2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

rising_from_the_ashes

rictus123 wrote: »

Hopefully i stay well under my £500 a month iv allowed myself...as i have to pay £700 odd holiday cost and £900 gearbox repairs this month aswel!!

Sorry you've lost me Rictus ...... if you've spent £150 and have £700 and £900 spends this month .... that's £1750 and well above the £500 figure you've mentioned?

rictus123

I have not included the holiday spends in my budget, anything 4 figure will get its own catagory outside that £6,000 budget. Will also not inclue the car repairs since they are so excessive. Loan payments are not in.

So overall spends should be as followed
£6,000 - Living costs
£13,500 - Business loan
£1,500 - Car repairs
£2,000 - Holiday

and finally
£15,000 saved

Making a grand total of....£38,000 net income to cover all my targets.

rising_from_the_ashes

Thanks for explaining Rictus I thought I'd missed something!:o

On my way through a mega catchup - can't possibly reply to everyone I want to so will pick some that stood out & hope the rest of you forgive me.....:)

Erme wrote: »

Also good for unblocking sinks...In fact to unblock sinks - washing powder, lemon juice and vinegar work a treat:)

Brilliant:T Thanks so much for that tip Erme - I have huge problems with all the sinks/bath here (house was cobbled together as the builders went bust before completing them and it looks like they've used whatever's been cheapest:mad: - I had an outside tap put in a couple of years ago and the guy couldn't believe it when he went under the sink - every pipe is a different size .....)

maryb wrote: »

You can get them free from some utility suppliers. The novelty wears off after a while so I wouldn't recommend buying one. But to start with it's quite compulsive going round the house to try and turn things off so that the number on the display is as low as possible

Also try your library .... our's have ones that they'll lend out for 2/3 months at a time so you can get an idea of your consumption. I've tried several times to get one from energy suppliers - but even when I've got a card through the door & phoned that night .... they've all been gone :mad: HTH

slowlyfading wrote: »

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

Snap SF - totally wiped out by the large vet bill & fridge freezer packing in within a month ......:(

On a positive note - at least I had money put aside for emergencies so I didn't have to take out more credit but .... very disconcerting not to have anything left to fall back on!

Squinky_McFeet

Frugaldom wrote: »

soap powder/laundry detergent/soapnuts


I used to buy a year's supply at a time but haven't bought any laundry products in years after starting making the 'gloop'. Saves a fortune.

I have been looking at maybe doing this, when it is finished is it a liquid or does it go solid/lumpy? Whats the best way to make your clothes smell good, essential oils i guess?

rising_from_the_ashes

I'm getting there!

cw18 wrote: »

She's exempt from Council Tax as she's a student, and as I understand things from previous years of this challenge water costs are included in with this bill if you live in Scotland.

So does the student exemption also extend to the water part of the bill, or is she likely to still get a bill for that? She's under the impression (from what she's been told by a friend who rents) that she won't have to pay it, but looking at her numbers it's something I think needs double checking as it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back - and she's only got until tomorrow morning before she loses the chance of the flat she wants !!!!

flying_fresian wrote: »

I don't think she needs to pay it - when I was a student I didn't (Edinburgh) Might be worth her calling her local council to confirm though....it was a looonnnnggg time ago when I was last a student

Would be interested to know what the final outcome of this was?

I know that the single persons discount doesn't apply to the water element of the bill (really annoying as I pay the same for my water as the family of 5 over the road - even though I must only use a fraction of what they do:mad:)

rising_from_the_ashes

letsdothis wrote: »

on a completely random note - HOW EXPENSIVE ARE DOGS THESE DAYS !!!!!??????? - I was devastated to have to put our 18yr old down last March -(had him from the council pound when he was 6mths old) and cost me £40 ................fast forward 17.5yrs £170 at the RSPCA and most of the other rescue homes - or even £80 at the local council !! -for the type of dog I was looking at its going to cost MIN £250 - and in all honesty I cant justify that for a dog....Ill have to set up a tin for a dog fund lol !..........OK shock over .....continue as you were........

Ohhhhh I know .... sadly lost my beloved boy in November and currently "dog hunting" - I knew how much the pets cost due to doing the challenge last year and it was a big eye opener for me (over £100/month for the lot of them!:eek:). For me, they are worth every penny as I'm alone in the house and need the company to keep me sane. I don't have many friends nearby and love walking but just can't do it without a dog with me (people think singletons walking are "weird" - you either do it in groups or with a dog - honestly, I said "hello" to every everyone I passed walking with Ben and they would respond ... without him, they just eye me as if I'm about to rob them:( - also don't feel safe out by myself for this reason).

ETA I am lucky that I have the money to do this and being single, it's my choice not to go on holidays etc to be able to do so - much harder for families/couples or if there are kids around I expect as harder to make cuts elsewhere.

