2014 Frugal Living Challenge

KazLA

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

I dyed (hopefully) my bean bag cover pink. hopefully.


I am going to paint my room this coming weekend and am hopefully going to dye the curtains dark purple (may end up dying the cover again so it matches- the pink is experiment with food colouring) and paint the walls white plus the furniture. Finally I shall have a nice room all for under £30 - well that is the budget I have set.


xx

Other than the food colouring option nice idea though, any idea on where to get cheap dye? I'd like to dye some jeans back to a darker blue, as they hv got quite faded... Also hv a couple of tops that could do with refreshing.

p00 wrote: »

Surveys I have done go on straight away if they have tracked normally. Swagbucks is a lot of work for small returns most of the time. Try cashbackers.com too as it takes less than 10 minutes to earn at least 50p, is relIable and you can cash out from 1.00. If you get stuck pm me.

Xxp00

Thanks will hv a look now - only managed 12 SB today! Kicked out of 5 surveys before they started :mad:

KazLA

skintygerlinky wrote: »

The whole day made me sit up and realise once and for all that feeling tired, stressed, excited...all of these emotions seem to trigger a 'treat yourself...spend money' response in me that needs to be addressed NOW. Can anyone relate to this??

Today is better. Cooked a huge, gorgeous risotto from scratch using ingredients that were already in plus I just made a batch of rocky road which will be my treats for the rest of the week - will let you know how they taste! Also got enough in to make a carrot and lentil soup which will do weekday lunches for rest of week and hopefully some leftover to freeze.
No spending today or tomorrow hopefully.

Tiredness, etc def affects my motivation and therefore spending And everything else requring a decision - the 'deserving a reward' feeling is familiar too. Need to plan in advance and carry rocky road emergency stash at all times :rotfl:

SarahB1989_2

skintygerlinky wrote: »

The whole day made me sit up and realise once and for all that feeling tired, stressed, excited...all of these emotions seem to trigger a 'treat yourself...spend money' response in me that needs to be addressed NOW. Can anyone relate to this??

Oh yes!! Especially when said treat is food... Had a super stressful day and bought chocolate buns at Tesco when I popped in at lunch to go to the post office. Oops.

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

Wow, interesting to read of others' 'triggers' for spending on 'treats' and the reasons for doing so. Deffo something to keep an eye on, will let you know how that one goes with me.
Meantime the rocky road craze goes on haha! mum2one has started something here!

kazLA - I'm feeling a bit ill too, stuffed two big pieces down but it's gorgeous!! I found some glace cherries in the cupboard that were clearly just being used as an ornament so I put them to use and chucked em in the mix. Was lovely!

Chirpycheap/anyone who knows: what is the 'Clear My Stash' challenge???

InClover

Two NSD's in a row for me so feeling pleased with myself. Have planned my food for the week and shouldn't need to buy anything else until the weekend when I'll do my next food shop. I am getting a bit fed up of soup for lunch but I have so much in the freezer that I need to use some of it up to make room for anything else, lol.


Checked out my bank account today - not something I usually look forward to - and was really pleased as much more in there than there usually is this time of the month. I'm on track to have extra for debt repayment at the end of the month.


Ooh also I have some stock leftover from a closed business and didn't want to put them on e bay because I want to at least recover the cost and today came across Amazon marketplace which looks like a good option for selling them. Am going to have to look into it a bit more in depth but think I have a good £500 worth of stuff to sell so would be good to get that out of my cupboard and into my bank!


Hope you all have a good low spend week x

Coulddobetter

skintygerlinky wrote: »

Afternoon Fellow Frugalites xx


The whole day made me sit up and realise once and for all that feeling tired, stressed, excited...all of these emotions seem to trigger a 'treat yourself...spend money' response in me that needs to be addressed NOW. Can anyone relate to this??
.

Skintygelinky know just how you feel I am an emotional eater and spender. This thread is helping I think we just have to take each day at a time. My dad always used to say Rome wasn't built in a day well maybe our habits will take a little time to change.:o Keep going.

