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Tuesday 25 June 2013

It's Turning Into A Costly Week

Well first it was the PC 95 pounds, then it was the broadband 114 pounds, now it's rail tickets. I have of course been doing all I can to save pennies where I can and they are all items that are needed and not just wanted impulse buys. But it is still taking money out of my purse. We have been planning on visiting my family in London for a few weeks now and due to my MD I am unable to travel that distance without Lee with me in case of an attack. So we have had to wait until he has a weekend off work this weekend Lee has a weekend off so we decided to make it then. Of course there are 5 of us 2 adults and 3 children and neither Lee or myself drive due to medical conditions (my MD and Lee's epilepsy although he has been fit free now for 5 years so we are hoping he can start driving lessons in the near future). We therefore rely on public transport for journeys especially ones of this distance (it is a 2 hour drive and a 3 hour train ride). I sat down last night to book the tickets through redspottedhanky.com. I was interested to see how much it would normally cost for the 5 of us to travel without any discounts and nearly chocked on my tea when it came back with a price of just under 174 pounds. I of course would never pay such an obscene amount of money to go visit family no matter how much I love them and how long I have gone without seeing them. Thankfully I am a frugalist and know most of the tricks of the trade :)

A few weeks ago I received 3x 5 pound vouchers for redspottedhanky.com through Tesco clubcard rewards totally free. I was alerted to the offer via Martin Lewis at MSE newsletter which I receive regularly through email and snapped them up quick before they had all gone knowing we would be making several train journeys this summer. I also have a 2 month free family and friends railcard which gives me 60% discount for children and 1/3 discount for adults on train travel. Armed with all my discounts and tricks I set to work to get the best price possible. I managed to get all 5 of us on the exact same trains that would have cost 174 pounds for just 62 pounds a saving of 112 pounds. I did have to do it in 2 transactions though as the 5 pound vouchers I received can only be used 1 per transaction. By doing it in 2 transactions I was able to use 2 of the vouchers instead of 1 and as there was no card or booking fees I was able to do this at no added cost. So the tickets are all booked and paid for and we pick them up on the day of travel just before we go from the ticket machine saving a further 7 pounds on delivery.

We are all really looking forward to our trip as we very rarely get to see my family and see my dad, nan, and grandad even less. Due to poor health they are unable to travel to us. Brad has not seen a lot of the family for over a year so I felt it important that he came with us this time and have cancelled his restpite this weekend so he can come with us instead. I have arranged for a friend to look after the house and animals whilst we are away so I won't have anything to worry about other than having a good time and enjoying the company of my family. On Saturday we will be going into Central London to visit some of the tourist spots as we thought the boys would like this and it will be free of charge just to go look and take some pictures of places like Buckingham palace, tower bridge, and the London eye (we will not be going on the London eye at 20 pounds a head its way out of my price range). We will be getting travel cards which will cover all our transport costs for the day for 21pounds for the 5 of us and I will take a picnic so we wont have to pay to eat out. I'm not sure how my brother will react to my extreme frugal ways but I am who I am and wont change for anyone not even for a day lol. I will of course take lots of pictures to share with you all of our day out in London.

So as you can see it has turned into a costly week here at Tilly towers the only consolation is that I have paid a hell of a lot less than I should have done and saved myself 100's of pounds doing it all the frugal way and that deserves a little smile don't you think.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Monday 24 June 2013

Well Hello There

Hello all I am back from my little sabatacal. I picked up the pc today from cash generator and even managed to get them to throw in a free printer. So I got the screen, keyboard, mouse, tower, and a printer for 90 pounds quite a nice little result. When I got it home and set it all up I realised that the monitor to tower cable was missing so popped to my local independant computer shop to buy one. The man was lovely and knew exactly what I needed and only charged me 5 pounds for it so the total cost to set me and the family up with a new pc was 95 pounds not bad and I can live with that especially as some people pay around 500 pounds to set themselves up the way I have done today. I am hoping that as this has a lot more memory and is a lot more solid (not like the flimsy laptops we have had) it will last us a lot longer. The computer itself is a very good make the Mr assures me and all the programmes seem to run at a good speed. The only problem we have had is the speed of the internet which is nothing to do with the computer itself but the dongle. Bradley has informed me that when the green light is on the dongle it runs super slow not sure why but it does which leads me onto my next super saving. I went onto quidco to compare broadband prices and found a really good deal. Talk Talk is currently offering 6 months free internet and 3 months free anytime calls. The usual cost of this is 6.50 a month for the internet and 19.95 for the landline with anytime calls and 50 pounds instalation fee so a total of  367.40. I of course paid no where near this here is what I paid
6 months broadband free
6 months broadband 39 pound
3 months anytime talk boost free. After the 3 months I will cancel the anytime talk boost saving me 5 pounds a month.
12 months line rental 114 pounds I recieved a big discount by paying for my 12 months line rental upfront.
Instalation free
I also bought through quidco so will be getting 40 pounds cashback and will recieve a 50 pounds credit on my account as a new customer. So with all that taken into account and the fact that I am deaf so the landline phone will never be used it has cost me 60 pounds for 12 months internet with 3 months free anytime calls and then 9 months free evening and weekend calls which works out just 5 pounds a month thats half what I pay for my dongle. If you could see me now dear readers I am doing a little happy dance around the dinning room lol. The boys are chuffed to nuts that come next week they will be able to watch videos online without having to worry about going over our limit and they can play their games without it going at a snails pace. I of course am happy that I can get back to my blogging at a decent pace without the constant frustrations that dodgy laptops and snail slow dongles have been providing recently.

