2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

findingmyfeet

jo.mo a huge breakthrough this week... after 15 months of moneysaving, I'm now debt free (except the house) with a grand in the bank for emergencies! My financial situation has never been this stable. It was worth the hard work ten times over. I'm now building up a £10k emergency fund. Onwards and upwards!
:j:beer::T:A
well done you congratulations....now work that savings !!

been reading along but realised i hadnt posted so short update. spent around £60 so far on food/toiletries for january and it had usually been that or more each week . i have budgeted £50 per week for food for 2012 and anything i can save out of this each week will pay for household renewals/repairs etc and little treats. so already my little tin has £40 stashed . i know it wont be like this all the time as i have plenty of food from christmas left.

yesterday dh spent £16 on potatoes/onions/shallots and all the veggie seeds from Wilk*s and i will take at look at the aldi ones incase we have missed any. so vegie planting plans underway. still have leeks , carrots, cabbage and the odd lettuce growing so can do a few soups this month too.

Welcome all the new people and good luck.

listed a few things on *bay and chuffed to say bids add up to over £130 so far!! end of the week before final score will be in. never done this before but cash will be useful for an emergency pot.

have a nice frugal day everyone

Jo.Mo

Thank you findingmyfeet xxx

slowlyfading

paidinchickens wrote: »

Did you cry?? I can't watch anything to do with animals as I sob like a baby :rotfl:

I did, more than once!

Igamogam wrote: »

The horses (and the goose) deserve an Oscar because the actors surely dont!

The horses and the goose were amazing I liked the acting too, but then I like films with animals in!

slowlyfading

Jo - that's a fantastic achievement, well done! :j :j

seriouslyfrugal

Jo - that's amazing - well done :T

i'm not sure I could watch War Horse I carn't deal with animals being hurt ( I know that they arn't really its just I get so into the story )

sandra : thanks for the poem - really cheered me up today

Welcome to everyone new :wave:

not really much else to report other than i'm reading an article by Gyalwang Drukpa on slow down in life - ie taking life at a slower pace ( it was in the you magazine with yesterday's Mail )

I hope everyone has a good day

scrappie_2

Hello People!

Well, not much of a frugal weekend for me. My friends wedding was on Saturday, but to be honest I did come home (at 5am!) with money in my purse. So not as bad as it could have been. Then it was my lovely godson's 13th birthday yeaterday, so another pressie needed there.

But back on track now, with my 'nospend' status.

I have two friends birthdays coming up - both will be given 'recycled' pressies. I'm going to sort that his afternoon now that I have thought about it. Mum's birthday coming up in March and so need to have a look around and see what I can come up with for that.

I'm off work most of this week, so going to sort out the freezer and do some cooking towards the end of the week. Need to do some meal planning and get organised.

jo.mo - that is amazing, well done you!!

Onwards and upwards!

SandraScarlett

Jo.Mo wrote: »

I've had a huge breakthrough this week... after 15 months of moneysaving, I'm now debt free (except the house) with a grand in the bank for emergencies! My financial situation has never been this stable. It was worth the hard work ten times over. I'm now building up a £10k emergency fund. Onwards and upwards!

Well done everyone, I'm loving this thread. Jo xxx

Do you know, it's reading posts like this that are truly inspiring. I bet that you never thought 15 months ago, that you'd be in such a great position.

Many financial advice columns have suggested both in the past, and currently, that you should aim for savings of 3 months take home pay, to give you a good cushion against "what ifs" and life in general. When I first attempted to do this, donkeys years ago, round about the time Noah was beckoning me into the Ark (:rotfl:) it seemed impossible.

But bit by bit, brick by brick, I started to find had something left over by payday, even if it was just a few pence. And those sort of economies haven't left me, but you're never too old to learn. I've collected zillions of tips by reading these pages. True, some wouldn't work for me but some were so blatantly obvious that I wondered why I hadn't thought of them before.

Jo, you must be so thrilled with your achievements, I bet you keep grinning at your reflection in the mirror! Hope you achieve your £10K in the not too distant future.

xx

LolaLemon

Quick pic before I go back n catch up.
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Kirsty, me, Paul Nicholson, Jinty and Lorna. That's us with 'the sexy darts player' lol

Was a cracking night!!! And I hate darts!

Hope everyone is good and had a cheaper weekend than me hehehe

(Sitting in burger king, son is playing in the climbing area, I'm abt to catch up on this then read a book)

LolaLemon

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I'm getting there!





Would be interested to know what the final outcome of this was?

I know that the single persons discount doesn't apply to the water element of the bill (really annoying as I pay the same for my water as the family of 5 over the road - even though I must only use a fraction of what they do:mad:)

In my area, students don't pay, same with single person discount, its 25% discount off total yearly charge (pro rata if situation changes at any point) .
Mr Lemon has mentioned before that aberdeen was different.. only the first year was 'free', so they changed the main tenant every year.)

Kerry_Woman

Jo.Mo - Congratulations on your great news. A great achievement.