2023 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

Not much good to report this weekend. 

Did my food shop and managed to come in well under budget at £34.97. 

Done some decluttering in the spare room and identified a few things I can sell. There’s a nearly new sale for baby things coming up next month so I’m thinking of getting a stall there. I’ve made decent money in the past. 

Thought I was doing well with less than 2 weeks until payday and over £100 left in my budget but unfortunately I spoke too soon:

1: husband informed me he needed some oil for his car and also 2 new tyres urgently. I tell him to check on his tyres/fluids etc regularly so I can put money aside to replace stuff as needed but no he’s waited til now to say he finished off his last bottle of oil when he last checked it before Xmas so he has none and tyres are right on the limit so he’ll need to go get two new ones tomorrow. That’s £120 at least that we didn’t budget for! 

2: same husband has just purchased train tickets for a business meeting. Again he didn’t check and just dived in and booked the first ones he saw - costing £130. His company will only reimburse £60 because there were plenty of tickets available for that price if he had looked properly. So that’s another £70 I have to find from somewhere. 

3. Eldest son has just informed me his shoes are leaking. 

This always seems to happen as soon as I try to start being careful with money - sigh! 

Feeling completely fed up now! 

cw18

spudsmum said:

2: same husband has just purchased train tickets for a business meeting. Again he didn’t check and just dived in and booked the first ones he saw - costing £130. His company will only reimburse £60 because there were plenty of tickets available for that price if he had looked properly. So that’s another £70 I have to find from somewhere. 

When I've booked on-line before there's often been a cancellation clause, which says if I cancel I can get a refund less a £10 charge.   The tickets I've booked generally haven't cost much more than that, and I've never not used them to try it out.

But if his have the same, couldn't he cancel and then book the cheaper ones.   The £10 cancellation fee is a lot less to find/lose than the £70 difference in price....

spudsmum

cw18 said:

spudsmum said:

2: same husband has just purchased train tickets for a business meeting. Again he didn’t check and just dived in and booked the first ones he saw - costing £130. His company will only reimburse £60 because there were plenty of tickets available for that price if he had looked properly. So that’s another £70 I have to find from somewhere. 

When I've booked on-line before there's often been a cancellation clause, which says if I cancel I can get a refund less a £10 charge.   The tickets I've booked generally haven't cost much more than that, and I've never not used them to try it out.

But if his have the same, couldn't he cancel and then book the cheaper ones.   The £10 cancellation fee is a lot less to find/lose than the £70 difference in price....

Thanks I looked at it but because he wasn’t thinking he’s somehow managed to book 4 seperate tickets all on seperate bookings (he has to change halfway so he’s booked a separate ticket for each leg instead of booking it all as a full journey)

3 of the tickets he could get a refund on but he’d lose £30 in charges. The fourth one looks like a different ticket type and I can’t see anything about refunds only changing the date but if he booked the £60 one as he should have originally it would be redundant as that ticket would cover the same portion of the journey so we’d lose all the money on that one. There’s also booking fees that it looks like he won’t get back. 

It looks like we’d save about £2 by cancelling it all and starting again. I’m so annoyed and frustrated! 

Glittering_M

Morning all,
I'm curious for your views re drying washing outside.
We have a rotary washing line which we normally use when the weather is nice but in winter we dry inside. We have a dehumidifier but that's on pretty much constantly (it rarely reaches the 'peak humidity'  and heating depends on the weather, I think we've had it on twice this year. 

I'd like to try drying outside more, but when in your view is it too cold/not worth it? Is it a case of 'when it is warmer outside than in'. Obviously I'm not expecting it to be completely dry at this time of year. Or will sticking it outside mean it actually dries slower than it would in a usually unheated house? And is it just more effort to hang everything out, get it in, hang on airers overnight then repeat until dry.We just hang our clothes on airers inside and they are not really sturdy enough to go outside. I did consider making a roof out of tarp to make a covered space outside so it could be outside when it rained but then I wondered if it would get even less dry on non rainy days.

mama67

I should peg mine out on a day like today where it is sunny but cold. 

However it is easier to put on airers in the unheated leanto conservatory where washer is sited, which gets quite warm and therefore doesnt matter if we get a rain shower. 

It comes into the house the next morning and if needed is finished off on radiators when heating comes on. 

I do normally line dry right through Spring & Summer into Autumn. 

Cas

Glittering_M said:

Morning all,
I'm curious for your views re drying washing outside.
We have a rotary washing line which we normally use when the weather is nice but in winter we dry inside. We have a dehumidifier but that's on pretty much constantly (it rarely reaches the 'peak humidity'  and heating depends on the weather, I think we've had it on twice this year. 

I'd like to try drying outside more, but when in your view is it too cold/not worth it? Is it a case of 'when it is warmer outside than in'. Obviously I'm not expecting it to be completely dry at this time of year. Or will sticking it outside mean it actually dries slower than it would in a usually unheated house? And is it just more effort to hang everything out, get it in, hang on airers overnight then repeat until dry.We just hang our clothes on airers inside and they are not really sturdy enough to go outside. I did consider making a roof out of tarp to make a covered space outside so it could be outside when it rained but then I wondered if it would get even less dry on non rainy days.

Morning! I'm in Scotland so we're not normally blessed with warm days and a lack of rain!  So long as it's dry outside and not frosty I hang my washing on the rotary, especially if there's a bit of a breeze.  Even if I've only managed to get the laundry outside for an hour I find everything dries a bit quicker once I get it back indoors.  If I know they're only gong to be out for a short while because there's rain forecast then rather than pegging everything out I put them on hangers so it's easier to get everything inside when those first drops of rain appear.  

joedenise

I also hang washing outside on dry days.  You're right it doesn't completely dry but it does get the worst of the water out so that everything dries overnight.  I tend to get it out fairly early in the morning and then get it in around 2.30pm when the air starts to get damp.  Some lighter items do tend to dry if there is a breeze but I usually put everything on the airer overnight to finish off.  I also think the washing smells much nicer after having a blow on the line.

YoungBlueEyes

I’ve my washing out now, blowing away on the line. 

My rule is to check the wind and the humidity on my weather app (met office). It doesn’t need to be sunny, it needs to be blowy cos it’s the air moving over it that’ll whip the wet off it. 

So depending on wind + humidity, it goes out first thing and in again about 3ish. At this time of year it’s not dry enough to be put away (I don’t iron!), but hanging it over the airer overnight means I can put it away in the morning. 

annieb64

Mine is out too. It's quite windy so hoping it will be fairly dry.

2Scratters

@spudsmum Oh dear bad DH  Have you ever done a budget? I did my first one ever last year and what an eye opener it was! I used a template from on here (MSE) somewhere.
It has definitely helped identify more pots needed to help issues like this occurring. I had some "pots" already in use but it was not enough. I did panic when doing the adding up thinking OMG we are not going to make it but we did and had money spare. It has been a life saver already as we had money available. We just need to add one for the dogs as there is no insurance on them (by choice) and will save there instead.
2 Scratters xx