Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Blairweech

Hi everyone,

Have not had chance to catch up yet but just thought I would say hello - I am working @ the Gold Cup this week which should be some nice monies for me. Had to go buy another pair of shoes though as the heel on mine kept sinking into the ground!

Hope you are well.

tumptyteapot

LolaLemon wrote: »

I had a look on the flylady thread on OS, it scared me!! haha i do normally do a few things each day - washing, dishes and clean one area... but my main problem is im a hoarder .:eek:

I am a hoarder and my 7 year old is a hoarder - we very nearly moved house this month (the bloke selling the one we were going to buy pulled out) so we have done mountains of decluttering.
I always have a box in the middle of the house that I must pass 20 or so times a day for things I don't want, when it is full it goes to the charity shop.
We ebay stuff but that means it hangs around for longer and sometimes it's better for my mental health just to get rid of it. I ditched anything that had a bad memory associated with it - dresses that reminded me of horrible men I dated etc. I still have LOTS of clothes though :-) When I started decluttering I used the 3 box method - one to keep, one not sure, one to ditch. You have to sort them out again after that, putting the keep things away, deciding which of the ditch things can be sold etc and the not sure box you put away for a year or so, if you still want the things after a year then they get to keep.
There are a few flylady things you can do without going into the whole lace your shoes up and shine your sink stuff which I too find scary - they suggest you set a timer for 15 minutes and attack one area which works wonders, even 7 minutes makes a difference. They send out free emails, far too many of them but Kelly's ones give you the area that they are targeting that day and it is usually nothing mega but things that I wouldn't think of like wipe the cabinet doors in the kitchen.

I too have circumstantial depression (it's been a foul year) and I'm finding that mindfulness is helping - there is a free course here - https://sites.google.com/site/mindfulnessonlinecourse/mindulness-online-introduction
It is a pretty big commitment as you diary what you practice and the meditations seem to be longer as the course goes on but it has really helped me.

tumptyteapot

I'm aiming for a NSD today! Normally I'd buy bread today but if my son has cereal instead it means there is enough bread for his sandwiches tomorrow and I can get bread tomorrow with my big shop, which, according to my list now looks pretty dinky!

landregistrylass

Morning all. Not posted for yonks........ did anyone miss me? Been busy trying to earn extra pennies so that when i help out DD by, for example, buying school shoes for 3 x DGS its money neutral. It seems to have worked so far - evilbay has been steady but its a real pain listing and posting. I must be doing something wrong as it takes ages. Chika - what did you sell to make over £300???? My whoopsie hunts are still doing OK, except that new section managers in the store have decreed the discount is only 70% now, not 90% as it was on fruit and veg, but I cant complain - I know some people cant get to the shops in the evening, so I am lucky. The Big R is still lingering in the background. But to be honest I have to leave it in the background and just get on with everyday life, or I would be a nervous wreck. Regards to all, including newbies. I am not on the thread often enough to say hello at the time of joining!

rubytuesday

Another hoarder!

Also can't often have people just drop by as it's too embarrassing!

redglass_2

23rdspiral wrote: »

Redglass - thanks for the Formil tip - we use Eco stuff too, but OHs gym kit needs more oomph and asda's seems to be more expensive and i'll need some soon. how much roughly is Formil please?

Spiral, sorry, I've been away in a place with no internet :eek: or I would have replied sooner. At the mo I'm not sure as I don't record the price of each item I buy, only daily totals in each category, but since it's Lidl it won't be expensive. I've only just begun to catch up on posts and I expect by the time I get to the end, several other posters will have put you right on this one.

SandraScarlett

Desperately trying to hold it all together. Took DD into hospital today, now back for a couple of hours, then collecting DGD, back to hospital, meanwhile DH not great.

Sorry I haven't even thanked posts, hope to have a proper look at the weekend.

xx

enjoyfinancialchallenges

redglass wrote: »

Spiral, sorry, I've been away in a place with no internet :eek: or I would have replied sooner. At the mo I'm not sure as I don't record the price of each item I buy, only daily totals in each category, but since it's Lidl it won't be expensive. I've only just begun to catch up on posts and I expect by the time I get to the end, several other posters will have put you right on this one.

Formil was £6.49 for a 60 load box yesterday but found out when I got home that I could have bought it for half price a few days earlier. Thats what comes of keeping out of the supermarkets:mad:. I believe there were smaller boxes.

the_cat

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Desperately trying to hold it all together. Took DD into hospital today, now back for a couple of hours, then collecting DGD, back to hospital, meanwhile DH not great.

Sorry I haven't even thanked posts, hope to have a proper look at the weekend.

xx

((((((hugs)))))))

Hope things improve soon

rubytuesday

Sorry to hear that Sandra. Wishing everyone well x