Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 2

Lesley_Gaye

minnie2 wrote: »

I am going to start eating a lot of cereal and not much else- may slim me down for summer too!! and we are starting back with packed lunches for work (well cereal for me).

minnie, if you really are planning on eating mainly cereal, it can work out relatively dear with the price of cereal being what it is.

how about HM granola? That works out quite cheap, and would be pretty filling

aeb_2

Hi slowlyfading, life is lived from one hour to the next but we are all well and at 20 months they are full of life. The house and garden are at a standstill but hey, it matters not, time passes too quickly and when they are at school I'll have time in abundance

I used to post one money saving thing I did each day, can't think of anything today above the normal stuff.........
24 nappies blowing in the wind, sawed up 2 trunks into 12 logs, mashed raspberries from freezer and added them to 40p tub of natural yoghurt for tea

redglass_2

Minnie, it's good to hear from you again. It sounds as if you really have a lot to cope with and I'm not surprised you're feeling the strain, but please don't try to live on cereal. It's really important, with a tumour, to get your veggies, your greens and yellows and reds. They inhibit tumour growth. So cut back on other things but not your 5 a day. Hope you're feeling better soon, hun.

paidinchickens

tumptyteapot wrote: »

I think he means a bit like this - http://img.youtube.com/vi/xCd-RgzKV5s/0.jpg

Just been speaking to DH about wood burners and agas then looked at this...............nearly choked on my coffee in laughter!!!:rotfl:

going to have a look into them xxx

Aunt showed me how to use a sewing machine I had stuck in the cupboard for years today! I still have full use of my fingers so I think I could say I did ok. Next jumble sale day I'm going to get some curtains and alter them to fit the caravan.

I have had a NSD but have not really saved anything but the sewing machine lesson was free I suppose.

Oh and I am on antibiotics due to a poorly toe so that is saving my wine bill for a Saturday night.

23rdspiral

well, we finally got a tennant in the old house yesterday!! :j (so fri and sat am were frantic with the removal of old sofa, wardrobe and the last few bits and bobs and then cleaning and touching up the paint work ect. phew i am so glad it's over. i wasnt sure how i'd feel having strangers move into my house that i still own but actually it feels good.
now just to be able to find anything in the sea of boxes around me!
and OH is adament that we should have lots of people round this afternoon for a garden party! erm.. really? oh well. better go excavate the bathroom then.

CRANKY40 wrote: »

Our new next door neighbours claimed a large sum of money from the people they bought the house off due to certain economies with the truth. It may be worth you having a good look around the rest of the house in case there are any other problems. Our ex neighbours told the new people that the wood burning stove in their kitchen was used all the time. It wasn't as whenever it was lit it filled MY kitchen with smoke due to the feathers in the chimney failing. The ex neighbours had to pay for a flue liner amongst other things.

thank you. i did call the solisitor and her assistant said if we didnt have it in writing that it was decent it was merely a decorative feature :mad: . i'll follow up again thanks to your encouragement!

kittiej wrote: »

Erme did you ever watch the TV programme about the vicar who tried to live a money free life for a year? I enjoyed watching that, unfortunately he didn't quite fulfill his quest, but he almost did.

i did, it was really interesting. also his travel/meditation programmes. i liked him a lot and learnt a lot from him.

aeb wrote: »

I have a gas bottle wood burning stove. It's not so pretty but it keeps the chill off my garage/annexe/junk-room all winter for very little cost. I fixed it up myself so not sure about regulations but it's t a living area and stands apart from the house. I feed it one 6" diameter log am and another pm and it hasn't gone out since the end of Sept. The cat loves it too!

I also have a house trained wood burner in the kitchen. It came with the house. It heats the kitchen, dining room, my bedroom and bathroom and does all the hot water. It could heat another room but this make it less efficient so I switched that one off. It has a big flat top so it is my kettle at all times and cooks stew, soup, vegetables and everything else. In the winter I only put the normal oven on once a week to bake.
The water heats by gravity; we have those big fat iron radiators.

hi, thanks for the info. i think we'll look into your gas bottle stove idea for the workshop - it will need heating when OH is in there over winter. humm, hadnt thought of doing a re-jig to get the water through the stove too. humm....

- thanks to whoever said to look up other ideas / ebay ect.. i will do that. puter is so slow right now at home that i darent now in case it crashes again!

rubytuesday

I am feeling the urge to spend money so I have decided I can spend what I made on ebay and then get back on track!

Aril

Hello fellow frugallers:j
Am back from my wanderings down in Cornwall and a jolly time was had by all:D
Have spent today getting Gnat Bottomed Towers back into some sort of order- lots of washing hanging out on the line and a frugal stock up done at Mr T.
We actually didn't go too mad spending wise on our hols- the things we paid to go into didn't cost over £5 each and we made good use of free museums [the one in Launceston is good]. We also did a fair amount of walking and enjoying the scenery whilst taking our own lunches. There was always a daily stop off for a cuppa and a bun as a little treat. We were self catering and even took our own wine with us:D We also had a good mooch around Trago Mills which had some good discounted clothes for a small person who will just not stop growing:eek::D
Looking forward to catching up
Aril

Erme

kittiej wrote: »

Trying to stop smoking is a real battle when you don't hear voices so you have my sympathies with that one.

Living from what you already have can be a really positive thing, well at least the stuff that gets ignored at the back of the cupboard gets used up. Erme did you ever watch the TV programme about the vicar who tried to live a money free life for a year? I enjoyed watching that, unfortunately he didn't quite fulfill his quest, but he almost did.

Guys when I was sick and not aware of it over the winter I managed 2.5 days on the e-cig no bother so I know it's possible on the e-cig but this time I'm being practical as change is hard for me and gradually transitioning. I just have to work out how much juice (nicotine liquid) I need per week for budget (cos currently I have loads in I got in a sale last year) and where the best and cheapest place online is to get it from . I'm doing another wee reduction again today. From one every hour (or just over) to one every 75-90 mins....and maybe even longer mid day. My worst times right now are first thing am and last thing @ night....it's always so hard to change a habit when tired. But I am thankful for even small victories :j

slowlyfading wrote: »

:hello: aeb and nice to see you! Thanks for updating us, how are the babies doing?

Erme, good luck with quitting the cigs - I gather it's hard enough at the best of times, without other battles in the mix.

I'm having a lazy day today - watching the French Open on the red button whilst having a cuppa

Thanks so much....the e-cig is the closest thing you can get to a cig that's not a cig if you get what I mean....tried about 8 days ago but had severe equipment failure (like a battery charger not working :eek:) so here to try again. Then tried once I got a new charger but had a nicotine OD and didn't sleep...so back on cigs on Friday to get some much needed sleep (what happens to me on sleep deprivation is legendary :eek:)....then started the reduction again on Saturday :A....for some reason I went straight onto one matchstick one an hour so now this am I am pleased to report I still have about 1/6 of an oz of Saturday's tobacco right now in the pouch .....Considering prior to all this I'd be lucky (and it was a rarity) if 1oz lasted 30 hours I'm quite chuffed cos it's not been unbearably difficult. If I can do this with e-cig anyone can cos yeah you've guessed it....sleep pattern is derriere up again

Lesley_Gaye wrote: »

minnie, if you really are planning on eating mainly cereal, it can work out relatively dear with the price of cereal being what it is.

how about HM granola? That works out quite cheap, and would be pretty filling

Or porridge. Porridge can be less than £1 for a decent sized bag. You can pop in in the microwave (may take a few attempts) or simply just add water like cous cous.... Add your favourite low cal topping (salt is lower than sugar but even with sugar it's not that bad)...and you're away...

Just out of curiosity have you tried http://www.sparkpeople.com - that is a healthy eating (Dare I say diet? ) site and it's free and you can budget so you don't need to spend too much. Maybe better for you than a 3 cereal bowl a day diet hun?

Anyhow in zombie mode (I feel an espresso coming on. Interesting now I have the espresso machine I hardly ever spend on cafe's ) so just checking in. Did the budget yesterday and thinking about trying FL again. with the current cig situation I'm budgeting just over £300 a month all in (or just over £4k a year). Get rid of the cigs completely and I'm below that . Yeppas. I just think it's possible after my enforced frugal week last week after spending so much on the e-cig. And when I can get a wee bottle of cream soda for 30p I needn't miss out on treats on a bad day .

Rubytuesday....are you okay hun? If you're getting sick do like you said but make sure you tell someone who can help before it gets OOC...(out of control)...you don't exactly want to undo all your FL....but if you do no worries. I'm here for you hun. It's not going down that's the crime but staying down - if you get my metaphor. Just make sure you take good care of yourself and FB me anytime wifey...

Anyhow that's 0835....e-cig or cig - that is the question...think it might be e-cig ...then have a cig about 0845/0900 (last one @ 0715...yeah progress is a happening this am :j)

E

cloud_cuckoo_land

Hi guys,

I'm going to post my point of view from a newbie to the thread, you say you seem to be suffering from the "mid way blues" and can't think of anything you're doing "except the normal stuff". When you think about it though, 4/5 months ago - would those things have been normal?? I doubt it. So you are and will continue to do things in a frugal living way without even realising. It would definately benefit me if you were to give me a little run down of the things you are doing on a daily basis that have become habit for you now. It may help you guys to realise how far you've come and how much you're doing to get it written down too.

Maybe just write down everything you did yesterday to help with frugal living, for my benefit - and you may be surprised at how much you are actually doing (or not doing!! lol).

Cuckoo. xx

Kiwisaver_2

cloud_cuckoo_land wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm going to post my point of view from a newbie to the thread, you say you seem to be suffering from the "mid way blues" and can't think of anything you're doing "except the normal stuff". When you think about it though, 4/5 months ago - would those things have been normal?? I doubt it.

I think you're right Cuckoo, at the beginning of the year there are loads of people all enthusiastic and posting all at once, then it tails off as people get into the swing and it starts to come more naturally. Lighter evenings means people are also starting to get outside more and into their gardens etc in the warmer weather. Meanwhile I'm going the opposite direction, getting darker and feeling colder by the day... brrr!

My 'Mean May' went totally haywire with some unplanned TV repairs (just out of warranty) :mad: MOT and vets expenses.