2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

happy_but_skint

I have had a really good frugal week, I did a shop on Friday which should last 2-3 weeks and that came in at £30 for 5 of us, we will just need fresh milk/bread and bananas we got a chicken to roast for 25p and a £19 beef for £3. We then stopped in all weekend and continued with the decorating we have now ran out of paste so will need to buy some today.

Yesterday DH's boss said he could use the work van for our move and the only cost to us will be to replace the fuel we use and they have also given us 40 boxes and 6 rolls of brown tape, we have also been given 15 boxes from freecycle I guess I know what I will be doing this week. Less than 2 weeks till the move and we have loads to do its a good job we have a cross over on the tennancy and will have the keys to this place for an extra 2 weeks so I can clean it right through.

rubytuesday

Sorry you feel that way again Erme - perhaps a little rest from here would help then come back refreshed?

Good luck with the move happy but skint.

Well I wanted to cry during my physio - also had a major hot flush!

Still it will help in the long run.

Kylieminoag

Erme wrote: »

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

Big hugs:grouphug:for you
I dont know what your bad experience was but dont take it to heart... theres good and bad in everyone - we just need to focus on the good xxx

We also have stomach bug and feel lousy - but the silver lining is we have all lost weight and spent no money!!:T:T:T

dizzy_lizzie

paidinchickens wrote: »

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

Ooh I sympathise PIC. I had toothache last night for the first time in years. Went to the dentist after work today and she couldn't see anything untoward so gave them a scale and polish, I was due one next month anyway, she thinks it may be some sensitivity due to me being poorly. Hopefully it is. So ibuprofen on the menu tonight.
Hope you're ok PIC and at least it can't give you any more jip.
slowlyfading...plodding is good. Just another word for slow and steady. And we know slow and steady gets you there

My appetite is coming back with a vengeace! Made a lovely vegetable pastie yesterday with extra side veggies and a jacket and had 3 weetabix a couple of hours later!
Still trying to be careful regarding spending, though we seem to be eating a lot more salad, fruit and veggies recently so we definately need to get planting for this year and hopefully save more pennies. Last year OH successfully grew potatoes, green beans and strawberries and we have a blueberry bush which is lovely. But we didn't plant far enough apart our carrots and spring onions so they were teeny and thin. Lesson learnt for this year.
Going to start on some crochet/knit squares to make into a bed throw with yarn stash I already have in.
Hope everyone is having a warm relaxed evening
x

rising_from_the_ashes

determined_new_ms wrote: »

1st day in my new job was good, feel like I'm going to do well there and have a lot to offer

within an hour of being there I was paid for Jan - more than I was expecting :T

Great news on the new job:D and, yes, I will try to forgive January

paidinchickens wrote: »

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

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

Well done on the NS front ....

A butterfly table is one of these folding ones where the chairs hide inside - great for small spaces if you've not really got room for a big one. Like this

SandraScarlett wrote: »

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?

Thanks Sandra - I have started several budgeting "pots" (individual savings accounts off my main bank account but don't have a card for them!;) can only move the money online) so I am getting there.....

Struggling with them atm as only got them started towards the end of last year (when I finally cleared my debts:j) so the car one especially has been a real .... challenge .... with everything falling so early in the year.

Hoping as the year progresses and I can reduce the payments to these to more "normal" levels, things should be a bit easier and mean I've enough money set aside to cover everything next year!:D

However, my budget (in SOW terms) will, I guess, always show as overspent for the year as it's paid out every Jan IYSWIM? mmmm slightly confused now .... (see, I really shouldn't start thinking about these things) as the money put aside for next Jan's car bills will have been put aside out of this years' money.... oh dear - off to have dinner I think!


Going to see a dog tomorrow ..... absolutely terrified - how will I know? What if I make the wrong decision?:eek:

natnat13

Hi all still plodding along, NSD today and should be tomorrow as I'm staying in bliting the house. Burnt the garlic in my tea, yuck! But ate it anyway!
Lost 4 lb in weight last week so pleased about that.
Off to watch super skrimpers I recorded yesterday now.
Nat x

cw18

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

However, my budget (in SOW terms) will, I guess, always show as overspent for the year as it's paid out every Jan IYSWIM?

As the spreadsheet stands, yes it will. My road tax and car breakdown are both payable in January, so are overspent all year until December.

My car service and MOT are July - so overspent from then until December.

And my car insurance is overspent from either July (most likely) or Aug (actually due at 00:01 on 1st Aug, so normally paid at end of July) until December.

On the other side of the coin, my house (buildings and contents) insurance is waaaaay in credit until December, as that's due early in that month

I tend to work on the basis that in the early months I'm overspent on road tax/breakdown but well under on the other car budgets and the house insurance - so in theory my 'budget to date' and 'spent' totals should just about balance out as I'm borrowing some from one pot to allow me to pay another in a lump sum and save on supplements for paying monthly


The other option is to manually overtype the 'budget to date' figure on these lines so that it shows the full budget as being available from the month it's paid, but that will mean the 'budget to date' total won't be ??/12ths of your annual budget (where ?? is the number of months the annual budget has been in place)

silvasava

Just trying to catch up on the posts - hugs to all who've lost their best furby friends. Sandra, your 'pome's' are truly superb - you always manage to catch the sentiment & mood so well. Glad you enjoyed your Tango show - if Flavia wasn't such a lovely person I'd spit! She's got a 6 pack if ever there was one - mines lurking somewhere........;)

SandraScarlett

silvasava wrote: »

Just trying to catch up on the posts - hugs to all who've lost their best furby friends. Sandra, your 'pome's' are truly superb - you always manage to catch the sentiment & mood so well. Glad you enjoyed your Tango show - if Flavia wasn't such a lovely person I'd spit! She's got a 6 pack if ever there was one - mines lurking somewhere........;)

Thank you for your kind comments. Flavia reminds me of a young Sophia Loren. Neither of them would probably be considered classically "beautiful" - but they're both absolutely gorgeous.;)

Some of her moves defy gravity - and her hair! It doesn't matter how much she shakes it, it just falls perfectly into place. And you can tell how popular she is, women love her as much as men do!

This l-o-n-g dragging month comes to an end in a week, and then we have a nice short February. My spends have been up and down a bit, but the mild weather means I'm still quids in with regards to the heating costs. The Cravendale milk coupons, and the fact I've swopped my Mr S litre packs for 2 litre Cravendale ones (and then I decant into a half litre container, as and when I need it), means I've cut my milk bill by half! :j

Just for the sheer thrill of it, I calculated that I'm saving nearly £200 a year on milk!! :T:T Oh joy!

xx

Igamogam

Meal tonight from freezer - found a haggis frozen last year bought as a whoopsie from Mr T so thought it was fitting we eat it tonight