2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

Erme

SandraScarlett wrote: »

It's great to see so many Frugalisters on here, both old and new. We're almost at the end of the first week of January, and hope everyone is still excited about the money they're going to save.

Don't feel downhearted if things don't work out as well as they did on paper. As long as we all save something, no matter how little, we're all on the right track. :beer:

xx

Thanks Sandra :j...I had just one of those days yesterday :eek:..food monies spent on EA perfume (reduced from £47 to £10) and like bike lights so I can go to the cheap shops.... (£25 reduced to £15 and boy they're bright but came with batteries)

So yeah fortunately I have my RDF (rainy day fund) and have cancelled my order for cartomizers from china till the end of the month when e-cig/RDF should be healthier....

determined_new_ms wrote: »

its similar to what I do, managing a team of housing officers for homeless people. Really happy to be leaving my current company, and its in my home town so not driving 40miles a day so more money & more time :j took a bit of a pay cut but the feeling of leaving my company is priceless

Och so long as you're happy DNMS.....I care about you cos you've been lovely to me when I've been at my most unwell and it's definitely a challenging client set but I've a feeling you might like that :A

Yeah I think the whoopsie was caused by being unwell and not being out of the house proper for a few days.. I'm basically doing a cold turkey (near enough) on some strong meds I'm desperate to come off which isn't wise but is stress induced. (sibling basically @ xmas)...Tiredness has gone. I just tossed and turned last night and got up @ 3am for a while but feeling a lot better and looking forward to a bike ride this pm...

Anyone know how to take a wheel off a bike so I can fix the slow puncture? I have the tools just not sure how to take the back wheel off (it has all the gears etc on it. Could be interesting)....

Just can't afford taking it to the bike shop and the Becycle place is closed right now which could help me and aid me to do it for free :A....

So yeah...maybe I'll text a friend who might be able to help? I don't know...

E

Frugaldom

Trying desperately to keep up via daily email and the PMs, so I'm here to welcome Moneybear123 as the newest member onto our challenger list. Apologies for not responding to individual posts but my posting on here is almost as frugal as my spending habits (almost). :rotfl:

Spotted the yoghurt conversation and I do make hm yoghurt. Initially, I used a flask, then a previous neighbour gave me her 'Eesiyo' when she upgraded to a posher model. I bought the big carton of natural yoghurt (49p) and used that as a starter. One tablespoonful into the 'flask' and the rest frozen in tablespoon sized portions for ease of use. I froze them in one of those sponge trays, a tablespoonful into each cake space, then stuffed them all in a poly-bag once frozen.

Frugal pursuits so far:

Working from home
Making 'use-it-up- meals
No food waste
Bread baking
Cake making
Soup & stock making
Studying my spreadsheet and tweaking my budget
Extra searches for points and free lottery tickets

I have the Nectar points toolbar and also registered for My Search Lotto which gives you free tickets into Lotto and Euromillions, whichever you choose. (That's my 'refer a friend' link, you can type the url into browser if you prefer.)

Frugaldom

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Would really appreciate some advice about my chickens. I bought them as chicks about 2 years ago. They grew into 4 lovely birds and were great at laying. About 3 months ago, poor Eggwina was found at the bottom of their 2 storey mansion, stiff as a board and with her tongue hanging out. No-one came forward as the culprit as we think she was pushed as she was the favourite.The other 3 have remained tight lipped ever since. However, since then I have not had one egg. I know this may sound harsh, but if they're not going to lay eggs then I begrudge paying out the money for feed etc. OH has offered to "neck" them, but not sure exactly how I would feel about this. I am now wondering whether it was just poor Eggwina who was laying and she died from sheer exhaustion. I would take them to a good home, but don't know if anyone would want them if they're not laying. Or, as times are hard, should we just eat them. Any good advice would be welcome. Thanks guys.

Hens don't lay eggs every day indefinitely. They usually need 14 hours of daylight each day, stop when moulting, under the weather or short days/long nights. They lay fewer eggs every year, hence the reason the commercial batteries replace their stock every 18 months to 2 years. HTH and sorry to hear about the 'lost' one.

Jovie, thanks for PM - got your name in the list now.

Blairweech

Re: Getting rid of the TV Licence. I think cw18 got rid of hers and had to cut the socket off the aeriel lead in the end to prove to the licensing people she could not get signal - they WILL harass you to try and 'catch you out' if you get rid of it.

Had another NSD day yesterday, so not doing too bad. And its free listing this weekend :j

My main issue is with the car - currently he is 'ok-ish', will need £300 spending on him definantly at some point. But then, something else could break, which I will not be able to afford/have time to fix when I am on placement next year. Do I just bite the bullet and purchase a new vehicle (new to me that is!) which will be reliable or do I chance it and hope he does not need any repairs...

Silvasava: Sorry to hear about your tenant, hope you get a better one next time. Glad your caravan got recovered though

Erme: There are some how to videos on the net, Google it (different methods if your bike has quick release wheels I think). My bike has been sat outside all winter so will need some serious TLC in the spring Cause the shed is full of my junk which I need to get rid of argh!

natnat13

Hi all
Silva, sounds like you're having an nightmare, I hope it all comes good x
I am very proud to say I walked to school and back all three times yesterday (I have to drop off at 9, pick up at 12 and 3:15pm) so the car didn't move. I went to an exercise class down the road last night, so walked, it cost £3.50 but I felt good for doing it.
Shelled out £15 this morning, DS1 going to the treatre with school £13 and £2 for school dinners. He always has them on Fridays because it's fish and chips! And the school run the service now so if people don't use it it will go, so he has it once a week.
Walked again this morning but will drive in a minute because I cleared out all my toddler group toys this morning (I run the group on Tuesdays) and there's 4 bags of jumble for the sale we're having next month that need moving, can't carry that home!
When I walk up at 3:15pm I'm going to take a bag for sticks, thanks for that tip.
Made big stew yesterday and froze half. Curry for tea tonight from doing the same thing after xmas.
Going to a pampered chef party tonight, it will be one of those situations where I feel I should buy something but I'm going to be strong!!!

natnat13

Oh yes, free listing on ebay this weekend everyone!

jovie

Frugaldom wrote: »

Jovie, thanks for PM - got your name in the list now.

Thanks Frugaldom

rubytuesday

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Silva.

I always always put savoy cabbage in my soup but I don't tend to freeze it - it gets eaten up.

cw18

Blairweech wrote: »

Re: Getting rid of the TV Licence. I think cw18 got rid of hers and had to cut the socket off the aeriel lead in the end to prove to the licensing people she could not get signal - they WILL harass you to try and 'catch you out' if you get rid of it.

I cancelled mine at the end of 2010 (you can only claim the money back for full quarters, so as I didn't think about it until October and it was due to expire in March I decided I may as well keep it valid until 31st Dec as I wouldn't get that money back any way).

I've 'detuned' the equipment I already had, removed the aerial leads that ran from the wall sockets to the equipment, and disabled my aerial (would take more than just plugging in a lead between the wall and equipment to get a picture).

I'd bought a new (small) TV just before Christmas 2010, but the licensing people weren't informed until after I'd cancelled - so I got a letter from them and had to confirm I still didn't need one. I then got a good deal on a larger TV in October 2011, so had to go through the rigmarole again !!! Each time they say I won't hear from them for 2 years, but that they may come round and ask to do an inspection - not a problem for me, and what I'd love is for them to turn up as I'm coming home from somewhere as I'd let them straight in. Hopefully the fact I don't need to try stalling them while I 'nip to the bathroom' or 'put the shopping away' will be enough to convince them I've nothing to hide

But I know there are discussions afoot about making it compulsory to have one if you have an internet connection, as you can watch live TV over that without them being able to pick up a signal with their vans. If/when that comes in then I'll have to find the money to start buying one again, as I'm not giving up my main connection with the outside world (and the most reliable source I have for research) And in the meantime it gives me £145/year to spend on other things I need/want (my 2011 licence fee was spent on DVDs)

I have watched TV a few times since ditching mine, but only when I've been at someone else's place - and I can't say I've been bothered about watching any of it even though most of it was shows I would have turned on in the past. My ex-chap didn't like that I didn't have one (if he came here a couple of evenings a week he ended up missing favourite programmes as he didn't have the means to record them - he actually went as far as to say it was boring coming here 'cos we couldn't watch TV!), but my new chap doesn't have a problem with it at all. We've watched a couple of my DVDs, and he brought some of his over when he came on NYE. If there's anything on that he wants to watch he records it to watch at a later date - but he'd have to do this anyway as a fair bit of it is on channels you can only get on satellite and I didn't have that even before cancelling

It wouldn't bother me to have a licence again if I was sharing accomodation with someone who desperately wanted one, but I think I'd be miffed it the set was on for even a fraction of the time it used to be..... wasn't uncommon to have it on for at least 10 hours a day for 'company', but had made an effort to only turn it on for something I really wanted during 2010 and hadn't turned it on for me at all from the May (did have cartoons on for my GDs before or after school a couple of times a week until they moved away in the June). Nowadays I can go for weeks without even watching a DVD, although it's been on for a couple of hours most days in the last week or so DS2 bought me series 2 of a show for Christmas so I'm rewatching series 1 (which he'd given me as my Mother's Day pressie) before starting on that. And he's already hinted I'm getting series 3 for my birthday in a couple of weeks (told me straight out that I wasn't to go and buy it for myself).

LolaLemon

My friend got rid of her TV licence years ago, she only watches programs that we talk about if they sound good, via catch up TV... 4od, bbc I player etc etc, she doesn't get harrased. She can't disconnect the equipment as she is in rented accommodation, and she accepts old TVs instead of buying new, I have always admired this 'no tv' but its only been recently that I've become 'addicted ' to it, mainly late night American stuff.