Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

elly68

hi all well if i stick to my £100 a week i will save £50 a week ,so happy with this for now . i will also make a concious effort to switch energy suppliers and take the cashback as well as switching off all lights opening curtains blinds ect as we are really bad or this .i also think wooly jumpers will be on and gas off lol

Erme

Anyhow just gone slightly over budget @ chinese supermarket...interesting to see what's vatted and what's not..

Here's what I got:-

No VAT added to the following

• Distilled vinegar - 5 litres = 3.20
• Cornflour - 3kg - 2.98
• Green Tea (40g) for present for someone (total spend on this present = 1.55 ) = 55p
• Soya milk malted - one carton - supermarket treat - 49p

VAT @ 17.5% included in the following

• Bicarb (3kg) - 3.50
• Washing soda @ 91p per kg - 2kg 1.82
  

TOTAL (inc vat) - 11.76

Fascinating to see bicarb having vat and washing soda....like what are you supposed to wash stuff with according the govt?

Doubt if all this will last me a year (though some of it might) but I simply haven't got space to store anymore
I'll catch up with posts when I wake up from my much needed NAP :T

Blessings

E

shebrett

Dawning wrote: »

Just wondering for anyone else who struggles being organised, how do you keep track of good tips etc that you read on MSE?
I subscribe to threads, but I know in a month's time when I've used up all my oven chips and want to try to make my own, I'll have forgotten this recipe and have to ask again.

Hi Dawning, I find the best way to keep track of the tips is to click on the post number (the number starting with a # symbol at the top of each persons post) and then it will open that single post in a fresh window. Then mark that page as a favourite and call it "homemade chips" or whatever the recipe is. Then you can open just that single recipe without scrolling through the boards whenever you want. It also helps to have a folder in your favourites labelled cheap recipes if you save as many as I do! :eek:

BinkyTheHorse

Quick post to say 'Hi' and to join in with the challenge as I've not caught up with this thread yet.

I did post my budget in the other thread, but will post it again here later as I have tweeked it a little (I have to go upstairs to get it and I'm snuggled under a fleece on the sofa at the moment so I don't want to move!)

I've downloaded Cheryls spreadsheet so will play with that in a bit (thank you, Cheryl, it looks fantastic ) I've not spent a penny so far this year but I've now run out of milk so I'm hoping that there may be some dried milk lurking in the back of the cupboard, rather than have to pop down the Co-op!

....off to catch up now.....

OCD

Hello, I am new to this site - but already think it is wonderful. I found this thread from a recommendation from skint_chick over on a £5k a year challenge thread.

I aim to spend no more than £5K (excluding rent and council tax). This may seem easy for some of you experienced money savers - but I think it will be a starting point ( a challenging one). When I have achieved it I hope to reduce the amount.

My motivations for this are increasing the amount I can save and reducing wastage. I think we already live fairly sensibly but there is room for improvement - and no better way to try than to set a target.

From the first post in this thread I already do the following to try and live frugally:
Spend within your means
Set a proper budget
Houseshare
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
Card & gift making
eBay trading

I do not plan to use any of the other methods, so will need to maximise savings and income via the methods I listed that I already use.

One thing I have noticed while budgeting is just HOW MUCH TRANSPORT COSTS.
I agree that use of a car is a luxury but I am thinking of ways to cut this down. I can reduce usage by using public transport, but I will find it hard to get rid of it completely as I need to make a journey which is not possible via public transport. sharing a car would be great

Does anyone know where I can post an SOA for people to look over and maybe suggest ways of reducing outgoings?

We are making a large batch of lasagne later - looking forward to it.

lynzpower

you could post your soa here or on the dfw board, we could take a look ?

Dawning

shebrett wrote: »

Hi Dawning, I find the best way to keep track of the tips is to click on the post number (the number starting with a # symbol at the top of each persons post) and then it will open that single post in a fresh window. Then mark that page as a favourite and call it "homemade chips" or whatever the recipe is. Then you can open just that single recipe without scrolling through the boards whenever you want. It also helps to have a folder in your favourites labelled cheap recipes if you save as many as I do! :eek:

That's brilliant, thanks, I hadn't realised you could open a single post in a fresh window. Yes I'll need to keep my favourites folders organised, I'm a right airhead most of the time. :rotfl:

alec_eiffel

Oh my goodness, we just went to the supermarket! I could not believe the prices! Fresh fruit and veg was ok (especially as lots of it was on 3 for 2) but dried food, pasta and things like that were sooooo expensive. So we didn't buy much. Luckily we have a few cheaper shops in town so I'll just have to look to them a bit more, then just pick my fresh stuff up at the supermarket and wait for special offers. Then it's just "do" instead of "buy". We've been looking at ways to cut back but there's not much before we start to hit "desperate measures" so we'll just see.

DH has had the bright idea of writing a list of what I consider to be good prices so he can have a look for things when he's at work, he works in a bigger town so there's more choice. We're going to be combining more chores into any car journeys we have to make too. Oh and if anyone needs to buy anything for the house we spoke to a manager at Dunelm Mill today and she thinks they're just going to absorb the costs of the VAT increase as they've heard nothing about prices going up.

In terms of keeping tips and recipes in a safe place. I can never be bothered to put the computer back on when I'm cooking so I write things onto a postcard and store them in a small photo album. The sleeve of the album keeps the cards clean and dry and it's always to hand. If something gets filed into favourites then it never gets looked at again!

Savvy_sewing

I havent sorted out the budget yet, but hoping to do so soon. I will probably fall off the wagon at some stage as I did last year. But the ethics of saving are now routed deep. I still say no to things that I would once buy. However I do buy magazines when I am bored.! Oops.
Spend a lot on Childrens comics for DGD too.! Must do better this year.

Edit. I have not been able to save the spreadsheet Cheryl as I dont have a proper Microsoft Office, only Microsoft Works Task thingy. So I will have to do it all the hard way! I had managed to enter my figures in, and apart from Rent it was already coming in on £12,000 plus. So I really will have to be rethinking, as I know that due to getting Taxcredits for my son, my council will eventually catch up with my reassed claims (I have told them of my changes in circumstances, but they still havent sorted it out). My rent is £95.67 a week, plus I will have the back log to clear which will go back to September! when I was in the other house! at £500 a month rent.
My Car is Poorly sick, and the budget for the repair of that is really unknown!

NualaBuala

Hi everyone :wave:

Hope you're all having a nice frugal day! All going well, today should be my 3rd NSD in a row. :j

This thread is moving fast so I will catch up in dribs and drabs throughout the day I think.

itsallinthemind wrote: »

Must be, all the Thervadas I know are very frugal(still generous though):D

Very true! Thank you - you have reminded me of an inspiring week I spent in a Theravadan monastery last year - it was a real lesson in generosity. Everything was done on the basis of generosity - nothing was charged for, everything was freely given and all donations were given in the same spirit. Do you know Amaravati, it's near Hemel Hempstead ... that's where I was and it was beautiful. I hope to go back some time health and finances permitting. In fact one reason for me trying to be frugal throughout the year is so I can afford to do things like that once in a while.

2wildthing2 wrote: »

Wow how fast is this thread moving. Had a NSD yesterday and was heading for the second NSD of the year, when I discovered that my 10 year old daughter had head lice, so a trip to the chemist was in order. That will be another line that I need to add to the budget - medication...........hope everyone is happy and well............more snow on the way here on Friday...............

I was watching Edwardian Farm or one of those things and Ruth said that she used oil. It works the same way as the silicone based products like Hedrin that basically block the "pores" so the lice can't "breathe".

EFC, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat, hope she will recover ok. That's stressful about the costs but what can you do. Hope you will be able to manage by cutting back some other place in your budget. And fingers crossed - the insurance might cover more than you think. Oh and I LOVE your invention for dealing with the touchpad! Now that is proper MSE inventiveness!!!


Right - off to read a bit more, will be back in a while no doubt!