The Other Way, or the MSE Way: My Personal Challenge 2012

nu1isit?

The Other Way, or the MSE Way: My Personal Challenge 2012

I'm doing the challenge again this year, but with a bit more determination, and a lot more va va voom :rotfl: . For those of you that are not familiar with the last challenge, this was the general gist of it:

I'd been mulling this personal challenge to myself, when the car broke down on Christmas Eve :mad: (we had no emergency money to get it fixed - not like our former selves would have). I could pay for a new EGR valve, approximately £110, and get a mechanic to fit it (all money we didn't have):eek:. Or, take the MSE approach and try to help myself. With the help of google, an eager wife as an assistant, patience, a bit of swearing and a can of carb cleaner - we fixed the car on Boxing Day!
I've really let things 'slide' last year...and have lurked on the boards for some time, so have finally decided to take action.
My challenge is to approach everything in a THE OTHER WAY, or a MSE way . For example cost cutting, do I need or want it, can we do it ourselves, or get it cheaper elsewhere...To try to be as creative as possible with my approach, to get the support and advice of the MSE community as I go along.
I'm going to do it for the whole year - in for a penny, in for a pound; as the old saying goes....
I've spoke to the wife, and she's involved - and fully comitted. Now she's involved, the families involved .
So here I come car boots, charity shops, market stalls, batch cooking, ebay......:rotfl:
Wish me luck, i'm going to need it...

The old 2011 challenge can be found here, if you want a sneaky peek. Go on, you know you want to :rotfl::D:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2955242

Let the fun times roll ...

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wannabee_in_credit

That sounds like a brilliant plan, just about the same as I'm trying to do from here on in.
I've just had to use my wedding dress fund to pay for a broken down car 4 days before Christmas and it's costing best part of £400 to fix. So I really need to be the other way as well.
Good luck.

luckycharlie

Hi Nu1isit

I'll join if you promise not to post a picture of Mr Tumble He scares me and gives me nightmares!!!!!

XLC2

determined_new_ms

hey nu1ist! long time no see. Really spookily though I was only thinking I hadn't seen ur thread in a while and were you still on the wagon! I never posted (I don't think) but I spent a lazy weekend reading ur exploits & I was impressed by ur style

happy new year!

nu1isit?

Hello everyone...

“I've just had to use my wedding dress fund to pay for a broken down car 4 days before Christmas and it's costing best part of £400 to fix”.

It always comes when you need money for someting else doesn’t it wannabee in credit :eek:. What happened to it?

Isn’t there a wedding section somewhere in here (MSE) :think:... maybe you can get some more ideas/shops/locations in there...Me and the DW looked for ideas on here and scoured the internet too ...

“I'll join if you promise not to post a picture of Mr Tumble He scares me and gives me nightmares!!!!!”

Oh LC2, I think you want a large picture for Christmas don’t you? Mwah ha ha.***rubs his hands together in an evil manner***. :rotfl: ...

Thanks determined new ms, yeah, but due to lots of circumstances I didn’t update as much as I should have, or as 'determined' as I should have..Wasn’t a bad year, but I know we can do better – so we’re going too .

wannabee_in_credit

It always comes when you need money for someting else doesn’t it wannabee in credit :eek:. What happened to it?

Isn’t there a wedding section somewhere in here (MSE) :think:... maybe you can get some more ideas/shops/locations in there...Me and the DW looked for ideas on here and scoured the internet too ...


I thought it was a perished radiator hose. It was a bust heating matrix, which has required the removal of the entire dash and the car is still in the garage at the moment. I think for a 2 day garage job £400 seems suddenly quite reasonable.

Thanks for the advice on the wedding stuff. Thankfully a lot of it is sorted out and has been paid in dribs and drabs, but I'll definitely have a look for that forum and see what other ideas I can pick up.

luckycharlie

Hi

Read back last years thread and noted the coments about spotlights. We have 3 sets of 5 of these :eek::eek: So will go to Ikea and get them changed didn't realise they were expensive to run!!

nu1isit?

Quick update for you all... so far we've:

Swapped internet/phone provider. It used be on average £25 a month with T@@k T@@k, new provider £3.24 per month on special offer (3.24×12=£38.88 for the year ), also paid line rental upfront so saved a chunk there too .£113.88 line rental paid...as oppossed to £155.88. New Provider £113.88+£38.88=£152.76, old provider 12x £25=£300; that's a saving of roughly £147.24 over the year :j. If we stick to evening weekend calls only ...

Performed a major surgical removal on Mr. Tumble (the saving pot) :eek:, and we're pleased to say he's happy and stable . We've restarted The Sealed Pot Challenge again for this year....Hello fellow Potters, if you're reading! :beer:
Mr. Tumble after surgery.

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The biggest one wanted a wooden shop thing for Christmas; we couldn't afford the ridiculous prices some of the shops ask, so we kept our eyes open. We found one at a car boot...it cost £5 :T...I repainted some bits, authentically aged it, painted the sorts of flowers she likes on it, and re-papered it with some fetching pink tartan patterned stuff. She loved it...good times...:p

The wooden shop

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Last but not least, the fantastic Christmas present from the little one....it was presented to me like a gold bar, after breakfast....



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Hope you're all having a good Christmas :beer: ...

nu1isit?

Right what have I been up to??? I'm currently taking stock, and looking at what can be recycled and what can be sold...I’m interested in trying Gumtree. Has anyone give it a go, from a selling perspective; if so, is it any good?
We’ve been eating lots of mince pies to, for some reason. Mmmmmm....yum, yum....:beer:.
Still keeping up with the challenges too...:A



The Sealed Pot Challenge:
I’ve been continuing with the challenge and possibly scaring some fellow forum goers, with the following:

I don’t know LC2, you’ve got it easy...you should try being my wife:eek:; she must need serious therapy by now .

“Please take care nu1isit when posting your pics as some of our newbies may have a nervous disposition and we don't want to scare anyone away. What would our leader Sue have to say? In fact ive had to book a therapy session for later in week after picturing you with your xmas y-fronts Please don't consider posting pics of pole-dancing".

What do you mean no pics, blue eyed girl...I don’t think the world’s ready for that anyway, never mind the newbies...


:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:


He (Mr. Tumble) used to stay on top of the wardrobe overlooking the bed mudflower. I have to admit he looked a little freaky late at night, in a certain light with his grinning bright teeth.

“Oh my giddy aunt gert, nu1isit?, what do you expect us gals to do with that image for a WHOLE year?!!!!”

Sorry Sue, I don’t think it’s a vision you’ll recover from....me and the pole dancing y fronts, that is . The wife's not looking forward to next Christmas now:eek: :eek:, but I am (***cue evil laughter***). Mwah ha ha ha :rotfl: .


Right, on to serious things now. A lovely batch of 1ps and 2ps found so in the pot they went yesterday. The lovely wife, emptied the shrapnel from her purse into the jar today. Maybe it's some sort of bribe for me not to 'perform' next Christmas, or maybe it's an upfront tip/payment ...





Hope you've all had a good day potting :beer:...

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Every Penny’s A Prisoner:
Saved well over 100 pennies the past two days :j, they've gone somewhere bigger and better....my sealed pot . I may free the 50p hiding in my trousers tomorrow, it's only going to get wasted on 'junk' if it stays there ***cue The Great Escape music***:D :rotfl: .

Hope you've had a good day grabbing the pennies :j...


Update you all again soon .

nu1isit?

Hello everyone and Happy New Years Eve :beer:
Sorted through a couple of more things and ear marked a few things to sell on...

Being continuing with the other two challenges too:

The Sealed Pot Challenge

An extra £3 placed lovingly into the pot after the shop ....well I was going to waste it on the car wash, but I can do that by hand, so in it goes...:jWell stocked up on S***t P***e stuff now. The man in front off me, looked alarmed that the majority of my shopping, was in white and green branding :rotfl: :rotfl: ...priceless .

Every Penny’s A Prisoner

Captured 300 pennies that would have got wasted on a car wash, I can do that myself by hand tomorrow...They're now getting fun tanned in my sealed pot .

Hoping next year's a better year for everyone :j :beer: :j.


Have a Happy New Year everyone :beer:. and have a great 2012 .

susieq10

nu1isit? wrote: »

Right what have I been up to??? I'm currently taking stock, and looking at what can be recycled and what can be sold...I’m interested in trying Gumtree. Has anyone give it a go, from a selling perspective; if so, is it any good?
.

I've put a few items on there and had quite a good response. You need to stipulate whether the item is for collection or delivery, obviously, if you deliver, the cost of petrol needs to be added to selling price.
I kept it local to me and asked for collection only....still managed to sell some things, at no cost to me. You can pay to keep your advert on top, but everyone tends to do a good search when looking for something particular, so I don't think it's worth paying! Good luck! :beer: