2014 Frugal Living Challenge

patentgirl

Goldiegirl wrote: »

It must have been lovely to live in Whitstable.

In November, a couple of friends and I went to Whitstable for our annual pre-Christmas outing. We had coffee, went for a long walk along the front, had lunch, a mooch in the shops, and more coffee before we came home. I enjoyed all the unusual little shops, much more fun to look round than the chain stores.

In the spring, Mr GG and I will jump on the train to Whitstable on a Wednesday, when neither of us work.

Edit - just noticed Shortie's post. How exciting that you are going on a cruise in August. Cruises are another thing that I love. It's one of the main reasons I'm on this challenge, to live modestly from day to day, so I can put money by for future cruises.

We love Whitstable too last time we went took grandchildren to the oyster festival was really busy as beautiful day, we
had fish and chips from the little shack on the beach then sat on the beach lovely memories. Was hoping for NSD but needed milk so £1 spent in tescos can't believe how much extra milk getting through with my parents stopping with me!!!

pm2326

Evening all

Another no spend day today, I never realised how proud I could be of myself for not spending money!!

Just wondering, and appreciate this is a personal choice, but do you all have accidental cover on your insurance?

I'm looking at renewing my policy but cant decide if I should bother with accidental cover...I've had insurance for 20+years and never claimed on it, added accidental cover a few years ago and not sure its worth it considering my excess is £150, I don't go in for expensive items so most things could be replaced for that amount anyway except for sofa and carpet.

My policy premium would reduce but only by £5 a month so not really a deciding factor

Mrs_Cheshire

pm2326, I asked my friend about places to go in the North East, will send you a pm with the info she sent me!

pm2326

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

pm2326, I asked my friend about places to go in the North East, will send you a pm with the info she sent me!

thats very kind of you, thank you very much x

skintygerlinky

Evening all xx
God am tired! Typing this in bed, early night for me. Busy day, been in uni til gone 7PM. Took homemade sandwiches and soup in, plus homemade spicey mixed nuts for a snack. All good there!!
Unavoidable expenses today - posted cash and card to nephew in NZ for his birthday, plus train and bus fair to uni. £4.80 bus return plus £7.50 train - I only go one stop!!
Trains were all messed up tonight so took forever to get home...really felt the brunt of winter today, so cold and dark and tired.
Then I checked my bank statement and nearly fainted!! So glad I've sorted out food budgets and made some frugal commitments. I may be skinty but I'm resisting unnecessary spending at the mo.

So today's final thoughts (like Jerry Springer, oh dear me, Skinty!)...pretty skint at the mo but holding steady!!
Glad to come on here and get inspiration from people who understand what's going on!!! Lots of love to everyone xxx

InClover

NSD for me yesterday. Woop woop!

Got lucky on the wool front today, 100g baby dk in local charity shop only 1.89! Bought three, one white, one pink, one blue. My favourite baby jumper only needs 100g first size so cant go wrong. Gonna knit one in each colour as a couple of babies due this year. Much cheaper than buying something.

Just_be_2

Another NSD and yes I totally understand the excitement of a NSD! I have, for many years, been a person who buys things for the sake of it and even to the point where I feel compelled to buy something- anything!!!! I am overjoyed that I'm kicking the 'habit' and paying off debt in the process. I am very keen to instil a healthy relationship with money ino my LO and she learns from me! Feeling positive

littleskintdragon

InClover wrote: »

NSD for me yesterday. Woop woop!

Got lucky on the wool front today, 100g baby dk in local charity shop only 1.89! Bought three, one white, one pink, one blue. My favourite baby jumper only needs 100g first size so cant go wrong. Gonna knit one in each colour as a couple of babies due this year. Much cheaper than buying something.

One of my friends had lots of woolen cardies given to her for her baby, and once they were to small she put them on 3-bay and said they sold really well? Maybe some money in it for u??

sparrer

NSD/NPD today, and had a call from a friend asking if she could come by to talk some issues through. Didn't want to go out to buy anything so found ingredients to knock up some fruit scones using chopped up prunes as I had no fruit, and 1/2 yogurt 1/2 milk as I needed the milk for the cuppas. She loved them and asked for the recipe, fortunately she'd forgotten by the time she left

hettiecarro

Back after a dose of the dreaded lurgy!
Hope everyone doing o.k.
Have had good month so far (lots of batch cooking & NSD's) -
BUT! Central heating went off on Thursday last. Stupidly we had not renewed the maintenance contract (OK I KN0W - stupid! ), but thought we'd hang on a month or two to get Christmas out of the way:mad: .
Bad news was that the pump and thermostat both needed to be replaced + call out charge + Maintenance contract (not risking it again). Felt pig sick when the estimate came in at over £600 :eek:.
Nowhere near enough in emergency fund so initial panic.
OH talking about putting it on CC (led to quite a row I can tell you!).
Anyway - we pay our mortgage by DD on the 28th of the of month. Phoned Mortgage company to ask if we could move DD to last day of month (we had been wanting to do this because OH gets paid on last day of month). BS said that the latest date they can do is 28th (because February only has 28 days most years). Then a very helpful young lady said 'Why not come off direct debit for a few months and pay directly into branch on last day of month!!!! Because the payment is within the same month we don't go into arrears and it gave us the money to pay for repairs etc. PHEW! that was a close one.
Lesson learned though. Started another sealed pot for next years maintenance contract and upped the monthly amount to go in emergency fund.
Will keep going. Felt quite please for sorting it out without adding to debt. Not ideal - but better than it was in our 'what the hell' days.