Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

rubytuesday

SandraScarlett wrote: »

Hi ruby, that's my trouble too. But I've tried really hard since the New Year not to use it without asking myself if I really need to, first! Last month, I was able to pay the bill on the day it arrived, instead of waiting till the end of the month, but it'll be higher this month, though still lower than usual.

And that's the main thing! As long as it's lower, that's an achievement. And at least we know where our problems lie (clutching at straws now!).

xx

It's terrible how it all adds up isn't it! I use it for my online shop and then on other odds and sods from time to time but don't keep track very well although I do write down all my spending. This month I thought my bill would be about 180 but it was 305 pounds!:eek:

apple_mint

Good morning everyone, I've just caught up with you all. What lovely fun poems, I love them Welcome to artichoke - your lifestyle sounds wonderful and is what OH and I are aiming for. It's a pleasure reading about it.

A bit of a spendy week here. We checked the heating oil level and it's got quite low so we ordered 500 litres. We normally would order 1000 but the cost is going up and up and hopefully is spring is on it's way. Haven't got the bill yet and DH can only vaguely remember the price, but it looks as though we are £312 lighter. To be fair we did have the money saved, but it horrifies me as to how much it has gone up. We need to tax OH's van this month and he's ordered a part for it too. My car needs tax next month. All saved up but we seem to have a number of these bills in the first few months of the year so the spreadsheet shows us as a couple of high spenders

On the plus side, we've kept out the shops OH and I love wildlife watching and my binoculars have developed double vision. OH is doing some in depth research and it looks like it will be cheaper to replace rather than repair. He's now looking at the best prices online, which will take several days as he likes to make sure we are getting the best deal. We'll still keep the old one's on the kitchen window sill for when we spot wildlife in the fields at the back of the house (we'll just see two of everything :rotfl:)

mooomin

Has anyone been and stocked up on petfood in Tesco? It's all on 3 for 2 and I'm going along tonight.

I tried to do the order online and had put into my basket:

3 x cat biscuits @ £5.40 each
3 x wet food @ £13.25 each

I was expecting to save £18.65 but it took off two packs of cat biscuits instead. Bah! Does anyone know if the tills will do that instore or if I will have to do separate transactions for the things I'm stocking up on? I also need to make sure that I do a proper list of things to buy so I spend £50 in one transaction to get the 5p off fuel. So much for a low spend week.

This shop will b*gger my groceries budget for the month but stocking up on catfood makes so much sense from a longer term view. I'll take half the money from this month's budget and half from next.

In better news, another £14 of Quidco money has changed to "received" and should be with me by the end of the month. Woo!

cw18

flying_fresian wrote: »

I was expecting to save £18.65 but it took off two packs of cat biscuits instead. Bah! Does anyone know if the tills will do that instore or if I will have to do separate transactions for the things I'm stocking up on?

When they had the 3 for 2 on baking items and jams/marmalades a couple of months back, the website knocked off the cheapest as I'd put in 3 each of about 8 or 9 items.

So when I got to the store I put them through as separate transactions, some being just 3 of one item.

But I did one spend with a few different priced items (still 3 of each) to get to the £40 mark in order to use a £6 off voucher, and had totalled up while walking around - during which I knocked off cheapest option. When she hit total it came up just under that mark, so I grabbed an item (some crisps on a multi-buy) out of my bags and told her to ring through another 'set' of those that I'd go grab once I'd paid. Turned out the discrepancy was due to the tills knocking off one of each set of 3 instead of two or three of the cheapest. Wouldn't like to guarantee the tills still work differently to the website though.

artichoke

JayneC wrote: »

giggles:rotfl::rotfl:


Artichoke welcome can I come live with you? Your life sounds fab, it's what I'm aiming for:) I'm involved in a CSA scheme but just buying a share of the produce, don't actually get to help with the livestock - though they are lambs that free range on th NY Moors so might be difficult to do a great deal!! We do get to go visit the farm at some point tho. I'm part of a local food group so we're looking at promoting local producers, feel a bit lost at the moment I have to say though not really sure where we're going, what are objectives are if you like. We put on a showing of the film FOOD INC - scary :eek:

ahh - is that the Scarborough Shearling CSA? - i would love to try shearling and see how different it is...

we have shown Food Inc as well - my kids call McD's the "unhappy meal" .. My MIL took them once thinking we were depriving them of "normal treats" I had warned her that i thought they would not like it -I suggested if she wanted to treat them she took them to Pizza Hut or somewhere as i know they will eat pizza. As they walked in they said loudly "Why are we here - this is the unhappy male place" -and my DD took one bite of her "happy" meal and said yuk, and my DS will only eat meat if he can hold the bone..so did not even try it and they would not drink the milk shakes either as they said they were too sweet:rotfl: They both will only drink plain milk or water at home. MIL was most embarrassed by their loud unhappy meal comments:o

Anyway today will be a spend today as kids go to swimming club on a wed so that is when i do my top up shop in the Co-Op of milk and any other stuff we need so tonights list is milk, teabags, wholemeal bread flour. I need to check my menu plan for the rest of the month to see what else we might need. Sunday is an open day at the farm and lunch will be provided so that gets the kids out in the fresh air all day and gets us all a free sunday meal.

Right hope everyone is doing ok - is there a spreadsheet people use to track their budget ? i will go and have a look at the beginning of the thread.

take care,

art

saorsie

rubytuesday wrote: »

I've managed not to spend too much money but I've been making the mistake of using my credit card a lot for purchases and the bill is always a lot more than I think. I pay it off in full but it makes my finances very tight for a while. So I think I need to put a stop on that as much as possible!

rubytuesday wrote: »

It's terrible how it all adds up isn't it! I use it for my online shop and then on other odds and sods from time to time but don't keep track very well although I do write down all my spending. This month I thought my bill would be about 180 but it was 305 pounds!:eek:

Hi ruby ~ I use my credit card for all purchases {it's a cashback jobbie} and then pay it off in full by direct debit each month. To make sure I have enough put aside to do this, every time I spend on it, I transfer the money to a separate account from the appropriate 'budget pot' be it groceries, car costs, clothing, pet food whatever. It can be a bit of a faff but it does stop that panic when the bill lands and I 'earn' 1% on all my spends into the bargain ~ it's not a lot, but I like it! (said in a very poor Paul Daniels voice)

HTH

-s-

cw18

artichoke wrote: »

is there a spreadsheet people use to track their budget ? i will go and have a look at the beginning of the thread.

A lot of folks use the one in the first post, listed as 'My FREE Spreadsheet'

Kiwisaver_2

SandraScarlett wrote: »

They were all New Zealanders and apparently it's a National Holiday there, something like "Why-kee-kee Day", perhaps someone can enlighten me please.

The 6th February is Waitangi (Why-tangy) Day, it marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Government and Maori chiefs in 1840

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Waitangi


Odd really that those guys were partying hard in London, when it largely goes unnoticed here and not much is made of it, except at the Waitangi treaty ground where they have some ceremonial speeches and flag hoisting to mark the occasion. It's always mired by controversy and protest and we don't even get an extra day off work if it falls on the weekend.

SandraScarlett

The Tesco offer on pet food is great, especially as the saving on 3 x 6 tins of dog food will pay the delivery charges, and both DH and I find it a real faff to lift the tins into the trolley, then on to the conveyor belt, then into the trolley, then into the car, then out of the car, then into the house.

So we'll be getting 12 x 6 tins and that's the dog sorted for a couple of months, and a nice saving too! And no painful arthritic arms!

xx

artichoke

hi cheryl

i will look at the spreadsheet later - years and years ago when i first joined this site we used to do a monthly budget on a spreadsheet - we had moved to the countryside from the city but i still had my city job.

We wanted to stop spending, get out of debt and save (we needed to save for ivf ) in the hope i would get pregnant and then we could start our new "dream life"...

so we did cut our costs over time and as it all became normal not to spend money as we got into good habits (and now we have no money as i am not working ) we have stopped doing the budgeting - we just can't over spend as we have no credit cards...

I need to start doing a spreadsheet again as i hope to start to earn some small amounts of money in the future. I want to get back into the habit of tracking our budget so that i dont fall into the trap of wastefully spending money once i (hopefully) have more... I want to earn money in the future to pay for family treats and also to do some house renovations... not fall back into the habit of coffees in town, buying more food than we need, buying magazines and all the other bad habits i used to have..

Right - got to get on with todays jobs - planning the open day at the farm, checking our a few more food producers to sell though the Food Co-op..

I am going to try not to come back onto MSE until this evening when kids in bed as i have lots of work to do on the computer and my bad habit is to browse MSE when i should be working...

I am rationing myself to a post in the morning with a coffee and a post in the evening with a HM wine..:beer:

art