Anyway I am off to eat my 9p cheese and onion roll and 5p bag of grapes whilst having a play with my new (to me) bargain computer. I love being frugal :)

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Monday 17 June 2013

Saturday Happenings

Ok so I am attempting a post using my phone so this could get messy lol please excuse any spelling mistakes. The eldest 2 boys went to stay with their dad for the night last night so I decided to treat Brandon to a soft play session. We decided to go to the one in the next town as we have not been to this one for quite some time and Brandon loves going on the bus. Wow what a rip off £4.65 I could not believe my ears needless to say we wont be going there again in a hurry. Brandon had a fab time and bumped into one of his classmates who he had great fun playing with. We then had a little mooch around town I was on the look out for some second hand Mrs Browns Boys dvd's and hit the jackpot. I found one in cash generater for just £1.99 and they have a promotion on at the moment buy one dvd and get another one for free so I let Brandon pick the free one and he picked nanny mcphee. When we got home we cuddled up and watched nanny mcphee with a bag of approved foods popcorn and had a good old giggle. I have had enough of all this internet and laptop trouble. The mr was not able to fix any of the laptops so I am going to sell them all on ebay for parts and put the money towards a second hand pc I have seen in CG for £90. I am also going to look around for a good broadband deal as I am sick of not being able to watch videos on the internet and dongals keep breaking. Anyway I am off to bed as I am off to teach a friend tomorow how to budget and cut costs as she is having a hard time of it financially at the moment and has asked for my help.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Wednesday 12 June 2013

3 laptops and none working

We have 3 laptop's in my house and can I get one of them to work so I can write a post can I heck. Brads has had the blue screen of death come up, bens is going at a snails pace, and mine wont even switch on grrrrrr. I can't get a reception on my phone and it takes forever to do when I have got one. The Mr is working on the laptop's tonight as he is a bit of a whizz when it comes to computers and I have hijacked his phone to bring you this post lol. I have just informed the Mr that I will be using his phone to take pictures for the blog and write my posts until he either fixes one of them or until I can afford a new one (well new to me). His response was do I have a choice to which I replied no resistance is futile lol. On sunday we popped to morrisons at the end of the day and got some really good deals.  We got 3 salmon sandwiches for 9p each, 2 tuna baguettes for 9p each, 1 egg sandwich for 9p, 3 meat and potato pies for 28p, 4 corned beef slices 25p, 4 cheese and onion slices 25p, 4 Lincolnshire sausage rolls 25p, and a huge party sized fresh cream Victoria sponge 49p total cost was £2.25 bargain. Monday I was ill all day with my MD which was pretty horrible. With the weather changing constantly it is really playing havoc with my MD. Yesterday and today have been spent doing housework and ploughing through the mountain of washing that has accumulated.  We did pop into town today as I needed to get a couple of storage boxes to store the boys plus size clothing and I did manage to pick up a pair of gap jeans for Brad for 50p from the charity shop.

Anyway off to see how the Mr is getting on with these blooming laptops.
Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Friday 7 June 2013

