Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

frugalbrunette

Good morning all

I must take off this months direct debits and spends so far from my totals today.

The one thing that is bugging me is DH and mine mobile phone amounts. Absolutely ridiculus amounts of money yearly. Tied in till nex Feb but after that i'll be doing some serious thinking.

Have a good day

minnie2

sorry about single replies but now know how to double quote so will give it ago

me and hubby are looking into getting rid of a car!!

i had two free food days at weekend was bought my food via work saturday and got paid in food payment for helping out a friend yesterday!! so yay!! also hubby ate at his mums yesterday too!!

i have put a few items on ebay so we shall see if they sell!!

had nearly a nsd yesterday but i forgot milk - so paid out 45p plus with change of plan i had to drive to my friends and put petrol in so that was £9.91

brought frozen left overs for lunch havent got any drink though so may hve to force myself to just drink water!!! also need to put more petrol in car as i am at work today and driving about.

going to check over my totals soon! think we are doing well!

but i have to renew driving licence which is £20 plus photo cost and i need car tax and the longer one is better value at £110 i think but its £60.50 i think for 6months so im very torn!! argh cars are so much money!!

CRANKY40

Plans for today are to drag out the Wii fit board and get it set up. I cancelled my gym membership last November as I only ever went swimming.

I also need to venture into the kitchen, evict something from the freezer for dinner tonight, and have a go at turning some raw ingredients into proper food. I did make a chocolate cake yesterday, but we spent Sunday afternoon with friends, and the cake was very popular. Cherry scones today I think, before I eat all of the glace cherries on their own.

I'm not really into the NSD thing. I would rather spend a few pennies every day and save in the long run, than not spend anything all week and then go mad on day 8. I also use a double cash book to keep track of my bank account (as well as Cheryl's excellent spreadsheet for everything else). At the start of the month I write down all money coming in and total it up, then I write down all of the direct debits that I know are going out. I write down any other possible expenses, like 2 x £25.00 for petrol, an amount each week for food and an amount each week to be withdrawn in cash for day to day stuff. That way I always know how much I can afford to spend if any extras appear, and I just tick everything off as it leaves my bank account. Boring and square yes, but it works. I used to do it for my late dh too, and he loved being able to ask me how much he had left, because he always knew if he was able to spend anything.

Take care all of you.

lynzpower

Morning minnie and everyone else :wave:

Minnie- it sounds like a nightmare. Could you suggest getting a lodger in your new house to bring money in? Maybe OH might not like the idea that your privacy and your new home is at risk here unless someone cuts back! Cars are so expensive, although I love driving there is no way I need one here in london luckily,nor could we afford it! I feel so sorry for anyone who HAS to drive

Anyway, not partic frugal one for me, Ive printed my pizza express voucher ( def need ink soon) and I am merrily cramming away for exam this afternoon ( and another in the morning, then to the pub, uh oh)

I have half a chicken in the fridge ( I have frozen some shreds for a pizza topping) and not sure what to do with the rest of it. Anyhow I might jsut make soups of it ( really go for it and do a chicken & sweetcorn and a chicken hot spicy noodle broth chinesey style) as I think I can save a lot of lunch money this way with the soups. ( and slimming world friendly for when I start it up again, not long I dont think)

I feel like having something that takes zero effort for tea, so Ill get a chilli out of the freezer we have T chips, c fraiche and other bits and dont need to buy anything else. I have another exam in the morning so tonight I suspect I need to do a bit more work!

Hope everyone has a lovely day xx

And erme I hope you feel better, and Im excited for you with your growing on your allotment, I need to get cracking on this garden asap after my exams are over.

lynzpower

I'm not really into the NSD thing. I would rather spend a few pennies every day and save in the long run, than not spend anything all week and then go mad on day 8.

Agreed, d rather have a spendy day and buy milk at iceland than wait till the next day buy it from Mr tes at 50% more per bottle!

Altough i like the idea of NSD making you think- do I NEED anything

alec_eiffel

lynzpower wrote: »

Agreed, d rather have a spendy day and buy milk at iceland than wait till the next day buy it from Mr tes at 50% more per bottle!

Altough i like the idea of NSD making you think- do I NEED anything

I agree, it's good to have the lure of a NSD to make me think. DH often picks up things we need on the way home from work, as even if he gets milk from M&S that's still going to be cheaper than me walking into the town for it. He will only ever buy what's on the list - unless there is a super amazing deal, whereas I will see things I like the look of. So an extra 2p for milk has the potential to save pounds over the course of the year.

