Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

midwinter

flying_fresian wrote: »

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:

Well done for joining the library, that will be a big saving for you! I can't get to my library at home, they're closed on my days off, but have joined the library in the town I work in, and no problems doing so, even though it's in a different county!

Re the cinema pass, if you decide it's not paying its way, or to augment it, why not check BBC iPlayer? Each week they screen several different films that you may have missed on television. They wont be the most recent films of course, but I've seen some lovely films over the last few months.

Enjoy your sunday frugalists

CRANKY40

I started using our library at the same time as I gave up buying magazines. Books are much more interesting. I also had to finally put petrol in the car on Friday as the fuel light came on. as the tank is now three quarters full, I am hoping that I will get through February on just half of what I have budgeted to put in. That's if the weather isn't too cold to walk the house elf to school.

midwinter

l.m.hart wrote: »

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.

A little blip with the phone insurance, but the change will save you money longterm

And I sympathise with the aversion to the cooking smells left in your house, hope the air's cleared soon!

miss_empty_piggy

Finally worked out how much I have spent in January last night and it's not pretty. Don't know why I put it off for so long, head in the sand probably, but at least I've done it now. This month is going to be tight as January's budget started from 23/12/10 and I stupidly spent loads on last minute "must have" xmas presents, thus resulting in a nearly £300 overspend to start the month off with!!! I have made some money from ebay which will help to offset this (although I was hoping to save this for our summer holidays) but it's not all I need and also my car needs taxing tomorrow. Better get some more things listed on ebay and try to make some more cash. I know that eventually during the year things will start to look better, and I am trying to remain optimistic. Food budget for last month came in at over £300 also, so there is plenty of food in the cupboards for my little chicks, so we won't starve!!! We might not have any furniture coz I'm going to sell it, but we'll not starve!!!!!

Happy sunday everyone. x

mummyroysof3

Since i did my budget ive managed to speak to BT to change my package on a deal they were doing so are payments will be £15-£20 less per month, i have canceled sky movies, we have lowered our food budget. Hubby has agreed to have a monthly spend limit for breakfasts at work and anything he wants at £60 per month, if he has any left it will lower the llowing months as it will just be topped up, i will be having £30 plus the tesco DVD rental for me and the kids will continue. This will mean we have some money left every month, which we can build up for savings and yearly payment such as car insurance without resorting to credit cards or paying them monthly and we have a better idea where our money is going.

I find it a little confusing to work it all out sometimes as we have 3 payments go in per month(hubbys wages, tax credits and child benefits) but payments coming out are monthly except for lotto and mine and hubbys spending money.

Erme

dizzy_lizzie wrote: »

That's great minnie. Wasn't that long ago when you were feeling a bit despondant about it all but look what's happened because you stuck at it. Well done!



Good on yah spiral Exactly what I did yesterday regarding a sweet little Beswick ornament. Any other time I would have thought 'well I like so I'll buy it' But I resisted, thanks to everyone on here :A



Ooh that would have been such a dilemma though ruby And I bet you'd have bought things you didn't really need just because they were 50p then you'd have felt rotten about it...wouldn't you? The willow pattern plate sounds lovely and a bargain

Not done much up to now this weekend. Cleaned the fridge yesterday, finished off some crochet bunting this morning and then popped into town with OH for a few bits. Bought this book from a charity shop 'A Dog is Listening' it looks really interesting.
Picked DD up at 4.45 am this morning so planning on having a rest tonight as she's sleeping out so don't have to worry about staying awake to pick her up! I did get my ironing done though in the dead of the night
Not done a menu yet for next week so better get that sorted and then shop for it...may have to try an online shop, I've been threatening to do that for a long time!
Hope the link works, haven't done of of those before like that. Thanks cw, followed your instructions
Luv dizzy x
♥

Didn't know I had a fellow crocheter (occaisonal knitter) on here :j...what utter bliss. I spent 11 months last year making a Barn raising afghan for my £5 (inc delivery...the manager was having an off day ) sofa cos I couldn't find any throws I liked at the right price... It looks so fab

What exactly do you crochet? I personally am a great fan of US granny blankets and have LOADS of patterns I got off ebay years ago I'm loathe to throw out. I just use DK...though occaisonally I will dip into knitting when I have to and am currently on my 2nd pair of socks which would have not been possible without silver's sock class that Fishcake told me about :T

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

Hi Everyone

NSD for me today :j

just popped in to update things when i remembered I hadn't mentioned a couple of things I noticed when in town last so here goes


Iceland milk ( 4 pints ) is now back to £1.00 ( gone down 10p ) :T

In poundland I noticed that they had plastic planters, planter bags & potato bags to grow veggies etc in I 'm guessing it's a bit like growing potato's in bags but for anyone who has a patio garden it could be useful

have a good frugal sunday everyone !!!!

Patio...what patio? LOL...I have 1 foot wide windowsills and some floor space and an east/south facing flat...I'll find space for them in the lounge..:) Gardening is possible ANYWHERE if you have the right mindset. I've grown cabbages (hydroponically) and tomatoes on my sills before now...

CRANKY40 wrote: »

I started using our library at the same time as I gave up buying magazines. Books are much more interesting. I also had to finally put petrol in the car on Friday as the fuel light came on. as the tank is now three quarters full, I am hoping that I will get through February on just half of what I have budgeted to put in. That's if the weather isn't too cold to walk the house elf to school.

