2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

determined_new_ms

Morning guys :hello: just spent the last half hour catching up on the thread! At this point I can see there is no time to spend money if I continue reading this thread - win win all round (tips as well as savings!)

Erme what a lovely thing to say! Thank you :A

So had my first major spend of the year, we saw a 2 week deal in Thailand for £800 each in June incl all taxes etc. Was a shock to pay for something that costs so much :eek: and my little heart was racing. So that is the majority of my budget for holidays for the year. I had the conversation with oh that if we booked this that would be all the holidays I could afford in 2012 which he has agreed to. Now we need to look at how we can raise extra cash to offset the cost. Looks like I'm gonna be doing some serious ebaying this month!

still struggling to give up smoking but updated my spreadsheet and was :eek: and dismayed by the money spent on smoking in only a week I have a GP appt on Monday so I am going to ask for either champix or NRP to get through the initial stages - I feel there is just too much stress in my life at the moment to cope with the added stress of giving up smoking... excuses excuses...

Going out into town with my BFF today :j she has some vouchers to spend and I am just going along to bask in her lovely company :T I have a voucher to get a free trial bottle of L'Occinttane En Provence off of the weekly email a couple of weeks ago so I am hoping that will meet my desire for "stuff" I also have enough maccy d stickers to get a latte & if all else fails I have £16 on my boots advantage card so hoping to have a NSD we'll see.

hope everyone has a lovely weekend x

Erme

Blairweech wrote: »

Re: Getting rid of the TV Licence. I think cw18 got rid of hers and had to cut the socket off the aeriel lead in the end to prove to the licensing people she could not get signal - they WILL harass you to try and 'catch you out' if you get rid of it.

Had another NSD day yesterday, so not doing too bad. And its free listing this weekend :j

My main issue is with the car - currently he is 'ok-ish', will need £300 spending on him definantly at some point. But then, something else could break, which I will not be able to afford/have time to fix when I am on placement next year. Do I just bite the bullet and purchase a new vehicle (new to me that is!) which will be reliable or do I chance it and hope he does not need any repairs...

Silvasava: Sorry to hear about your tenant, hope you get a better one next time. Glad your caravan got recovered though

Erme: There are some how to videos on the net, Google it (different methods if your bike has quick release wheels I think). My bike has been sat outside all winter so will need some serious TLC in the spring Cause the shed is full of my junk which I need to get rid of argh!

Well my friend who knows about these things is coming over at 1pm to help me take the wheel off. That's all I need really....the rest is easy...But when I got to it yesterday they were both flat but it could be from leaving it in the lobby for months unattended

natnat13 wrote: »

Oh yes, free listing on ebay this weekend everyone!

Och thanks hun...will try and list tonight (have some stuff like perfume and Mr S cards) if I get that far (if I stay awake LOL).....


My sleep pattern is pants right now...

Sorry to hear you're back on the weed DMNS wondered what had happened to you on Sue's thread

But yeah champix may well be an option ....read of loads of folks who've found it really easy on champix. I can't take it but hey ho...

Stressed out from not eating enough and like one thing and another ....

And have pulled my back again cycling of all things. Don't know why least little thing causes that muscle to go in the left side of my lower back (kidney area)......

E

stitching_witch

I've spent all morning doing my Self-Assessment on-line and paid the resulting tax bill - all £2.20 of it I won't be taking that out of my budget as it's something I can't control, like my rent etc.

I don't think I'll be spending anything else today as all food for the next few days will come from stores and I'm going to batch cook biscuits at some point today. That will be a total of 6 NSDs so far this month :j

septemberblues

rae18 wrote: »

Morning everyone!

I thought I'd try and post once or twice a week, though I do read through and catch up each morning! So far, so good this month I'm glad to say. This is a quick list of what the Rae household have achieved towards our new frugal year.....

1. DH and I have had proper grown up discussions about money!! :j
2. I have gone through the DDs and done the following......cancelled the pet insurance (I love our pets dearly, but would never put them through any prolonged treatment, and mum and dad could lend us money if we really needed it.....with an £80 excess anyway a bog standard injection/consultation is worth claiming for anyway, and also no cattery needed as we won't be going on any long holidyas anytime soon!!!)......agreed lower DDs fo gas and electric for the next year as we have accrued so much credit......got British Gas to cut the cost of our homcare agreement (£15 from £22).......and DH has cancelled SKY!!!!!! We only have a basic package, but have decided to get a freesat box instead which works out cheaper in the long run, and TBH we don't watch many more than the bog standard channels anyway. All this in total will have saved us just over £1000 this coming year!!

3. I have stuck to the menu plan for the week, just needed more eggs, but no other shopping since the weekend. I now shop on a Sat/Sun (without the kids) so that I have everything I need for luche boxes, then usually make do if things run out towards the end of the week. I find I don't need to pop to the supermarket for one or two things, only to spend £20!!

4. I have made breadcrumbs with the end of two loaves of bread instead of chucking them out!! Only a little thing, but it all counts!!!


