2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

dizzy_lizzie

stitching_witch wrote: »

Time to do some serious selling of redundant stuff aound the house, and for me to get a few more orders in.

stitchy x

Hi stitchy. Do you advertise your makes anywhere else. Only I used to get this magazine link and they have advertisements in for vintage clothes etc and definately for what you make. Obviously I don't know how much it would be to advertise, but just a thought.
Also I know our local paper has a special section in which is like a promo advert really that focuses on a local person who has a talent, like sewing, crafts etc and they'll talk about how they got into it, bit of information about themselves etc it's really a huge free advert.
Does your local paper do anything like that, maybe ask them for you to be in it at some stage.
Do you sell on Folksy? That could be another alternative.
£20 off the budget is fantastic going. It all adds up doesn't it.
I've come across this blog via a thread on mse and it really is inspirational.
Just that I read your first sentence of your post and thought some of this may help
x

the_cat

I'm in for next year please!

I suppose I might be considered a failure from other challenges. I have joined several of these challenges over the years and from the outside it would look like I'd dropped out as I stopped counting and lurked rather than posted. Not true!!:D

I have had to accept that I'm too plain lazy to count up every last penny and maintain a spreadsheet. I start with good intentions but blow it after about 3 months. Having said that I have never actually given up with the frugality and now have no debts, have paid in cash for a large amount of home improvements and a couple of exotic holidays (not so frugal!:o:o) Best of all I now only have £6000 left to pay off my mortgage

Aims for next year

• pay off mortgage entirely
• decorate and recarpet DS2 bedroom (last but one room left to do:T)
• buy laptop for DS2 for college
• save at least £3000 for retirement savings account
• pay for expensive tree felling work in garden
• top emergency savings up to 6 months basic outgoings

All to be paid for by living frugally day to day. No totals, no counting but this should be achieveable if I continue to live carefully

I have gained a huge amount from this challenge over the years so would like to thank Frugaldom for starting it (and all those who have taken on the baton helping out since) It may look like we all fall away after a few months but for some of us, the lessons stay with us even if it doesn't look like it.

Frugaldom

If anyone's name is missing from the list, please let me know. I've just updated it and can now welcome Purpleruby and the_cat to the 2012 challenge.

My housekeeping budget is a continual work in progress, so it will remain at £4,000 for the year, excluding council tax. 2012 being a leap year, this equates to an average of £76.50 per week on the following:

Groceries
Toiletries
Laundry & cleaning products
Electricity
Coal
Logs
Telephone
Internet
Mobile
Insurances
National Trust membership
Gifts
Clothing & footwear
Household pets
Misc other

If I spend on anything else, it will need to be neutralised by other income, a separate challenge that I call the 'EEK' - Everything Else Kitty.

There are no failures in the annual frugal living challenge.
If you last the year, you've succeeded in pursuing what you set out to do.
If you end the year with less debt (or more savings) than you began it, that is a success!
If you end up spending less than before, you have succeeded.
If you reduce, reuse or recycle more than you did before, that's a success.

We can all fall off the wagon; it's our ability to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and climb back on board that makes it a challenge worth taking.

Edit - I edit often, my keyboard is worn out and tends to lose letters. Apologies, in advance, for all typos I know I will make.

HelenPie

I've seen "SoW" crop up a couple of times here. Can someone please tell me what this means?

Helen x

seriouslyfrugal

HelenPie wrote: »

I've seen "SoW" crop up a couple of times here. Can someone please tell me what this means?

Helen x

It stands for SPREADSHEET OF WONDER & is on the first page under my free spreadsheet ( i think) personally I do my own but for many people its one thing that helps them track I also keep a spend diary too as a back up but I have always kept a journal so I just incorparated it into that

HelenPie

seriouslyfrugal wrote: »

It stands for SPREADSHEET OF WONDER & is on the first page under my free spreadsheet ( i think) personally I do my own but for many people its one thing that helps them track I also keep a spend diary too as a back up but I have always kept a journal so I just incorparated it into that

Thanks. I actually used this last year... :rotfl:

Erme

Ooh I'm so encouraged.....:j...

So sorry for being a right grump earlier on in the thread - apologies for all the newbies reading this from word zero.....

The big turn around for me has been the debt snowball :money:

That has totally changed my budget. Now I have a focus...

for folk that aren't aware of the link it's http://www.whatsthecost.com (on the left hand side - can't remember the rest of the link sorry)....

I got my ILA form for my next course through yesterday :j but now I need a black pen to fill it in and I don't think I have one so going to go to volunteering to see if they have one . Save me buying one with my measly £3 I have left till Tuesday.

But £3 has to last. Also made myself chicken curry as well last night...

So at some point I will write out my frugal challenges for the next quarter and see if I can stick to it ...

E

Anouchka

Can I join you please? My name is Anouchka.

I live with my mid-20s student son and our cat. I don't have a permanent job at the moment and rely on agency work. This was working well until a month ago when I became unwell. Naturally this has caused a great big void in my budget as I went from receivng a weekly wage to SSP. Anyway, I'm well on the mend now and confidently expect things to be back to normal by the new year so an excllent time to start this lovely new challenge.

I haven't worked out my budget yet, but will be doing so soon. Fortunately I am not in debt (always been a very careful money manager) but I'm very aware that I need to build up my savings again particularly as I suspect this might be year a new central heating boiler will be required.

This challenge sounds like great fun and I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone, learning from others and sharing tips.

Best wishes A x

FrankieM

I managed to download a free copy of MS Money, if that's helpful to anyone? I'm happy to go and look for the link and post it if anyone wants it.
Historically, I'm terrible at putting my income and expenditure into a spreadsheet etc but I've been doing this since the beginning of November and am finding it quite easy. I have it listed on my daily routine to remind me.
It allows you to put all your accounts on. So, I have my current account, savings account, credit cards, loans and mortgage. There is nothing like a big red minus figure to motivate you and I'm enjoying watching the figure change in just the last month.
Whatever you use, I think it's a great way to go and would highly recommend it.

findingmyfeet

afternoon everyone,

can i de-lurk and have a try at becoming a member again? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

read the thread often and always inspired by everyones efforts. Did join a coupled of years ago but 6 months or so in it all fell apart. need to try again and a little harder this time.

Need to get some more savings together this coming year, stop the grocery/utility bills etc getting higher , get the budget under control and save for annual bills in advance so im not in a constant state of panic at the last minute.

On the plus side i already grow some friut and veg and have plenty of space to do more, have a woodburner and collect as much free wood as we can, dont throw anything much away eg: clothes for best go down the chain until they become cleaning cloths, and anything we can pass on to family or friends is moved along to a new home. one of the nephews is desparate for a bike for xmas and i knew my brother couldny afford to get him one. DH duly went rumaging thro the 'saved in case junk' sorry i mean old garage and came out with one of our kids old bikes! its about ten years old perfect size for nephew. My dad has taken it home and is puting in new inner tubes and giving it a good clean up.only a few stratches but at least he will have a bike from santa.

hope i can learn lots more from you all see you soon