Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

WonderfulLife

Hi I'd love to join this Frugal Living challenge. I have a tendency to be either careful or extravagant but never really having what I need or want for that matter. I either deprive myself or give it away. I'd like a bit more balance. Getting rid of the debts I have, whilst living well. Not just consuming for the sake of it.

It sounds as though a budget is the place to start so that I have some inkling of how much I can reduce the debt and what I normally waste each year. I am 55 with no pension but I don't want to keep working until I kick the bucket so I need to find a new way to manage my finances live on less or make ends meet in some other way.
:A
WonderfulLife

lowspend2011

NSD here today so that's 4/5 days no spend. Back to work today after the holidays, took lunch with me.

Thanks Kerfuffle regarding the subscribing to threads.

wornoutmumoftwo

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

I went and bought a T**** Mobile PAYG sim card for 99p, my neighbour told me the one she has is buy £10 worth of calls and T**** make it up to £30, which sounded like a v good deal but I think it means I shall have to spend £10 a month on it and I usually make £20 last me 3-4 months. I need to read all the small print first before I do anything. One thing I did wonder is if I only paid BT for my line instead of 'free calls anytime' and then only use my mobile would it work out cheaper I shall have to give time to consider that also. I think it depends on how long my contract has to go with BT. I need Bt though because they are my service providers for my laptop

I'm on the tesco top up £10 and get £30 and generally just top up when I need it. They remind you when the month is up but I don't top up until I need it, sometimes every two months, HOWEVER, the free credit expires after the month.

I use the free credit to make mobile calls and keep my virgin bill down but you can't use it for 0870 etc's (I use say noto0870 for them).

apple_mint

Four no spend days here, and today should be a NSD too. Tomorrow is going to be a shopping day as OH has to go into town and I'm hitching a lift with him so that we cover a number tasks on the one journey. I'm not back at work until next week and normally I'd try to do my shopping on the way home from work in order to keep fuel costs down. I'll pack some sandwiches etc. in case the trip ends up running over lunch time.

I rang up to cancel my SKY TV package in the last week of December - just keeping the broadband package. The TV package ends towards the end of January. OH is on board with this and is more than happy to just pick up the Freesat channels through the SKY box. They didn't even try to tempt me to stay. Either they recognised a determined frugalister :rotfl:or they are getting a lot of cancellations at the moment. They did try to sell me a one off card which picks up more of the freesat channels but having done my research on the MSE techie boards I knew I could pick up a good range of channels without doing this. So we are saving £372 a year by doing this.

Yesterday we went to the coast and did a 2 hour walk together. Free and healthy. I packed up a lunch, a flask and coffee making kit.

We cooked a shoulder of lamb in the slow cooker on Monday. The meat falls off the bone when it is done this way and it means that we can also strip away the fat. We also get some stock. So far we have made:

• a roast lamb dinner
• packed lunch sandwiches (cold lamb, mint sauce and mayonnaise)
• a lamb and vegetable curry (enough for two meals and in the freezer). I also made rice. I don't know if it was on this thread or on OS - but I tried the technique of bringing it to the boil, turning off the heat and then popping a tea towel on the top with the lid on top of that. By the time the curry was ready, so was the rice and it was perfect A big thank you to the person who posted this tip as it saves gas (our hob is powered by gas bottles). The rice was quickly cooled and popped in the freezer too. Complete ready meals
• and today I'm going to make some lamb pasties (I'll just make up a filling of lamb, some saut!ed veggies and a little mint sauce). I'll freeze these individually and take them out for our packed lunches next week.

Like everyone has said, this thread is going at quite a pace, but it is full of great ideas and information. I think it also shows the level of determination everyone has to cut expenditure this year.

ceridwen

redglass wrote: »

itsallinthemind - bad luck with the stolen parcel. What's that saying? 'Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain.' I've had books left in the rain and a valuable parcel dumped on the step right next to the pavement :mad: and then when you ring up and ask what's going on you get the porkies, which is insult added to injury....

.

Don't forget all re any parcels dumped somewhere they could be stolen - if they ARE stolen before you have the chance to pick them up then you havent received them and the company hasnt completed their contract successfully and the sending firm will have to re-send the parcel (ie send a second one). The delivery firm will have no proof of delivery of the parcel to you - because they won't have done so and therefore won't have your signature to say you have safely received it. Let the delivery firm and sending firm fight it out between them as to just which of them has suffered a loss from the theft - the sending firm HAS to re-send.

There will doubtless be some law somewhere one could quote to prove it - if anyone can oblige by quoting it please:D

lynzpower

Morning frugallers!

Im afraid it is a spend day again here in the power household as dog has to visit vets. She has a cough and possibly an ear infection. It shouldn't cost too much, we have shopped around for vets in the past and this is by far the cheapest. Ageing dog with failing eyesight wont walk far either now so it is the bus there ( i have the money for this on top up) I expect it will cost about 65.00 ( hopes desperately) but im sure she will walk back so I should only have to use one way prepay on the bus.

Frugal things Im going to do today include:
1)I made a thick soup from a whoopsied bag of carrot and swede and a few other bits. Im going to add more water to that more beans and recook and blend to stretch out. Hopefully i should get 3 portions out of what is one large on at the mo
2) Make pie using up some extra tired looking veg that really should be going binward but I can stretch it today only!
3) I need to phone the library and renew a book I think I have a small fine ( library fines not included in budget)
4) pin down OH tonight to see if he agrees about the cheapest hotel for the summer ( from seperate savnigs pot) asthe 12% hotels.com CB wont be around forever
5) sort out the crisps to send back to KP
6)sort out paperwork to send to the bank and decide how much money I want to bring out. I was going to bring out enough for the year....but I think that a bad idea
7) I need to call my sister who is a trading standards officer to see if she can get me a refund on these cheap haircut vouchers I got from last m*n a almost 2 years ago now, this is a joke, I simply cant book it! I am desper for a haircut now - its been left too long so I am going to go for a cheapo dry cut maybe from somewhere like supercuts or a local place even cheaper. A refund of this would be 30.00 quite necc!
8) as im making pastry, will ensure that use some to make lemon curd tartlet ( LC is hm ages ago and i want the container its in back!) and might try to do a couple of pasties with some beef filling for OH to take to work. thanks for the tip Apple-mint with the pasties idea!

I also have a top to take back to debenhams i got in the online sale ( 4.50) but I will wait till the weekend and use OHs travel card and quickly pop into town so save ourselves 6 quid ish. ( I dont have an weekend travel in my budget- eek)

GARDENING: I have a heated propagator but no windowsills. Should I be starting my tomatoes now? What about lettuces eg mixed salad leaves, can I do these in the propagator now? I have everything I need for this can get cracking today if its of use?

I need to do a proper meal plan, also today- I know veg will be needed tomorrow along with milk., Ill shop for that tomorrow.

Anyway, im rambling, hope everyone has a great frugal day ! xx

ceridwen

Further leetle thought - re the comment about the charity shop not sticking to the notice saying "EVERYTHING half price" - yes they really should have stuck by it. I do know though that the law does not compel shops to sell something for the price marked on the label/sign/etc. Shops are legally entitled to refuse to sell goods to customers at the marked price.

Sorrees...before anyone goes into a shop and finds VAT-able products still there at the old price for the time being. They may or may not sell them to you at the marked price - but they dont HAVE to (some sort of legal phraseology about the marked price being just "an invitation to trade" or summat...cant remember the exact wording...).

Erme

23rdspiral wrote: »

hi everyone, sorry for the second post today, but i need to have a little rant!!

I nearly had a NSD, but it turned into a 'spend £6.00 on behalf of parents and friends' and spend £1.38 on groceries at the same time and then i remembered i really needed petrol so all my good intentions were out the window!

Actually i almost spent a bit more, a charity shop had a '1/2 price on everything' sign in the window, so thought i'd stock up on secondhand / vintage linens/pillowcases ect that i use for sewing. But at the till the lady just added them up at their usual 50p - £1.00 each, also adding 40p for something she saw me take from the 20p tub. When I queried this, she said "oh the sale wouldnt be on these silly cheap things". I was quite puzzled and politely said 'no thanks' and walked out.

I've never had this before in any shop, she was essentially saying "1/2 price on everything other than things we think you can afford to pay full price for"!

I liked the linens, that's why i chose them, but if i had bought them i would just have felt robbed. Shame, I quite like the Sally Army as a charity, but i'll be thinking twice before spending in there in the future. Has anyone else ever had a similar issue?

Charity shops can be quite funny if they 'think' you can afford it... just before xmas in the snow one refused my stuff cos they had plenty and made me walk 10 minutes to the next one when I needed a nap...I was not happy - but yeah you have legal rights though is it really worth it? I avoid SS now because of bad customer service though will go to C cos it's a bit posher and that's where I got my bargain watch worth £100 for £6 the other week

landregistrylass wrote: »

l.m.hart............... my local store reduces throughout the day, but the "final" markdown (10% on fruit and veg, and normally 25% on meat and fish) is at 7pm. I think each store may be different. Its worth asking in your local store. If they dont sell it to people like me and you they have to "waste" it which means the lost revenue goes against the section which didnt sell it, which the section managers are always anxious to avoid as they get targets to reach. (Insider info LOL)

Or else the homeless and students nab it out of the bins once they're closed LOL...it's possible to have loads of NSD's this way - I just need my sleep so not entirely practical for me - and it could well be illegal - not sure - the official term is 'scavenge'

silvasava wrote: »

I just sloshed on some sweet chilli sauce & it covered a multitude of sins! By the way - I have a Korean friend who took me shopping with her to her Asian supermarket - WHAT BARGAINS!!:j Cornflour v cheap, Chilli sauce 3 times the size & half the price - black peppercorns enough to last me a year for less than the supermarket & packs of 36 veggie spring rolls for about £2.00 - well worth a look round!:)

I know I am so blessed to have LOADS of asian supermarkets near me (within walking distance) though obviously some are cheaper than others...just out of curiosity what did you pay for the cornflour?

Well done you though Silva...

Hope Nuala isn't too sick today btw? Anyone seen her yet or has she not emerged?

E

never_too_old

lynzpower
:)GARDENING: I have a heated propagator but no windowsills. Should I be starting my tomatoes now? What about lettuces eg mixed salad leaves, can I do these in the propagator now? I have everything I need for this can get cracking today if its of use?
i need the answer to this too

mumtoomany

Well, had to spend £28 last night on new school shoes for DD4. Went for expensive ones this time. The pair I paid £12 for in September bit the dust! Had glued them back together in December but fallen apart again. Hope this pair lasts at least till end of school year.

Also remembered bought milk the other day (well sent DH out for it) will add it to spends now.

This thread runs too quickly; I feel like Alice in Wonderland, running as fast as I can and getting nowhere!

The rain is pouring down here so a NSD again me thinks.

Thanks to whoever reminded me how to alter my signature, sorry can't remember who it was.

Mumtoomany.