I just gave up magazines by chance a few years ago (was spending FAR too much on crisps/choc and mags on a bad night to console myself)....it makes a huge dent in your budget. And all your really need is a cheap e-reader device and calibre and then you have loads of newspapers for free. I have to confess I subscribed to the online edition of evangelical times this last year @ £6 for the year cos I think there's more chance of me reading it than the FP mag but I'm quite happy with a combo of Uni level reading (puritan theology) and light reading (little women etc). If not someone is bound to recommend a book on here that's worth a good peruse (I've just read the allotment book by Paul Merrett I think someone recommended. Well worth it. Really good light read ) that you can possibly get from the library...

An e-reader device is a good investment. I don't know what e-reader device I'd recommend - I think the kindles are overpriced. But maybe check ebay? Something that reads PDFs at least and then there's heaps of sites you can get free books from...:)

Anyhow...just quick check in (even though it's Sabbath :eek:)....On cig reduction (which is a surprise even to moi...don't hold your breath guys...one bad day and what's the chances I'll be back on the cancer sticks? ....I'm sorry to be so pessimistic but I'm a realist at times) which is going okay but like I said - don't hold your breath guys....I just never stop trying to quit the cigs and one day I'll succeed (according to my GP and she speaks a lot of sense :A)

Had an NSD yesterday though doing no NSD challenges because like they put too much pressure on myself (do you find that too Emma? Sometimes a wee bar of choc is a medical necessity). Bin there, done that....not good outcome...all for the sake of 40p of choc.

Also had a good pm making cards for Governor Palin and got some really nice comments from the site mod of one of her webpages when I was enquiring about what mailing address to post stuff too . I still fear she'll get her B-day card before her New Year parcel (the one the postie tried to fleece me for the postage for! :mad:) but hey ho...

Anyhow will check the board maybe this evening...Have to go now..

One final word. Even though I haven't menu planned this week I am AMAZED how God has 80% of the time provided cheap healthy meals for me...to him be the glory

E

ceridwen

SandraScarlett wrote: »

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.

Lurker popping up again here...I duly made a little mental note to myself about the pastry grating - as I'd never thought of that. A thing I used to see my mother doing sometimes with pastry oddments when I was a child was rolling them out, scattering sultanas and sugar over them, rolling them up into little mini "swiss roll" type things and baking them in the oven alongside the dish the pastry was made for in the first place. I can't do that myself - because I don't use sugar in cooking - but some peeps might like to copy. I had been wondering what I COULD do personally with scraps of pastry till I saw that "keep in freezer and grate over other things" tip.

One thought I have sometimes is JUST how many O.S. ideas I use in the course of any one day. I won't go into them all - but a typical day will now include:
- breakfast made with 2 parts full-fat milk and 1 part water (as I buy full-fat milk and water it down now for most purposes - rather than buying skim milk as I used to). Porridge usually topped with free fruit that I've dried or bottled.
- followed by toast (home-made bread) with "buttery spread" (home-mixed)
- might do some washing - using laundry gloop instead of detergent (I now only machine wash - but dry things naturally, rather than tumbledrying them)
- once in a while I'll watch a tv programme (online after the event) (though I am thinking about maybe buying a tv again now...)
- dinner quite likely includes something I am making sure I use up (whereas previously I would probably have left it so long that it had to be chucked out)
- its helping me to cut back a bit on the wine (ie from moderate drinking to very light drinking) to remember that I'm also saving money by getting less

Maybe someone else would like to give "My day as a typical Old Styler - and the x number of ways I've changed my ways to save money".??

Erme

The lite version is pretty basic so may well upgrade to full version very soon (maybe too soon :eek:) but on the light version there's quite a few features and definitely worth a download if your phone supports it...

I don't think there's menu plans etc on the lite version. Don't know if there is on full. But so far I quite like it.You can set price of items; quantities etc and you can set different lists for different shops. So yeah so far so good (even though I've only used it a couple of times) and nice GUI

E

minnie2

dizzy_lizzie wrote: »

That's great minnie. Wasn't that long ago when you were feeling a bit despondant about it all but look what's happened because you stuck at it. Well done!
♥

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Minnie you must have been so proud of yourself, repaying your bills. I get such a feeling of accomplishment when I can tick something off a list, or write "Paid" on a bill, and file it. I hope everyone feels they've achieved something this month, and things are even better in February. Have a great weekend everyone.

xx

Kerfuffle wrote: »

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.

Thank you!!!!!! feeling good now yeah!!! Still got things we need to be better at - had a few spend this month that are one offs and needed bits for dog area outside etc they spend more money than us!! But its looking better!

natnat13

Hi all was working for 14 hours yesterday so just catching up on posts. I must start thinking about what to grow this year!
I popped into DP yesterday lunch, I really needed a new coat as my zip had broken. There was a really nice one in the sale but it was £35, before I would have just bought it but since doing this challenge that's a lot of money! Anyway, one of the buttons was hanging off so I took it to the counter and asked for a discount! I would never have done that before. The lady said she would knock another 10% off. She then scanned it and it came up at £20, she then had to do the 10% as well so I got a lovely coat for £18! I was beaming down the street!!

Anyway, I am off to Lidls in a minute for a few bits and bobs, I am then going to sit down and work out exactly how I have done this month with all my DDs etc. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking however I am definatly spending less on food and eating healthier, less on fuel and using the tumble dryer less so I'm happy with that.

Thank you for the pastry reply, am going to make my pies later.

Nat x