Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1
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cw18
Posts: 8,624 Forumite
The following has been lifted from the first thread of the 2010 challenge - I felt that what Frugaldom (the originator of this challenge) had said covered everything I needed to cover as the current caretaker of the challenge
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 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...
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.
The bits we need to include to make this work
====================================
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 2011. The links will give you an idea of how previous challenges have gone.
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 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...
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.
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
Complete (MSE) cooking collection - Loads and loads and loads of recipes
Crafting for Christmas - homemade presents
Eggs, eggs, eggs - Frugaldom's '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 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
My FREE spreadsheet - where to download from
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
====================================
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 2011. The links will give you an idea of how previous challenges have gone.
Cheryl
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Comments
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saved to add a list of those taking part - I'll add names when people post on here, but if you're still missing after a couple of days please let me know
Lurkers are also more than welcome to say hello and be added - it's always nice to know who's following us
23rdspiral
2wildthing2
alec eiffel
angelaf
Annie56
apple_mint
Aril
artichoke
Barros
Blairweech
BlinkyTheHorse
cake21
ceridwen
cha97michelle
Cheapskate
chika
Chipps
CRANKY40
cw18
Dawning
Decluttering
diddly74
dizzy lizzie
Doom_and_Gloom
Ellidee
elly68
enjoyfinancialchallenges
Erme
gelmc
Georgiegirl2012
gien
gillst
glendam
grandma247
Green_Queen
fingersxed
Fishcake_Random
fizz
Floxxie
flying_fresian
franby64
freedom2011
frizz2
frugalbrunette
Frugaldom
Fruittea
goldrush1984
HelenPie
inspirespirit
itsallinthemind
jade86123
jammydodgersandrhl
jayII
JayneC
jess444
jo70mo
JustKeepSwimming
kayharcombe
kazire
Kerfuffle
Kerry Woman
kezlou
kittiej
Kiwisaver
knithappens
l.m.hart
landregistrylass
LauraM65
Laushappy
liloandstitch
lily288
Lily_The_Legend
lingojingo
LittleMissHappy
loislane999
LolaLemon
LollopyBear
lowspend2011
lynzpower
maccanut
Marru
midwinter
minnie2
miss empty piggy
mogan6
mommyof4
mongmoney
Mooloo
mummroysof3
Nancy888
nannyboo1
natnat13
Nichelette
NualaBuala
OCD
oldestgnome
Optimisticpair
pagangirl
patentgirl
Paulgonnabedebtfree
pink_numbers
pipersky
Puddleglum
rainbowcattail
redglass
rising from the ashes
roger ramjet
romylou
rozeepozee
rubytuesday
salski
SandraScarlett
saorsie
sarah0404
savingforarainyday
seriouslyfrugal
shebrett
silvasava
skint_chick
slowlyfading
slscarborough
Sorting it out
sparkle76
steerpiker
summertea
the_cat
thrifty
thriftylass
tumptyteapot
twiglet98
viv0147
xnatalie81x
youngmummy
Winchelsea
WonderfulLife
wornoutmumoftwo
(currently up to 135 names )Cheryl0 -
saved for me to add my budget
want to finalise my 2010 spends first, as I'm using these as a base for my 2011 budgetsCheryl0 -
Well just in to 2011 and all good so far, no spend as yet!:rotfl:
Good luck everyone:beer:0 -
Happy welcome to the new thread.
Good luck everybody.
No spends here either Shebrett, but then I am still in 2010:rotfl:0 -
£122 spent on council tax today. Super!
Total budget for the year is £10,0000 -
yayyy been waiting for the new thread so i can subscribe - Heres to a frugalicious new year for all of us x0
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Here we go, here we go, here we go!
Feeling all excited. I went and put my figures on the 'preparation' thread when they should really have gone on here, but never mind, it adds up to £7,282.18 (so far, with the odd figure still to be added in).
Must go and gloat over the massive stockpile of oats, pulses, cous-cous, pasta, tinned fish, tinned tomatoes, dried fruit and soap (I could set up shop!).'Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin now.' Goethe
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Happy New Year/thread everyone! Let the challenge commenceWe must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment0
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Well just in to 2011 and all good so far, no spend as yet!:rotfl:
Good luck everyone:beer:
Ha ha, brilliant start to the year! No spends here this decade either :rotfl:
HAPPY (FRUGAL) NEW YEAR EVERYONE _party_
Decided to try an all-in budget this year, £10500 :eek: but this includes mortgage, and hopefully EVERYTHING!!!!!
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*looks around* ooh, it's nice here on our new thread isn't it?
Am too tired to do it now but tomorrow I will be finalising my spreadsheet etc. Would love to start off 2011 with a NSD but we'll just have to see!
Night night everyone and Happy New Year! :jTrying to spend less time on MSE so I can get more done ... it's not going great so far!
Sorry if I don't reply to posts - I'm having MAJOR trouble keeping up these days!
Frugal Living Challenge 2011
Sealed Pot #671 :A DFW Nerd #11850
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