Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

mama67

lincoln-potter wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome.

I have gone from being sensible with money but having never looked into what I spend in detail to now on the mission to be MF, so most costs have come under scruitiny. However I wouldn't say we are down the bare bones as I have a young family.



Another Yellow Belly! first one I have come across in my short time on the boards :T

I am only subscribed to a small handful of threads so i wll be sure to drop in on my attempts.

Being a MFW many of the cost saving ideas fit in nicely with this threda too.

So the things I have done so far since joining the boards which are on your list are:

- Quidco CB site (Buy works items through this so the cashback amount is starting to add up nicely
- Have an excel spend diary
- Signed up to poll sites (although I only use onepoll in honesty)


Things i am looking into
- Cashback CC
- Grow your own
- Keeping chickens

Another Yellow Belly here as well welcome.

Lola, have only just read your news (((hugs))), your poem broiught a tear to my eye

tumptyteapot

NSD yesterday but today £9 in Primark (I needed some shorts etc), £7.90 for the cinema and 45p for 2litres of water to smuggle into the cinema. I am so over budget this month but I have cut down my spending considerably from the start of the year.

Erme

rubytuesday wrote: »

Mine were really expensive 5.09 for a kilo in my local health food store which is pricier than H and B but I try and support him but they are the Dead Sea Magic ones.

Epsom salts are cheaper but don't have so much magnesium.

Actually I've just googled at they are more expensive on H and B's website! There's a first!:rotfl::rotfl:

Thanks for the pm.

I did various searches and some are on offer @ H&B but I think the cheapest for the bath is like Radox....@ 84p approx for 400g....Good on you for supporting the local HFS...They need your business :T

mama67 wrote: »

Another Yellow Belly here as well welcome.

Lola, have only just read your news (((hugs))), your poem broiught a tear to my eye

Yep I'm a yellow belly too ...Though barely on FL....I live in Scotland now but spent the first 19 years in Lincs... of my life (obviously I need more :coffee: judging by how incoherent this is? LOL)...Ma still lives there....If I'm down end of year (unlikely - have been invited to Bath for xmas and Ma is one big STRESS) we have to meet up....would love to meet some fellow MSE-ers one day...

Maybe we should start a thread somewhere for yellow bellies and wanna be yellow bellies...How quick can you guys climb steep hill? My record is 5 mins ....and that was on 2 legs not four wheels...Sorry to hear about the cuts to mental health services (I subscribe to Rod Whiting on Facebook) - not good..... Nowt like home though

Blessings

E

miss_empty_piggy

Am trying so hard to stay positive. This year seems to be doomed for me. I got a huge bill from utility company in October saying I was over £426 in arrears and would have to start paying £112.50 a month which I have been doing ever since. I have never been able to get online as it is always "temporarily unavailable". I waited for 25 minutes trying to get through on Thursday and finally managed to give meter readings. Now I am only £390.00 in arrears!! I do'nt know what is going on. Chap said maybe I have a faulty gas meter and I should check it everyday for 10 days at the same time.

Also, had a plumber round to check the heating system as it is not working properly. (this could be the reason for the huge bill) Said I might have a leak somewhere. He's coming next week to try to fix it, but if it is in the pipes in the flooring (concrete) this will be an absolute nightmare. Hopefully it will be something simple (but knowing my luck it will be the most difficult).

To add insult to injury my washing machine has now decided to stop taking in water on the wash cycles. It will drain water off, and will take water in on a rinse, but not on a proper "wash".

Sorry for the long post and the moan, just get a little fed up with things sometimes. On the bright side, DD is much better now - thanks to everyone for their best wishes with the chicken pox.

Puddleglum

Miss empty piggy, it never rains but it pours, eh? It definitely sounds like a dodgy gas meter is a possibility. Good luck with getting to the bottom of the problem soon. Very glad to hear that your DD is on the mend, chicken pox is miserable at any age or form.

Another lovely day here in Zummerzet. Once DS12 comes back from his sleepover we are planning to take a picnic and go and visit some National Trust properties. We are members so have to force the children to do some properties every year in order to get our money's worth. Fortunately they are still young enough to go along with it. DD and I had a great day out last Monday at one.

Happy Easter Sunday

cw18

(((hugs))) for Miss Empty Piggy - it certainly sounds like things are conspiring against you



After my blow out on a load of new clothes last weekend (minor by my standards of 6 years ago, but pretty major based on the last 4-5 years), things seem to have gone very quiet at my end.

I was called into work yesterday (4-8pm close & clean shift) due to the normal lady calling in sick - but at least I got 6 hours notice, which meant I had plenty of time to iron the uniforms I'd (fortunately) washed on Friday evening instead of leaving until Saturday morning as normal I've also got an extra 5 hours on Wednesday, meaning 3 full days in a row this next week (7-4:30 on Mon & Tues, then 7-5 on Wed)

The chap I met up with a couple of weeks ago has been too busy with other things to manage another meet up (to the point I asked him outright on Thursday morning if he still wanted to meet again!), and is away with friends this weekend at short notice (was only asked on Wednesday). Apparently he's away again next weekend, but as I'm busy with my running (taking part in a couple of fund-raising runs) that doesn't bother me as much as it would otherwise have done.

Off to DD's this morning (must go and get ready) to deliver Easter goodies. And I'm grabbing the opportunity to do this weeks long run (aiming for 10 miles) while I'm up there, as it means I can include a couple of stretches of the course of the half-marathon I'm doing in 8 weeks - could be useful practise as the bits I'm doing includes the one long up-hill stretch

Aril

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Am still being frugal honest guv...just dealing with lots going on in my real life at the moment still and am not posting as often as I would like.
A quick update.....we've planted up lettuce, shallots, garlic, beetroot and round carrots so far. All have either been free seeds, swapped seeds or bits from £land. Additional plans will be to buy small plug plants from the garden centre for runner beans and dwarf beans, courgette and cucumber as we've only a limited space in our little home for seedlings and I'm a tidy person and don't like having them in the house [not very frugal I know but there you go]
Wine making is going apace- OH bottled the lemon balm one last weekend and started a red wine kit he had as a pressie. Next month we will be starting a batch of elderflower as last year's was so delicious.
In the last few weeks I've made a batch of chutney and lemon curd and been busy filling the freezer with cakes for packed lunches. I've also been busy on the craft front and have managed to make a bracelet using the plastic inner from a sellotape with beautiful ribbons and threads wrapped round and a beaded bracelet from two bracelets that I never wore. I've been making doing and mending as always and yesterday sorted out a shirt that OH never wears because it needs cufflinks- just stitched up the excess button holes and added buttons-15 mins of my time and another shirt in circulation. Simples!
Latest frugal hobby- geocaching. We're also trying to keep petrol costs down by exploring the area under our nose rather than going to far afield and I'm going to try and source a second hand bike this week so we can cycle more. Today we're walking out to a local garden that's opening for charity.
Hugs to all - I'm to find out what you've all been up to. I'm still waiting to hear about my job at the mo' which is very unsettling- it's unfortunately redundancy is looking more likely than not but won't know until next month.
Arilx

slowlyfading

Happy Easter everyone :easter_ba:EasterBun:easter_os

tumptyteapot

It will be a NSD today, not going anywhere - apart from to the local park to pretend to climb a mountain :-) Got lavender shortbread cooling ready to ice and been sunning ourselves in the garden playing board games.
I have got a very frugal and relaxing Tuesday lined up - you can get free shiatsu massage from trainees as they are not allowed to ask for donations in their first year. I just googled shiatsu courses where I live and contacted one of them asking if they wanted guinea pigs. I got a lovely email from at trainee who is going to come over to my house and I will be her homework. I'm allowed to bake her a loaf of bread as a thank you though so I'll get that started tomorrow.

rictus123

Hey everyone, how are we all doing? Not been in by this thread in a few weeks, been annoying everyone on DFW boards!! Well i have changed up a few things so posted up a fresh SOA, not much could be cut down except debts*which are getting cut down to the extent i have £7 in my bank until Friday...Taken on alot more hours at work, gone from a 45 hour week to 65 hour week as of tomorrow. An extra half hour in a morning and hour at night mon - fri and then 10 hours on a Saturday...that gives me an extra weeks wages every fortnights pay...so im sure the £500 a week take home will make it worthwhile...just looking for some advice what to do when home in evenings? I will dedicate a few evenings to myself for "laptop time" which is this forum really! Its a great place for support and learning though! Just need to stick at work and not just do them hours for a week and get fed up...going to try and stick in and enjoy my overtime as much as i do normal hours i currently do then il manage to stick at it.

Just need some ideas for really cheap/ free hobbies at nights and Sundays that me and gf can do together or i can do alone....