FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 2, April - June.

Frugaldom
Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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edited 1 July 2010 at 5:46PM in How much have you saved?
This is the follow up thread to the 'Living on £4,000 for a Year' challenge. It has been renamed and adapted to allow a more diverse range of budgets, depending on individual circumstances. The following links will take you to all the previous challenge threads.

Introduction to 2010 Frugal Living Challenge
Part 1 - January to March 2010
Part 2 - April to June 2010
Part 3 - July to September 2010

Part 1 - January to March 2009
Part 2 - April to June 2009
Part 3 - July to September 2009
Part 4 - October to December 2009

Part 1 - January to March 2008
Part 2 - April to June 2008
Part 3 - July to September 2008
Part 4 - October to December 2008

IMPORTANT.
Please respect others' lifestyles and beliefs. We are not here to judge, we are here to support. Thank you

The challenge is about living a frugal lifestyle - establishing your true cost of living, sticking to your budget, clearing any debts and making savings wherever and however you can to enable you to live the life you really want.

Frugal living isn't for everyone, but everyone is welcome to join us. Methods employed by our merry band of frugalers include batch cooking, stockpiling, preserving, foraging, mending, shopping in charity shops, reducing, reusing, recycling, Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS), Vegetable & fruit growing, allotments, keeping hens, using cashback sites and earning whatever it takes to become self sufficient in managing the cost of living without incurring debt. For some it is initially about clearing debt, for others it's about increasing savings, buying property, becoming stay at home mums or paying off the mortgage early. Some choose the lifestyle on ethical grounds. Above all, this is a fun and supportive way to manage your budget so you have control of your own cost of living. It's about NEEDS and not WANTS.

Living on a budget = living within our means.
Frugal = thrifty, living without waste

Ideas to help you achieve and/or maintain debt free living
Spend within your means
Set a proper budget
Houseshare
Get a lodger
Shop via cashback sites but always price compare,
Buy reduced items in stores only if you need them,
Stockpile & bulk buy
Batch cooking,
Make the most of charity shops,
Join Freecycle or other similar waste awareness and recycling associations,
LETS trading - become active members of trading & exchange groups
bartering
Grow your own herbs, fruit & veg,
Preserving & winemaking
Card & gift making
Order splitting for better discounts & shared postal costs,
Landsharing, allotments & frugal garden systems
Free scratchcards,
Matched betting,
Free online bingo,
eBid and eBay trading
etc, etc, etc...

Sample Budget

Groceries £900.00
Toiletries £35.00
Heat & power £900.00
Internet £216.00
Mobiles £20.00
Telephone £140.00
Clothing & footwear £40.00
Travel £240.00
Household Insurance £42.50
Council Tax £935.00
TOTAL £3,468.50
Monitoring and revising the budget is part of frugal living plan. Gifts & cards could all to be homemade, livestock needs to pay its own keep, anything else needs to be cash neutral.


Quote:
HANDY LINKS:
(I am neither endorsing nor recommending any of the links provided here, members of our extended frugal community have simply found them to contain helpful information.)

Approved Food - amazing bargains if you don't mind short dates or past sell by – save a fortune whilst saving it from landfill!
Bite Card - 20% off food at train stations (ideal for regular travellers)
Budgetbrain - MSE's free to use budget analysis tool - BRILLIANT!
Carrot recipes - loads of ways to use up those carrots
CASHBACK - The official MSE list of sites offering the best cashback deals
Cheryl's FREE spreadsheet - how to download & use it free
Complete (MSE) cooking collection - Loads and loads and loads of recipes
Cookingbynumbers - using up food you have in stock, free to use
Crafting for Christmas - homemade presents
Eggs, eggs, eggs - My '100 things to do with eggs' list
Electricity & Gas savings - monitor your electricity & gas with the MoneySaving Carbon Club
Flannel Cake making - unusual gifts
Food Bargains - Discounted food, short dated and past 'BBE' dates.
Foraging & Preserving - free foods, when, where, what to do with them
Free 2010 OS MSE calendar - download and print
Free crafts ideas - how to make papier mache banks etc
Freecycle - don't bin it, rehome it.
Freegle - Originally Freecycle in UK
Gift Baskets & Hampers - an index to the MSE relevant threads
Gifts in a jar - you don't need a canner for these
Greenfingered money saving - Gardening & growing your own food
Grocery bargains - Supermarket price reduction times
Hunger Site - Charity site where every click counts
i-Measure - log your meter readings and try to reduce your carbon footprint
Laundry Gloop and loads of other frugal cleaning related 'recipes'
Leftovers - don't bin them, get creative, make another meal.
LETS - Local Exchange Trading Schemes and alternative currencies within communities
Martin's mad moneysaver ads - a surprising new addition to the site - advertising offers!
Martin's current offers & discount codes - updated daily
Menu Planning - hundreds of options and suggestions
Nutrition and diet info, an excellent thread - thanks to Weezl74
Old Style indexed collection - Indexed collection of links, hints and tips for anything old style, moneysaving and frugal.
Preparing for winter the frugal way
Recipes part 1 - thanks to Rosieben on the Grocery Challenge
Recipes part 2 - thanks, again, to Rosieben
Remoska discussion - everything you need to know about Remoska ovens
Rural Moneysaving Hunt - official MSE discussion
Selling on eBid - decluttering and recycling for cash with no listing fees
Snowman Soup - always a favourite with frugallers during the festive season
Soapnuts - The frugal, eco-friendly alternative to soap powder or detergents (free samples)
Soapnuts thread on MSE - discuss, ask questions here
Spending Diary - excellent free resource for recording your spends
Start a cottage industry - the official MSE discussion
Veg Planner - free printable vegetable planting guide/calendar from the RHS
Weezl74's 50p per person per day eating healthily thread
Weezl74's frugal recipe testing thread - Phase 1
Will Power & Billy Can - part 1, part 2, part 3
The bits we need to include to make this work :)

===========================================

THERE IS NO CHALLENGER LIST, JUST JOIN IN AND ENJOY
===========================================
Please read the MSE forum rules and help us to keep this challenge on track, thank you.
If you have any questions about this challenge, feel free to PM me.
The following is taken from the official MSE forum rules section:

KEEPING THREADS ON-TOPIC

Please try not to take threads off-topic. This can be confusing for new users and makes it especially difficult for people ... Where requests from Board Guides for threads to be brought back on track have not been followed off-topic posts may be removed. We encourage community, but not thread derailment.

Please bear in mind the main purpose of the site is to save money. The forum team has therefore been instructed to prioritise its time on the MoneySaving forums.

KEEPING TOPICS RELEVANT TO THE BOARD

There are two boards provided for off-topic chat and discussion. The MoneySavers Arms has been set up for fun, more lighter-hearted chat (although do still remember this is a family forum – keep it clean please). Discussion Time is for discussion of current issues (read Martin’s description).

If you post a topic that does not relate to the board it’s posted on it will be moved to a more relevant MoneySaving board or to Discussion Time/The MoneySavers Arms.
===================================

This challenge is about paying for needs so we can afford to live debt free and save for wants. It runs from 1st January to 31st December 2010. The links will give you an idea of how previous challenges have gone.
I reserve the right not to spend.
The less I spend, the more I can afford.


Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
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Comments

  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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    edited 1 April 2010 at 3:49PM
    FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010
    1. *Jellie*
    2. 2ndtimerounder
    3. 98Sidney
    4. Aeb
    5. Afiendforlife
    6. AJP233
    7. Always
    8. Andan
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    11. Annie123
    12. Ansoff
    13. Aril
    14. AZJH77
    15. Babyboysmommy
    16. Bails
    17. Bay_tree_cottage
    18. BigMummaF
    19. Blairweech
    20. Bored of being at home
    21. Boring beige
    22. Brighton Belle
    23. Budgeteer
    24. Buffythedebtslayer
    25. Bunnytoo
    26. Butterfly72
    27. Cake_21
    28. Candygirl
    29. Cardiffmatch
    30. Castafiore41
    31. Catznine
    32. Cha97Michelle
    33. Charlhrdy
    34. CharlieE
    35. Ches
    36. Chika
    37. Chinatea
    38. Craftdaft
    39. CranborneKat
    40. Cuddlymarm
    41. CW18
    42. DaisySteiner
    43. Danielley
    44. Debtfree Dreamer
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    48. Ddraiggoch
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    64. Frugaldom
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    66. Gizmomum
    67. Glad
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    69. Glitter_sunflower
    70. Grandma247
    71. Grannynise
    72. Happymrsh
    73. Hardup Hester
    74. HC2703
    75. Heather2409
    76. Homegrown_Life
    77. Homemade
    78. Huston_kw
    79. Ifonlyitwaseasier
    80. Iheart2poundcoins
    81. ILoveTea
    82. In Spired2
    83. Intergalactic Floozie
    84. JackieO
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    86. Jane Manby
    87. Janiebaby
    88. Jat1
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    91. JayneC
    92. Jfdi
    93. JTB2412
    94. Jules
    95. Julimk
    96. Justkeepswimming
    97. Kalojac
    98. Karmacat
    99. KarrieBee
    100. Katholicos
    101. KayHarcombe
    102. KazLA
    103. KCSunshine
    104. Keeley_P
    105. Kellylee
    106. Kerfuffle
    107. Kerry Woman
    108. Kez12
    109. Kezlou
    110. Kittiej
    111. Kittikins
    112. Kiwisaver
    113. Knithappens
    114. La Diva
    115. Lady1973
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    117. Larmy16
    118. Lilac Pixie
    119. Lillibet_dripping
    120. Liloandstitch
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    123. Lingojingo
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    142. Merle
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    146. Mommyof4
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    148. Moneybag
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    150. Moneymission
    151. MoneyQueen
    152. Moo2moo
    153. Mooloo
    154. Mumoffour77
    155. Mumtoomany
    156. MushyPeas
    157. Nessa56
    158. NewLifeAhead
    159. Nikki20022008
    160. Nikkiev27
    161. NualaBuala
    162. OldMcdonald
    163. OptimisticPair
    164. Pagangirl
    165. Pammyj74
    166. Patentgirl
    167. Paulgonnabedebtfree
    168. Pencekeeper
    169. Pink_numbers
    170. Philsbird
    171. Phoebe03cat
    172. Phoenix_dragon
    173. Plumduff55
    174. Poorbutrich
    175. Poppycat1
    176. PrincessDawnie21
    177. Prudent
    178. Puddleglum
    179. Purple_angel
    180. Queen.Bess
    181. Rachel021967
    182. Rachelet
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    184. Rictus
    185. Robbm
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    187. Sabs10
    188. Sallyknits
    189. Salnew
    190. Sammylds30
    191. Savingfortravel
    192. Savvy Student
    193. Shaz_mum_of_2
    194. Signs of recovery
    195. Silkbeast
    196. Skint_chick
    197. Skintbint
    198. Skint in Skirt
    199. Skint Jenny
    200. Skint Lynne
    201. Slm6002
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    206. Sophiesmum
    207. Sparrer
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    209. Stay Calm Keep Knitting
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    213. Taka
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    215. Tesco Points Addict
    216. The_cat
    217. Thriftkitten
    218. Thriftylass
    219. Tiddles
    220. Top_Drawer
    221. Totaldespair
    222. Trex170104
    223. Trinny
    224. Trishamggirl
    225. Tryingtodobetter
    226. Twinkles08
    227. VickyA
    228. Viv0147
    229. Vivw
    230. Vixstar
    231. Warney27
    232. Watchthisspace
    233. Whitewing
    234. Winchelsea
    235. Winterfrost
    236. Wit40iwtwan
    237. Wornoutmumoftwo
    238. Xnataliex
    239. XSpender
    240. YoungAgedPensioner
    241. Ziggy2407
    Feel free to take part, lurk, post or just practice small steps at pursuing a frugal lifestyle. The current list is in alphabetical order, we have no challenger numbers.
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
  • liloandstitch
    liloandstitch Posts: 1,333 Forumite
    Thanks frugaldom - sorry to hear about your powercut, I hope that your chicks are okay.

    Lilo
    Live on £4000 a year again for 2011
  • candygirl
    candygirl Posts: 29,455
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    edited 31 March 2010 at 10:13PM
    Thanks for the new thread Frugaldom, and sorry to read about the power cut:(:(
    BLAIRWEECH had Greenflag out n the bloke said my battery was knackered:(
    "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf"

    (Kabat-Zinn 2004):D:D:D
  • rozeepozee
    rozeepozee Posts: 1,971
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
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    Thanks for the new thread. Doesn't sound like you're having much fun - powercuts?!?

    Just looking thorugh the many "members". Wonder what's happened to aeb she hasn't posted for over a month. I liked to hear from her but I suppose with her brood - maybe it's a taste of things to come for me? I doubt these babies will leave me much time for the internet.

    Just re-read the first post and feeling a little better about qualifying for frugalness. I can tick quite a few of those boxes. I need to stop fixating on the size of my budget, as long as we're living sensibly, within our means and I'm in control of my spending and not the other way around!
  • enjoyfinancialchallenges
    enjoyfinancialchallenges Posts: 244 Forumite
    edited 31 March 2010 at 11:51PM
    I've been noticing that I am not alone in loosing messages when I post on this forum is this something peculiar to me/us or the site? I'm just curious.

    I'm still trying to be very frugal and have managed to fill my ISA this year because of it and to be honest I'm thoroughly enjoying the challenge but then its nothing new for me as have had to live this way for years. Hurry up spring then I can get on with the garden. I did manage a few days when the weather was good but at the moment its too cold to go outside especially now with the east wind.
    I'm going into hospital on the 16th so have been pushing myself to make a difference in the garden beforehand but that idea has gone out of the window for a while.

    I keep on saying I must post more and TBH I dont know how some of you manage to do so, it takes all my time to keep up to read it.

    Good luck everyone for the 2nd quarter of the challege, my month does not end until the 9th when my new credit card month starts but am managing well so far.
    Keep to £400 a month on C/C.
    :j
  • Just catching up with the old thread at the moment. Will post my spend tomorrow it being late. That looks like more frugal links than the last thread or did I not get to post number two on the last one. :eek: so much to learn. I'll need to factor in a train ticket for April it being mum's 70th.
  • Erme
    Erme Posts: 3,597
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped! Debt-free and Proud!
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    Morning all and welcome to the new thread. Was thrilled to bit to see my name on the list (in fact spammed all my care workers tellling them and my head in the sand chum).

    Will be nice not be on 212 or something on the thread again and go back to single figures on pages for a few days....

    Hope everyone is well. I got a little on my recovery plan done last night :) and like umm something else I forget.

    grocery monies got spent on ice cream stuff so will have to buy mega bad tobacco if I want to eat for the rest of week :( (just think I need veggies though).

    Anyhow must go and do some crochet before shower...and I slept and am awake at a reasonable hour (just pray I stay awake). Did anyone else hear the wee sound bite on keeping chickens in the garden on Farming Today this am? I guess it'd be available to download on the Radio 4 website....

    E
    :dance:
    I believe in the power of PAD
    Come and join us on the Payment a Day thread
    :dance:
  • jtb2412
    jtb2412 Posts: 1,782 Forumite
    Morning all, thanks for the new thread frugaldom. Sorry to hear about the power etc, I hope things get back to normal quickly for you x

    Well I'm now officially 'back on the wagon' with you all but I have to start with lots of DDs coming out of the bank (typical!)

    However, end of year has seen some interesting things happen to some of the finances. My rent has gone down :eek: :eek: :D. Not entirely sure why but it's gone down by £1.08 per month. Not a lot over the year but I'd allowed for an increase of approx £13 per month (which is what it went up by last time, plus a little more to allow for inflation). So in reality I'm £14 per month better off on paper. That will be going straight into the decorating fund :j.

    House insurance is down from £21 per month to £11 per month. Did a bit of jiggling with figures and sums insured/excesses and managed to shave a tenner a month off for a similar amount of cover :D. No cashback despite the want of trying but the saving more than made up for it. Again extra will be going in decorating fund.

    Council Tax has increased by £3 per month and I allowed £1600 for the year so another £40 found - I think that might have to go into the grocery budget though as I know we're going to be over with this. That's one of my aims for the next few months - to get the grocery budget on target each month and eat healthily and keep up the weight loss at the same time - no mean feat !

    Pet insurance is exactly the same, I had allowed for a small increase but it's nominal.

    So, finances are looking ok. I have a feeling my cooker is going to need replacing soon so I'll have to 'save up' for that whilst popping money away for decorating.

    The bathroom is now finished (total cost was £67 for new floor, furniture, blind, paint) so not too bad.

    Kitchen is getting a freshen up (just painting) - walls tend to get a bit grubby with the dog so while we're saving to do my 'office' (need to change guest room into this for Guides) we thought we'd quickly do the walls in kitchen. Total cost = £30 (DH managed to get a big pot of magnolia from his recent office decoration at work for free :D) :j. The £30 was spent on plaster (took some tiles off and half the wall came away with them :eek:, now I know why the walls are artexed :(), a new bit of skirting which had holes in it where they replaced the central heating, and a skimming tool for DH.

    Right, packed lunches calling to be done. Sorry for the 'epic' :o. Have a good day everyone :D
    :jWeight loss to date 1st 11.5lb :j
  • Frugaldom
    Frugaldom Posts: 6,936
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    Hi guys, I've just updated the challenger list but suspect many, many of those names have vanished. Leaving it as is, just in case, but I won't have much time for updates, changes and posting on here.

    Hope nobody falls foul (or fowl? :D) of any jokes today.

    We now have blue sky, sunshine and a temp of about 1 degree. Bread's baking and washing's going out even if it freezes! :D I have now transfered the last scrapings from the money barrel and have managed to fill my 2009/10 ISA! Happy.gif and I believe that all is not lost for the eggs in the incubator, despite 16 hours without heat. I'll know for sure on Tuesday and if there's any hint of a pip or a squeak, chickcam will resume.
    I reserve the right not to spend.
    The less I spend, the more I can afford.


    Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 2024
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,615
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    Fingers crossed very firmly for the eggs.......

    I can't imagine coping without my electricity for 16 hours :eek: DS2 goes nuts/stir crazy after about 20 mins, at which point he heads back to bed due to not being able to play his RPGs rolleyes.gif
    Cheryl
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