Had to buy a loaf today, a birthday card and some more fuel grrrrrr. I wish it would last longer but needs must. Have to go to the vets tomorrow so another spending day but my lovely doggie needs her pills. :www

I put some more things on eBay but only watchers at the moment. I do hope they sell. I want to make my £2014.
CDBx

Buffythedebtslayer

nat21luv wrote: »

Its been a NSD for me as we've eaten left over party food from yesterday and spent the day making money doing surveys. Ive had no energy to do a thing after my 7th night consecutively of only 5hrs broken sleep went to bed nice and early to be woken at 00.30 by my phone ringing. It was my sister calling from Bolivia, I ignored it thinking she had misjudged the time difference but then she called back immediately so I knew something was wrong. I answered and she was crying, her boyfriend had dumped her in the middle of a rainforest and she had no money, no water and was miles from her hotel. Anyway, after 3 hours of phone calls and bank transfers, some lovely bus driver took pitty on her and drove her to the town where her hotel was for free I really hope she leaves her boyfriend now but she cant face the thought of coming home, she hates Britain and they had plans to live in NZ for a year before settling in Oz again. I have a horrible feeling she will stay with him(hes Aussie) until they settle in NZ and she gets some money behind her


Anyway, so no sleep meant a very unproductive day feeling very tired and suffering with a headache but I did managed to secure and collect a pine blanket box from freecycle that I have been meaning to buy for some time Now I have one for free Ill give it a paint and it will look perfect in my room

God I hope she leaves her boyfriend too! what an utter useless piece of crap! - sorry but I would have freaked had it been a city in this country let a lone a RAINFOREST in Boliva. I would go nuts.


any how not technically my business, but just couldn't help my self sorry

teabody

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

Afternoon, low spend today just 19p for some painkillers woke up with a stonking headache, bought some on way to school but took bottle of water from home to save buying one lol.

Anyone with a mortgage with abbey /santander? Our term is due to run out in november, if im correct and i heard right the man on the phone said we can renew our terms (ie set the rate) up to six months in advance before our term finishes..is this correct or did i imagine it..i plan on checking once a month to see what the current rates are to see if we can get a deal we are happy with rather than just going in last minute. Thankfully last time the apr had dropped by almost 2% from our then current rate and we wiped off 2 years from our moratge by keeping the monthly payments the same
2nd question does santander publish its renewal apr or are they all personal to each indiviual mortage owner? I can never seem to find the current mortage rates online, only for new moratge owners..thanks! Have a good day all x

Hi there, I do have a mortgage with Santander and you heard right. My 'Mortgages Explained' booklet states ' Products can be booked up to four months in advance, with selected products available up to six months in advance.'
I recently changed rates 3 months before the end of my existing rate ....to a cheaper one :j

nat21luv

Buffythedebtslayer wrote: »

God I hope she leaves her boyfriend too! what an utter useless piece of crap! - sorry but I would have freaked had it been a city in this country let a lone a RAINFOREST in Boliva. I would go nuts.


any how not technically my business, but just couldn't help my self sorry

I went nuts!! I was so angry at him but at least she got back safe and now shes in another hotel that I paid for for her for the next 3 weeks until her next flight. I spoke to her today and she told me that she went for a walk to the town and he walked past and completely ignored her!! Shes heard on the grapevine(facebook!) that hes going back to Oz in 2 days and hes told everyone that they've separated...before he even told her! What a jerk.


At times like this im so glad im single 2.5yrs and counting

sparrer

A couple of days ago a friend was showing me a tin of chilli flavoured kidney beans which she bought for 90p, said they were lovely. I soaked a pack of dried kidney beans last night, cooked them this morning, froze some for another time and put the rest in the sc, added some chilli powder, onion, garlic and a carton of value chopped tomatoes. Total cost approx 65p for the equivalent of 5 tins.
I also soaked/cooked/froze a packet of mixed beans which will go into casseroles, soups etc. It may take a little longer initially but each pack gives a huge quantity which lasts me several months.
Rather than boil them on the hob I use the slow cooker on high which saves a fair amount in electricity, the kitchen doesn't seem to get so steamed up and it doesn't keep boiling dry.
May not be a massive saving but every penny is important today