2016 Frugal Living Challenge

lynnejk

cw18 wrote: »

Am I the only person who doesn't like (and won't use) contactless payments?

I don't like them either


I don't think they are as safe and tried, like you, to get the old style back with the same negative result. Seems we've been pushed into having them without any recourse.


I would never, ever, 'give' anyone my card for payment and insist on putting my own card into the reader and then covering the keypad with my hand or purse so my pin can't be seen.
Lx

skint_chick

Have managed to get this far without buying any groceries, but finally had to go last night when I realised a half empty jar of peanut butter was not going to do for dinner! Spent £54.26 stocking up for the next couple of weeks on slow cooker meats, veggies and a little bit of fruit. Have had to get my kitchen roof repaired too, which was £200 that we weren't expecting. OH has almost sorted out his wages issue with promises of money owed at the end of the month, and he's starting a new position with them next month. It's minimum wage but guaranteed hours, so at least he'll be earning something.

Pinkwhisk

Hello,

I just wanted your opinions on something.

Do you think a breadmaker would be a good investment?

Right now we buy loaves of bread but they go stale before we get to use them.

Right now I just make bread rolls by hand if I fancy them but was thinking homemade bread is lovely!

Thank you, ice got so many tips on here already!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

The_Only_Girl wrote: »

Hubby and I opened the plus account before Christmas and we're excited about the high interest rate for the balances up to £2,000. Was told that with our tax bracket, we'll earn around 3.9%. Interest. We also opened a regular savers account for each of us. Hubby is so fixated on the £5 cash back on the £100 contactless payment.

In last week's MSE email from Martin there is a link for the £100 switching bonus and £4 cash back for first £100 contactless payment. I still have a current account in Virgin that I could switch to TSB and will opt in for the Save the Change as well.

Booger I didn't know about the link!!! I unsubscribed to the emails when I heard martin had sold mse to a comparison company a few years back..

Frugaldom

evuka wrote: »

What is a clootie dumpling, please? :question:

Hope this helps - clootie dumpling recipes


It's a traditional Scottish spiced fruit cake or pudding that can be eaten hot, cold, with breakfast, as cake, under custard or with cream for pudding. We make one for most special occasions, especially Christmas and birthdays.


I usually make my own recipe boiled in the 'cloot' or cloth but we decided to have a go making the microwave version, which was OK. We still far prefer the real thing, though.

lynnejk

Pinkwhisk wrote: »

Hello,

I just wanted your opinions on something.

Do you think a breadmaker would be a good investment?

Right now we buy loaves of bread but they go stale before we get to use them.

Right now I just make bread rolls by hand if I fancy them but was thinking homemade bread is lovely!

Thank you, ice got so many tips on here already!

You might like to have a look at this thread on MSE


The Complete Breadmaking Collection (just put into Forum Search)

HTH Lx

skint_chick

Pinkwhisk wrote: »

Hello,

I just wanted your opinions on something.

Do you think a breadmaker would be a good investment?

Right now we buy loaves of bread but they go stale before we get to use them.

Right now I just make bread rolls by hand if I fancy them but was thinking homemade bread is lovely!

Thank you, ice got so many tips on here already!

You could try asking for one on freegle - with spring cleaning maybe people have one they don't use that they would be happy to give to a new home for free. Then if you use it loads you can always get a new one, if it turns out you don't then you can pass it on again. I did this with a slow cooker until I was sure I couldn't live without it.

determined_new_ms

Hi everyone haven't been on here for the last week. Geek alert!!!! - in that time I've been pottering around with a spread sheet with the various lines and way of organising it and recording all my spends since the beginning of the year :money:

It's been very illuminating I have spent so far:

£62.01 on food/nappies/any household items :T

Petrol £46

£20 on Xmas gifts - have now put together lo's Christmas eve gift box (all except a Christmas themed dvd & a packet of popcorn) with PJs, Slipper socks, a Christmas jigsaw puzzle & The Night Before Christmas book for£7.50 :T

