2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

brizzledfw

Blimey when we got a rescue cat in 2000 he was free...exactly who is doing who the favour??! I am no longer sure:rotfl:

letsdothis

brizzledfw wrote: »

Blimey when we got a rescue cat in 2000 he was free...exactly who is doing who the favour??! I am no longer sure:rotfl:

Thats exactly what I thought !! - plus you have to answer all sorts of questions - not a problem at all I understand they need to do home checks - but considering they are abandoned animals - my neighbours daughter got rejected for a cat ..... and she is a vet nurse !

gigglybug_2

twiglet98 wrote: »

I did care work at nights in hospitals and nursing homes, for agencies, when the two eldest children were small, I slept when they were at school and playgroup. Stopped when pregnant with 3rd and have often thought I'd love to go back to it, but all the ads around here demand NVQ qualifications - no such thing existed 20 years ago, and the agency I used to work for closed long ago so I can't even get a reference now. Gigglybug did you approach the hospital directly or were they advertising?

I looked on the NHS Jobs website, you can then select your local hospital to see whats available.

Good luck!!!

moneybear123

stitching_witch wrote: »

Feeling a bit low today so found myself in the baker's shop buying an almond croissant. I did manage to eat half for elevenses and the other half at three o'clock so I didn't feel too guilty.

So far I have spent £253.35 and still have £163.32 of this month's budget left, which I am really pleased about. That's eight NSDs too . I have a grocery/toiletries/household/catfood budget of £75 this month and have only spent £10.90 so far.

We have lived a very sparse lifestyle a long time as DH has been off sick for nearly four years but there are times (and today is one of them) that I just get so fed up with having absolutely no money, being overdrawn at the bank and at my CC limit. All I want to do today is buy something for ME but I am steering clear of the lovely fabric websites!

I hope tomorrow will be a better day for you.

CoupsRus

Haven't really posted much but just wanted to say DH and I have had two NSDs in a row. It's not much but it is a start. We've meal planned this week and so far it is going great. We will be doing some food shopping this weekend but we have made a list and are determined to stick to it.

patentgirl

Morning all
Pay day today from DH wages so been sorting everything out thought it was going ok until DH informs me he needs a cheque for his self assessment tax form as he has a company car he now owes them money not happy with him never once mentioned this when I was trying to do yearly figures!!!

Apart from that going ok need a few top ups of bread milk etc so unfortunatley not a NSD today will walk to town though saving on petrol
Sandra well done on your victory with Waitrose
Everyone seems to be doing so well at moment I only hope I will keep up with everyone failed last year by middle of year but feel alot more motivated this year plus the added fact I was earning as well last year, more needs must this year so must keep on track.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

stitching_witch wrote: »

Feeling a bit low today so found myself in the baker's shop buying an almond croissant. I did manage to eat half for elevenses and the other half at three o'clock so I didn't feel too guilty.

So far I have spent £253.35 and still have £163.32 of this month's budget left, which I am really pleased about. That's eight NSDs too . I have a grocery/toiletries/household/catfood budget of £75 this month and have only spent £10.90 so far.

We have lived a very sparse lifestyle a long time as DH has been off sick for nearly four years but there are times (and today is one of them) that I just get so fed up with having absolutely no money, being overdrawn at the bank and at my CC limit. All I want to do today is buy something for ME but I am steering clear of the lovely fabric websites!

stitchy.... if you were to buy fabric, what type of fabric would you buy?

stitching_witch

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

stitchy.... if you were to buy fabric, what type of fabric would you buy?

Oh anything really; patchwork fabric, corsetry fabric, satins, silks, vintage fabric, beautiful old blankets to re-cover my sofas, yards and yards of white cotton to make Victorian underwear....

I've got loads of projects running round my head but need to start earning money from all the piles and piles of fabric already in the sewing room.

Frugaldom

Thanks for your PM, Ailz95, I have now added your name to the challenger list.

The slow cooker recipes section has now been included in handy links section (post 1) for future quick reference.

Taka, I've ust spotted your post but had no PM from you so didn't know your name was missing. I read the daily updates on an iPod, which means none of the bold or colour formatting shows up. (That's why I asked everyone to PM me to have their name listed... it's in post 1 & 2.) No matter, got you now and hope you have fun frugalling in 2012. Will get your name added soon.

CW18 - the benefits and council tax relief questions should be easy to check on the entitledto.co.uk site, just change the location in drop down menu to 'Scotland'.

I've no news, as I simply haven't been doing any household spending. I bought groceries for start of month, put petrol in the car, paid the coal and put a month's worth (hopefully) of electricity into the pre-payment meter. Since then, all I have had to buy is milk. (£5.88 for 12 x 1 litre UHT skimmed). I have ordered logs and will need to buy more coal next week, other than that, I'm stretching every penny. Total spend to date £232.72 and of that, £170 was coal, petrol and electricity. :mad: (I'm including car costs in my £4k this year.)

Erme

brizzledfw wrote: »

Wow you're an early riser Moneybear!! That's some start to the day! I start early when I am working from my office but not that early!

Am running out of non bio washing powder (currently Sainers but have used co£p) DD2 also gets eczema so also sometimes worry about changing brands but planning a small ALDI shop, does anyone have any experience, good or bad on ALDI washing powder?

