was done through a Groupon offer so only cost me £18 and not even from this month's budget as I paid for it in January. I'm really pleased with the cut but won't be going back and paying their normal price of £54 :eek::eek::eek:

I nipped into Morrisons on the way home and got some cheap (or should that be cheep, heehee!) eggs, reduced bread, half price marge and a reduced pork shoulder which I'll be having for dinner tomorrow. The whole lot cost me less than £5 which I thought was quite good. I should have made a list, as I'm sure there are other things I need, but if there are then I will go to Aldi tomorrow and make use of their cheaper fruit.

I'm about to go foraging in the freezer as I'm sure there's some split pea and ham soup in there and that will do me nicely for my dinner.

Happy weekend to all

rising_from_the_ashes

Aldahbra wrote: »

Don't leave any unexplained gaps in your CV.

Employers are not interested in anything over 10 years old, except in very unusual circumstances, so summarise employment and group it together.

This needs to be first in your employment list - this is what you are doing now and what you want to do

You could put something along the lines of:-

Employers Name; September 2009 - present time - On secondment to Such and Such company (don't call it a secondment if in the same company as you already work for) parts manager primarily responsible for blah blah blah.

August 2008 - September 2009 - Maintenance Manager blah blah
May 2008 - April 2008 - seconded to Big Company as Project Manager blah blah blah
Previous employer - Details

Or

Employers Name; September 2009 - present time - parts manager primarily responsible for blah blah blah.
August 2008 - September 2009 - Maintenance Manager blah blah
May 2008 - April 2008 - seconded to Big Company as Project Manager blah blah blah
Previous May 2003 - April 2008 Details
employer -

1975-1987 I was employed continuously with Tesco, Morrison’s then Asda as a carpet sweeper rising to supervisor.

obviously a you can lay it out better than this using a word processor.

Don't lie on a CV

Do explain any gaps in your employment in the best possible light such as career break to raise a family, or as a gap year to trek in Nepal, or to undergo training.....

Are these links any use to you?

http://www.europa-pages.com/jobs/cv.html

https://nextstep.direct.gov.uk/gettingajob/cvsandcoveringletters/createacv/Pages/default.aspx?CVID=bqyAHZMqt0U=

http://www.greatcvs.co.uk/common-cv-mistakes.html

That's great, thanks!

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

to add my two pennorth. I used to work in IT and read a lot of cv's when we were recruiting. False modesty and overblown hyperbole are both irritating when sifting through piles of paper searching for those you have time to interview. What I wanted was a succinct, easily read bit about what they were good at and their technical skills. Then if I wanted to see more, an expansion on that further down

for some reason, writing it in the third person seems to work well, and I changed mine to be like that (work from home now, so don't need a cv any more)

when writing in the third person, it is much easier to 'puff' achievements, and say how good you are at something. Maybe something to do with our British dislike of people showing off

I would change the top part of the cv to reflect the skills and characteristics for the job I was applying for, so would emphasise different things. If applying for a management heavy job, I would emphasise that part of what I could do, if applying for a more technical role, I would emphasise the technical skills.

this is some of the top part of my cv to show what I mean

For the last 7 years, Lesley has been working from home. She is adept at Word, Excel and Powerpoint and has a flexible and can-do approach to most things.

Profile
In recent years, Lesley has accumulated a vast wealth of experience in property lettings and she can handle all aspects from property and tenant selection through to Section 8/21 evictions via costing and overseeing maintenance.

An experienced project manager with an unflappable, flexible and pragmatic approach. Accustomed to picking up variously sized projects, early, mid or late on and hitting the ground running. Lesley’s skill mix is unusual in that it includes both the technical side and the softer, people side.

Lesley's career in IT progressed through roles of increasing responsibility, through which she sought a challenge and an opportunity to make a significant contribution. I.T. Professional 1985 – 2001 when she worked on Personal and Corporate Medical Health Insurance to include Sales and Marketing, Customer Service, Claims, Registration and Accounts, Corporate and Personal New Business, Printing etc. Logistics and Forwarding with particular reference to Air

good luck

Lesley, thank you, I'd never thought of doing it in the 3rd person, it does work really well!


I tend to have a "general" one which I then tweak to individual jobs.
Still working away at it, I'd forgotton how long it can take to do them (current employer only accepts application forms so my CV is REALLY out of date)!

Thanks to all for the very useful tips am trying to incoporate them and working hard at it this afternoon! (bit snowy outside so don't fancy going out). Should be a NSD though!

Also need to update SoW which has got a bit behind while I've been unwell (but haven't spent as much) and then catching upon Uni work.

Trying to think of ways to raise £1800 to pay for next years' Uni fees:( - lots of car boots is all I've come up with so far. Think I may need to have a hunt around the loft and see if there's anything left to sell on Ebay.

Have a good afternoon everyone.:)

silvasava

Hi all - I'm a bit despondent as I've only managed to have 1 NSD this month so far Totted up on the SoW and I've managed £183.00 - shock horror!! Still it has made me see where the money goes although a good chunk of this went on Flowers for my friends WA (15.00), A birthday present for her hubby (May - 20.00) A shirt for DH - 10.00. Asda had some Glucosamine reduced to half price - 3.00 so I bought 4 to keep us both going for a few months - a bit of a spave there but I do need to check the freezers & make sure I only buy ESSENTIALS. I should know better at my age!

tumptyteapot

Hi, please count me in, I have £60 a week to feed, clothe and entertain myself and a 7 year old after all the bills are paid. My challenge starts on Monday, I'm going to take £60 out of the bank and then put my debit card away until the next week.

cw18

Welcome aboard
Have added you to the list, which takes it up to 130 names :T

tumptyteapot

Is there a good thread to start reading about how people have managed this challenge? I'm going to do a weekly menu in a moment, plan ahead using up leftovers etc. but what else can I do to make this work?

rubytuesday

Hello tumptyteapot!

I've just been to Tesco where I was quite aggravated as the conveyor belt wasn't working. I thought it would be easier to let the checkout lady take the items out of the basket and put them through rather than unload them into the tiny space that had been created after the previous person had gone and get on with packing ......but no! Then I got my receipt handed to me without a word, whilst a woman trying to change coins stood in the way of me packing my shopping so I had to ask her to move!

To be fair although I now try and avoid it as much as possible it is usually a nice friendly store. Being so small we usually know most of the staff.

Spent the day trying to dig up a flowering currant from the front garden as I realized last year the flowers smell of cat pee but to no avail! Almost there but not quite!

midwinter

rubytuesday wrote: »

Spent the day trying to dig up a flowering currant from the front garden as I realized last year the flowers smell of cat pee but to no avail! Almost there but not quite!

I've never understood how something that can be prettily flowering, so early in the spring, can make you smile, but then, you can't wait to get away from it, with it's smell!

I sympathise, and hope you can get it moved!

twiglet98

I seem to have spent the entire afternoon in front of the computer going through the threads on other boards about maximising the Tesco DTD (double the difference) offer if you buy products that are cheaper at Asda. Hats off to anyone managing to work it effectively. I spent so long comparing prices on Mr T, Mr A and mysupermarket that my brain is fried and the shopping isn't done. Did update the SoW, and do another balance transfer to make the most of the 0% deal, and browsed through freecycle's emails, but I haven't had lunch yet... think I'll make pancakes for the fifth time this week!

enjoyfinancialchallenges

tumptyteapot wrote: »

Is there a good thread to start reading about how people have managed this challenge? I'm going to do a weekly menu in a moment, plan ahead using up leftovers etc. but what else can I do to make this work?

Hi tumptyteapot welcome, you have already found the thread you are looking for, unless its for something else of course. Stay with us and see how we all manage our part of the challenge according to our own budgets, commitments and priorities.

Looking forward to getting to know you. XXX