Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

Kerfuffle

minnie2 wrote: »

ok so i need to catch up properly!! been having a catch up on our money too - not been on the ball last few days. But i have worked out thats this will be the first month that i dont have to worry about finding money just to cover our bills!!! and i am now trying to work out some consolidation wihich wil help us budget better and have a better monthly outcome - think i may be able to get rid of 6 agreements etc - will pay a bit off each too but the rest will be consolidation but only one payment etc! i am in no way promoting it etc but by doing this we should actually be able to keep much better track of money and pay it off quicker! its interest free for 17months - and am working out a plan aiming to pay it all by 17months. I have managed to pay £100 off one card when its usually £25 and am about to write the letters to close a few accounts and agreements!

Hi Minnie,

I'm so pleased to hear that you're feeling much more in control of your money and that your situation isn't as desparate as it seemed.

*********

Well done everybody for all their hard work keeping within their budgets. This thread is certainly helping me to keep on the straight and narrow.

My overall impression is the same as last week, I'm still slightly over my spending budget, and very much under my savings goal, but still very optimistic for the months ahead.

Toodles

fingersxed

Hi Everybody

Just wanted to stop by and say my wormery is doing well!! This is my first year at it and although we have put it in the greenhouse during winter, the weather has been so harsh that really expected to ave to start over with new worms. But couldn't believe it when ilifted the lid off and there they all were wriggling away!! Makes me shiver everytime, even though I'm wearing me rubber gloves!!! A wimp I know. Its even worse when i have to empty bottom drawer out of compost. I start off all brave and end up shuddering and squealing like the girl I am. Makes the hubby feel big n strong though!!!

Also a BIG thank you to Cheryl and her spreadsheet. Absolutely fab. This has really opened my eyes. Although sometimes i would rather just peep through one eye. Haha. The total we ave spent on everything this month is unbelieveable, also unprintable!! but at least I now know why we are always skint!! But this is going to improve this year.

Happy weekend

cw18

fingersxed wrote: »

Also a BIG thank you to Cheryl and her spreadsheet. Absolutely fab. This has really opened my eyes. Although sometimes i would rather just peep through one eye. Haha. The total we ave spent on everything this month is unbelieveable, also unprintable!! but at least I now know why we are always skint!! But this is going to improve this year.

Really pleased to hear you're finding it useful

And I guess the first stage of any exercise to reduce outgoings is figuring out where all the money currently goes - hopefully you'll be able to look at it with both eyes wide open before too long

youngmummy

hi all hope everyone is ok.
ive been very cheeky today!!! A family member has brought a new dishwasher because there old one leaked slightly (tiny puddle it makes) so i have asked if we could buy it off them. they dont want anythink for it and considering i was going too buy one when i had the money later on it the year its saved be over £100 if id brought one brand new :j:j!!!! im really chuffed. im also saving money on my electric as ive stopped using my tumble dryer:T im doing well so far !!!
xxx

apple_mint

Good morning everyone :wave:

Did the other half of my weekly shop on Friday (first half was in Tesco's on Thursday). The Lidl shop came in at £10.57. I did pop some storecupboard items into the trolley. Not 'needed' but spaves. The large fairy liquids were 99p so I added another 2 to my stock. I've noticed things jumping in price here and there so I'm going to keep well stocked up, so that I can wait for offers. I also got 6 tins of mackerel in tomato sauce @ 59p a tin. They've not had them in for a while. They are great for packed lunches. I already have a few in stock but again I'm keeping stocked up in order to cover the times when they are not available.

Hopefully I'll get to the end of the month without spending anything else, so I'll be below budget and going into February with full freezers and well stocked up. For the purposes of this challenge I'm sticking to calendar monthly, but I get paid mid month. I still have money in the food budget for the first half of February and I have underspent elsewhere.

This thread is keeping me really motivated. A big thank you to everyone for helping each other to keep going :j I know it is early days but having a challenge to track what I'm spending is making more of difference than I thought. I know we'll have some bad months but I'm really looking forward to seeing what the year's spend profile will look like. Having followed MSE for around 6 years I thought I was pretty good with the budget, but actually I've been gradually slipping. Not living beyond our means but buying little bits and pieces that were not really needed. I'm beginning to feel as though we are getting back on track now though

mooomin

Morning folks

Well I had a very enjoyable day yesterday, although perhaps not the most frugal I could have managed. We're going to be eating well for days though!

I met a friend at our local farmer's market in the morning and spent £14.20 there. For that I got a lovely loaf, a couple of cakes, tatties, fresh herbs, two massive leeks and my personal favourite - garlic cheese and oatcakes. Although it was quite a lot of money to spend on such a small amount of food, the quality is amazing. The cakes are gone (not surprising really!) but I'm making tattie soup later on, using neck of lamb as the base for the stock, and will throw the leeks in there too. Whatever we have for dinner will have mashed potato with garlic cheese through it as I've done this before and it was tasty. The soup will be very frugal as the lamb was free

I also spent £10.42 in Aldi which got me things like ham, cooking sauces, pasta, juice and so on. Again, more than I would normally spend but all for useful things. I now have cupboards which are absolutely groaning and shouldn't need to buy more than milk, bread and fresh fruit for a while.

The big spend yesterday was the renewal of my annual cinema pass - £162 :eek: As I paid using my credit card though I will get Clubcard points which does make me feel slightly better. I keep all the tickets too so I can figure out how much value I'm getting for it. It's now £7.90 per film at my local 'World of Cine'so if I go 21 times in the year then it's moneysaving. That's two films a month. Yesterday I went to see N.E.D.S with my friend and we're off to see Tangled today, so that's January's value sorted

Other frugal things yesterday were selling Mr Fresian's old phone for £39 + 75p cashback on Quidco and joining my local library. I read really quickly and get annoyed when I spend £7 on a book that's read in a day. I now have three books to read this week and have spent nothing!

Hmmm....quite a long post from me. Better shut up now :rotfl:

SandraScarlett

youngmummy wrote: »

hi all hope everyone is ok.
ive been very cheeky today!!! A family member has brought a new dishwasher because there old one leaked slightly (tiny puddle it makes) so i have asked if we could buy it off them. they dont want anythink for it and considering i was going too buy one when i had the money later on it the year its saved be over £100 if id brought one brand new :j:j!!!! im really chuffed. im also saving money on my electric as ive stopped using my tumble dryer:T im doing well so far !!!
xxx

Well done you! :T :T Even if your little leak (leek) grows into a big onion! (:rotfl:) you'll have the benefit of it. Tumble dryers eat electric, so that's a great saving. Glad you're giving yourself a well-deserved pat on the back!

xx

SandraScarlett

One of my favourite shows is "Les Miserables" and there's a terrific rousing song in it called "One Day More", and that's all we've got now. And then - it's the end of the month. :j

This has to be one of the nicest and friendliest threads on MSE, with a huge age range of posters. As one of the More Mature Members, I'm amazed at how many simple, but effective tips I've picked up, both with cooking and other things.

I re-read a lot of the earlier posts, and there was a definite feeling of worry, running through, whereas now we have hope, joy, and achievement, which just goes to show how effective group support can be. :T

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your lives and your tips, some of which I would never have thought of in a million years (grating frozen pastry springs to mind!) and for those who've had a tough month, don't give up - just give it a month or 2 longer.

One Day More!

xx

apple_mint

SandraScarlett wrote: »

One of my favourite shows is "Les Miserables" and there's a terrific rousing song in it called "One Day More", and that's all we've got now. And then - it's the end of the month. :j

This has to be one of the nicest and friendliest threads on MSE, with a huge age range of posters. As one of the More Mature Members, I'm amazed at how many simple, but effective tips I've picked up, both with cooking and other things.

I re-read a lot of the earlier posts, and there was a definite feeling of worry, running through, whereas now we have hope, joy, and achievement, which just goes to show how effective group support can be. :T

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your lives and your tips, some of which I would never have thought of in a million years (grating frozen pastry springs to mind!) and for those who've had a tough month, don't give up - just give it a month or 2 longer.

One Day More!

xx

I love your posts SandraScarlett You're right, the posts are more positive. I've just got to try the frozen pastry trick. This is how it is going to go today. I've had a goulash cooking in the slow cooker overnight (stick with me, I'll get there eventually :rotfl:). OH chopped meat off a couple of lamb joints and we got a couple of pounds of meat for this. There was still plenty of bits of meat and on the bones so this going into the slow cooker today and then we'll pick off the cooked meat (stock for use later). I'll make some pastry this morning. This evening I'll make up some small pies. I'll fill them with the bits of cooked lamb, some chopped onion, mint sauce, cooked potatoes and perhaps some baked beans if I need to stretch the filling further. The cut off pastry from the edges of the plates will be rolled into little ball and .... popped into the freezer Then I can do the frozen pastry trick :T

Sounds a lot of work but it isn't really. OH is really getting into this challenge and we spent yesterday afternoon in the kitchen batch cooking and singing along to 70's and 80's music playing on the radio. Doing things together really speeds things up. I made up 4 lots of sausages and gravy to have as ready meals (now in the freezer) whilst OH sorted the meat for the goulash. Last night we prepped the veggies put everything in the slow cooker and this morning we have the goulash to box up for more freezer meals.

never_too_old

Grrr im so frustrated, for the last month i have gone through all my expenses .some cant be changed some could.
one which could be altered was my mobile phone,currently charged £10 month for iphone insurance, checked with my bank and they could do it for £6.95,great i thought set it up online form sent, phoned bank this morning because i didnt hear anything back and was informed all up and running im insured. phoned 02 to cancel insurance and it takes a month so feb im going to be paying two lots, not very frugal.
thats my rant over for today.
im now transfering all my details to cheryls spreadsheat,kept looking at it and wondering how it worked(kept looking at instructions) didnt see the tabs at the bottom to actually get to the pages.
A friend gave dh a huge piece of venison yesterday (hes the only one that likes it) came home pleased and said this should save us some money, cut some off yesterday (feels tough) and slow cooked it, my house now stinks.