2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

silvasava

RAE18 - what a good start to 2012 Well Done!

I'm **!*** at the moment. We took aout a new CC with a no interest on purchases for 15 months (thanks Martin) Just had our first statement & some !!!!!! has used MY card number to buy £250 of sweets & £130 of gifts. The card security guy was great & they're sending me a new card. What really p's me off is I am so careful online - just proves it can happen to anyone & make sure you really check your statements.
On another note its DGD's 18th birthday in a couple of weeks - was a bit stumped for a pressy - I know cash always works but I wanted to give her something to keep. My local print shop are doing a montage of photos on an A3 sheet for £10.00 - its can take upto 40 photos so I've been trawling through all her baby & toddler photos upto when she was a bridesmaid last year & I'll get them printed for her. I found some really good ones - putting lipstick on Grandad when she was about 2 1/2, egg & spoon race at 5 etc. It gave me a good time too with lots of lovely memories so hope she'll enjoy it.

natnat13

silvasava wrote: »

RAE18 - what a good start to 2012 Well Done!

I'm **!*** at the moment. We took aout a new CC with a no interest on purchases for 15 months (thanks Martin) Just had our first statement & some !!!!!! has used MY card number to buy £250 of sweets & £130 of gifts. The card security guy was great & they're sending me a new card. What really p's me off is I am so careful online - just proves it can happen to anyone & make sure you really check your statements.
On another note its DGD's 18th birthday in a couple of weeks - was a bit stumped for a pressy - I know cash always works but I wanted to give her something to keep. My local print shop are doing a montage of photos on an A3 sheet for £10.00 - its can take upto 40 photos so I've been trawling through all her baby & toddler photos upto when she was a bridesmaid last year & I'll get them printed for her. I found some really good ones - putting lipstick on Grandad when she was about 2 1/2, egg & spoon race at 5 etc. It gave me a good time too with lots of lovely memories so hope she'll enjoy it.

My CC been frauded twice, the last time someone actually bought petrol with it!! So much for chip and pin. Apparently some criminals just get lucky guessing your card number and expiry and go for websites that don't need the 3 digit security code!! Not sure how true this is but I suppose once you had a valid number then all you need to do is go through a few months / years for an expiry date. So it's pot luck whether you get frauded really. My bank has been very good both times, picked it up before I did and rung me, still makes me mad though!

NSD today, feeling kind of fed up, not sure where my life is going kind of day, then just watched a good but depressing film, Sarahs Key, about the jews and concentration camps. Now going to watch the biggest loser so at least I can feel thin!!

rising_from_the_ashes

Frugaldom wrote: »

PS: I do still get a bit green with envy at all the 'whoopsie' bargains many of you can get but not enough to make me want to give up my semi-rural location. No supermarkets, no public transport, no drainage, no takeaways, no central heating etc, etc, etc all add up to a hefty amount of extras. Frugal living means I can afford it.

*sigh* I too get a bit envious when one of my work colleagues who lives over the road from Mr A comes in and gleefully tells me the latest haul of whoopsie's she's got (she's my "sister in arms" with regards to MSE in the office - I think everyone else things we're both a bit odd but .... funnily enough, both of us have clawed our way out of huge amounts of debt so just shows .....) - however, not envious enough to make an 18 mile round trip "just in case"

rae18 wrote: »

The other thing I have been doing is 'rounding down' - everytime I go on line to check the joint account, I round down the balance to the nearest £10, just transfer across to the linked savings account. There's more than £30 in there already, and my plan is to let this build up for Christmas. It might only be £1.24 or something or might be £8.50, but we don't notice it and I feel really good knowing we have some 'savings' even if we're not talking thousands!!!!

Rae - and DNMS - that's a brilliant idea & I may just pinch it!;)

Still trying to "get ahead" with all my budgets (everything paid on cc & cleared in full each month but it does mean that Jan's salary pays for Jan's purchases so I'm always a month behind IYSWIM)

Got the cats, dog and car ones in advance and currently putting £20 aside to get the fuel one sorted (Feb & March payments to go) but will really struggle to get the groceries one in advance as a) it's large and b) I can't afford to put the money side & have to clear the previous months on the cc.

mmmmmm.... this could really work for that!:D

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Then the poor dog started limping yesterday, I examined his paw but couldn't see anything, then this morning it started bleeding and a claw was hanging off.

When I touched it, he yelped, so off we went to the vet, who held his paw, and the claw fell off, cleaned it, dressed it, gave him an injection, and I got a bill for .....£66.65!!!! :eek:

(((hugs))) Sandra, as you say, it's never just one thing ..... hope your wee boy is feeling a bit better now ....

Off for an MRI scan tomorrow (dreading it .... I'm claustrophonic :eek: and the least said about it the better) - so will have to be a spendy day - car journey & parking, train journey & then a bus to get to the hosp . Pretty much wishing the day away:o

silvasava

Rising hope the MRI goes OK tomorrow - be thinking of you. Virtual Hugs XXX

mumwithamission

Will be thinking of you tomorrow then rising - good luck x

bramble1

wahooo i just got offered 2 x rounds to drop off yellow pages totalling £139 extra money this month! Yay, this cancels out what i had to spend on my car tax and MOT, and will get me lots of exercise! start next week, and hope to get it done over the weekend.

purpleorchid

hi

i just spotted this, i dont know if it has already been mentioned.

Get a potato grow bag kit and five packs of vegetable seeds free with the March edition of Sainsbury’s Magazine.

Read more: http://deals.money.co.uk/deal/100839...#ixzz1ljiWINgz

Luv P
xx

dizzy_lizzie

rae18 wrote: »

Only a little something, but for me it was a real achievement!!!!
rae xx

Hi Rae18. Quoted this from your post because it's so positive. You sound like you're doing really well.
I know how you feel about the shower caddy. In a similar vein my watch strap broke and I thought I'm not buying a new one, so I crocheted a strap, added two buttons and attached my watchface to it with wool. Looks good and I saved money. Well done on what you've achieved :T

[QUOTE=rising from the ashes;
Off for an MRI scan tomorrow (dreading it .... I'm claustrophonic :eek: [/QUOTE]

If you see this before you go big hugs rising. Take care.

Sandra hugz for doggie too. Bless him, that sounds really painful.

Purple hope you get the sleep pattern sorted soon. If you youtube 'sleep meditation' there are lots to choose from. Maybe even the guided meditations may help. You can only try.

Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow
x

determined_new_ms

purpleorchid wrote: »

hi

i just spotted this, i dont know if it has already been mentioned.

Get a potato grow bag kit and five packs of vegetable seeds free with the March edition of Sainsbury’s Magazine.

Read more: http://deals.money.co.uk/deal/100839...#ixzz1ljiWINgz

Luv P
xx

Thanks for this Purple! :T

rising thinking of you today. Hope you are ok and treat yourself to a little niceness afterwards for being so brave x

quintwins

your all doing really well

purple that looks like a good deal but postage is nearly £5 so i think i'll stick to poundland for now


we're all ill, had a chinese last night, theres some leftover but as i was ill all night it will be going into the freezer for another day

started a small money making venture yesterday just waiting for stock to arrive hoping it will go good, but from now on i'll be saving every spare penny to buy new stock and expand , profit margins are very small but it is a commonly used product and will get better if we order higher volumes of stock, as it is we'll have paid out £360 and only make £20 but with our next order we hope to make £50 and slowly build it up, fingers crossed it will go well for us, if not we can always make our money back so it's pretty risk free