Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

apple_mint

Good morning everyone :wave:

Just managed to catch up with you all and popping in to update on progress.

Spent a total of £26.23 on food this week in Lidl and Tesco. Some of this was stocking up the storecupboard (shower gel and bubble bath to fill the soap dispensers). Bought 2 books of first class stamps (£4.92) - a sort of spave. We like to keep some stamps in the house but also stamps go up in price in April. Bought two more packs of Tesco (5 pairs per pack) tights for a grand total of £3.50 (no discount this week I'm afraid). Direct debits are going out the bank account. All ours go out at the beginning of the month which makes us look like big spenders on the spreadsheets.

We've used up all the soup I made for packed lunches, so it is mackerel sandwiches for lunch today and a big batch soup making session tomorrow. I got a big bag of carrots whoopsied, so a carrot based soup will be one of the options.

Kerry_Woman

23rdspiral wrote: »

Kerry Woman - wow! you must be so chuffed to reduce your Jan budget this year! what whith the really high price of wheat ect! :T

Thanks. Last year was my first year of doing the challenge. Was really shocked as to how much was spent on food. This year I am trying to use up as much as I can before buying more of certain foods. Have downshifted again on certain items. This area for me is more of a learning curve.

mooomin

23rdspiral wrote: »

flying_fresian - good luck with your healthy snacking!

My main spend yesterday was Ben and Jerrys :rotfl:

mooomin

Some frugal news...

I received a payment today from work which was money they owed me due to an HR c0ck-up £100 of this has been allocated to a mortgage overpayment so won't be counted for the purposes of the challenge, but the remainder (over £80) will be added as extra income and used to offset some of my spending.

I'm also waiting for money from Mazuma for the sale of a phone, so hopefully my budget for Other Expenses will be back on track by the end of the month

I'm off out for dinner tonight with a friend and found a voucher for a two course meal for £12 each, so I'm hoping to keep the total spend to under £25 (as a couple of drinks may be on the cards!)

Hope everyone has a lovely frugal day.

Savvy_sewing

23rdspiral wrote: »

so i caught up now as OH is later home than me!



Mooloo- maybe you can off set your books against tax as a work expense?! :rotfl: good luck hun! i made a little bamboo handle bag yesterday as i just didnt have anything suitable for taking my stitching on the train with. i'm so glad it did, it worked great for that, my ticket and my phone which meant i could put my handbag under the seat neatly. rah for sewing!:D

I suppose I should make sure that what ever I spend is now accounted for. Just incase my pinmoney becomes something worthwhile.! I hadnt really thought about doing it as a business expense but of course it would be.! Bit of an expensive start up cost though.! oops.:eek:

gien

Good morning - I'm just back from the supermarket and am a bit peeved at myself. I only went for a few bitd and pieces that you can't get at Ald* and I spent a fortune on bogofs , specials and nice little treats. So a bit of a blow out but we'll eat well for a couple of weeks. One thing I find really expensive for what they are is 'adult' cereals. I eat proodge ever day but noone else likes it and they hoover down huge bowls of cereal - I wish they'd have toast and jam instead.

NualaBuala

23rdspiral wrote: »

Mooloo- maybe you can off set your books against tax as a work expense?! :rotfl: good luck hun! i made a little bamboo handle bag yesterday as i just didnt have anything suitable for taking my stitching on the train with. i'm so glad it did, it worked great for that, my ticket and my phone which meant i could put my handbag under the seat neatly. rah for sewing!:D

Love the sound of your bag - if you have a piccie I'd love to see it!

dizzy_lizzie

enjoyfinancialchallenges wrote: »

I'd like to look at Weezles recipes and menu plans if someone can point me in the right direction please.

Hiya enjoyfinancialchallenges. This is it here which developed from the thread on mse, and it is a fabulous site, you'll love it! All the hard work of meal planing has been done for you and on the meal planner section you can even choose to follow a meat based plan or a veggie/vegan plan

Luv Dizzy x
♥

silvasava

Wow - havn't been on the thread for a few days - my, its like Topsy & just 'growed' Only managed to read the last couple of pages ;( I did blow my budget on Tuesday at the local butchers - spent £40.00 but I've made 12 meals for 2 of us out of it (freezer getting a little cramped!) & hopefully will increase my NSD's & lower my spends as I'll only need veg (whoopsies here I come!) its not a nice day today - very windy so I'm going to try to have a declutter day (yep, I'm on that thread too) & tea tonight from the freezer so I will feel quite virtuous!!
Big hugs to everyone who posts - you are all so inspiring

wornoutmumoftwo

Erme wrote: »

Apparently I can set up a website but no one's going to come to it... or something? According to my pc guru guy....afterI fork out£32 for domains :eek:....

But anyhow...I'm having one of those :eek: money weeks...:(

Best get a few NSD's in then (can someone please clarify if a DD of a utility counts only on x day counts as an NSD or not?)

E

What website have you got Erme?