Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

cw18

lynzpower wrote: »

How do people budget for things that they have already spent. Eg I bought the TV license in full in October. Obv it wont run out till October, then I dont have to pay all in one go obv, I could pay monthly? So do we save Oct/Nov/Dec - ie £36.25 or the full 145? It will come down if I do that. Likewise,I have paid water till end of March.

My budgets are set on what money I'll have to find during the calendar year, so if you plan to switch TV license to monthly payments I'd only include the cost for doing that.

BUT - when I first swapped the first license had to be paid for over 6 months, then future ones were paid 6 months in advance and 6 in arrears - not sure if this is still the case, but if it is then you'll find yourself paying 1/3rd of the cost with your Nov & Dec payments, the other 2/3rds in 2012 (Jan thru April incl) and then 2/3rds of the next one from May to Dec... effectively meaning you pay for 16 months during 2012 (and will need a higher budget that year)

I assume you pay your water either every 3 or 6 months? If so, then if you carry on that way your 2011 budget should include the payment to take you to March 2012 (so a full 12 months). But if you plan to change payment intervals, then I'd budget what I actually expect to spend up to and including 31st Dec 2011.

itsallinthemind

freedom2011 wrote: »

Any ideas for how I can use up some dried asparagus soup mix. It's a caterer size box which I refuse to waste. I tried my family on the soup & they didn't really like it but am wondering if I can come up with some alternative recipe ideas.

I'd probably have to use it myself too

Maybe make risotto with half stock half soup?
Make into a sauce for fish pie-not sure about this but it tastes nice on a plate with fish!

Have you tried adding anything to it, few herbs, potatoes etc? What is it that is not nice? Tastes synthetic or bland?

Nancy888

Hi everyone

I can't say I've had a NSD because I've been to L!dl and Ald!....said last night I was going to fetch 12 boxes of dishwasher tablets from L!dl but I got mixed up and drive to the other one instead...:mad:

So...did some shopping in there (£9.32) and then made my way to L!dl and spent £14 - including £10.08 on the year's supply of dishwasher tablets...thought there might be a limit on how many you could buy but I sailed through the checkouts...he did give me a strange look though!!! :rotfl:

Anway, this afternoon I've used up some of the turkey from my mum in a leek and turkey pie - 2 more portions ready for me and DS1 for Wednesday meal.

I've also made 3 month's worth of granola to stir into my yoghurt at work in the mornings and a batch of curried carrot and lentil soup...some cooling now to go into the freezer...feel quite smug.

Back to work tomorrow - gonna come as a nasty shock cos I've been off since Wednesday 22nd....but taking my own breakfast and lunch and should be a MSD - gotta have 40p for 2 cups of coffee...as long as I spend less than 50p per day I'll call it a MSD...I can live with that...!!

rainbowcattail

Thanks Erme I will search on grants, you never know if you dont try! Just the thought of all the stuff we need to do on the house freaks me out! Im thinking of it in little chunks at the mo.

Just through reading some of the posts clearly I need to learn how to cook more and bake, I cant believe how much we spend on food!!! Last year we tried to reduce food waste which we both hate so if I learn to balance everything we should spend less.

Itsalllinthemind - I love my local co-op too, its only recently though that they have put a stack of shelves with whoopsies all on them, mr cat_tail and I dive in everytime we visit.

cw18 - thanks for your useful spreading out of eg. water and tv licences. I can see my budget spreadsheet is going to take some work. I nearly fainted seeing how much we were paying on somethings!

thanks all

romylou_2

rainbowcattail wrote: »

cw18 - thanks for your useful spreading out of eg. water and tv licences. I can see my budget spreadsheet is going to take some work. I nearly fainted seeing how much we were paying on somethings!

thanks all

I agree, it is very sobering when you see everything written down in front of you. It also makes you more determined to Haggle with some of these Greedy companies that want to take all of your money!

skint_chick

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 copy and past anything useful into Word and have a file saved for recipes/cooking ideas, one for sewing patterns and another for useful websites all stored in my "Lifestyle" folder in My Documents. If you don't have Office on your computer you can use the free OpenOffice software or GoogleDocs if you've got Gmail.

