Clucky Carol wrote:Hi Richard, I was thinking about you today. I wanted to say thank you for enriching my life, and many others, through the website. I have really enjoyed, and benefitted from, the friendly advice and helpful hints and tips. Our move to Exmoor was a dream, and having chickens and starting my veggie patches has been a joy, but this site has helped me so much.
So as we face the next year I, for one, would like to say a heartfelt thank you for the difference you have made with the site - a very happy and peaceful (or peasful in our case!) New Year. I will raise my glass to you.
1. Take my own lunches to work (very good at this usually) 2. Plan my meals (very bad at this) 3. Start using a teapot (tried to post a photo of my lovely car boot teapot but ipad doesn't want to let me) 4. Don't make unnecessary trips 5. Wear more layers indoors before I put heating on 6. Not that I buy magazines but I discovered my local library will let me download magazines to my ipad and keep them indefinitely - how good is that! That's enough for now - will come back with more as I think of them Kind regards
I have started making a list of things I want to do, bit like a shopping list, when I go out in the car, so cut down on petrol/time/money. Like this next weekend, Terry is looking at some jobs so we will go in the work van complete with ladders and shop at the same time.
One thing I did last year was replace my kitchen cupboard/drawer knobs to pine. Looked at the price of stain and said no way, so put hot boiling water on t bags as if I was making a cup of tea, let it cool, got a soft cloth and dipped in liquid and onto knobs. Had to do it several times till I got the right shade, but then put Beeswax on after they had dried thoroughly and hey presto right coloured knobs for no outlay as I had t bags, water and Beeswax.
When we had a reminder last year to renew our car breakdown insurance the price had gone up by about £30 . checked another company and it was cheaper. I did not really want to leave our present company so rang them up and said we were leaving them for some one else because of the price.They asked what the price was and said they wold match it...A success . So from then on anytime a price as gone up I have compared it and each time a company has matched a company with the lower price . My tip is don't accept a price increase out of habit.
Jackiex
4 lovely girls~~ Clover, the oldie and top chick Bonnie second in command .new girls Bluebell and Blossom. 2 lovely new girls 19-01-2015~~ Chelsea and Ruby. Eva , Florry , Poppy ,Annie and Rosie R.I.P The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.” - unknown
jackian wrote:When we had a reminder last year to renew our car breakdown insurance the price had gone up by about £30 . checked another company and it was cheaper. I did not really want to leave our present company so rang them up and said we were leaving them for some one else because of the price.They asked what the price was and said they wold match it...A success . So from then on anytime a price as gone up I have compared it and each time a company has matched a company with the lower price . My tip is don't accept a price increase out of habit.
Jackiex
I learnt this this year and reduced my contents home and contents by £600 after ringing them, half of me was ecstatic as they matched tess and co and the other half was furious that I could have happily paid £810, I was asked did I know about the match like for like policy, no I didn't, so I agree don't always take the renewal but always check you are covered as you wish to be
Details in my Frugal Diary but I wanted to say ta!
I did a freezer check and made up pies and lasagne, mentally noted green stuff and may well make more pies and a stew with what I had lurking in there.
Wonder what I'll find next month?
1 dumbo rat still without a name; 2 top eared rats Octavia and Ursula 1 Rhode Rock, 1 Sussex Star, 1 Blue Ranger - The New Monochrome Set
I do 'silly' little things that I have seen add up through the years.
Use onion or potato net bags to scrub pots and pans. Make room sprays from herbs in the garden and cheap vodka. Also make my own extracts with vodka. Laundry soap. Cover a pan in the oven with a cookie sheet rather than foil. Save glass jars to freeze soups and other items. Clean with bleach or vinegar or baking soda. (Bicarb) Hand wash and dry clothes on a rack. Mostly shirts and socks. Set a price on an item I want or need, then wait until I can find it for that price or less. Make jams out of local fruits. Use plastic shopping bags for trash cans.
Does this count - I bought a great big bag of carrots yesterday from the local garden centre / farm shop, labelled as 'horse carrots', for £1.30. Haven't weighed them, but it's a proper sack full. The only difference, as far as I can see, is that they are a bit misshapen and wouldn't win any beauty shows.
What do they taste like though? When we bought horse carrots (for the horse) I tried them and decided they were not the same tasty variety sold for people.
I'm adding an idea and I have to say it does work though frankly every day it's a harrowing experience for me!! I have started keeping my receipts and at the end of each day I total them up up minusing them against both my bank account and my purse. I have expenses forms for my filofax that I tally my purse outgoings on and I'm in the process of creating one for my overall outgoings, I find it easier to have the two because I do carry and use cash a lot.
I did this all last month and at the end of weeks I had about 20quid left, which is a massive achievement for me
I do find it hard because I stress a lot aboutfinances , but if I seethe total going down on small amounts each day it makes me not overspend.
Example, I've seen the most adorable bag and being a bag fiend I have to have it. I can see the total going down and frankly its not a necessity (well.....that's yet to be determined), this weekend I'm going to sell some old clothes and bags and maybe get the bag. Though Mr husband said before 'I bought you a bag for a £140 on the condition that you wouldn't need or want anymore bags, and now you probably just keeping turnips in the bloody thing......he's a fool!!
Either way I won't get the bag without acquiring extra money because it can not come out or my bank account money xx
boosmummy wrote:this weekend I'm going to sell some old clothes and bags and maybe get the bag. I won't get the bag without acquiring extra money because it can not come out or my bank account money xx
sounds like a sensible plan. I really must try and sell some stuff tooto put into my "treat" pot
Good idea to do it for a while, knowledge gives you control.
I was looking for something in my Archives and I found the book from when I was just married. I did that then. Interesting (horrifying) to see how prices have gone up in 45 years. I wrote down everything for a while. I'd done the same while at college on a grant. When I saw that it was going OK I slackened off - only wrote down the total at the supermarket, instead of the individual item. Now I know that we are living within our pensions, in fact half of the pension goes on everyday things and regular bills, that leaves some slack for big unexpected things (like the freezer 'going' on Christmas Eve). So I don't write down everything but I have a spreadsheet that records what has gone out of the bank and I check online each morning to make sure it tallies and I'm not overdrawn due to something I'd forgotten about.
