2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

JayneC

Quick Hello as I'm off out in a sec. Have decided to return to my drama class which is £50 per term so quite expensive but it's such fun and I get to meet with people as I don't really go out otherwise. Got some money from parents for Christmas so will use that towards the fee this term and see how things are next term.

Doing quite well, NSD today (apart from some work expenses that I'll get back) up to now but will prob have a little drink after drama class;)

DD1 rang earlier to say her DH has got me some logs, as he was doing some work at a big Hall nearby and they were cutting down a tree, he asked if he could take it and they've chopped it up for him! So he'll drop em off tomorrow, little things eh

Purple your chap sounds lovely, hope it continues to go well x

Dizzie - loving the scarf, well done!

Ok I'm off now see you soon.

rising_from_the_ashes

Had to run an errand for DM to a nearby town today and stumbled across a Farm*foods (don't have one here). Having never been in one before - I just couldn't resist .... and must say I was quite impressed.

The veg looked good (only got mushrooms BOGOF for £1;)) as not a huge amount of room in the freezer and broccoli, swede, onions etc etc were all £1 / bag. Thinking of switching to frozen veg for as much as poss as being single a lot get beyond using before I finish it all.

Also popped to £land and got crisps for lunches until the end of Feb and face wipes that should last until the end of April;)

Thinking it may be worth the fuel (36 mile round trip:eek: but can cut 15 off if I go straight from work) to go every couple of months to stock up......

rubytuesday

That sounds lovely Purple!

Happycrafter sorry it will be me - I read that you shouldn't use meat fats for fat balls.

I'm a member of the RSPB so I expect I read it there somewhere - will see if I can find a link. X

Found this

http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/300504-dont-cause-bird-fatalities

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8418000/8418260.stm

quintwins

aww purple sounds like you've got a keeper, when we were going out hubby bought me an elec blanket it was a fab gift and we still have it now, honestly he couldn't know me better if he tried

i've had a rather expensive month but that doesn't mean it hasn't been frugal, there has been a few takeaways but there has also been a years supply of dishwasher tablets and lundry liquid bought, enough food to feed the 10,000 in my freezer, a good 3 montsh worth of toilet roll, clothes to do us threw til the end summer (hubby might need something for the start of march i'm not sure yet might be able to get away with a nice cheapy shirt cause he'll never wear it again) and about half the xmas present for other people bought aswell as a few for our kids and some birthday pressies, i'm confident it will all even out in the end so far i've spent

£111.08 on gifts
£93.53 on clothes
£530 on rent
£80 on desil
£15.90 on insurance
and a shocking £232.78 on food :eek:

SAVVYJADE

quintwins wrote: »

i've had a rather expensive month but that doesn't mean it hasn't been frugal, there has been a few takeaways but there has also been a years supply of dishwasher tablets and lundry liquid bought, enough food to feed the 10,000 in my freezer, a good 3 montsh worth of toilet roll, clothes to do us threw til the end summer (hubby might need something for the start of march i'm not sure yet might be able to get away with a nice cheapy shirt cause he'll never wear it again) and about half the xmas present for other people bought aswell as a few for our kids and some birthday pressies, i'm confident it will all even out in the end so far i've spent

£111.08 on gifts
£93.53 on clothes
£530 on rent
£80 on desil
£15.90 on insurance
and a shocking £232.78 on food :eek:

Same here!

I e bought quite a few presents, some Xmas and some for birthdays in upcoming months. Got a lot of fancy xmas gift bags in tesco otjer day flr 25p an lots of bows and ribbon at 13p pack! Also stocked up on lots of really good meat offers and whoopsies I found, so freezer well and truly stocked! I could prob live without needing to buy anything for months other than milk and bread! Today I got 4 free blocks of clover and 2 free boxes of typhoo tea using coupons. Not feeling too frugal this month but next few months I should be virtually spend free!

Ps bought a cardigan in m & s sale yesterday.. £39.50 down to a £1!! x

letsdothis

love catching up on all the posts:

My top tip of the day .....dont know where I read it -

When putting a new toilet roll on - squash it a bit so that it 'flumps' (for want of a better word) then if you have kids that like pretending that they are a certain puppy when they go - if you squash it it saves it from being wasted - works for us any way

Frugaldom

Purpleorchid... marry that guy! Anyone who thinks about frugalising a gift to make it into multiple meals is a gem! Hope your first meeting went really well and that there'll be many more in the future.

Re the fat in the pan - if you scrape it into a tub then mix in whatever other leftovers you might have, add some seed and turn it into frugal winter treats for the wild birds. They love it, especially at this time of year.

Sam, thanks for the PM and welcome to frugaldom. Hope you enjoy being part of this great challenge.

January is always one of my expensive months. After using up anything left in December - coal, logs, cat food - and paying extra for heating during the cold months, it does get slightly better. For me, that's usually around mid May! :rotfl:But at least there are no hefty debt bills nowadays, so I promise everyone, it is worth every penny you fight not to spend, so stay strong and keep on frugalling.

scrappie_2

Purple - your new man sound amazing!!! Hope all goes well - let us know what you make with the Lamb!!

purpleorchid

thanks all for kind words, not sure when we are meeting but we are definately going to meet again.
will let you know about the lamb lol, the site he gave me for quick simple recipes is called cook it simply. loads of fab ideas on there, think im going to be using this site to make my meal plans more varied.

hth
Luv P
xx

moneybear123

Hi all, I'm not having a very good day thanks to unexpected things. My day started off good then was so so and then ended badly. My husband had a garage bill over $200.00 and my oldest daughter got into trouble at school so of coarse I got a phone call. :mad: