2008 - Live on £4000 for a full year.

Frugaldom

keren29 wrote: »

Went to get my holiday euros this morning which I'm not counting from my £4,000. I got £250 worth but I'm hoping to bring a fair bit of it back. We are going half board so the money really is for drinks and an icecream or whatever during the day. I will be buying a few bottles of cheap vodka and cherry brandy to bring back but other than that I won't need to spend it.

All this holiday talk - where are you off to, Keren? Sorry, I can't remember if you posted it before now and the thread's got so long it's a day's work checking back :rotfl: The holiday talk must have wafted its way to my postman, as he's arrived with my TESCO POINTS!!! :j :j :j Only £3 worth but added the £2 I had left over from last lot, I've already ordered another £20 worth of deals for Stena and I'm getting excited! That's £40, in total, towards my sail to Ireland this summer! :T I'm sure that almost covers the entire cost if I get the bus to the port and go as a foot passenger Must check NOW! Then I'll worry about accommodation and spending money nearer the time... vouchers, I need to accrue more vouchers! Is there a House of Fraser or Marks & Spencer in Belfast? :rotfl:

bails

Hi guys, coming on here was just the tonic I needed after posting a despondent message on the GC. I just seem to be failing miserably at it, and am in awe how some people can feed themselves on so little. Anyhoo, it was wonderful to read your posts, which I echo wholeheartedly. Wish I could write more but need to rest, will be back later. Have a wonderful day everyone, you are all stars! xx

Burlesque_Babe

Off to Spain for 8 nights. Snaffled 1p flights last March (when we got back from our last holiday to Spain - free flights last year plus taxes!) and then spent the next few months daily checking hotel prices and deals and reading reviews. Grabbed a 4 star hotel last September for a real bargain. We fly from our local airport which is 15 minutes away (Bournemouth) although we will need to get a taxi this year as it is cheaper than parking and we can't ask OH's son to drop off/pick up as he has gone to Uni.

I always seem to keep going back to Alpharooms to book the hotel - Expedia and Last Minute are always loads more expensive for the same hotel/dates.

Just finished lunch - soup and some of the 'free' bread from my ex. That's 3 days that loaf has been going now and there is still some left - and he was going to chuck it!! I jokingly mentioned yesterday that any bread he was chucking he could leave out for me and he said 'not a problem - just have it - I buy big loaves and then only use a slice or so' I was going to tell him to freeze it, but I think he is a bit of a lost cause.

Marru

Hi All,

I haven't even started the challenge yet, am due on 1st of March and already struggling. I had 15 minutes this morning in between dropping my daughter off at the nursery, walking the dogs and before the post office opened (sold 2 books in Amazon yesterday) and was really difficult not to go to Tesco to get freshly baked almond croissant or to news agent to get a bag of sweets. I managed to hold back as I am practicing for next week.

Now I have just finished letters to my creditors offering them token payments untill I can get myself sorted and am desperate to reward myself with chocolate/biscuits! I can see where my difficulties will come with this challenge.

Instead of driving to the post office and nipping into the shop to get something nice I will walk to nearest post box and raid some of the ice cream I still have in the freezer when I come back. What I am going to do when that is finished is anyones guess.

If I am successfull I shall hit the sales in January 2009 as I have dropped couple of dress sizes by then, not bad thing at all!

Thanks for all for this fantastic forum!

Marru

Frugaldom

Oh well done, Keren!! 1p flights and cheap board, wow! I just checked Stena Line and for 2 x foot passengers with Flexi-return tickets, it's only £56 including booking fee, so I can take a friend and it'll only cost £16 between us even if we go in summer.

Well done, Marru, on missing the sweets and croissants!! Way to go! :T

whitewing

Very chuffed today:

Huge (we're talking about tesco carrier bag full) of need-to-be-used-now mushrooms free from my Dad. MIL is in the kitchen preparing a massive mushroom stew. Lovely.

£5 cheque from survey came yesterday and was paid into the bank straight away.

Free bar of Divine chocolate arrived today. Am managing not to eat that. For anybody who is missing the 'treats', do get them off the freebies board - it's always a lovely surprise and it does make it easier to not go to Greggs or any other lovely places.

MIL is also cooking up some basic native dishes for us, so we have managed longer than I thought we , would with the stuff we already have. In reality this means that MIL living with us is not currently adding to our food costs. This is a big relief. I never, ever thought I would say this about a MIL, but she is really enriching our life.

OH is feeling the pressure of being a proper family man with his stepson, MIL, partner (me) & the phantom baby, all this coming together. He wants to run away and is only half-joking! But he'll get over it - just needs a day to himself soon. (Despite two negative pregnancy tests, and no symptoms except bad anaemia, I have got it into my head that I'm pregnant; this would have made me about 5 months pregnant in Nov last year. We only started trying properly this week but I expect to give birth any day now!It will be a frugal baby of course, lol).

Will stop my rambling before I embarrass myself completely.

broke_mum_of_three

nykmedia wrote: »

! Is there a House of Fraser or Marks & Spencer in Belfast? :rotfl:

Hi Nyk there is a big Marks & Spencer in the centre of Belfast and a brand new House of Frazer opening in March in a massive shopping complex called Victoria Square also in the city centre, you will have a brilliant time:j

elantan

hey everyone sorry i havnt been on have been working nights all week should be in my bed just now but something came up ...anyway hubby has had a few spends he collapsed at work yesterday with his back ..it just gave way on him so he felt that was a perfect time to buy alcohol (for him it's more like when isnt) will update my spends soon and catch up with the thread (must have a good few pages to read by now) hope your all well and frugalling away

Burlesque_Babe

sending your hubby hugs (in a non-ooer missus kind of way). I have a spinal cord injury and know how he must be feeling.

I've just had an email from my sister. She started off asking about how to get a cheaper yoga mat so I sent her some ebay links. She is separated from her husband and desparately trying to sell her house. She has had 3 buyers pull out (4th offer just made so keeping everything crossed!!!) bless her and money is tight.

Her reply:

"there are some free taster sessions (yoga she wants to try) this weekend that I might try and have a go at Pilates – since it is free! I am learning to appreciate free stuff and experiences! This major lack on money really does make me see things in a different light and see how much I used to spend when I didn’t need to. I have just got paid so going to Tesco (have checked out what special offers are on at Tesco and Sainsburys and out of those which I need and Tesco had more than Sainsburys!) tonight to do shopping, however it will be basic cupboard supplies and yet more dried soya mince!! It is cheap, versatile, low in fat, BUT NOT THE REAL THING!!!!! For the first time ever this month I actually have eaten pretty much everything in the food cupboard! I have some pasta, rice and a tin of peaches left in there! In a weird way it is quite liberating!"

I was like......oooooooooooh, guess what I'm in a challenge etc. I sent her a link to OS and one to the Freebies board. I also said she should try Stardrops. She is even selling her car to help financially and will use her bike instead. I replied - you are a Money Saving convert!!!!

bails

Great news about your sister Keren, it's obviously catching! Sorry to hear about your OH's back elantan, hope it gets better soon. Whitewing, you sound v happy, how lovely!

Right, I've done a big spreadsheet of all my GC spends which didn't really highlight anything On a positive note though, we are commiting to only spending on DD days in March :T:eek::T:eek:. I hope we can do it, but even if we have the odd 'oops!', it should still be a lot of NSDs :j OH says he's going to try really hard as the GC spends have got me down, so let's hope both our resolve lasts