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2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

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  • Hello all, thanks for all the (((hugs))) and good wishes - I must admit, I was pretty floored for the rest of the week..... I even thought it was Saturday yesterday - not just for a quick moment or two, I was happily enjoying my lie in all tucked up and cosy in bed when I thought the street was a bit busy for a Sat AM, turned on the telly and :eek::eek::eek:. Luckily we have flexi-time at work and I did make it in before the cut off period ....

    Have managed the trip to the new vet with wee cat for her booster - she survived the journey without "incident" (a first:)) and the vet was brilliant with her. She did have a bit of a hissy fit but nothing like usual.

    I got a new carrier a while ago as my last one finally broke after around 15 years of loyal service;) - it has a top as well as front opening and meant we didn't have to force her out through the door and it seemed to help a lot:)

    Best of all was the price .... £13.25:j - it was an opening offer of 1/2 price but, even at full price it will be substantially cheaper than my old vet where I paid £49.85:eek: for big cat to have his boosters not too long ago.


    Winchelsea
    your scan doesn't sound much fun either so a wee (((hug))) and hope everything is OK.

    Quintwins hope everyone has recovered now ...

    CW18 I think I remember Lux and Dreft but def remember Vimin the tin!:) Purple I'm a 1972 person (so just before you).

    Dizzy love the sound of the simple crafts - really must get my teeth into something new. Still not got around to searching for easy knitting patterns (Note to self - do it!)

    Sandra ohhh your poor wee dog, hope he's on the mend soon. Good news to the pension increases.:)

    I'm still "dog hunting" but not much luck as yet :(.... I do so miss the company and the walks - keep your fingers crossed.


    Hope everyone is surviving the weather if it's bad where you are .... it's very odd seeing the snow / ice on the news in England when it's actually pretty mild up here.

    Not trying to rub it in but I've spent the past hour tidying in the garden - just realised I'm hopefully around 1/2 way on the garden shed fund:j so hoping it won't be too long before I can get one. It'll make such a difference being able to get / store some big planters to grow veg in:T.

    I've just done my first "rounding down" transfer to my "fuel & groceries pot" (trying to get in advance on these) - £8.90:).

    Sorry that was a long post:o Take care everyone xx
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    we thought everyone was recovering nicely but ds3 was just sick again, think it's more coughting this time than the bug tho.

    it's mild here aswell but nippy enough, heats on now so will hopefully warm up soon.

    i've had a fab frugal day, went to makro with fil who gave us £10 desil (the trip cost less than that s we're up some desil) we bought the kids a big tub of sweets each then insisted of paying for the 2 boxes of juice i was buying them (only £2.40 but still), then i went to iceland and used a love2shop vouchers i had so for 40p i got 4 loaves of bread, 72 chicken nuggets, 40fishfingers and 8 breaded chicken, then went to mil and she had been to a local butcher someone recommended to her and had bought £100+ of meat (was quite good value i might try them when i run the freezer down) she gave me 2 sirlion steaks for me and oh on valentines day, 6 chicken breasts, 1lb of mince and a bag of diced beef, so 5 dinners worth and it's hubbys birthday this week so there taking us out for dinner and we go to theres for sunday dinner so basically there feeding us for the week :), they also bought us chippy tea so have been very nice to us today, they know it's been an awful week and i think they know moneys tight this month aswell.


    only other spend was £30 desil :)

    i'm off to sort some washing i've fallen way behind so i'm gonna have to use the dryer to catch up *note to self remeber to buy new clothes pegs since mines vanished*
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • [QUOTE=rising from the ashes;
    Not trying to rub it in but I've spent the past hour tidying in the garden - just realised I'm hopefully around 1/2 way on the garden shed fund:j so hoping it won't be too long before I can get one. It'll make such a difference being able to get / store some big planters to grow veg in:T.
    Sorry that was a long post:o Take care everyone xx[/QUOTE]

    Good news rising on the shed fund :) Just think of all that yummy veg.
    No need for a sorry on your post, it's great reading what everyones up to.

    quintwins hope your son is feeling better soon. Looks like the trip to m*kro was a good one :)

    Spent all afternoon cleaning and tidying DS bedroom!
    Going to treat myself to a brew and my knitting now. I deserve it :)
    Warm hugs everyone
    x
    Official DFW Nerd Club Member no:219
    In the Court Of The Crimson King
    I don't believe in the concept of hell, but if I did I would think of it as filled with people who were cruel to animals.
    Gary Larson
  • Woke to frozen pipes and no hot water. Then from this I decided that I was not getting dressed or going out at all today. Made rice crispy square-type bars today. Found a recipe on the rice crispies this morning and so tried it out. Melted butter and a load of marshmallows that no-one was eating. mixed with rice crispies and put some sparkly pink and white cake decorating balls in them. squished it all in to a tray and fridged it. cut it up and it's all gone. It was absolutely gorgeous, took 10 mins and kept them all quiet for at least 20 minutes. Well worth it.
  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 7,139 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    If any of you have not tried a company called Approved foods I can recommend them. they do short dated (although not always so short dated) food items and do some great special offers. They do charge for postage but even with this added cost it still works out quite well - I usually do an order with family and split the cost. So far we have not been disappointed and we have been using them for a couple of years or so. HTH someone.

