Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

natnat13

That's fab Cranky, well done.
I walked again this morning and will at 12 to pick up DS2 and 3:15 to pick up DS1 and friends, I can't fit them all in the car anyway!
Not sure about weight loss, consumed rather too many vinos at the weekend so haven't stepped on the scales yet!
I have made buns and tidied up. Have found a good recipe for fridge biscuits, you make the mix and roll it into a sausage shape and wrap in foil. Then keep it in the fridge and cut slices off when you want to bake them off. It will last a week in the fridge and is meant to make 45 biscuits! Will give it a go and if it's good post the recipe up.
Nat x

seriouslyfrugal

Hi Everyone :hello:

today will be another NSD here :j

I carn't believe where january has gone but all has gone well this month which is good I have even managed to save a bit this month which is good considering the car insurance was due in January !!

tomorrow will be a spend day for me

I hope everyone is ok and have a good frugal week :T

SandraScarlett

Just had a catch up read, and I'm so pleased :j:j:j that I'm not the only one who reads a post, and can't recall the post it's referring to!! But I can remember several posts about misconstruing the written word, and couldn't agree more. :T It's so hard to show the "tone" of the written word, and from what I can remember (!), everyone here is really supportive.

I can remember that it's Minnie who has a funeral to attend, and I hope it all goes smoothly. I have a posh 40th Party to go to next month, and can either afford (a) a new outfit and a small gift or (b) an old outfit and a great gift.

Nobody is going to pay the slightest attention to me, so providing that I look clean, do my hair, paint my nails, and wear "party" jewellery, an old outfit will do fine, and I can afford a nice Debenhams Gift Card.

Good luck to everyone on this site. There is now only a week left till the end of the month, and here's hoping the contents of our freezers and fridges will stretch!

But even not, I bet that everybody has spent less, whether it's by £50 or 50p. I'm just pleased that I've been more creative with my shopping, that I've paid all my bills, and that I've got some extra money put by for when my proper Heating Williams arrive next month - I call them "Williams", cos they're far too big to be merely "Bills"!!

Any saving is better than no saving, or bigger spending, so a huge group pat-on-the-back - Didn't We Do Well!! :T

xx

sarah0404

Hello! I am a bit late, but I'd like to join. Looks like my "frugal" budget for the year is going to be about £15k :eek: This month is unfortunately a write off. My car had its MOT (needed £400 of repairs) and it needed road tax this month.

My budget is monthly, but my husbands pay and things like child benefit and tax credits are paid 4 weekly. I've based my monthly budget on the 4 weekly amount of income, so that leaves one of his 13 pays un-budgeted. In theory anyway... never seems to work like that in practice. This would mean I had a "spare!" £2k. Does anyone else budget monthly with 4 weekly pays or anyone have any ideas how I could do it? I just can't see how it would work.

I also need advice on my clothing budget. £70 a month = £840 a year = £140 per person. (2 adults and 4 children) Do you think this is an ok amount?

Thanks!

SandraScarlett

Oops, sorry, forgot (!!) to say Well Done Cheryl on your race, and Happy Birthday Cheryl and, er, um, Someone Else!!

xx

seriouslyfrugal

sarah0404 wrote: »

Hello! I am a bit late, but I'd like to join. Looks like my "frugal" budget for the year is going to be about £15k :eek: This month is unfortunately a write off. My car had its MOT (needed £400 of repairs) and it needed road tax this month.

My budget is monthly, but my husbands pay and things like child benefit and tax credits are paid 4 weekly. I've based my monthly budget on the 4 weekly amount of income, so that leaves one of his 13 pays un-budgeted. In theory anyway... never seems to work like that in practice. This would mean I had a "spare!" £2k. Does anyone else budget monthly with 4 weekly pays or anyone have any ideas how I could do it? I just can't see how it would work.

I also need advice on my clothing budget. £70 a month = £840 a year = £140 per person. (2 adults and 4 children) Do you think this is an ok amount?

Thanks!

Welcome sarah to the challenge in regard to how people budget some do a calender month others will do payday to payday which ever is easy for you on the first page of the thread there is Cheryl's spreadsheet( you can download) if you need it to keep an eye on your budgets !!

I know the others will be along later with lots of advice we are a friendly group and support each other so if we can help do ask

never_too_old

SandraScarlett wrote: »

But even not, I bet that everybody has spent less, whether it's by £50 or 50p. I'm just pleased that I've been more creative with my shopping, that I've paid all my bills, and that I've got some extra money put by for when my proper Heating Williams arrive next month - I call them "Williams", cos they're far too big to be merely "Bills"!!

Any saving is better than no saving, or bigger spending, so a huge group pat-on-the-back - Didn't We Do Well!! :T

xx

that made me lol

rolo-polo1965

rubytuesday wrote: »

I did take it wrongly I'm afraid because I know that a lot of people do actually do this.
Anyway all sorted now and time to move on I think.:)

Thank you Lizzie still tired but have been staying up too late reading the 'tough for six years thread'.

Has anyone cooked carrots for hours in a casserole type thing that stayed rock hard?!

When cooking a caserole in slow cooker i always boil casrrots in microwave in a jug of boiling water for 10 mins that way they are always nice and soft!

NualaBuala

sarah0404 wrote: »

Hello! I am a bit late, but I'd like to join. Looks like my "frugal" budget for the year is going to be about £15k :eek: This month is unfortunately a write off. My car had its MOT (needed £400 of repairs) and it needed road tax this month.

My budget is monthly, but my husbands pay and things like child benefit and tax credits are paid 4 weekly. I've based my monthly budget on the 4 weekly amount of income, so that leaves one of his 13 pays un-budgeted. In theory anyway... never seems to work like that in practice. This would mean I had a "spare!" £2k. Does anyone else budget monthly with 4 weekly pays or anyone have any ideas how I could do it? I just can't see how it would work.

I also need advice on my clothing budget. £70 a month = £840 a year = £140 per person. (2 adults and 4 children) Do you think this is an ok amount?

Thanks!

Welcome on board Sarah!
Don't worry about this month being a write-off. These things happen and my advice to you would be to record all your spending including the big expenses you had this month. It will help you in the long run to budget for big stuff like that and it's very useful to look back see where the money went!
The way I budget is I estimate my total income for a year and use the average amount per month. I also work out all my bills/expenses on a monthly basis too - e.g. even though some are weekly like food or yearly like TV licence, I still go with monthly amounts as that's how much I need to set aside. Sorry - am sure that all sounds very complicated! I think the best approach is just to do whatever makes sense for you!

cw18

NualaBuala wrote: »

The way I budget is I estimate my total income for a year and use the average amount per month. I also work out all my bills/expenses on a monthly basis too - e.g. even though some are weekly like food or yearly like TV licence, I still go with monthly amounts as that's how much I need to set aside.

I do the exact same thing, but my income is slightly complicated in that I have one lot that's paid monthly (next to last working day, so not even a set date) and one that's paid every 4 weeks..... I also get a small amount of WTC on a weekly basis.

It was worse before DS2 stopped being classed as a dependant child, as I also had CB on a weeky basis (but on a different day to CTC/WTC) and WPA on a weekly basis as well..... so I sometimes had money coming in on 4 days in the last week of the month !!!