2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

mumwithamission

Yes,Congratulations from me too Cherryjack, what lovely news, wishing you well.

rubytuesday

Hello everyone I've been in bed everyday since last weekend with flu.

Really been feeling dreadful - one way to save money I suppose!

Been doing a bit of washing up and cleaning up in installments but have to keep lying back down.

Not good timing as I have a presentation to give on Monday with someone else and she's not well either!

Slowly catching up with the thread.

rubytuesday

Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl Cherry Jack

Linz4383

findingmyfeet wrote: »

morning all,
well my morning is not off to a good start, just had a letter saying that we are going to have a water meter installed in the next few weeks and we were previously informed about it- well this is the first we have heard about it!!! so please anyone with a meter how careful do you have to be inusing your water i dont want huge bills. We only pay water not sewage as we have a septic tank so water bills have been reasonably low. 6 months of the year theres just me and DH but the other 6 we have DD and DS getting into the bathroom is a trauma when they are home!! we dont waste water but how drastically will i have to cut back?
We use the washing machine, dishwasher once a day, baths, loos and a spot of garden watering for the greenhouse etc ?

im on water meter, theres only me and my little girl... i only use the washer around once sometimes twice a week, i dont use the dishwasher as theres only 2 of us, we use the bath prob 4 times a week sometimes i have a shower instead but i like the bath in winter!!! i also dnt flush the toilet unless it needs doin and have one the the water saving bags in it!! i have to admite wen i wash my pots i have the water running! hate bubbles on them!!!! ive just had my water bill, im payin £30 a month!!! but its only workin out around £15-16 a month so ive had a nice refund!!!
bit annoyed tho as i have asked them to reduce the monthly payments a little, even if its just to £20, and they havent done it and got the impression they didnt want to either!!! so theyll b gettin another call, or email for a call back! save on my phone bill!:rotfl:

seriouslyfrugal

Welcome to everyone new


cherryJack - congratulations on the new arrival


not had the heating over the past couple of days and yesterday managed to get some washing dry on the line :T we are not on a metre for water here yet although I did hear it may happen but quite when i'm not sure

Ruby Tuesday : I hope you soon feel better

have a good friday everyone

Cherryjack

Thanks everyone shes and absolute little beauty :-) i have one of each now and hadnt found out the sex before i went in .. cried my eyes out when they told me i had a little girl... shes been spoilt rotten lol.. but slowly getting some sleep xx hope everyone is well sending love xx

rising_from_the_ashes

Cherryjack wrote: »

I had a baby girl on the 16th of january and i went crazy on buying her clothes and have been bidding too much on stuff for her from ebay..:-(( not got myself in a bad way.. but need to get on track again.

Awwwww, lovely news congratulations to the whole family :T

findingmyfeet wrote: »

we are going to have a water meter installed in the next few weeks and we were previously informed about it- well this is the first we have heard about it!!! so please anyone with a meter how careful do you have to be inusing your water i dont want huge bills.

Ohhhhhhh green eyed monster is rearing it's head here:o - I'd love a meter. Currently you pay a set amount (with your council tax) that's based on your council tax band - not even a single person discount on it.....:( - so I pay the same for my water as the family of 5 who live down the road, despite only using what must be a fraction of what they do:mad:

Frugaldom wrote: »

Quick reminder on this subject - don't forget to count in the actual cost of buying the car. Without counting in these costs, you'll eventually run out of car through depreciation with nothing set aside to rplace the actual vehicle. My mileage costs include the cost of the car, based on the hope that it will last 3 years. (It's a cheap secondhand car.)

Ahhhhhh, yup, I had forgotten to add that in:o - will have to work out some new figures!