Have a good day everyone.

never_too_old

Had to go to Mr M on way back from school for bread as my breadmaking skills are a bit hit and miss at the moment:mad:
spent £ 4.71.Also have shopping coming from Mr T this afternoon around £ 55 spent , meals planned:D
but i must not buy anymore food until this lot has gone , i read somewhere on here about making your shopping last an extra day, i want to do this.
i have put on my spreadsheet £400 for food shopping for january,£100 a week but jans along month , i would love to be way under this so i have more to just pay debts off,
Loads of great advice on here i have bookmarked loads,
like a few on here i struggle with DH he hates turning lights off , moans about being cold and wont look at the spreadsheet,he works hard when work is there and feels he deserves his beer because of this,maybe seeing how much he spends a month might actually scare him into cutting back, well you can live in hope.
well done to everyone for sticking to this, heard on radio that vast majority of resolutions are broken by the 6th jan, so we are all doing well.:j

itsallinthemind

I'm loving trying the NSD's myself for a few reasons. It is exposing the children to the co-op less, whilst they are not children that want a great deal-It is hard to say no to children wanting grapes, when you have apples and bananas at home. Sweets yes-fruit no! I only have one shop locally(bar deli, butcher etc) so there is no price difference on a different day.

However, If the shop does not have what I want, I will go another day. If my whoopsie haul was low, I would try the next few days. If on Friday there are no whoopsies, I will try agin the next day. I've been menu planning from what I have found whoopsied and that has worked so far, next month I may find there are no so many on fresh fruit and veg and meal plan from the stock cupboard.

For me, it is keeping me out of temptation(and cheese's) way and keeping this months spends down. Next month may see me making small purchases each day. I think it is a good idea, but that it is best you adopt flexibility so that it does not end up costing you more.

Today we are having the pasta bake type thing for Dinner. I'm going to make some minestrone for lunch as the children are now having a nap. Will do a big batch of it to alternate for lunch as the child that is fussy, seems to think it is simply red soup with pasta and some coloured bits. Hopefully should keep rickets at bay That's pasta twice in a way, but I fancy Minestrone, never mind!

I need to have a sort out of my cupboards tonight, I'm thinking of popping near to date bits in a box and that way I will use first, seems a lot of things expire shortly. Not that I stick to dates, but I think it best, or I'll turn round it 12 months time with a lot of old stuff in the cupboards. I'll have to bake whilst I am in the kitchen tonight, it is a freezing kitchen!

alec_eiffel

l.m.hart wrote: »

Had to go to Mr M on way back from school for bread as my breadmaking skills are a bit hit and miss at the moment:mad:
spent £ 4.71.Also have shopping coming from Mr T this afternoon around £ 55 spent , meals planned:D
but i must not buy anymore food until this lot has gone , i read somewhere on here about making your shopping last an extra day, i want to do this.
i have put on my spreadsheet £400 for food shopping for january,£100 a week but jans along month , i would love to be way under this so i have more to just pay debts off,
Loads of great advice on here i have bookmarked loads,
like a few on here i struggle with DH he hates turning lights off , moans about being cold and wont look at the spreadsheet,he works hard when work is there and feels he deserves his beer because of this,maybe seeing how much he spends a month might actually scare him into cutting back, well you can live in hope.
well done to everyone for sticking to this, heard on radio that vast majority of resolutions are broken by the 6th jan, so we are all doing well.:j

We used to do that, it was an idea I got from my grandmother who waited an extra day each week to collect her pension so eventually she'd end up collecting two lots at once. We would shop a day later each week so we'd end up "absorbing" a week along the line. But the important thing was to just plan to buy for 7 days not 8, so the 8th day really was a case of using everything up. We kept some bread in the freezer and a packet of powdered milk in for emergencies but it usually went well.

Erme

minnie2 wrote: »

sorry about single replies but now know how to double quote so will give it ago

me and hubby are looking into getting rid of a car!!

i had two free food days at weekend was bought my food via work saturday and got paid in food payment for helping out a friend yesterday!! so yay!! also hubby ate at his mums yesterday too!!

i have put a few items on ebay so we shall see if they sell!!

had nearly a nsd yesterday but i forgot milk - so paid out 45p plus with change of plan i had to drive to my friends and put petrol in so that was £9.91

brought frozen left overs for lunch havent got any drink though so may hve to force myself to just drink water!!! also need to put more petrol in car as i am at work today and driving about.

going to check over my totals soon! think we are doing well!

but i have to renew driving licence which is £20 plus photo cost and i need car tax and the longer one is better value at £110 i think but its £60.50 i think for 6months so im very torn!! argh cars are so much money!!

It's easy just press the icon with the double quotation bubbles

Well got my fixation of yesterday ..my carpet shampooer reduced from £24.99 to £9.99 in mr L.

At work but it's freezing so hope they let me go home soon cos am tired and it's so cold I can barely type

Also tried the spot cleaner again this am from Savvy homemade and pleased to say it really does work..:A

Everything is going bust here @ training scheme...think I could be going home quite shortly ...yay have recovery plan to sort out for tomorrow's meeting with new support team and also cards to make

Tomorrow though is giro day ...but it's all already accounted for on the Erme spreadsheet...

but then you knew I'd say that

E