2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Antwerpen

Being very cheeky today. Free hot chocolate in Neros and using their plug to charge my phone while the mini me is at brownies

macwah97

Hi all. I'm going to whinge as well.

Shortie know how you feel. Yes I work two jobs but have been told I have a medical problem which will need surgery - so that's time off. I was told today that due to a clerical error my probationary period was not extended and I am now on full payroll so have to be good re sick!! Then got a text from other employer who just happens to be government related that "due to business needs" I am now only required to work one day a week!!

ok I shouldn't whine I am lucky to have a job the only real benefit in this is that I can now look at claiming carers allowance for my husband........just when we had sorted out our spreadsheet for the next six months. ?.a..aaaaaaaaagh x$÷%!!

Ah well onwards and upwards. At least we have a roof over our head and food. Have updated children and OH who is not in a good place mentally atm but if he sees me being positive then its not too bad.

off to riflebthe freezer........and emotional eating??? Hmmmmm........might be a sneaky glass of wine while searching jobs page.

HUGS to ALL!!!!!!!! Xx

macwah97

antwerpen - thats something I would do.......lol

Shortie

Just reading back over today's posts now..

Hugs TM6 xxx

Frugalsod

Well actually paid in more than I expected. Actually an extra £61 paid into the credit card. Bought a YS pizza for Saturday and some milk but still using the cash I started the month with so no impact on bank or credit card accounts.

Shortie

Thanks all for the words of support, and sorry you had a rough day macwah97. It's hard being positive to others so they don't feel the strain when inside you're hugging your knees in a quite corner of a room.

And I know you're all absolutely right. Mr Shortie will twig I'm not right today today and I'm going to share the strain a bit. He'll suggest that we don't get the fence done this month but we'll just spend the money somewhere else just as valid and I'll br in the same position next month so heck, lets just get it over and done with eh?

So glad it's not just me. I too just assumed the clouds would part and I could rapidly save up for the building work and start taking chunks off my mortgage. I think that's what makes it worse is the anti-climax from what I built up in my own head

One more day in work and I then have booked off Monday and Friday, so I'll get to do all the bits I miss out on like the school runs, and I can get outside and sort the kitchen garden and greenhouse ready to sow seeds, the fencing will be done thua weekend, and I can spend some time seeing my new baldie girls in the garden to see how they're settling in

I'm so looking forward to it, I hope it'll be as refreshing and re-centreing as I'm imagining

Goldiegirl

TM6 I understand how you feel - it's getting on for 10 years since my dad died, and still I have times when I feel a bit weepy and miss him

And best wishes to everyone else who's struggling a bit at the moment - life can be a bit uphill at times

We seem to be having a bit of a spendy time at the moment - but it's all on things that are needed. We got a new desk fan. Like Allie I don't always sleep that well, and I find that the sound of a fan going in the night is quite lulling. But our old fan started making a terrible racket, so we got this new one. As pizza is now on our menus with a home made base, we got one of those trays to cook them on, with the holes in so it cooks evenly on the underside. Also got some 'Plumbers Mait' to help in our struggles with getting the loo cistern working properly.

I did a bit of baking this afternoon. Back in the day when I last did baking, I did a good Victoria sponge cake, so thought it'd be a good place to start. Unfortunately it looked rather like a frisbee.... When I thought about it, I remembered I used 6oz of sugar, flour etc, rather than the 4oz that I used today. I'll have another bash at it another time.

In better news, I produced another nice loaf in the bread maker, and the cottage pie I did in last weeks mega batch bake was really tasty.

I'm at work for the next two days, so at least I'll stop spending money!

mum2one

TM6 - hope your feeling ok,

Goldie Girl - if you do the 6oz flour, sugar - use 3 eggs make a deeper cake or there be some mixture left over to make some buns. I changed my sandwich tins and the new ones massive I did the 4/4/4 mix and it only filled one tin!

Def been a frugal day - have been organised and got 3 parcels ready to post 2mor, filled in the form to renew my cinema card (£5.50) lasts a yr - so one film and its paid for itself.

Money in tomorrow and some bills to pay then that be all of Jans,, bills done, trying to be the tight as got to put some towards holiday.

Also given an interview to Gingerbread about the forth coming changes to Child maintance - as apparently your going to be charged to go through the CSA - dare i say you can imagine my views as by the time my daughter was 10, we had only had £60... So if it gets used in a newspaper apparently I get some money, (fingers crossed), thou knowing my luck...

ginnyknit

Shortie you are allowed a bad day hunny. It sounds as if you need to sit and have a cuppa whilst listening to some music or something and close your mind to all the worries for a few minutes. Recharge your batteries then get back into the fight. Have a nice long weekend pottering and fixing stuff x

After a trip to the post office I called in the market for some spuds - much cheaper than the sm and better quality - I bought a big jam roll for 65p, I couldnt make one for that and some of yesterdays barm cakes for 50p. Thats all I spent so am quite pleased with myself. Need to sort out the next round of fleabay sales but to be honest havent felt so hot today and am off out with Dd to Ik*a tomorrow. Maybe do it all tomorrow night unless i get a surge of energy in a minute and do the pics ready Hubby hasnt been out of bed much this week but have managed to get a bit sorted very quietly and my de-cluttering is going very well - the Cs manager loves me :rotfl: Have decided if its of no sentimental value, hasnt a use or is just a waste of space it has to go.

Hope everyone has a better day tomorrow and companies stop using people as if they dont matter - now that would be good!

Goldiegirl

mum2one wrote: »

Goldie Girl - if you do the 6oz flour, sugar - use 3 eggs make a deeper cake or there be some mixture left over to make some buns. I changed my sandwich tins and the new ones massive I did the 4/4/4 mix and it only filled one tin!..

Yes, I'm sure I used to do a bigger mix. From a box of six eggs, I used to make a cake, we'd have a fried egg each with a meal, and one egg left over.

The cake I made today tastes fine, it's just a bit flat:rotfl: