Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - Part 3.

23rdspiral

hi everyone, THANK YOU SO MUCH for letting me worry at you, and for saying such supportive things. I had a quick read before and it really did help my moral.

i was pounced on first thing, wanting to know why i hadnt replied... erm i got in late and it only arrived yesterday?... i told her of the 5 days policy and she actually apologised for not knowing that. i said i liked the rules and was devastated i might have inadvertainly broken them. that really helped actually. anyway, i was given time to work out my own stats myself and we came to the conclusion to blame my old boss! and admin for not realising i was part-time therefore days i wasnt due to work anyway couldnt be counted against me. the review will still be on my permanent record, but i'm not on report as the days didnt stack up anymore (sheesh, sounds like an american school kid!)/ i do have a further query to look into with admin but feel confident my boss isnt actually out to get me. i didnt sleep much last night (still awake at 2.30am), so am soo glad this is going away. in a funny way i think this acutally boosted my confidence as i knew, well hoped, i was right so could stand up for myself. THANK YOU for egging me on.
(i never joined the union as i couldnt justify the cost, and my old boss was the rep so that was odd, but this is maybe one reason why i should consider it.)

tumpty - i used to work in the 'back room' with experts but now i'm more public facing. if she reads this she'd know who i was for sure, (and hopefully understand i was just pannicked and dont think shes evil!).

paid in chickens - you know, you could be describing me when talking about your husband! right up to new boss coming in august! i'm going to look closely at my male collegaue over the desk from me and see if he knows the new boss when they come!!

blairweech - wow! that's amazing! a no spend week!!! welcome spozza.

SandraScarlett

Let's hope you get a good sleep tonight 23rdspiral.

Night night.

xx

tumptyteapot

Just been caught loading wood into my car and asked to put it back - no problem but when I walked past the place this morning I asked the builders working on the building next to the cut down tree if they knew anything about it, or if anyone wanted it and they said no, so I thought it was ok to take it.
Bloke was quite snarky, he said they will probably distribute it to their staff which probably means it will just get stolen by someone else overnight, if you go leaving wood burner sized chunks of wood around they don't stay around for long. I just wish I had told him that he needs to remind his staff that it's illegal to burn it cos we are in a smokeless zone :-)

minnie2

there you all are!!!! wondered what had happened. will try and catch up.


i was slightly frugal or unfrugal depending on how you look at it the other day - my hubby is unconvinced but - popped in to Mr M for a bit of inspiration and saw quite a few packets 10 to be exact of pork mince reduced as the date was the same day and bought the lot. i have to have turkey or pork mince as i am allergic to beef and it is expensive and it was a penny less than half price.

please tell me i done the right thing!!

minnie2

just burnt my soup! oops!! not going so well today - i knew i should have gone for the big fat meal my belly wanted me to cook

minnie2

whats the mfw thread it was mentioned on 1st page but im just catching up

Bigjenny

Mortgage Free Wannabe

In the Pure Money Section

alec_eiffel

minnie2 wrote: »

there you all are!!!! wondered what had happened. will try and catch up.


i was slightly frugal or unfrugal depending on how you look at it the other day - my hubby is unconvinced but - popped in to Mr M for a bit of inspiration and saw quite a few packets 10 to be exact of pork mince reduced as the date was the same day and bought the lot. i have to have turkey or pork mince as i am allergic to beef and it is expensive and it was a penny less than half price.

please tell me i done the right thing!!

If you'll use it then it's worth it!

I think mfw will be mortgage free wannabe which is a forum waaaaaay up at the top, I think it's in the "pure money" section.

minnie2

i know it was a few pages ago but i am stll catching up. For christmas last year i made cakes for everyone except some of hubbys family where it wasnt practical nor for his young nieces who would not appreciate cakes for xmas.

but cakes for my lot cakes for everyone at work.and i was careful with my food budget too - needed to as we literally had no money though as i didnt get paid on time.

MrsB31 wrote: »

Hi everyone
My first couple of weeks into the frugal life have been pretty tough actually. My DH cant seem to grasp the concept (or is not taking it as seriously as me) but he has seen the figures and we are getting further and further into debt every month so we have to wise up!! The main problem with him is impulse buying. He bought that boxing match on sky last week and on Friday night came home from his walk with a DVD and bag of sweets and crisps. Yesterday we were in TK Maxx looking for jeans for our DD that she badly needs and he went into a huff because I wouldnt let him but a £50 jacket that he doesnt need!! How did you all manage to get your other halves on board with frugal living??

Personally I have been trying - cutting down on groceries and unnecessary spending. Spending on the kids was the worst. I had them at soft play twice a week, then at the weekends we would always do something - cinema, aquarium, toy shop, science museum, zoo, out for dinner/lunch! We were probably spending around £100 a week on entertaining them but that has all stopped and its free activities only now. Last 2 weeks we have been to parks, free museum, market and playing at home. We planted pumpkin seeds last week and the first shoots are through already. My DD was so excited so more gardening on the cards this week!

Still have a long way to go tho!!

my hubby is horrendous and i feel like i am getting at him all the time.causes loads of arguments. i found out hes got a next account with over £350 owed on it - but that was ok apparently as he bought it all before 'I' started all this 'saving and not spending money thing'.

he leaves hot tap running - i came home and luckily went to toilet upstairs and tap was so hot had to use a towel to turn it off called him up and hed been up there an hour ago.

Always leaves the tap on every morning so i go in second now and turn it off

washing things we dont even use anymore and put them in tumble dryer for two hours too

always buying expensive energy drinks

eating a batch of meals in one night

i have special diet - and he eats all my things first and so when i go to cupboard i have nothnig to eat

and i still dont seem to have gotten any further with him!!! so if you rack it please let moe know!!!

alec_eiffel

minnie2 wrote: »

i know it was a few pages ago but i am stll catching up. For christmas last year i made cakes for everyone except some of hubbys family where it wasnt practical nor for his young nieces who would not appreciate cakes for xmas.

but cakes for my lot cakes for everyone at work.and i was careful with my food budget too - needed to as we literally had no money though as i didnt get paid on time.




my hubby is horrendous and i feel like i am getting at him all the time.causes loads of arguments. i found out hes got a next account with over £350 owed on it - but that was ok apparently as he bought it all before 'I' started all this 'saving and not spending money thing'.

he leaves hot tap running - i came home and luckily went to toilet upstairs and tap was so hot had to use a towel to turn it off called him up and hed been up there an hour ago.

Always leaves the tap on every morning so i go in second now and turn it off

washing things we dont even use anymore and put them in tumble dryer for two hours too

always buying expensive energy drinks

eating a batch of meals in one night

i have special diet - and he eats all my things first and so when i go to cupboard i have nothnig to eat

and i still dont seem to have gotten any further with him!!! so if you rack it please let moe know!!!

Hi,

do you think if you spoke to you bloke he'd buy into this? Usually there's a fired up person and a person-who-is-dragged-along and it can be hard for them to see the fun in the change and even though they see the point they don't necessarily see the urgency. So for the non-fired up person it's all pain and deprivation rather than the small victories and sacrifice that the fired up person has. Does that make sense? If you're all excited and making things happen you know that you're sacrificing something good now for something better later, not everyone sees it like that.

If there is some way you can talk - and both of you talk, talk about feelings not just about debts then you might get the buy in you're after. If everyone feels like they have a say then there may not be as much rebellion. It seems more do-able when everyone feels like they've had some input rather than having things forced on them. (Not that I'm saying it's some kind of dictatorship of course!) And if you have to lose the battle of a little fun money to win the war against debt then do it do it do it!

We still talk about "The Scotch Egg Incident" in our house... :rotfl: