2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

letsdothis

mishmogs wrote: »

evening all

Booked a weeks camping holiday in the new forest for June over the weekend. Never been before so that will be good. Got a fab deal on a mega tent from amaz*n less than half price last year so can christen it this summer .



Just to give you a heads up on this - we got a 9berth tent for the 5 of us so if it does rain then the kids still have a bit of space so are not on top of each other ....downside is you have to be very careful of booking because some campsites penalise you for having a larger tent - but thumbs up for camping - we love it

happycrafter_2

Jo.Mo wrote: »

Hello all!

Purpleorchid, I was so impressed by your first date! He sounds like an incredibly thoughtful guy. And imagine how much money you could save together

SandraScarlett, thanks for sharing your beautiful poetry and hugs to those who are struggling especially Blairweech, Wornoutmumoftwo and moneybear.

Icontinuetodream, massive congratulations for a brilliant start to the year!

Cooltrikerchick, thanks so much for the tip on stocking up on stamps. WH Smith have 5% off all their stamps until the end of Jan (that's online, I'm not sure about instore), they're showing availability of 1st class but saying 4 weeks + wait for second class, I might go ahead and place the order as even if they can't fulfil the order, I'll still have til April to get sorted.

Habibiboo, I use my toiletries forever I think the whole 6 / 12 month thing is a scam by toiletries companies!

Freedom2011, welcome! Can you please send a private message to Frugaldom asking him to add you to the challengers list.

Happycrafter, do you have a food processor or mini chopper? Because Lidl often have milk chocolate in their half price weekend offers - 17p for 100g!! It's definitely fine for baking with.

Phew!

Love Jo xx

thank you will hopefully head to lidl this weekend as they have wool and some crafting stuff on special this week.

will be playing catch up with the posts later on, had a busy weekend found a meat wholesalers spent £51 and ended up with tons of stuff.:jwill write a list later once ive finished adding up what I got.

paidinchickens

Morning peeps

:j:jI HAD MY LAST CIG LAST NIGHT :j:j

I read the book and just did not feel like one after Hope that lasts :rotfl:

I worked out as I smoked GV and rolled my own I spent (inc tips and papers) bout £500 per year :eek::eek::eek:

I know that is a fraction of what other smokers spend as I got mine cheap off a family friend :whistle: However when I was working by the time I took fuel etc off I was actually earning 500 per months so I worked 1 month a year to pay for my stinky nicotine addiction :eek:

Then when I stopped working we cut back to save what I was earning :eek:

Popped over to the smoking board and [STRIKE]introduced myself[/STRIKE] barged in

Got to go to the dentist and have a tooth pulled today


Rising even the words butterfly table sound pretty and relaxing and I have no idea what one is :rotfl::rotfl:

A week today and January is over so hang on in there everyone

PIC x

paidinchickens

Aril and Tumpty where are you hiding??? are you ok???

Hope your having a fab time and are tooo busy to post

quintwins

oh no i hate the dentist hope it's not too bad, i really need to go for a root canal i keep putting it off and now i have a horrible taste in my mouth.

have to help my mum move next week so my desil will go threw the roof but it is a one off.

in laws have said they'll try sort hubby out a payrise he was promised one last march but one thing after another meant that they couldn't do it in the end, he could get alot more for his skills elsewhere and was offered a job just a few weeks ago but he likes working in the family business and will inhert (sp?) it at some point along with his brother so any work he does now will help us in our old age hopefully

still plodding on here did a cheapy shop to see us threw the week yesterday, then my mum phoned to say she had no elec so had to sort her out, i would have double the savings if my mum wasn't so unorganised and wasted all her money in the first week of the month, but if i didn't help it would be my brothers losing out and it is only money....hubbys not impressed tho and who could blame him?

SandraScarlett

stitching_witch wrote: »

Remember this from 1st December? Well, joy of joys, DH's JSA runs out next month too. In theory, that means I have to start paying his bills too. I've spent the weekend trying to shave more off the budget, but there's nowhere else to cut down. There are many times that I scrawl 'IHML' (I Hate My Life) over every available surface and now seems like one of those

How rotten you must be feeling at the moment, and dreading next month.:( I don't blame you for feeling so low, but can only suggest that you make sure your DH claims every benefit he's entitled to.

findingmyfeet wrote: »

morning all

SANDRA- keep the poems/odes coming they are lovely and brightens up everyones day.

onwards and upwards -loads of chores to get done today.

I just hope they're not upsetting people, cos when I read them through I had tears in my eyes myself.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Can I just say ...... I HATE JANUARY!

Honestly, car tax / breakdown cover / service / MOT ..... all in one month!

QUOTE]

Sorry I've snipped the wrong bit of your post! But you had something in it about having to pay all those bills in January, so it looks like you're overdrawn all year.

How about opening a separate account, and putting a couple of pounds in, here and there, when you can afford it, and using that as "bonus" money next January, to go towards those Horrible Williams?

As each year progresses, you may find, perhaps next year, or the year after, that you have sufficient in there, come January, to pay most of the bills?

Off to the hospital now with DD for checkup, so feeling apprehensive, anxious and a nervous wreck, inside, but have nailed a rictus grin on my face to kid everyone I'm calm and in control. :eek:

xx

Joan49

Not sure if this goes here but have just had a really great couple of days in London for £30.01 each thanks to MSE forums. Train tickets from oxford to London for £10 tesco vouchers, Hotel room £0.02 !!! and 2 tickets to 'We will rock you' £50. Not sure if I could have got them any cheaper. We did spend a bit more on the underground but we packed in a lot of sightseeing, the natural history museum and Hyde park were brilliant. Felt like we'd had a long weekend away. just like to say thank you to the MSE website.

rubytuesday

Hope it goes well for your daughter Sandra.

Your poems brought tears to my eyes too but in a good way!

I'm of to be pulled and palpitated (physio) and my bottom is smiling in anticipation it helped the glutes so much before!

NSD yesterday and still managing to not be spendy.

findingmyfeet

morning all,

well just popped in to say im such a proud/impressed/delighted mum this morning. Had an email from DD first year uni student telling me she had been working out all her money for the coming term. long story short she has gone through all her cupboard/freezer stock and worked out she has enough for 27 days worth of meals-and listed them, made a list of a few bits she still needs, deducted the weekend shes at home and budgeted for going out -laundry and a couple of up coming events.

WOW im just so impressed i have always tried to get across that a good disciplined budget is the best thing she could learn(unlike her mother whos only just getting to grips with it after years of struggling) to help her along the way in life.............looks like she did actually listen at some point, and this all came at almost three o clock in the morning!

glad i did the washing yesterday pouring with rain today, off to town to bargin hunt shortly and pay into the savings!!!!!!!! first deposit of the year.

Erme

I can get patons DK yarn for £1.40 per 100g from Dun*** M*ll...so that's cheaper than L***....

Anyhow spendy (another) week last week. And now have a stomach bug.

And thumb is going numb but that's life....

Don't want to post anymore. Had a bad experience elsewhere this week on this forum and I'm still fragile

E