Right.....I hope you all have a good day!!!

Rae

I don't think you will have to buy a freesat box as the Sky box will turn into a freeview box if you leave it connected.

I've done my budget but unfortunately this month is up the creek already as I unintentionally paid out £125 on something, and I had written a cheque for £100 which doesn't seem to have been taken out yet, so have started the month on a minus already:eek:

I have budgetted £25 for food for a week, but haven't even got that! Luckily I had a family member stay for 3 days and they insisted on paying for everything for me, we had a meal out every night and he bought bacon/bread etc so had bacon sarnies in the day, so they were NSDs. I went with youngest DD to help her with babe round Tescos and she insisted on buying some shopping for me, so in reality I've now got plenty of food and it didn't cost a penny

I've got lots of little jars with labels on them:- Water rates/Car tax/NSD/pad/£2 coins etc lol, I can't believe I'm enjoying being on a budget! Also my mum gave me £100 Xmas money, so I have treated myself to a new (tiny) slo cooker, it was £28 reduced to £14 and I've got plenty of veg in fridge to make a veggy soup, I've never had much luck with meat in the slo cooker, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. (I will have to spend this money wisely as my dear old mum will be checking up on me!) I'm going to buy a whistling kettle for gas hob, my electric one leaks when you pour it, I figured when I put the gas kettle on it will heat up my freezing kitchen as well!

Sorry if I have gabbled on!:)

rictus123

Afternoon guys...more NSDs so iv only had the first 2 days this year been spends and thats my lot. Busy today but love checking back to these forums. Could possibly have another 1 or 2 contracts lined up for part time business...one for £1,200 and one is £1,600...once take off "expenses" tax and insurance il be looking at about £900-£1,000 for first one and £1,200ish for the second!! Soo could be popping back here at 5 oclock ish with really good news and il be very cheery or bad news and il be sulking for the first time this year....Will take until about 3 to get them both seen to with me hearing back not long after...


FINGERS CROSSED

moneybear123

Good morning, I have a lot to do today. My daughter plays the clarinet and we will be attending a very special concert tonight. The tickets are $6.00 for adults and $4.00 dollars for students. I love watching my daughter perform I'm so very proud of her. :A To give up a nsd for her is well worth it. I have to get going cleaning, pay some bills, and finish weeding out my sons room. (He is helping)
♥ Have a wonderful day ♥

Squinky_McFeet

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Welcome :beer: and glad you've managed to plough your way through. It is doable to have a NSW, but if you have to replenish, say, your milk supply, don't look on it as a failure on your part. It was the stupid milk's fault for running out!

And if you achieve 5 x NSDs, well that's just a shorter week, isn't it! Good Luck!

xx

Thanks SandraScarlett, i don't use alot of milk so it should be ok. I like the 5 day idea i get paid on thursday which is when i update all my speadsheets and check gas/electric balances (on a pre-pay meter)
I thought it would be a great idea to make use of the new £land in town and bought a 1kg bag of cat buscuits instead of the usual expensive brand and as you can guess the cat won't touch them!

Squinky_McFeet

scrappie wrote: »

Re Ebay - I have bought a few things off here, but never sold anything. Is the 'free listing' open to everyone?? I have several handbags/ giftsets/ makeup that I could do to sell. Also, how do I work out postage charges? Don't want to be unrealistic about it, but it always seems to cost more than I think it will when I post stuff to friends.

I do the same as CW18 and weigh them on kitchen scales, you can get all the costs on the royal mail website.
I also have a speadsheet for ebay where I put a couple of figures in and it works out the rest like how much PP fees work out at and at the end it calculates the final profit. If you or anyone else wants me to email it over let me know

scrappie_2

moneybear123 wrote: »

I have to ask. How are you not going to buy toiletries for a whole year? I'm very curious because this area can be very expensive. I will take all the helpful tips you got. Thank you

Moneybear - my intention is to use up ALL of the toiletries I already have before I begin buying any more.

I got 16 shower gels for xmas - and there are 12 in the bathroom at the moment.

Very sad to say that I had a bit of a 'habit' but at least I am clean and smell minty fresh:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

So, before I go and add any cosmetics/ toiletries to the shopping list I make sure to take a good look around the house and make sure I REALLY need them. Obviously, if I run out of deodrent/ toothpaste I will buy more !

natnat13

I have a confession, I went to my friend's pampered chef party last night and spent money (hangs head in shame)
Now for my defense, 1, PC products are very good (I have had parties and got lots of freebies in the past) 2, It won't come out of my main account, but out of my rainy day stash 3, I bought a piping set because I am doing a cupcake decorating course next month so it was 80% needed and 100% wanted!
On a plus I have lots of coupons for tomorrow's shop and have sold £12 worth of stuff on a local facebook page, which pays for over half of it!
Off to take the children to our local chapels' January kids party, games and food on a "bring and share" basis. I have some leftover chipolatas from xmas in the freezer, so just cooking them up to take.
Hope everyone has a good weekend.