Meet the frugal's, 365 day challenge of buying nothing.

lauren_1

Well he nearly cried after a whatsthecost illustration, but i was by no means perfect then but at least i could figure out the disadvantages of a 17% apr loan lol.

southern_chick

lauren_1 wrote: »

http://tax.kpmg.co.uk/KPMGBudgetcalculator.htm

Try this the 2007 budget calculator.

Thanks for this link Lauren, according to it i'll be almost £300 a year better, can't believe it but i'll wait and see

well done on paying such a hugh chunk off your debts this month, it must make it all feel really worthwhile :T :T

SC XX

Sallys_Savings

lauren_1 wrote: »

Thank you very much for all of your replies:T

I think our biggest saving has been by not buying munch and takeaways, we both work some odd hours and really cant be bothered to cook when we get home so we jusy grab a indian on the way home or we just go round the shop and grab £15 worth of munch + cans of coke.
My biggest down fall was walkers chilli sensations could eat up to 3 big bags a day:eek: No wonder i am still carrying 2 stone extra weight :mad:
I used to buy a lot of clothes for the kids too, mainly from asda when we went shopping so spending £70 a week on food was a regular occourance then go and blow £60 in primark for OH and myself every now and then just because it was in my purse.

Also baby mags would eat up to £10 a month , used to buy every one going for the past 5 years so now, i daren't add up how much i have wasted through that and gossip mags

If you still have these baby mags, I've seen them selling on ebay so its worth trying.

bobbadog

Sallys_Savings wrote: »

If you still have these baby mags, I've seen them selling on ebay so its worth trying.

Definitely try that! I've been selling off all of my old music magazines of late, copies of Spin, Kerrang!, NME etc. Listing 'em all at 99p and £1.00 UK postage, adding up quickly

lauren_1

Half of them are dogeared and coloured in by the little miss and the other half got wet in the bath, my pregnant treat was a 2 hour bath every day reading all my magazines......did nothing for our gas bill however we have since moved and dont have a bath anymore.........i miss my bath though! lol

I have been spending yesterday though (only meant to get daughters prescription)...i brought 3 mamas & papas raincovers in boots as they were cut to £1.50 each hopefuly should net me £8ish profit on ebay, thats my allowance of the week gone and OH spent his on bread pmsl! the KINGSMILL TOASTIE bread was down to 50p a loaf in asda so he stocked the freezer up.

Crown

Hi Lauren,

If you are going to sell the items on Ebay straight away then then doesnt really count as spending. Its legit business costs
Like the old saying goes you "spend money to make money" if they sell for the price you want that more than covers the cost of thebread so in a way you have hada a NSD.

Get them on Ebay ASAP!

dianadors

How easy is it to throw a magazine into a supermarket trolley every time you go in!!! I realised about 3 months ago just how much I was spending doing this (at around £3.50 each too!!). The lightbulb moment came when I dashed out to buy a magazine(£3.50) that had a free umberella in it (as posted on this website). I wrapped the brolly for my friend for christmas, then feeling smug sat down to read the mag. Most of it was adverts and the rest was either pure twaddle - stuff I already knew- and fashion starting at £500 for a top. It would have been cheaper to buy a brolly from poundland. A quick glance around every room in my house revealed I had a bit of a habit! In true MSE style, I decided to try and feed my habit - but for free. The only one I will buy now is Sainsbury's mag (£1) which is really good value, and you can usually recoup the £1 by the offers they have inside(the first one I bought netted 4 free cinema tickets!). I send for all the free ones on this site- this month I have had Gardeners weekly and BBC Olive magazine - both ok for free, but not value for money content wise if I had bought them. My mate at work brings me her cast offs now. I can honestly say that this must be saving me at least £25 per month and i'm still getting my fix.

lauren_1

I like the boots and asda ones, for all baby stuff i go to a certain site starting in b ..... ending in world more info than any mag and tend not to use the same oics for 5 years running (preg &birth have been using the one of the mousy blonde lady with a white shirt unbuttoned over her bump since at least 2002) lol

pigpen

lauren_1 wrote: »

(preg &birth have been using the one of the mousy blonde lady with a white shirt unbuttoned over her bump since at least 2002) lol

recycling!!?? lol

lauren_1

lol:rotfl:

And those "best buy" serendipidy maternity jeans, oh and the must have stork sac....

Wish they would do a real life budget edition:T