Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

SandraScarlett

Had a quick lookie-see and decided I must send good wishes to um, er (what was her name now?) ..... I think it was Lola Lemon, and you're getting extra equipment from Uni? Was that right?

Whoever it was, I'm so pleased for you, cos anyone who can cut through red tape, deserves their reward, and it will make a huge difference.

Well, I've looked at the news, seen the budget, and I'm delighted with the 1p petrol cut, and the cancelling of the 4p increase that was going to take place next month, but I wish they'd found a way to stop the greedy Leccy and Gas suppliers from constantly increasing their prices - and then announcing record profits.

Having consulted my team of accountants, who manage my pension (ha ha!), we have decided to move my £10 Christmas Bonus to an off shore account, and then quietly launder it, several times. :cool:

Please don't report me!!

xx

Kerry_Woman

23rd spiral - Sorry to hear about your HR meeting. Hope it gets sorted soon.

dizzy lizzie - The 3 exhibitions I am going to are over 3 days - Friday to Sunday. 1 on each day.

Will report back on how they went.

Blondemuppet - Welcome to the thread.

Not working today, so it will give me a chance to catch up with a few things around the flat. Doing the weekly shop today as well, as I usually do this on Saturday. My Mum has a doctor's appointment today, so will go along with her.

Got a few hours temp work next week and the week after.

Must try and catch up with some rest, as I am exhausted. Working at different locations and different shifts. Got home a few nights between 9pm and 9.35pm from work, then leaving for work the next day at 6.45am.

Have been doing alright with NSD's.

tumptyteapot

£1.40 spent today on mushrooms and baklava, I felt like a treat.

Week 2 of frugal living and I feel like I am getting the hang of it, it's really helping just doing one shop a week.

I'm feeling more comfortable just taking a couple of quid when I go out of the house instead of my card incase of emergencies.

We are eating better too, I think we always ate a pretty balanced diet but now I am menu planning my son is not getting chips every other day, this week we have had pasties, spagetti, mashed potato and sausages.... he has a very limited diet (special needs) but planning ahead is actually helping me stretch it a little. We've made cakes and biscuits together which is just lovely too.

I'm planning to do my shop in Mr L tomorrow to see if it compares well but I might go to Mr T as well if I need soya milk 'cos the stuff from L is horrible.

redglass_2

tumptyteapot wrote: »

Week 2 of frugal living and I feel like I am getting the hang of it, it's really helping just doing one shop a week.....

I'm planning to do my shop in Mr L tomorrow to see if it compares well but I might go to Mr T as well if I need soya milk 'cos the stuff from L is horrible.

Well done, Tumpty! :T
Personally I find Mr L's soya not too bad, plus it's the only cheap one I've found round here that you can use in coffee, but to each her own.

I've got ScottishPower to reduce my DD! Yeeee-ha! :j I have to laugh in a way as they've reduced it back to what it used to be with my last supplier. As soon as I moved to SP they upped the DD, even though there was no evidence that I'd use more (and I was on a capped deal very similar to what I'd been on before). I did point all this out at the time.

Does anybody know about Paid Surveys? I've just had an email from Freebies GB about earning £40 a day from surveys. Sounds too good to be true, IYSWIM. Is it possible? Do you have to spend all day filling them in?

Laushappy

Hi all

Had a NSD yesturday and may possibly have one today!

Well i'm finding it quite challenging to stay away from the supermarkets/local shop for the whole week following my weekly big shop.
I've now run out of bread and snacky things for the kids, but i resent spending anymore before my next weekly shop as i feel i already spend more than enough on food! :eek:
Hopefully i shouldnt need to spend too much on next weeks shop, as although i'm running low on essentials, i still have a load of meat in the freezer and tons of veggies to make soups and to go with dinners.
Will need nappies soon though, which bumps up the grocery bill!

I'm quite pleased with myself though as i thought i didnt have anything in for the kids lunch today, however i pulled together what was in my fridge and made them savory pancakes (which they loved ) followed by some homemade icecream that had been sitting in the freezer for weeks, its amazing what you can put together when you think there's no food in the cupboards:p

To avoid buying more bread, i'm going to attempt to make some savoury muffins for the kids breakfast, i only have a little butter left, so not sure how they will turn out I will let you know!!!

Is everyone else having this lovely weather? its just amazing, sunny and hot, kids are in the garden and life just feels good when the suns out

I havent had much chance to read throught the posts properly, but sending thoughts to those going through a hard time at the moment.