    Thanks for mentioning but I think you'll find this is one of the often used links in our 'handy links' section in the very first post, along with Food Bargains, Big Brands For Less and ROSSPA.

    Please all remember to familiarise yourselves with post one, it saves loads of repetitive posts being lost over the years we have been doing the challenge.
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on little in 2025 while frugalling towards retirement.
  • tylersbabe
    tylersbabe Posts: 309 Forumite
    edited 12 February 2012 at 1:18PM
    Well my car has been mended so the purse is £150 lighter, mind you that was cheap compared to one quote for £625 :eek:

    Hounds been to the vets so another to add £75

    MOT and service on the car due next month :(

    am a bit scared by my spending diary at the moment, so much for trying to live frugally :rotfl:
    Mortgage Owed: Sept 14 - £107398.20
  • quintwins
    quintwins Posts: 5,179 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    i'm spending dairy is shocking tbh, but i think i always spend more at the start of the year then slow down in the middle then loads at the end so i#m hoping it will balance out :)

    kids are feeling better and will be back to school tomorrow :j

    havent done much today just went to mil for lunch, now gonna spend the evening catching up on washing and ironing....the joys of being mother
    DEC GC £463.67/£450
    EF- £110/COLOR]/£1000
  • If any of you have not tried a company called Approved foods I can recommend them. they do short dated (although not always so short dated) food items and do some great special offers. They do charge for postage but even with this added cost it still works out quite well - I usually do an order with family and split the cost. So far we have not been disappointed and we have been using them for a couple of years or so. HTH someone.
    Frugaldom wrote: »
    Thanks for mentioning but I think you'll find this is one of the often used links in our 'handy links' section in the very first post, along with Food Bargains, Big Brands For Less and ROSSPA.

    Please all remember to familiarise yourselves with post one, it saves loads of repetitive posts being lost over the years we have been doing the challenge.


    Whilst I do agree with Frugaldom's sugestion that everyone looks at the first few posts of the thread as there is a wealth of knowledge gleemed from current/past memers of the challenge, I do also really welcome feedback from someone who has recently used a company and personally find this really useful.

    As we all know, companies change ... both in terms of product (price & quality) and customer service (good - bad and maybe back again).

    I have recent experience of this - I've used a company for online deliveries for many years but recently they've changed supplier for one product and it's now terrible but the price has in fact risen. However, there is no other way of telling as the packaging is the same.

    They also changed courier around October time and it's gone from being a great service with stuff arriving undamaged and being left where you want it - to getting damaged boxes and you now need to sign for the delivery (which you didn't before) - again, nothing on their website to say this.

    So, it's it's really only by word of mouth that people will find out about these changes which is why IMHO an up to date account of the quality and service provided is always worthwhile and should be encouraged.
    Grocery Challenge £211/£455 (01/01-31/03)
    2016 Sell: £125/£250
    £1,000 Emergency Fund Challenge #78 £3.96 / £1,000
    Vet Fund: £410.93 / £1,000
    Debt free & determined to stay that way!
  • ha ha thought I'd extend the toilet roll discussion! Sainsburys currently have 9 packs with 3 extra free, buy 2 packs for £7.50. Hope that helps x
    DF as at 30/12/16
    Wombling 2025: £87.12
    NSD March: YTD: 35
    Grocery spend challenge March £253.38/£285 £20/£70 Eating out
    GC annual £449.80/£4500
    Eating out budget: £55/£420
    Extra cash earned 2025: £195
  • DNM- i saw on ebay 108 rolls for £21.90 lol

    was really tempted but guess you can never really tell the quality until you get it and thats alot of toilet rolls is they are no good.

    sorry i have not been posting much again, i seem to in a bit of a black hole at the moment. sleep pattern still all over place, but im in my bed more than out of it at the moment.

    i am still within my budget this month so looking good. could do with some more variation of food in the house as i seem to be eating the same things due to all the bulk cooking. i need to rethink about what i can use instead. i think my mood is affecting what i want as well. im sure you have all been there when you have food in your house but there is nothing there that you really fancy lol.

    will stick to it though.
    hope everyone is well today.
    keep warm

    Luv P
    xx
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