Frugal Living 2010 -The Cost of Living Challenge, INTRO

cw18

Another member here who knows Abakhan in Manchester very well. I used to work a 5-10 minute walk from them, so was a pretty regular 'visitor' - but I mainly went in for the crafting section (and buttons/ribbons from the habadashery to use in my crafting)

XSpender

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Xspender

are you sure it is possible to bring it down further ,maybe your goal is unrealistic?

Is it food budget or takeaway budget that can't be cut down? we used to have a takeaway every friday and go out for sunday lunch every week approx £40 week just there.

Why don't you tell us what you eat/ cook/ buy now and we can make suggestions for alternatives.

I have spent approx £66.80/week over the last 7.5 weeks this excludes dog food and anything bought specifically for Christmas. This is about the average I would say. It does include toiletries and cleaning stuff, alcohol for DH (about £5 week) and a happy hour pizza once a month (about £15) I use value loo roll, tinned toms, discount dw tablets and try buy special offers. I did stock up on value tissues, dw tablets and shower gel last month and tried to use up my freezer stocks. I also got my first bottle of Stardr0ps and am impressed with it so far.

There is just me and DH, with a baby due early May. We both work FT and I am often away with work, long travelling days or 1 or 2 night overnight stays including flights so this incurs some extra costs as I have to buy drinks, lunch although evening meals are paid for by the company.

DH eats meat and fish and I eat neither, we also eat a lot of fruit but tend to eat frozen veg except for carrots and potatoes. I don’t buy ready meals but will buy sausages and quorn sausages, pieces etc. I also don’t ever seem to get any whoopsies, I have a look but there are never any huge savings to be had when I go so I don’t bother getting anything.

I shop to a list but then we nip to the shop for a couple of bits and spend £20, especially if DH is there. I make my own bread about 90% of the time. We don’t eat crisps, cakes etc unless I make the odd batch of twinks. We have had a takeaway once in the last 7.5 weeks at the cost of a tenner, doesn't happen very often.

I like to cook but am pregnant at the moment so energy levels are a bit low. If I make a veggie chilli or shepherds pie I make enough for three meals and DH loves my HM soup. I have tried bulking out but it never seems to make any extra. I have 2 freezers but have got out of the habit of keeping a record of what is in them and I know there is a lot of meat in there for DH.

My goal is to spend £2080 on food, £30 on toiletries and £60 on household stuff next year. This will not include anything for our baby who will be b/f and in reusable nappies. Dog food is in a separate budget and I am hoping to use vouchers and my change pots to meet all the costs of Christmas and December 2010 food and drink (and prezzies!!:D)

Any suggestions about how I can achieve this would be fantastic or am I being unrealistic in my budget/expecting such a dramatic change by next month??

Apologies for the long post!

XS

cw18

XSpender wrote: »

Any suggestions about how I can achieve this would be fantastic or am I being unrealistic in my budget/expecting such a dramatic change by next month??

I saw the biggest drop in grocery spending when I gained easy access to Whoopsie shopping. When I worked full-time I had neither the time nor the energy to hunt them down, but when I was off sick (back problems that were worst when static, so encouraged to stay mobile/go for plenty of short walks) I started hitting the local supermarkets several times a day (we had a C00p and a Somerflds within a 10 minute walk at that point)

These bargains tailed off as I returned to work, but shot back up when I was put on gardening leave and then made redundant.

I'm now working again, but in our local Mr M (they took over Somerflds, and our C00p has since closed) and I check the reduction sections (and shelves I know will be checked for dates later in the evening) as I leave work. I often pick up some bits (mostly chilled) at that point, and regularly go back down 45 mins before closing (probably twice a week) to check what's left in the chilled and pick up bread/cake bargains.

I've also been known to stock up on the veg offers at A!di (or in Whoopsies elsewhere), then blanche and freeze them for later in the month/year. (Mainly carrots, cauli and brocolli). I also buy the huge punnets of mushrooms and freeze what I'm not using immediately (small ones go in whole, larger ones get sliced or diced first), especially when I find these in Whoopsie


If you live within easy walking distance of anywhere that could have good deals/bargains, then I'd suggest making the best of them when you're off on MaternityLeave - especially after having the baby. The fresh air/walk will probably do the pair of you the world of good (I always felt good after a walk out with the pram when mine were little, but don't expect to be able to do too much in the first few weeks/couple of months), and you'll have the pram to load up rather than having to struggle carrying bags like I do


The following figures are for FOOD & DRINKS ONLY, with no alcohol and no eating out or take-aways (only done that once, and that was a fast food meal for me on elder GDs birthday). Like you, my pet food is a different budget too.

So far in 2009 I've spent £1253.38 on groceries (weekly average of £24.93), but of that £391.59 has been on Whoopsies that had a 'real' value of £1437.54.

So, had I paid full price for everything and not 'down shifted' any of the Whoopsie items, I'd have spent pennies under £2,300 since 1st Jan (weekly average of £45.73).

This has fed myself and younger DS full time (other than lunches on his college days, which he buys from his EMA), 21 main meals for my younger GD, after school snacks for both GDs (102 for the younger one, 155 for the elder one) and 75 days of feeding elder DS when he's been home on leave.