Ta muchly

In answer to your question (seeing as I don't think anyone else has answered it)...aldi will be just champion. I have a got a huge tub of Lidl's washing powder (bio) and it's great :j...

Otherwise try soap nuts if the DD2 is particularly sensitive. Don't know where you'll get them from because it's about 18 months since I last got them...google or ebay...

slowlyfading wrote: »

I did, it's all gone now though :rotfl:

Och I only have about £40 in mine :eek:..will go ape if that's all gone by next pay day

LolaLemon wrote: »

PIC I noticed the delay in reducing prices too, and not just in tesco.

DIZZY you are on! I was looking at Lucy's scarf from attic 24 , although she spent £55ish, I'm thinking of doing it with what I have here.

Or their is this one from red heart free patterns.... this.

Didn't spend a penny today, woohoo! But will be tomorrow :-(
Decided on getting my sister a nice top from new look, along with some vouchers for getting pampered...

I'm going to purchase a new top n jeans for me, it will be the last clothing purchase for me til summer and I'll hopefully need new skirts n shorts at least one size smaller than I am now! Plus last years and all the old stuff has either been donated or has to be donated as its too big. Yippeeee. is the one that has been on my to do list since I learned to crochet

There's a crochet thread on here somewhere. Yeah red heart do some fab patterns. I think I got a lovely baby bootie pattern off there the other month. Real easy too ...

LolaLemon wrote: »

PIC I noticed the delay in reducing prices too, and not just in tesco.

DIZZY you are on! I was looking at Lucy's scarf from attic 24 , although she spent £55ish, I'm thinking of doing it with what I have here.

Or their is this one from red heart free patterns.... this.

Didn't spend a penny today, woohoo! But will be tomorrow :-(
Decided on getting my sister a nice top from new look, along with some vouchers for getting pampered...

I'm going to purchase a new top n jeans for me, it will be the last clothing purchase for me til summer and I'll hopefully need new skirts n shorts at least one size smaller than I am now! Plus last years and all the old stuff has either been donated or has to be donated as its too big. Yippeeee. is the one that has been on my to do list since I learned to crochet

Sounds like very expensive to me...I normally just buy cheap DK or get it from charity shops...

maryb wrote: »

There are quite a few threads about making hummous so I would recommend doing a forum search and having a look at the different recipes. Some have spices in like cumin and paprika but Fussy Piece (AKA my DD2) likes it best flavoured with just garlic and salt. I use dried chickpeas because they are very cheap from the International food section of Mr T. I use about a cupful of dried beans at a time soak them for a few hours in cold water then cook them in plenty of water in my pressure cooker (which I wouldn't be without - that's another major aid to frugality and I think there's a thread about using pressure cookers somewhere as well). I give them a good 20 minutes but I think you'd have to cook them for a couple of hours on a low simmer otherwise. Drain the chickpeas but keep the water. Whizz them up until very smooth in a food processor with a crushed clove of garlic, a good pinch of salt of salt (they are very bland otherwise) a good slug of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon ( or juice from a bottle) and a couple of spoonfuls of tahini paste if you can get it, it does add to the taste but you can skip this. It will be a thick paste at this stage so thin it down with the cooking water until it is just a little bit thinner than you would like because it thickens up in the fridge. This makes the equivalent of about 3 supermarket pots of hummous and it freezes well

As I say I find it a bit hit and miss so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work first time - it's a question of getting the seasoning right and chickpeas are cheap enough to experiment with. I do find it cost effective to buy dried chick peas and cook them up. On the other hand buying red kidney beans isn't so economic because I was able to buy a whole load of large tins from Lidl for 19p per tin and each tin will do 2 batches of chilli - I freeze the second half of the tin.

The way I look at it is I waste a lot less having a few failures with cheap ingredients than a lot of people do buying food they never get round to eating and once I have got the knack of making something I used to buy I will very quickly make up for the loss I incurred on learning how to make it

I got my pressure cooker (a small one) never used from a charity shop the other year. Don't use it often enough but you need either a slow cooker or a pressure cooker. And you'll be fine

happycrafter wrote: »

I started my socks, im on the simple bit atm knitting the leg part, we shall see how the foot shaping goes! for Christmas I crocheted a angry birds style hat and a hello kitty style hat for 2 presents and both people loved them so much the girl wouldnt take it off and wore it in the house!! My mum gave me a tatting shuttle and thread so thats my challenge for this year and she asked me to crochet something to go in the middle of her coffee table - so thats mothers day sorted.

strange how pets know when you need a extra cuddle, my dogs follow me around when i feel low and keep close to me when i sit down. they are only small dogs (jack russels shih tzhu crosses) but they have big hearts.

I got this really good book on socks from Amazon last week (lion yarn) and it has some fab crocheted sock patterns in. Where did you get your pattern from? I think crocheting socks is easier than knitting them. I've knitted them too. If you want to learn to knit socks try silver's sock class (google it)...was how I learnt to knit socks :j


Thanks for the lovely PM frugal BTW....alas not such a frugal week (over budget currently by about £10 :eek:) but I'll get there. So long as debt gets cleared am happy

E