I have been putting £50/month into a pot ready for the new dog when it arrives & to rebuilt the vets fund.

letsdothis wrote: »

my neighbours daughter got rejected for a cat ..... and she is a vet nurse !

Local cat rescue to me now won't rehome to f/t workers .....:(

gemini12 wrote: »

Unfortunately there are more and more dogs ( and cats) that need new homes or the alternative is putting hundreds of animals to sleep every week of the year. Conversly there are many many people who give up their time to help these animals, very few receive any montry reward for this.
Sorry to go on but most people do not realise how much it costs to get a dog in re-homable condition.

I totally agree Gemini and would gladly pay an adoption fee ..... but like Letsdothis's friend no rescue will rehome to me as I work F/T.

I appreciate it's not for every dog - but it also shouldn't be an automatic rejection without seeing what plans someone has/can put in place (eg how long you can walk in the morning / evening, if someone can get home at lunchtime / have a dog walker etc) ..... and seeing if any dogs would make a good fit.

There are hundreds of pups on my local gumtree (don't want a pup as I do feel it's unfair to leave a very young dog alone for long periods) ..... but what choice do many people have if the rescues won't let them adopt?

Meanwhile, more and more animals sadly being pts as they "allegedly" can't be rehomed..... same with the cats - not ideal for very young kittens unless someone cat get home during the day but older cats? Seriously? I rarely even see mine during the day!

Sorry .... something I feel very strongly about.

dizzy_lizzie

rubytuesday wrote: »

No worries Dizzie hope you're feeling better now. Unfortunately I still don't seem to be right were I was wrong again over Christmas - headachy and sore throat.

Aw thanks Ruby. The antibiotics and steroids have definately helped just the antibiotics feel like they've burnt the roof of my mouth off, but on a plus. throat and chest is much better so I can cope with the side effect.
Yours sounds similar to what I had and it was the 3rd doctors visit in 3 weeks were I finally got the right medication.
You might need a docs visit to get rid of it once and for all?
Keep well honey

Think I'll end up just going a little over my weeks budget but I did include prescription charges which I suppose wasn't really grocery, so not feeling too bad about that.
Mood wise last night I was dreadful. So ratty and snappy. I put it down to the medication
Hope everyone is okay today. Love reading everyones post and all the little snippets of info. Thank you.
x

SandraScarlett

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

Not much to report. However, I finally happened upon some 'whoopsied'double cream at a local tiny Mr T's - 5 cartons, 300ml for 11 pence each. So I had a go at making butter - for the first time.

From my 55p investment, I got 500ml of buttermilk, and 800g of butter. By my reckoning, even using 'value' butter prices, that comes to about £4 worth (buttermilk is about £1 per litre at the local farmers market). Plus I've learnt a new skill. Ok, so the food processor did most of the hard work, but I managed to 'wash' the butter out ok and have a useable product.


Keep warm everyone.

Greying

This thread never ceases to amaze me. Making your own butter Greying! How clever are you! :j About a million years ago DD and I tried, it was something to do with a Brownie's badge I think, and although ours wasn't very successful , I felt like Ma in Little House on the Prairie, especially as we made bread too! There are so many talented people on here, I mean who would think about making their own laundry products. :T

My darling 10 year old HP printer finally died on me, and so I splashed out on an Epsom, from Argos (as recommended on MSE) reduced from about £70 to £24.99!:j

It was really easy to set up too, not that I did it, 11 year old DGD did it for me (!), but it was done in about 15 minutes, and does what it says on the tin. She showed me how to plug a thingy into my laptop when I want to print, and I'm just thrilled. And kindly paid for by Mr Waitrose, IYSWIM!!

xx

cw18

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Would be interested to know what the final outcome of this was?

I know that the single persons discount doesn't apply to the water element of the bill (really annoying as I pay the same for my water as the family of 5 over the road - even though I must only use a fraction of what they do:mad:)

Having gone through her budget (applying what I thought were more realistic figures for some of the categories) on the assumption that she didn't pay anything towards the water, she decided that she couldn't afford to move out yet.

But she did say she'd spoken to a couple of friends who are students and renting their own places, and that they don't pay anything towards either element of the bill.

cw18

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

So I had a go at making butter - for the first time.

I did this for the first time this week too

3x600ml at 39peach (total £1.17) gave me 950g butter and 750ml buttermilk. I primarily made it so that I had butter to make my own shortbread, but having tasted some on fresh h/made bread yesterday afternoon I have to say that this "I hate butter" person has been 100% converted :T

I'll be grabbing any double cream I see reduced to about that price level in future 5 pots there this morning, but still over £1 each - and I won't be able to go back and check at final reduction time (5pm) 'cos my chap is due over an hour before then