Debt Reduction Update

I went into the bank the other day to reduce my overdraft by £700 I can not tell you how good it felt paying off another big chunk of debt like that. My monthly interest will now be cut in half saving me £30 a month so that's another £30 a month over payment on one of my other debts. I sat down and did the sums and my starting debt totalled £10577. Since starting the snowball over payment method a few months ago I have got that figure down to £7120 so I have paid back £3457. I am so proud of myself and the journey I am on to become debt free. The temptation to spend is always there but I don't give into it anymore (well most of the time). I look forward to the day my debts are cleared and I have the boys savings accounts set up and my emergency fund set up and my money is my own. I have to be honest though I don't think I will ever go back to being a spendaholic regardless of how much money I have. This way of life has shown me there is so much more to life than money of course it will be comforting to know its there if I need it but I would rather invest it in my children's future. I am hoping that Ben will go to university an option that was never open to me because of the area I was bought up in and the fact we were pretty poor. I will be saving as much as I can to make this as financially painless as possible for him. He has such a gift when it comes to academics and I can really see him making something of his life when he is older and I want to do everything I can to help him achieve this. My other 2 sons Brad and Brandon are autistic so it is highly unlikely they will go to uni but I will not leave them out I will be setting up a little nest egg for them also. The aim is to save £2500 for each of my 3 boys to help them on their way to adult hood be it uni or setting up a home. Some people may not agree with me helping the boys financially but you have to understand 2 of my boys are autistic so work is going to be pretty thin on the ground for them. Although they will always be encouraged to earn a wage there is still a lot of prejudice out there when it comes to employing some one who is mentally impaired. I also have a rule I never give to one without the other so all 3 of my boys will be given a leg up to start with and the rest will be up to them.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

My Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday and I have to say I was spoilt rotten. The Mr got me a sewing machine which I have wanted for ages and a beautiful pink summer dress. My mum and 2 daddy's sent me money, my best friend got me a box of choccies, and another friend has a gift for me but has said she needs to do something to it first but that I am going to love it so I look forward to finding out what it is. The Mr took me to the cinema in the evening to see fast and furious 6 as I have a bit of a thing for Vin Diesel lol. I had a really lovely day and got so many cards and birthday wishes from friends all over the world which made me think about how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. The change in weather today has played havock with my MD and I am feeling really unwell today so I think today will be an easy day just doing what I can when I can. I will take a picture of my sewing machine to show you all at some point soon now I just have to learn how to use it lol.

 
Me and Lee just before we went out last night and my pretty dress Lee bought me.
 

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Wednesday 5 June 2013

A Very Late £1 A Day Challenge Final Costings And Thoughts And Feelings On The Challenge

Well again sorry this post is so very late I have been struggling quite badly the last week or so with my MD. Here are the final costings

Day 1 = 71p
Day 2 = £1.02
Day 3 = 79p
Day 4 = 76p
Day 5 = £1.31
Day 6 = £1.10
Day 7 = 49p
Toiletries including toilet roll = 87p
Cleaning products including washing liquid and washing up liquid = 27p

Total costs for the week = £7.32

Ok so I went over by 32p not to bad and it just goes to prove how little it is possible to live on. Ok not the most balanced of diets and not enough fruit and veg. But beggers cant be choosers and the purpose of my challenge was to see if I could survive on just £7 for the week for food, drink, transportation, and entertainment and I almost did going over my budget by just a few pennies. I enjoyed the challenge but would not relish the idea of living like this on a daily basis. A few times I saw something I really fancied but had to tell myself NO. It is possible to live like this with lots of end of day trips to the supermarket and value range products. Whilst I am frugal in my day to day life anyway I do like the occassional treat and found it hard to tell myself NO at times. I had to remind myself people across the UK are having to live like this on a daily basis and not just for a week as I was doing. As a result of this challenge I have decided to buy £2 a week of value products to donate to my local food bank. Its not much but it will help someone who is living below the bread line.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

A Very Late £1 A Day Challenge Days 6 And 7

I am sooooo sorry how late this post is but I have been really poorly with my MD and just have not got round to posting it untill today. So here goes

Day 6
FOOD
Shreddies 0p (Lee gets these free from work)
1/4 pint of milk 7p (yellow sticker)
An apple 11p (yellow sticker)
2 Slices bread 2p (yellow sticker)
Lemon curd 2p (value range)
1 Chocolate bar 30p (value range)
1 Mackral fillet 15p (yellow sticker)
1/2 Bag of small potatoes 25p (yellow sticker)
1/4 Bag of swede and carrots 3p (yellow sticker)
An apple 11p (yellow sticker)
4 Custard creams 4p (value range)

DRINK
Water 0p

TRANSPORTATION
My legs 0p

ENTERTAINMENT
Reading 0p
Knitting 0p
TV 0p

Total costs for day 6 = £1.10


Day 7
FOOD
Shreddies 0p (Lee gets these free from work)
1/4 pint of milk 7p (yellow sticker)
2 Slices of bread 2p (yellow sticker)
Lemon curd 2p (value range)
3 Custard creams 3p (value range)
1 Mackeral fillet 15p (yellow sticker)
1 medium potatoe 15p (green grocers)
5 Custard creams 5p (value range)

DRINK
Water 0p

TRANSPORTATION
My legs 0p

ENTERTAINMENT
Reading 0p
Playing games with the kids 0p
Films from the library 0p

Total costs for day 7 = 49p

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx