Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

SandraScarlett

The £20 discount from a £40 shop has now expired for new orders and edited orders. If you've placed an order, and don't edit it, you'll be OK. Good luck to anyone who has placed an order.

Erme - good to hear you are cig free, but, due to the fact my daughter used the e-cigs a couple of years ago, I'm puzzled about your kit. My DD had:

a battery charger thingy
two "stems" of cigarettes (the white bits) which "glowed" red
two filters
packs of sealed thing-a-me-bobs in blue packs

She had no "juice", but pushed a whatsit into the stem and screwed on the filter. The original cost for all this was £25, which included 5 of the refills, and each refill lasted her a day, so this was the equivalent of £25 for 5 days-worth of cigarettes, plus all the mechanism, which she didn't need to buy again.

Then each pack of 5 refills cost £7.50, and she did this for a month, then cut down, week by week, and after a couple of months, she was able to stop completely, and hasn't smoked since.

Sometimes she takes the e-cig out with her, but doesn't put a refill in it, and she "smokes" it after a meal with friends. I can't understand what this "juice" is that you're buying on the Internet, and hope it isn't doing you any harm.

I don't want to interfere, but was alarmed about the "dodgy stuff from China" that you mentioned, and concerned about your health. Please feel free to tell me to keep my nose out of your business!!

:beer:

xx

paidinchickens

rubytuesday wrote: »

Took one of my cats Marmalade to the vets today and unfortunately she may have liver cancer.she's staying in tonight for blood tests and an ultra sound tomorrow.

I am so sorry to hear that, its heartbreaking isn't it. Had my eldest (16) to the vets as he always has the runs, they did £70 of blood tests to tell me he is just old. My last baby died at 23 so I did not think 16 was that much of an old age. He could plod on for a couple more years or not, I live each day as it comes. Some days he is really full of beans and others he just sleeps in the sunshine. Then I feel bad for thinking about it while he is still here. I really will be one of those old ladies with thousands of cats!! not very MS.:rotfl:

DH hates cats but wants to keep them all. DS wants to keep the littlest one as he feels sorry for it. I heard them say they may let one go to the lady next door as they will still see it everyday:rotfl:

Sold the caravan today as practically we can't afford to insure and maintain it and with the price of fuel it is cheaper to stay in a TLodge than it is to tow and pay rent for the night. I will miss it but it ended up being a girlie fag room.

As for e cigs I had one a couple of years ago (as you could smoke at airports and on planes with them) and I had no juice. The one I had sound the same as Sandrascarlett DD. I blew mine up though as I am so afraid of flying I started sucking too hard and it stopped working:rotfl: I ended up having to run to the chemist for patches:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I think I am going to have to curb DH spending as he is not getting the idea of going with a list and ONLY coming back with the items on that list:rotfl: last nights extras were, posh cat food (ok I will allow that lol) strawberry milkshake, peanuts, a bottle of wine and extra milk to make the milkshakes with. He is the one who says we need a cow in the garden:mad: I am thinking of holding certain things back if he goes over the £50 budget:rotfl::rotfl:bet the shopping would be £49 everyweek:rotfl::rotfl:

Cheapest I could get DH car insurance down to is £224 :eek: I know they have gone up but the car is worth s*d all!! Apparently now they put your policy up if you have been in an accident, even if it is not your fault. I was in my car nearly two years ago and some dizzy woman reversed into me and wrote my car off!!! I was parked and blame less:mad: So that will be three policies go up this year, mine, DH and DD as I am named driver on both of theirs.

I could really do with a nap today but have to pick up DGD from school and may not get up in time:o No point cleaning up as she is like Taz and the house ends up in such a mess so going to put my feet up and watch tv for an hour :T:T

rising_from_the_ashes

paidinchickens wrote: »

:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Awwwwwww, congratulations! (and finally!!!!):j

They are adorable - not surprised everyone wants to keep them all!!

rubytuesday wrote: »

Took one of my cats Marmalade to the vets today and unfortunately she may have liver cancer.she's staying in tonight for blood tests and an ultra sound tomorrow.

Aw, Ruby, keeping my fingers crossed it went OK today.:(

paidinchickens wrote: »

I really will be one of those old ladies with thousands of cats!! not very MS.:rotfl:

Me too! I've love lots more but finances won't allow just now..... maybe one day.:o


SP have struck again - submitted meter readings earlier this week as wanted to check exactly how much I was behind with moving to a new supplier and it showed £106. Now, that's not too bad IMHO as I moved to them in a November so don't have the luxury of building up a bit before winter hits, but it's always in credit by the end of the year.

As usual, they've now come back with an increase in my monthly direct debit (as they do each time) - to £94:eek:. Now, I know I'm going to have to pay the balance when the switch happens, but I'd rather not pay more than my current payment until then (£65).

Yet another strongly worded email in the process of being written, I do get sick of doing this every time readings are submitted - surely they should be able to work out that my account is in credit at the end of each year - oh I can't wait to be shot of them!


Car boot on Sunday:) so having a look in all cupboards/drawers etc tomorrow to try to find some more stuff to get rid of!:)

Have a good weekend everyone:D

seriouslyfrugal

Hi Everyone

those kittens are so cute !!

thinking of you at the moment ruby


I just heard that the supermarkets are reducing petrol by 3p a litre :j:j:j:j:j:j so hopfully that will ease things - for how long though I don't know

I finish at Mottisfont on the 21st August so my project for the weekend is to update my cv

I hope everyone is well

have a good frugal weekend everyone

ceridwen

aril

just a quick "congratulations" from me too on being mortgage-free at last...its a huge relief to be in that position...and very good timing for you personally:beer:

rubytuesday

Thank you to those of you who expressed concern about Marmalade.

unfortunately it is bad news - she has a large inoperable tumour on her liver.

in the mean time she is home with us and on medication.

I had my hair cut this week and for some strange reason treated myself to some expensive face cream when usually I don't even bother with anything half the time; so as you can imagine this week has been very, very, far from frugal for me!

rising_from_the_ashes

Awww, Ruby, I'm so sorry to hear that.:(

I have an elderly lab who has cancer - it doesn't bother him at the moment and as long as that's the case and he's enjoying a pain free and good quality of life, we'll carry on.

We try to enjoy every day and cherish each extra one that we have.:grouphug:

(This is said tongue in cheek) - I'm spending a fortune in fuel as I take him to the beach nearly every day to make the most of the time we have left - it's his favourite place and he perks up so much when we go, it's worth every extra trip to fill up!

rubytuesday

Thanks rising - sorry to hear about your doggie too!

As long as she seems painfree and is not in any distress I will keep her here with us and let her pass away here.

I had a cat called Baby Cat with this some years ago and he lasted another year after diagnosis but they have said they think her decline will be rapid.

Enjoy your time with your boy! xxx

Erme

SandraScarlett wrote: »

The £20 discount from a £40 shop has now expired for new orders and edited orders. If you've placed an order, and don't edit it, you'll be OK. Good luck to anyone who has placed an order.

Erme - good to hear you are cig free, but, due to the fact my daughter used the e-cigs a couple of years ago, I'm puzzled about your kit. My DD had:

a battery charger thingy
two "stems" of cigarettes (the white bits) which "glowed" red
two filters
packs of sealed thing-a-me-bobs in blue packs

She had no "juice", but pushed a whatsit into the stem and screwed on the filter. The original cost for all this was £25, which included 5 of the refills, and each refill lasted her a day, so this was the equivalent of £25 for 5 days-worth of cigarettes, plus all the mechanism, which she didn't need to buy again.

Then each pack of 5 refills cost £7.50, and she did this for a month, then cut down, week by week, and after a couple of months, she was able to stop completely, and hasn't smoked since.

Sometimes she takes the e-cig out with her, but doesn't put a refill in it, and she "smokes" it after a meal with friends. I can't understand what this "juice" is that you're buying on the Internet, and hope it isn't doing you any harm.

I don't want to interfere, but was alarmed about the "dodgy stuff from China" that you mentioned, and concerned about your health. Please feel free to tell me to keep my nose out of your business!!

:beer:

xx

My e-cig is a mod box (from UK)...batteries (loads - from china mostly)......cartomisers (refills I guess I fill up) with juice (china one tasted awful....back on UK stuff)..

Different cartomisers for different things..for example you can get some chinese ones as low as $5 for 5...however today I discovered single coils - (was on the dual coil yesterday....lovely but murdered my 3.6v batteries)....can't recall how much they were (not much cheaper than the dual coils) from Liberty-Flights...(very good UK supplier)... Must have spent about £20 this week on cartos; £20 on batteries and about the same on juice (different flavours)...

whoops....

Yes I'm on high strength nic right now cos I need to be....make up approx 30ml juice at a time (have 36mg juice - dilute with vodka and glycerine) so intend to reduce by 1mg when next refill due...

Currently vaped today about 25ml or 20ml of 29mg/ml juice...am fine..

Just keep forgetting to eat :rotfl:

E

Kerry_Woman

rising from the ashes - Sorry to hear about your dog. Sending hugs.