Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

2wildthing2

Hi CW18,

I to have been lurking thoughout 2010 and would like to join this years challenge. Still working on the budget though. I find these pages really inspirational and full of useful tips. Thank you to everyone who contributed last year. I will try not to lurk to much this year and contribute more.

jo70mo

Hi can I join too. we are me, DH, DD and DS. DH works fulltime and I work 10 hrs per week from home and we home educate our children.
We are just about to wipe out our small contingency fund as our car died on christmas eve and we need to find a very cheap runaround (about £500) as I need one in my work terms and conditions and DH works 20 miles away and no public transport that fits his work hours although he does lift share which is great.
My budget is not very detailed

groceries/ cleaning etc £2640
petrol £1800
gas/elec £1200
home ed bits/bobs £600
Total £6240 round up to £6300

savings/ contingency fund and gifts will be coming from extra money we get coming in from DH over the year as will clothes.
All other expenses covered by direct debit and I have an amount I aim not to exceed. This is really high as we have a lot of debt to pay off.
My other aim is to pay at least £3k extra off our debts this year.
Jo x

redglass_2

Ceridwen My mum used to use hot solution of washing soda. Leave a few minutes for it to get working then scrub/wipe.

Jess I'm with TalkTalk (I was originally with Tiscali). It's OK most of the time though the speed is never up to what it's supposed to be. However, I don't watch much online so if i used a more varied range of online services I might not be so satisfied. The email spam filter is excellent but if anything goes wrong customer service can be infuriating - overseas call centres where everyone is polite BUT occasional language problems have really got in the way, in my experience, and I've also had frazzled employees give me inappropriate advice, ie insisting that my email should be hooked up to Outlook Express instead of Outlook (the one I was actually using), I assume because that was what their manual said! I have broadband and unlimited calls 24/7 including some calls to European countries and this costs me about £35 per month, which is significantly more than the package is advertised as costing. Lots of calls are free on my package but if you call mobiles from your landline (which I sometimes have to, mobile signals are rubbish round here) it soon mounts up. There are better value packages, but for me it's important to be able to phone free during the day and not wait for evenings/weekends, so I stick with TalkTalk.

Feeling smug because I have a super-frugal bean soup on the simmer downstairs.

glendam

I will also like to be in the challenge this year.
2009 did spending diary until May
2010 amazed myself by completing a whole year.

My challenge for this year is to reign in some of these spends that seem to run away with the money. All saved money ( I did save £3,000 last year on expected budget) will go towards our once in a life time break to Australia and New Zealand late this year.

Happy New Year to everyone, and thanks for being here.

Glendam

chika

Ahhhhh, a beautiful new thread full of frugal inspiration for 2011. I'm in once again. I did a full year of frugalling last year, didn't manage to stick to it all the way through... but it this challenge was in the back of my mind most of the time so I didn't spend too much money on bobbins!

The budget...

Rent - £3900
Electricity - £600 (its the only fuel here)
Ctax - £600
Home phone - £72
Internet - £90
Water - £200
TV Licence - £72
Groceries £2500
Toiletries £ 300 (including makeup and eyebrow threading)
Contact lenses and glasses £200
Clothes & Shoes £500
Gifts £250
Travel & Socialising - £1500
Hobbies - £200 (I've recently taken up knitting and it isn't cheap!)

Total All in = £10384!

I'm seriously considering moving out of this flat and into a place nearer to work. I really want my own house but if I have to pay almost £5500 a year in rent and bills it won't happen. I've seen a bargainous place for rent at £160pm all in and although its a lot less glam than here, It seems like a real bargain. Decisions decisions.

I hope you all have a healthy, happy and frugal year and :wave:to everyone!

NualaBuala

Erme - great news about your boyfriend, am delighted for you! Your new vacuum sounds fantastic. I have a LOT of hair too and I will consider the one you've got whenever I have to replace my current one which only does an okish job. I can't complain though as it was very cheap to buy originally (by my late Mum) and was free to me.

jess444 wrote: »

Happy New Year everyone.

Well my soapnuts have arrived and I have done my fist few washes with them. It seems to have come out OK, although a bit worried that I can't actually see any suds. Anyway this should be quite a big saving throughout the year as I do about 3 loads a day.

Next thing to tackle, I think, is the TV / telephone / internet. Currently on Virgin but was thinking of buying a digibox and changing to Talk Talk. Anyone any experience with Talk Talk - what package do you use, do you have any problems with internet speed / downloads?

I am off to set up a new spending diary for the year on spendingdiary.com.

Jess

HI Jess, don't worry at all about the lack of suds. Commercial soaps, shampoos, washing powder etc have cheap and nasty foaming agents added to them because we consumers expect our cleaning stuff to foam. But it's not at all necessary. The soapnuts have saponins (soap-like chemicals) in them that do the job just fine. If I have stains to deal with I add some washing soda or give the clothes a good soak before doing them in the washing machine. But generally soap nuts do the job just perfectly.

Good luck to everyone here - great to see so many people and am looking forward to getting to know you throughout the challenge!

Am also pleased to report that I have spent nothing at all so far this year! :A:D

elly68

hi jo lol ,thanks for this thread my main problem is grocery shop ,i'm aware that as a family we spend way too much and waste too much food ,also money lying about house so going to do sealed pot challenges .
so my aim this year is to reduce grocery and electriity gas and fuel will work out budget be back tomorrow off to find a thread for weightloss

Lily_The_Legend

_party_ Happy new year frugalistas! _party_

Well I started 2011 by buying a McDonalds! :eek: I hope you won't all be too ashamed of me! It was the only cure for my hangover! :rotfl: Plus I used money I had left over in my purse from last year before the latest payday! :A

I hope everyone had a fab and frugal new year's eve. My pesto, tomato and mozzarella tart went down well as a starter. I'd definitely make it again, it would be nice as a main meal with new potatoes and salad!

Thank you cw18 for starting this thread and to frugaldom for the original. :T

cw18

jess444 wrote: »

Anyone any experience with Talk Talk - what package do you use, do you have any problems with internet speed / downloads?

I'm with them for home phone (line and calls) and Broadband. Have had a couple of minor outages on the B/Band side, but nothing major. I've been with them almost exactly 2 years now, and don't have any plans to change to anyone else in the short-term.

I only get free calls in the evenings and at weekends, but as DD is with them as well any calls between us (at any time of the day) are free.

It also appears my local council must be with them, as calls to them during office hours always show as free on my bills

diddly74

Does it class as a NSD if you have order something but not paid for it yet????