£16.71 Birthdays - a bit of an overspend per month but can't help it if there are a cluster of birthday's in Jan/Feb. Will even out over the year

£60 on things for the lo but needed to get her some trainers and again got a few bits in the sales which I would have needed to get at some point so I anticipate minimal spends in this area over the next month or two

Personally I have spent £140 but £55 of this I gave my (adult) children as they didn't have any money

So in total this month I have spent £344.72/£565 think I will come in under budget which means I'll be able to scoot a bit of extra cash over to the debt repayment

Little frugal victories this week are getting 2 bottles of Aussie conditioner from Poundworld for £2 saving of £4 on the usual price :T I use this and last time I got it around Christmas I paid full price :eek:

and last night's dinner I worked out cost around 90p for 3! I picked up a ys pasta stir in sauce for 29p - have no idea why it was ys as was in date, 1/2 a pack of Aldi basics spaghetti, 1/2 an onion, 2 lo mushrooms, 2 dollops of ys creme fraiche 9p :T and a little grated cheese :beer:

I guess being frugal in some areas means I can be less restricted in others

bobobski

The_Only_Girl wrote: »

Hubby and I opened the plus account before Christmas and we're excited about the high interest rate for the balances up to £2,000. Was told that with our tax bracket, we'll earn around 3.9%. Interest. We also opened a regular savers account for each of us. Hubby is so fixated on the £5 cash back on the £100 contactless payment.

In last week's MSE email from Martin there is a link for the £100 switching bonus and £4 cash back for first £100 contactless payment. I still have a current account in Virgin that I could switch to TSB and will opt in for the Save the Change as well.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, don't forget about the personal savings allowance! If you max out the £2,000 from April you should be earning about £8 per month.

Also, the contactless cashback is up to £5 per month, not £4. And that's cashback, not interest, so my understanding is that it's not taxable but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (they usually do!).

I personally love contactless. Much easier than chip and pin (which can be an !!!!! with all my cards) and arguably safer, because people can't look over your shoulder, remember your pin, nick your card and spend infinite amounts on it (potentially putting you over your limit). Instead, their spending is capped at £30 per transaction if they nick your contactless card and occasionally they'll be asked for the pin anyway, at which point they're scuppered if they haven't seen you put it in. And besides, you've probably reported it to the card company before they've had the chance to put through lots and lots of sub-£30 contactless payments, so the potential loss is lower based on the same amount of time for you to notice that your card's gone missing. And cashback! Why wouldn't you?

And to the people saying they insist on putting in their pin rather than use contactless... Why? Fair enough if you just want to see the cardreader first to make sure the amount is correct, but a payment is a payment, no? You're just taking slightly longer by insisting on putting in the pin. Not sure if I'm missing something?

determined_new_ms

bobobski wrote: »

I've said it before and I'll say it again, don't forget about the personal savings allowance! If you max out the £2,000 from April you should be earning about £8 per month.

Also, the contactless cashback is up to £5 per month, not £4. And that's cashback, not interest, so my understanding is that it's not taxable but I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (they usually do!).

I personally love contactless. Much easier than chip and pin (which can be an !!!!! with all my cards) and arguably safer, because people can't look over your shoulder, remember your pin, nick your card and spend infinite amounts on it (potentially putting you over your limit). Instead, their spending is capped at £30 per transaction if they nick your contactless card and occasionally they'll be asked for the pin anyway, at which point they're scuppered if they haven't seen you put it in. And besides, you've probably reported it to the card company before they've had the chance to put through lots and lots of sub-£30 contactless payments, so the potential loss is lower based on the same amount of time for you to notice that your card's gone missing. And cashback! Why wouldn't you?

And to the people saying they insist on putting in their pin rather than use contactless... Why? Fair enough if you just want to see the cardreader first to make sure the amount is correct, but a payment is a payment, no? You're just taking slightly longer by insisting on putting in the pin. Not sure if I'm missing something?

I totally agree with everything you've said Also I think there's a cap on the amount of contactless transactions you can do in a day? I want to say 3 as that seems to be lurking in my mind but not certain. But it's not a lot