Thanks for the Big Brands "heads up" - will be heading over to the website shortly for a look for any bargains!:)

purpleorchid

hi guys

hope everyone is well.

congrats CJ and Ruby i hope you are feeling well soon hun.xx

did some good frugal shopping today was well chuffed.

had planned on spending £20, but after looking at what was needed for the next month i had to shuffle another £15 from else where :eek:

my bargains today at tesco

comfort pure 75ml x 4 should have been £4, had 4 x 75p off vouchers
cost me £1
2 loaves of 50/50 kingsmill, usually £2.40, on offer for 2 for £2. i had 2 x 30p off coupons, cost me £1.40.
reduced price peppers should have been £1.69, i paid 85p
puff pastry frozen should have been £1.79. i paid 40p.
pack of bodyform should have been £1, i had 75p off vouchers so cost me 25p.
tesco battered cod, usually £2.99, down to £2 so thats only 50p each.
single fresh cream reduced from 89p down to 35p.

so what should have cost me £14.76 only cost me £6.25:)

and even better, my dad came over to bring my birthday cards so i went to tesco with him, which saved on taxi fair, and as my dad didnt use his save £5 when you spend over £40 he gave it to me. so in total i saved £15.11. quite happy with that.:D

on a downside though tesco cat biscuits have gone up by 10p so that will be another 50p a month on the cats.:eek:

i did treat myself though as it is my birthday on saturday i bought a chocolate fudge cake to go with my reduced price cream, mmmmmm
oh and 2 small bottles of fanta and a chicken and bacon sandwich lol. not something i would generally do, but for once im using my birthday money for some things for me. hair cut, indian and the rest on few more bits in tesco when i need them through the month.

Luv P
xx

enjoyfinancialchallenges

Purpleorchid Happy Birthday on Sat, enjoy your day.

Cherryjack congratulatons on the birth of your daughter, what a lovely surprise you must have had when she arrived, so now you have what my Mum used to call a pigeon pair, no don't ask cause I don't know why, my Mum had a saying for every occasion and if she couldn't remember one she made it up. Dear old Mum miss her lots X

Re water meters, I have one but I live on my own and I can be as thrifty as I want with it, I'm also a "if its yellow let it mellow person" I pay what is called a LowRate, I believe it has no service charges but I pay more per cubic metre. Worth asking your supplier if you live alone. I have 6 water butts but they could not be taken into consideration because the water all goes down the same drain anyway, but I did try to get a discount, its always worth asking they can only say no!

I'm still not feeling a bundle of joy and could cry at the smallest thing, not me at all but hope it goes soon. One thing it could be is the fact I have been waiting on an X-ray result, I have a very horse cough and a scratchy voice BUT... my X-ray is clear, I expect its been at the back of my mind though and possibly affecting my mood and yes I was worried.

So good to see the snow go, I just hate it 'cause I fell a couple of years ago which frightened me. This year I have been very careful and only gone out when I really had to.

Have a good evening everyone, I'm going to make more marmalade ( just for a change) X

Cherryjack

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

Purpleorchid Happy Birthday on Sat, enjoy your day.

Cherryjack congratulatons on the birth of your daughter, what a lovely surprise you must have had when she arrived, so now you have what my Mum used to call a pigeon pair, no don't ask cause I don't know why, my Mum had a saying for every occasion and if she couldn't remember one she made it up. Dear old Mum miss her lots X

Re water meters, I have one but I live on my own and I can be as thrifty as I want with it, I'm also a "if its yellow let it mellow person" I pay what is called a LowRate, I believe it has no service charges but I pay more per cubic metre. Worth asking your supplier if you live alone. I have 6 water butts but they could not be taken into consideration because the water all goes down the same drain anyway, but I did try to get a discount, its always worth asking they can only say no!

I'm still not feeling a bundle of joy and could cry at the smallest thing, not me at all but hope it goes soon. One thing it could be is the fact I have been waiting on an X-ray result, I have a very horse cough and a scratchy voice BUT... my X-ray is clear, I expect its been at the back of my mind though and possibly affecting my mood and yes I was worried.

So good to see the snow go, I just hate it 'cause I fell a couple of years ago which frightened me. This year I have been very careful and only gone out when I really had to.

Have a good evening everyone, I'm going to make more marmalade ( just for a change) X

oh i hope you feel much better soon xx im waiting for the spring now.. its so lovely when it pops up.. the smell of the cut grass.. the sunshine
Thank you for the nice wishes xx