2012 Frugal Living Challenge (Part 1)

Nargleblast

Hello frugallers, thought I would add my two pennorth!

I earn a reasonable wage but with debts being paid off and general cost of living rises, plus a OH and a DS with gargantuan appetites, I am furiously counting the pennies approaching payday! I do a big supermarket shop using mysupermarket (surprisingly enough, Mr Sainsbugs came out cheaper than A5d@ or Te$co this month!), get fruit and veg from the local greengrocer twice a week, and have started getting meat and cheese from a wholesale butcher a few miles away. We very rarely buy takeaways or ready meals, all cooking is done from scratch. Apart from payday, when I treat us all to fish and chips from a very nice local chippy. In between paydays shops like A1di and Home 8argain$ get my custom.

All in all, life is pretty ok, we survive. In a couple of years or so we will be debt free, and I will look into paying some extra off the mortgage each month.

It is just a pain in the neck, seeing prices go up all the time, and not being able to afford lovely expensive holidays etc. Still, our back garden is a nice little oasis of greenery and sunshine, we have parks and countryside nearby, and the coast is only a half hour or so drive away. Life is what you make of it, I suppose, and we all do the best we can do with what we have.

silvasava

Hi all Frugallers - been AWOL for the last month as I've had a constant stream of vistors (thats what you get for living on the south coast!) so all in all NOT frugal & I'm just getting back to 'normal'. Good to hear you've got some support at last with DH Sandra - as they say 'every little helps'
I did manage to re-insure my car this month much cheaper than the renewal & a better level of cover Going to try again to do some paper logs for the winter & I've got the recipe for the 'Rhubarb Champagne' - its probably the only thing I'll get from the garden this year as the rain has ruined virtually everything I've planted. Have got plenty of mini cucumbers in the greenhouse but no tomatoes yet to go with them!
Hope you all get some much needed sunshine & have a good weekend

[Deleted User]

Frugal Plans today - No car use, no spend day. Going to sew up some handmade gift bags in time for MILs birthday.

Would have liked to get a washing out on the line today but the Scottish weather has thwarted that plan. Nothing urgent so will wait and see what tomorrow brings.

[Deleted User]

Morning All. Today's frugal plans:

The Scottish weather has obliged and it is at least dry:T. Got a washing in just now and will get it hung outside to dry shortly.

Visit to the local Library - need to renew some books and get some new ones. Am in the mood for some Maeve Binchy. Will also spend some time reading the mags and newspapers.

No car day again today.

Order our free standby saver from Scottish Gas - didn't know about this but they give a free Energy Savers Pack. I already have an Electricity monitor from my own provider but I will take them up on the standby saver. I have also arranged to take advantage of my local council's free offer for Cavity Wall Insulation (they do loft too but we don't need that). The guys are coming on Thursday to do a survey to get things started and see if we do need it.

Food wise we are well organised - chilli con carne made last night that will do us over two days plus a portion for the freezer.

chaz_2282

Is it too late to join the 2012 list???

[Deleted User]

Welcome to the thread chaz. Best of luck with your frugal mission.

[Deleted User]

Wednesdays Frugal Plans:

Another day of not using the car.

NSD planned.

OH payday - organise finances and set aside savings to be banked.

Home spa - facial, nails and leave in conditioner in hair. I really need a hair cut and have booked an appt for later in August with a new hairdresser who is cheaper than my current one.

Need to organise food/cooking for the rest of the week and plan packed lunches for the weekend.

black_cat

I don't think I've posted on this thread before, but I've definitely been lurking! Thanks for all your tips and inspiration. I've got to dye my hair today. I absolutely hate doing it but I love spending £5 on a dye instead of £60 at the hairdressers!

dizzy_lizzie

Hi Chaz and Blackcat, welcome to the thread.
Allie your pamper day sounds lovely. Sounds like you're really organised too which helps such a lot when trying to be more frugal doesn't it.

Well today I started The New Cabbage Soup Diet after picking up the book for 20p. So this one is revised and has brown rice in the soup. Didn't realise there were so many more veggies in it. Similar really to the weightwatchers no points soup. It's not just veg soup for a week either. As today is Day 1 I'm allowed unlimited 'free fruit' as well as l/f plain yogurt or skimmed milk. (I'm having a fruit soya yogurt instead)
It changes as the week continues. Tomorrow it's soup and unlimited vegetables. You can add spices and herbs to jazz them up etc.
Just as well I decided to do this diet in the Summer holiday break!!!
I know it's a really low calorie one and not at all healthy to do constantly but I'm using it as a kick start to lose the stone I can't seem to get rid of. But I'm soooooo missing dipping bread in the soup which is really tasty to be honest. I add a dash of brown sauce to make it a little hotter/spicy.
Plans for today are list some bits on ebay and possibly start a quilt for our GS. I got the material from Abakhan in the sale. Going to try and do more crafty stuff in these hols and hopefully keep fairly frugal too.
It was my birthday on Monday and we went out for a family meal. I had a cashew nut and vegetable rice dish which was deeeeeelicious! This birthday is the last one in my forties! Talk about whizz by, honestly, life really is just the blink of an eye!
So in this next year I'm continuing to aim at growing out my hair to it's now natural colour of [STRIKE]grey[/STRIKE] oops I mean silver, as OH calls it. I'd say it's about 2 inches grown out now but I can still cope with it and I've worked out I've saved around £20 so far on home root touch ups!! I also want to lose this stone and carry on with my French on memrise.
Been sat in the garden a fair bit today. Bit overcast but at least it was warm
Hope everyone else is ok
x

optimistic-mummy

hi all, can i join you, i really need some motivation, me and my family are trying to live as frugal and OS as possible but we keep failing miserably and if we want to get our dept cleared living as OS and frugal as possible is the only way. also could anyone recommend the best OS thread for motivation, im so confused their seems so many,,, i think i may have joined you before, or may have just been reading the threads for motivation and inspiration but i cant remember. hope everyone is well, x