Toiletries and cleaning have come in at £141.66 so far this year (weekly average of £2.82), but I reckon at least a third of this is going to carried into 2010 (probably closer to half)

XSpender

Thank you so much for your reply Cheryl. I think that I do need to increase my food budget for 2010 as, looking at your before whoopsie figures which exclude alcohol, takeaways and eating out, I am being totally unrealistic about what I can achieve when working FT and pregnant or when the baby arrives. I will look to reduce my spending from what I spent in 2009 as I believe there is some room for improvement but not down as far as I was hoping in my current circumsstances. There is room in my budget to move some money from other categories and I will move any money spent on takeaways and eating out into my 'entertainment' budget.

I do have a Mr S which would be about a 2.5 mile round trip on the flat which I am looking forward to walking with the baby. There is also a Mr T about a 3 mile round trip but 1.5 mile of that is up a huge hill:eek: I ran a marathon in May this year so a good walk every day will help me get my fitness and figure back!

Savvy_sewing

Cheryl you amaze mewith the details. I really dont/havent analysed things so finely. Would like to but wouldnt really know where to begin.
I am looking at my budget differently, now that I have DGD for at least the next 2 months!. DS is still borrowing money", and I must remember to record it this coming year, and what he eventually gives me for Board and lodgings!. He is yet to cough anything up.
This years budget has changed so many times, I really havent kept a proper record!. But so have my circumstances. From working to ESA, living with 8 of us, to two, now back up to 3. Hopefully next year will be a little better, and after February we will know how many of us are going to be living here!. Or indeed if we have got to move!.

cw18

Mooloo wrote: »

Cheryl you amaze mewith the details. I really dont/havent analysed things so finely. Would like to but wouldnt really know where to begin.

All spreadsheeted

I loved Maths at school (always my favourite and strongest subject), and I worked in IT from Sept 1985 to Nov 2008. So sitting and mapping out what I wanted to keep track of from what data I would have available (and then converting it into a workable spreadsheet) wasn't toooooo big a job for me, as that's the way my brain seems to function. Setting it up initially for 2009 took a while, but adapting it in the early weeks of the year (and adapting further for 2010) hasn't taken long at all.

Means I can pull things like my weekly averages by just adding a simple formula into my 'totals' page

Kiwisaver_2

I have done my last bits of shopping before Christmas - woohooo! Such a good feeling and I am so glad it's all over. It's been very hard work, I've been shopping everyday this week, making sure I got everything I could as cheaply as possible. If I saved a bit on one thing, I added something else to the list to make sure I spent all my December budget. I still have $10 (about 4 quids) to play with for emergency bread or milk situations.

So I'm well stocked up and not planning on going near anymore shops until the New Year and at least have one spare of most basic things I use regularly and going into the 2010 challenge with a good start rather than a bare cupboard.

I did my first Quidco purchase and booked a rental car for our trip home and was so excited to see it worked and tracked already. I'm so chuffed to see 30 odd pounds sitting there, which will go towards next year's Christmas shopping. :T

I'll be off air for a while, so hope you all have an enjoyable Christmas and look forward to catching up with you all in the New Year. I can't wait to get started on the challenge.

skintjenny

I am feeling very proud of myself today after having to skip breakfast due to inability to get out of bed... the radio kept saying it was snowy and to not leave the house!
Anyway, I managed to walk past the 3 cafes on the street I work on without going into one for a hot chocolate and crumpets! Then I got into work, had a hot chocolate in the kitchen (free) and a cheese toastie using stuff we had left over... not the healthiest of breakfasts, but cheap

skintjenny

cw18 wrote: »

When I turn off the TV (or in the case of the downstairs one, press the standy button on the remote) they turn off the power to all the appliances in the 'socket' (other than the two I can over-ride if I've flicked the switch on those).

When I turn on the TV again (or in the case of the downstairs one, press the standy button on the remote - no need to cross the living room at all with this one) the appliances all power back up.

It's as if you've actually switched all the appliances off at the mains, but you only have to press one button to do it. And it's a one button action to turn them all back on at the mains too. Means people (myself included) really can't be too lazy to bother switching off things that won't be used for a few hours (or days, or even weeks in the case of the ones in my craft room)


ETA: This is the one I have downstairs, and this is the one I have upstairs (officially a desktop PC version, but they also do a TV version with a sensor which works from a remote control like the one I have downstairs). I got both mine for free (bar the cost of a newspaper for the downstairs one), so keep an eye peeled for promotions would be my advice

Wow that is so clever! I'm going to look out for some of these as I'm really bad for falling asleep with the lap top left on and just shutting the lid... plus my mum could do with one cos the plugs for her tv are really hard to get to- will be looking for some promotions now!

cw18

They do say they're not suitable for use with a laptop - but that's only for having it as the 'main' piece of equipment as far as I can tell.

So I can use a desktop to power down my printer and external hard drive at the same time, but NOT my laptop. But I've had the laptop as a 'secondary' piece with the downstairs TV for a few months now with no problem.