2014 Frugal Living Challenge

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx

Well I was supposed to be out with my uni gang tonight which I wasn't really looking forward to as am so poor and can't afford it! But it's been postponed so I came straight home. Am glad!!

Nice homemade lunch today - potato salad with spring onions and mustard dressing which I made with a few odds and ends, plus some tinned salmon and tomatoes thrown in. Then a nice chunk of rocky road!!
Still got lots of food in, with a list of meals I can prepare from the different ingredients - I'm crossing off as I go and would love to get through til payday next Friday without shopping. Fingers x'd!

Realising I spend a chunk of cash on travel every week but this is unavoidable. Looking forward to setting a realistic budget next month.

Frugalsod

Today was not that frugal. My parents wanted my advice re buying a new TV, so we went and got one from Comet. So we also did a shop and so I took advantage to get anything that I was missing and get some more pyjamas which were on my to get list. I took advantage of the shop to get some cash back for next months spend. So if all goes well I will not be touching my accounts at all except for a veg box. I still have half of this months cash back so will be putting that into my piggy banks for annual spend so will be saving all of that.

pm2326

Evening all

Had to spend money today as my kettle decided to die last night, went to As** at lunchtime and got another for £9...I was very good and didn't venture into any of the other aisles where all the lovely things are begging to be bought.

I'm still living out of freezer and cupboards, haven't touched bulk stores that I bought at beginning of the month, but that will probably change soon as I can now see empty bits of shelves!

bouncydog1

Quote:
Originally Posted by kb_soma
I'm thinking of investing in a breadmaker, how much does it cost to make a loaf, out of curiosity, and is the bread freezable?
Bought DH a Panasonic breadmaker for Christmas - definitely worth getting the one with the separate yeast dispenser. Bread is fabulous, freezes really well and we buy all the flour on subscribe and save from amazon so don't even have to carry home from supermarket - and you can get the really good Canadian and French flour and yeast. Definately the way to go - no idea on cost but taste is fabulous and you can't put a price on that!

DawnW

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

:T

Well decided our dining room needs a big overhaul trying to do in keeping with the victorian house we are in, want to put a picture rail up as well and decorate it just over the top, but seen some lovely wall paper but its £50 for 2 rolls..soo much hunting about and found one very simular on ebay for £13 with delivery for the 2 rolls . Will keep my curtains but dye them instead £15? (very long windows so new curtains are dear..hopefully something will turn up in a charity shop)..want a big guilt mirror but even wilkos want £150 ish?! maybe thats just online and i need to go instore.

Have you thought about looking in second hand or antiques shops? £150 for a gilt framed mirror sounds a lot :eek: I know you can get them cheaper than that - and you might even get a genuine old one. Ones like the ones Wilkos are likely to sell shouldn't cost more than £20 ish max.

I have had a couple of NSDs as I have been in work with no time to spend. I had a voucher code for W*itrose home delivery though, so have decided to stock up on their special offers and a few own brand things that are a pain to carry home, like dishwasher salt. I don't shop there very often, but do find their basics type range very good, and no more expensive than most of the others.

Yay, Friday tomorrow :T

Frugalsod

skintygerlinky wrote: »

Realising I spend a chunk of cash on travel every week but this is unavoidable. Looking forward to setting a realistic budget next month.

How far do you have to travel to work? If it is not too far, ie less than 20 miles then you could cycle. Even if you have to but a bike and kit it will pay for itself very quickly. When I was living and working in London I bought a bike and kit for about £200, and at the time the tube fares were around £40 a month for zone 3 to central zone. It is £136.80 for the same ticket today. So in five months I had paid for the bike and was starting to save money. I was also getting fitter. My journey the first day took 50 minutes several months later I could do that same journey in 25 minutes.

SarahB1989_2

Grocery money for January ran out today, eating into Feb's budget instead now. Had a cheap shop this evening though, lamb chops down from £4 to 90p, half dozen eggs for a pound, and 4 croissants for 19p. Must stop seeing bakery YS items as frugal, might be cheap but if I wouldn't buy it at full price then all I'm gaining is pounds on my hips!

Need to be more organised about lunches, twice this week have bought lunch from hospital shop instead of popping home (live across the street, very convenient). Cost of those lunches saved would have meant getting to Feb with budget intact!! Probably should take a packed lunch in case I don't have time to go home, but remembering the night before is the challenge.

nat21luv

Bought 10 tins of cat food for 3.90, that should see my precious well into feb and topped up on fruit with whoopsied stuff- 8 large oranges for 50p, strawberries for 15p ect my plan is not to buy any groceries between now and feb, my grocery budget for this month is £31 so far for 3 of us and 2 kitties!

sparrer

Not a lot to report as I've not been out for a couple of days but at least it's two nsd/npd's.

mum2one

LolaLemon wrote: »

No Way! Charged to use the CSA? That is crazy! So that means many non resident parents who refuse to pay, are now not even going to get forced to pay cause many (not all) single parents struggle on a day to day/week to week/month to month basis. If they didnt, a lot of them would not be using the (shambolic) services as it is. Although, if users are being charged, do you think they would be quicker/better at enforcing instead of how slow/rubbish they are just now?

Apparently its all up in the air at the moment and at planning stage, from what I was told there looking a £20 initial charge for the claim to go through CSA then there take a % of the money. There are going to be exceptions to the rule - such as violence. Whether pwc who can't get the money from the NRP will be exept who knows.

The other changes there on about doing is taking CSA payments into account and taking that amount off housing benefit, (at the moment it doesn't count).

In an ideal work every absent parent would automatically pay, I know there are parents that do pay and also go above and beyond what there advised to give. Which is ok for those families, but for those who are hitting a brick wall, i have no idea where were going to stand, hence I spoke up, whether it gets used, is anyones guess.

Digressing - I got told by by a CSA caseworker that my case has more holes in in than a colunder.... most of that is the CSA not doing their job... and the fact that my ex has lied, lied, and forget things such as "Oh i'm working"...

The reassurance I had from the CSa don't worry about the arrears - even when your daughter becomes 18 if he hasn't cleared the arrears he will have to still pay...

I'm lucky if I get £5 a week from the nrp.... put the bunting out when I do, to be honest I had to learn to manage without it, but that is not the point, esp
when she had her growth spurts - she had very narrow feet when she was younger so on average we were having to get Clarks shoes every 8 to 12 weeks...

xx