Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

tumptyteapot

I'm just watching episode 5 of superscrimpers - I'm so pleased they have someone young and glam on there doing beauty and fashion ideas. The previous one with the lady who wears boys knickers would put me off scrimping if I wasn't already frugalling :-)

Ohh and welcome to the new people and to those (Minnie and Slowlyfading especially) who are having rough times at the moment I hope it all smooths over for you soon.

mooomin

minnie2 wrote: »

do you think Quidco is worth it? i always forget to check if they do the retailer first, just not sure.perhaps im not in the swing of things!

I've had over £500 from them since joining MSE in November 2009, so for me they have been well worth it

tumptyteapot

flying_fresian wrote: »

I've had over £500 from Quidco since joining MSE in November 2009, so for me they have been well worth it

Do you have to go through them first or do they know that you are using ebay or whatever? I seem to have earnt £30 through them but I usually forget they exist!

kittiej

Hello paidinchickens - well done for joining us.

I know why you were feeling bad now SF, I've been through this myself so I know it's really upsetting - big hug to you xx

Hi to everyone else as well.

Oh dear I need to give myself a stiff talking to, I spent £3 today on Fridge Raiders of all things. I'm doing this low-carbing stuff and I was starving so had a pack for breakfast, one for lunch with my salad and left a pack for tomorrow with my salad. The thing I'm annoyed with myself about is that I half thought about boiling a couple of eggs but couldn't be bothered. So because I couldn't be bothered it cost me three quid hmmph.

On a lighter note, a manager at work gave me a bit of a pep talk whilst waiting for the photocopier. He says we should imagine we're TV transmitters and whatever we transmit will affect how others see us, to which my colleague replied "well in my case then they'll receive interference" which I thought was amusing. Someone else had to lower the tone and said that they would be like the adult channels on Sky. Oh dear what a bunch.

Never mind tomorrow is Friday, hurray!

LJC79

Hello all! Thank you for all the lovely welcomes, I'm going to enjoy this board (once I get my head round it all!). :rotfl:

I think I might have to start 'properly' next month as most of my husband's salary has already been spent :eek: but will get my spreadsheet ready and will just be careful until pay day comes round again! Spent £8 on a baby outfit for my friend today but parked just outside out of town and walked the rest of the way so that was free!

mooomin

tumptyteapot wrote: »

Do you have to go through them first or do they know that you are using ebay or whatever? I seem to have earnt £30 through them but I usually forget they exist!

You go through them first and then click on the website you need. I always go through them for new mobile contracts and went through them to change energy supplier last year (£150)

tumptyteapot

oh pants, gas and lecki bill is here - they have changed the dd to £76 a month instead of £33 :-( I did a price compare and still can't get it lower than the company I am with though. Boo. That is £650 is for a 2 bedroom house does that seem ok?

cw18

Sounds a lot to me! What's your current balance like? If it's close to zero, have you been using up a hefty credit over the last 12 months?

I'm currently paying £43/month (but with a credit balance, which means I'm actually using £45-46/month) for a modern and well insulated 4-bed detached house (single occupancy). But I don't run the heating much - 4 hours/day through the winter, with odd additional boost at weekends - and only have the hot water on for about 20 mins/day.

tumptyteapot

cw18 wrote: »

Sounds a lot to me! What's your current balance like? If it's close to zero, have you been using up a hefty credit over the last 12 months?

I'm currently paying £43/month (but with a credit balance, which means I'm actually using £45-46/month) for a modern and well insulated 4-bed detached house (single occupancy). But I don't run the heating much - 4 hours/day through the winter, with odd additional boost at weekends - and only have the hot water on for about 20 mins/day.

I did have a hundred quid or so in credit with them so I guess it has run out now - I live in a drafty, difficult to heat Victorian terrace that has great insulation in the roof but the windows are sashes and the floorboards have huge holes in them.

Yet again they have changed the bills so I don't understand them - they are now 6 monthly.

UnluckyT

i find even though ive double glazing, it takes a bit for my 1 bedroom flat to get warm, esp as ive a large living room and a drafty balcony door.
whats helped is i was given a largish curtain, which ive hung on wire via 2 hooks so the curtain is hanging on the back of the door and is just wide enough to block the worst of the drafts from the sides and plenty on the floor to be shoved against the door with the draft excluder?