My budget this year comes to £4250 but I've included everything except the mortgage, council tax and car insurance. At the end of 2010 the total was £3893.17 so I might be able to squeeze this down to £4000 especially as I only use the car at the weekend and for my evening courses.

Electricity 300.00
Life Insurance 248.04
Bldgs/Cont Ins 100.00
Phone & B/band 460.00
TV Licence 145.44
Mobile Phone 120.00
Clothes & Shoes 150.00
Social Life 200.00
Presents 100.00
RoadTax 120.00
Heating 600.00
Petrol 400.00
Groceries 1206.52
Toiletries/Cleaning 100.00
The phone and broadband package also includes TV and means my social life budget is lower as I tend to watch movies at home with friends/OH. My social life budget is £200 because I'm doing an evening course at £90 which is included in this.

SandraScarlett

Kerfuffle wrote: »

Hi SandraScarlett, thanks for the recipe. The thing I never thought of adding though was the dumplings. Now I'm hankering after dumplings and all the soup has gone

Maybe next time

Toodles

So glad you like the recipe, and there's nothing like a dumpling to warm you up! I've looked at everyone's budgets, and they make such interesting reading.

Our Council Tax is high (£1510 per annum), and we only live in a 2 bed bungalow! But we save on a lot of other things, for example, my DH has a mobile, £15 at Argos 3 years ago, and never uses it, except to phone me if I'm late home - he's a worrier, bless 'im!

I use my 8 years old mobile more to text people, but I've cut out all the "wasted" messages and we both have pay as you go. I've cut my DHs hair for 44 years now, and I trim mine here and there, and just have a professional cut a few times a year.

But the biggest saving I make is one my aunt told me, when I was a blushing bride, and got £5 a week housekeeping! She suggested making my weekly shop last for 8 days, instead of 7, and then every couple of months, I had a whole week's worth to myself!

I've slipped a bit over the years, and don't do it religiously every week, but I do it more weeks than I don't IFYWIM!! She was wonderful at making a pound do the work of 3, and gave me some super tips.

I buy pork shoulder steaks (these are very cheap), and use these to make a casserole. I always cook 3 casseroles at a time, to make full use of the oven, and 2 are always destined for the freezer. The contents fit nicely into an icecream container.

Good luck to everyone with your plans, and many thanks for all your brilliant tips!

xx

grandma247

Cheryl My name isn't there. I would still like to do this. not done my years accounts yet but will as soon as everyone is back to work.

Blairweech

Hi everybody,

So far not had any NSDs .
Sunday had free film tickets so went to see film with Dad and was v.good and did not buy myself any snacks. :money:
However OH came over Sunday night...and we ended up going to the cinema (which I paid for), plus I bought a snack bag. See how poor my frugal resolve is?! At least we got student prices - still almost a tenner each though :eek:
So, have already spent over half my entertainment budget for the month - and I still have 3 dinners out to buy (one for OHs birthday - me and OH, one for a friends birthday - me), not including any other entertainment I might want during the month. Guess I will just have to combine groceries and entertainment this month - am hoping that Mum sends me back to uni with lots of goodies so groceries will not be too high

Re: mobile phone - have narrowed my choice down to 3 things. Could be as little as £5 a month, but do not know if that will be enough, so might just go with £10/motnh just to be on the safe side. It is still halving my current budget for the year though :T

EFC - I hope your cat gets better asap

rainbowcattail

Breadmakers - just looking at how much we spend on groceries and bread caught my eye, (to be fair its mainly me, im a bread monster) and wondered if a breadmaker is a good idea. Are they hard to use? Does anyone who has got one think its worth it?

ta
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