Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - part 1

landregistrylass

Evening all. Well, Mr T came up trumps again this evening. 15p bananas, 25p green grapes, 10p broccoli, 13p fine green beans and other bits and bobs, but was dead disappointed at having to pay FULL PRICE for milk lol.............am I getting too carried away with this markdown lark????
Still no wine, but went mad and bought orange juice - I will just pretend its got vodka in it (does that make me sound like an alki???? Hee hee) It looks like I am buying a load of fruit and veg I know, but am determined to reduce the meat meals we have. Having said that tonight we had pork casserole roast pots and carrots. I had bought a HUGE bit of marked down meat between Xmas and NY, cut it into 4 portions, 1 of which I cubed the meat and popped it into the freezer. As the meat was £2.15 for the whole joint, it cost approx 50p for tonights portion, plus quarter bag of the 10p potatoes from last night, and 2 large carrots which were lying about. Whole thing was well under £1. Halo still glowing. AND (could someone do a trumpet blast here please) the car repair which was going to cost over £800 (!!!!!!!) is being done free by Vauxhall as they recognise its a known fault. What a relief. I have spent £11.23 over the last 2 nights on reduced stuff and it would last us at least a week. I will let someone else get the bargains at Mr T tomorrow. Let me know what I missed????

lynzpower

hey kerfuffle, how did you make your parsnip soup? They are v cheap at the mo on my local market and I lvoe them so much I might stockpile them in my freezer for through the summer as well.

dizzy_lizzie

Oh I bet that is such a relief landregistrylass. You're very good at this bargain buying aren't you. Take me shopping next time
Luvz Dizzy x

lynzpower

Wow what a relief about your car LR lass! You must be overjoyed!

minnie2

Thanks for the guidance!! i have read the first page! I have not looked at the spreadsheet - i do keep a record but am keen to use anything . Where would i find the spreadsheet i need? I have no spend since Christmas so far except £20 of petrol as we literally have no money due to lack of payment of wages.

This thread moves so quickly i hope i am able to keep up!!!

dizzy_lizzie

Just found this from a 2005 thread and posted on a fellow mser thread and thinking about it it could be useful on here when buying whoopsie fruit bargains, even yoghurt. It's frozen ice/fruit lollies. I've bookmarked myself because there's some great ideas on there.
hope it gives some good ideas if you've not already seen it.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/40601

Luvz Dizzy x

cw18

minnie2 wrote: »

Where would i find the spreadsheet i need?

In the links in the first post, there's one called "My FREE Spreadsheet" - that'll take you to where you need to be.

If you don't have any spreadsheet software, then download (and install) OpenOffice for free and then the 97-2003 version of the spreadsheet

midwinter

Hello to all, I'd like to join this Challenge too, although am very new to contributing to forums!

I'd already decided that January was to be a frugal month, so this challenge will take me further.

Sometimes it needs a leap in the dark to pull off any savings, and I can sympathise with those that have to pay so much to get to work, and also have the loss of CTC and CB as my children go off to uni over the next 2 years.

I travel 25,000 miles per year to/from work. And last year, as an approaching 50 year old, researched diesel cars, and got one. Together with taking the IAM's advanced driving course, and learning how to drive more efficiently, it's reduced my fuel outgoings by nearly 1/3.

I'll download the spreadsheet and see what my budget will be this year.

Thanks for all the tips I've gleaned so far, from reading your posts

minnie2

Thank you!!!

Will have a look!!!!

I have completed the budgeting plan and it states we have an over spend of £837 a month! Argh!! So i need to save as much!!!

lynzpower

Wow that is a big overspend! Our first budget had a few estimates in, when we thought about it, theres no way that OH send 1k a year on dry cleaning, more like 100.00, if that. So we were trying to be a bit more realistic but some of ours have been estimates as we are just not sure ( ie gas bill) We have a 420 overspend in the year, that I am hoping to get back by cutbacks to the budget itself.

Does that make sense?