2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Shortie

Evening all

MiL treated us to a McDs for lunch and currently all round my Mum's. Bought a frozen hm chilli and rice for us all to save the temptation of a take out.

Have been to Mr T on the way round to stock up on a few bits, including some bio natural yoghurt and milk to have a go at making yoghurt. They didn't have a thermometer though so will need to see if I can dig out my mahooosive toffee one for now lol

abby1234519

DawnW wrote: »

I remember saying that, when my kids were small, and we had a similar level of debt to that in your signature (the first crossed out figure, that is). OH laughed, as we were totally skint, but guess what, once the debt was paid off we kept on being frugal, eventually got saving for a deposit and did just that

Now we have two vacuums - one upstairs and one down. This sounds extravagant but the upstairs one is an ancient Dyson I have had for at least seven or eight years, and the downstairs Vax one was given to me. It saves lugging them up and down stairs (our stairs are steep with narrow treads, and there are 2 flights of them, which we are used to, but it is no fun carrying heavy things up and down them

There is hope then!! Only problem for me is that I won't be able to buy a cheap house. I live in Harrogate so house prices are a pain in the backside. On our current wages Lloyds would lend us 100k and RBS 150k roughly. To have a decent sized house (I like space) we'd probably want a house wroth 180k to 200k. Hopefully our wage would increase as I don't plan to look to buy for about 4-6 years. But either way I want to have the biggest deposit I possibly can have really. I don't want to get on the property ladder at the bottom, I want to find a house we can live in for as long as possible.

I also have two vacuum cleaners! Dyson upstairs which I 'inherited' from my grandma when she went into a care home, power cable is gaffa taped near the top, its not broken just the little cover thing worked its way out so its just a precaution. Then we have a bissell downstairs. I also didn't want to lug them around. By having two it means we are more likely to actually do the vacuuming...

Florenceem

Had a frugal day here. Finished making a Birthday present out of my craft stash. Started to make a Christmas present with stash fabric.

tatabubbly

Frugal day at home today. Looking like a NSD.

Busy looking for jobs online. I'm hoping something comes up soon, I hate the OH taking the burden of providing everything! Saying that, I hope he stops at the shop and buys some milk on the way home! lol!

Need to do all of the cleaning today after a hectic few days and also put on laundry. We have a combi washer-dryer but I like to dry my clothes outside.. Always smells better!

lhead123

Managed a NSD yesterday, despite being at work I took a yummy packed lunch and refilled my water bottle at every opportunity. I even got a free cup of tea from a couple I do cleaning for

After checking the tyre perssures on our car, it has managed to do 60 miles on 1/10th tank and it was doing 45! Seeing as it's a 2l turbo diesel I think thats not bad.

Today will hopefully be another NSD as for once I have not arranged to meet my friend for coffee on a sunday

Got loadsof jobs to do though, about 5 loads of washing as well as various bits of housework. Hopefully the sunshine will make it nice and warm outside and I can have a few windows open to air out the house without freezing!

Hopefully my most recent purchase will turn up tomorrow- I dropped my phone and smashed the screen, so have bought a new to me one from €bay and it was dispatched on thursday. Cant wait to play with it, and if I like it I'll sell my old one. If I hate it ill sell it on and get something different...going from a glaxy s3 to an iphone 3gs will be a change tho!

Happy Sunday everyone, hope you can enjoy this lovely sunny weather.
L

Shortie

Morning all xx

About to get up now and start on a yoghurt attempt (if I can find my thermometer) and will ask Mr Shortie to put up the washing line I bought in Tesco yesterday

Roast for dinner today and hopefully loads left to try the sweet and sour pork one day. Mmmmm

Goldiegirl

Spring is in the air - I'm sitting here with the window open, my washing was put out to dry yesterday and actually dried instead of being damp. I've got another wash load out on the line today.


Had a 20% off voucher from M&S, so Mr GG used it to buy my birthday present, a pair of short sleeved pyjamas. Most of my pyjamas are getting slightly tatty, especially the short sleeved ones. What with the weather getting warmer and that fact that I'm at an age where I generally feel a bit warm, these pyjamas are just what I need AND want!


Oh, also used to 20% voucher for cakes tins and a container to store flour in.... but these are functional and useful ! :rotfl:


I've got a list of 5 items next to the computer of things that need to be paid / things that are needed to buy, but I'm going to wait until it's a day when I spend other money - I'm in need of a NSD!


We've got chicken for dinner, so that will also do for dinner tomorrow....and I'm going to try my hand at chicken soup.


Enjoy your day everyone

cw18

lhead123 wrote: »

going from a glaxy s3 to an iphone 3gs will be a change tho!

I've had the 3GS for almost 2 years having said I'd never have an iPh0ne (while loving my iP0ds). Currently trying to decide whether to stick with it and drop to a SIM only package (saving £12.50/month) or change to a different phone (the Mot0 G they suggested would still save me £7.50/month). I can up/down grade after 26th this month, so need to decide soon.....

lhead123

cw18 wrote: »

I've had the 3GS for almost 2 years having said I'd never have an iPh0ne (while loving my iP0ds). Currently trying to decide whether to stick with it and drop to a SIM only package (saving £12.50/month) or change to a different phone (the Mot0 G they suggested would still save me £7.50/month). I can up/down grade after 26th this month, so need to decide soon.....

I can upgrade in September or change to a new network when my contracts ends in November...This time 2 years ago I wanted the best new phone around and had to have the S3 no matter what the cost, however things seem to have slowed down a bit now and all the newest phones aren't a whole lot better than ones a year or two old.

I'm thinking if I like the Iphone I might upgrade to a Iphone 4s or a 5 if the 6 is out by then and hopefully pay around £20/£25 a month which will save me quite a bit. If I don't like it, a Galaxy S4 or Note2 might be the way to go - saving me money as well.....But that is all to be researched in the future! lol...also I said my SIL could have my galaxy s3, but that was before I dropped it....I'll have to see if she wants the Iphone instead in Sept/Nov if I like it.....

mrsinvisible

Hi, sneaking in and looking round, I haven't had an NSD since Tuesday.
Must do better next week. But it has been mainly household repairs/replacements that I couldn't have afforded if I hadn't met you good peeps and knuckled down. Dinner is left over HM lentil and tomato soup with a nan bread, and tea is a veg heavy sunday dinner with a couple of slices of left over Christmas turkey. Pudding, if greedy, will be Christmas pud as there is still one in the cupboard.
I shuld only need bread milk and cereal this week, food wise, but I have 2 outings that may not be cost neutral as it were.
Conservatory has been clutter reduced and plants have been repotted, now, it is time for the dreaded ironing, xxx