Ps I'm not sure how many of you have had a look at wheezl's food planner website, but it really is worth a look, alot of work has gone into making the website amazing, loaded with healthy, cheap meal ideas. I'm not sure i could follow the whole weeks meal planner but i have been using some recipes from the site which are great.


bye for now

minnie2

redglass wrote: »

Well done, Tumpty! :T
Personally I find Mr L's soya not too bad, plus it's the only cheap one I've found round here that you can use in coffee, but to each her own.

I've got ScottishPower to reduce my DD! Yeeee-ha! :j I have to laugh in a way as they've reduced it back to what it used to be with my last supplier. As soon as I moved to SP they upped the DD, even though there was no evidence that I'd use more (and I was on a capped deal very similar to what I'd been on before). I did point all this out at the time.

Does anybody know about Paid Surveys? I've just had an email from Freebies GB about earning £40 a day from surveys. Sounds too good to be true, IYSWIM. Is it possible? Do you have to spend all day filling them in?

its too good to be true - well from my view - though i do see people on these forums saying theyve earnt a lot and i wish i knew who they were with.I am with loads and have only just transferred my first £20 and its taken me 3months to earn it!!

redglass_2

minnie2 wrote: »

its too good to be true - well from my view - though i do see people on these forums saying theyve earnt a lot and i wish i knew who they were with.I am with loads and have only just transferred my first £20 and its taken me 3months to earn it!!

Is that with the same people, Minnie, Paid Surveys? £20 in 3 months sounds a lot faster than YouGov, which pays about 1p a survey! On the other hand they are quick to do and I use the surveys as displacement activity when I'm putting off doing another piece of work. I've earned £100 so far but it has taken me literally YEARS. If I had kids, though, I would probably get more surveys and earn faster.

Fab weather here so I think it's time i was off to the allotment. Checked my seed packets this morning and I've probably got enough left over for this year and all within use-by date....if you can trust what it says on the packet.

BTW a wee frugal hint: I read in a gardening book that despite what the seed companies tell you, lettuce seed often lasts for up to 5 years. It's got to be worth hanging on and trying it out...

minnie2

redglass wrote: »

Is that with the same people, Minnie, Paid Surveys? £20 in 3 months sounds a lot faster than YouGov, which pays about 1p a survey! On the other hand they are quick to do and I use the surveys as displacement activity when I'm putting off doing another piece of work. I've earned £100 so far but it has taken me literally YEARS. If I had kids, though, I would probably get more surveys and earn faster.

Fab weather here so I think it's time i was off to the allotment. Checked my seed packets this morning and I've probably got enough left over for this year and all within use-by date....if you can trust what it says on the packet.

BTW a wee frugal hint: I read in a gardening book that despite what the seed companies tell you, lettuce seed often lasts for up to 5 years. It's got to be worth hanging on and trying it out...

never managed to get any surveys on paid surveys - joined but had no idea how it worked.toluna takes forever and its a voucher only need another 64000 points.valued opinions dont seem to give much either for surveys.

also with crowdology but havent done any for them and joined a new one and again thats points seems ok so far but only got 500 points wihich is about 1p

the one ive managed to get money for is survey network it varies what it pays. But thats the only one ive had sucess with and you get sent atleast 3 surveys a day.

tumptyteapot

plus £2 spent in a charity shop on a jumper (Next) a book I haven't read and a small bag of jumpers for teddies, bargains!

cw18

I've had a fair few "spendy" days recently, including a few Whoopsie hauls.

Tonight netted a real bargain - a full corn fed free range chicken (oh, how I love that stuff - a good couple of years since I could afford it too ), almost 2kg and with an original ticket price of £9.54 Whoopsied price of just 99p :T (less 9p staff discount, which gets put into my sealed jars)

I'm going to put it into my slow cooker on low in the next hour or so (before I head to bed), which means it should be cooked when my alarm goes off at 5:30am (another full day in work) - so I just need to be sure to get up with the first alarm so I (hopefully) have time to deal with it before going to work. Means I'm on chicken butties for lunch tomorrow (good timing, as I finished off the ham today), and will probably have chicken and mushroom risotto for tea (also picked up some Whoopsied mushrooms). Then I just need to work out what I'm doing with the rest of the chicken (or at least some of it) over the weekend..... and sort out how much I need to find space in the freezers for