Paying off debts by taking money saving to the extreme.

Igamogam

bluebag wrote: »

I don't think I'll go for the funeral prepayment thingy though... the spenders in my house can cough up for something.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Like your style

Igamogam

here are a coople of blogs you might be interested in HERE and HERE Good luck

[Deleted User]

http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.co.uk/

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/

Was it either of these, Frugal Queen especially has some fantastic tips she has just won an award for the best frugal blog at the Blog Awards.

Mean Queen also has some really good ideas as well.

I use vinegar a lot, never use fanric softner, its a by product of the oil industry and puts a layer of plastic on clothes etc. White vinegar in the softner draw will kill any residual soap in the cothes and the smell soon goes. I also use it for cleaning the windows. You can get 5 litre containers from Chinese supermarkets.

I also use washing soda, 1 packet to a packet of wash powder and use just a small scoop full in the machine. I have a mini dustbin with a lid and I mix it up in that. I buy the cheapest wash powder I can get, works just as well as expensive brands. Wash whites and bedlinen at 60c wash takes an hour on the quick wash. Colours at 40c or even 30c.

Never use the main oven on my cooker unless I absolutely have to I have a panasonic combi microwave, I do most of my roasting and baking in that. I also have a Remoska, I can cook a roast dinner in that no problem. No slow cooker but do use a pressure cooker especially for making soups stews and casseroles.

I used to shop at Tesco but now do most of my shopping at Aldi, I find their fruit and veg is far better quality than Tesco; I just go there for things I cannot get at Aldi.

luxor4t

marmiterulesok wrote: »

I was reading this thread yesterday and am pretty sure that one of you posted a link to a blog by a 63 yo lady about frugal living.I can't see the link anymore and didn't copy it down.It was very interesting.Can anyone help?Thanks....QUOTE]

Deleted_User wrote: »

http://meanqueen-lifeaftermoney.blogspot.co.uk/

http://frugalincornwall.blogspot.co.uk/

Was it either of these, Frugal Queen especially has some fantastic tips she has just won an award for the best frugal blog at the Blog Awards.

Mean Queen also has some really good ideas as well.

.

Thanks Deleted_User, I recommended Meanqueen blog, somebody else recommended Frugal Queen. I'm not sure why the posts were removed.

[Deleted User]

Good Luck with your endevours I am frugal by nature and inclination as I would rather spend my spare cash on things I enjoy.In my case I have a weeks holiday with an old friend in the spring and a fortnight in the summer with my DD and her large and noisy family.Almost everything I do is second nature now but the best thing is to cut back on trips to the shops or you will be buying the £5.00 loaf (meaning that the loaf you went out for costs at least that as you then get tempted to buy 'extras')I now have cut back so that I can get at least 5-7 NSDs (no spend days ) between shopping.Try the 7 day fiscal fasting forum on here its great and does concentrate your mind in a new direction.Like any addiction whether its eating chocolate or shopping you can stop and giving the incentive you will achieve hopefully your goal of being debt free.At the moment I am almost half way towards the price of next years August holiday which I booked last month,so any extras that I can stash I do.
Good luck and keep focussed on you aim I am sure you will get there in the end
Cheers JackieO xxx

Cottage_Economy

lemontart wrote: »

not extreme at all, my mother who is 75 always used to use old vests for floor clothes

My grandmother used to do this but didn't just stick to vests. I always remember the shock of handing across a pair of my grandad's y-fronts when she asked me to pass her the 'floor cloth' from under the sink.

Good luck paying off your debts Fairyface. When I made moneysaving my hobby my bills came down drastically. Off the top of my head:

• The biggest moneysaving thing we did was downgrade our lifestyle expectations and be patient. We don't need much to feel happy and can put up with a little inconvenience to get the best deal on something we do need. When you need something NOW, NOW, NOW you're immediately at a disadvantage.
• Cooking every day was using 3kw of gas so I bought a halogen oven and do the majority of my cooking in it, and I rarely use gas to cook any more. Occasionally I use the slow cooker too.
• I've found out when the reduced food is put out in the shops near me and visit them regularly. I very rarely buy full price meat anymore and often stock up on reduced normal bread, rolls, indian breads, crumpets and muffins and defrost what I need every day.
• I buy cheap bath foam in the hand wash dispensers.
• Stopped bathing almost every night to unwind. Now I have a shower every day instead, and restrict my relaxing bath to just one at the weekend. f I want to relax I go and lie in bed with the heated blanket on and a good book.
• I did an evaluation of the services I was paying for and downgraded them if I didn't use them much. For example, we kept track of what TV channels we watched and realised that we watched one channel through our paid for Sky subscription (£60/month) and the rest were on freeSat, so we cancelled Sky. We were paying for enough broadband for an avid online gamer despite only surfing, emailing and the odd programme on iPlayer so that package came down.
• I keep an ear to the ground about what meetings are being held at work and what food is being ordered in for it, and on those days take home for dinner anything left over which would be thrown in the bin. Often that's several rounds of sandwiches, cake and fresh fruit and sometimes there's so much I end up having some of it for lunch the next day too. We do have chickens and ducks so I usually say it's 'for the chickens'
• We wear our clothes a little longer to reduce the washing pile.
• We still have takeaways (usually a couple a month as a treat) but make a conscious effort to spend much less - probably half - of what we used to. Instead of an expensive pizza or KFC we have either a cheaper chinese, order a large fish and chips and share it, or have a curry and share one main and side dish. If there's any rice or breads needed I sort them out at home, which saves some cash too.
• We're so lucky that hubby is an ex-mechanic because it means he can fix our cars when they go wrong. He says a lot of problems people have with cars result from small issues that are ignored and get out of hand. Get a Haynes manual for your car and learn what maintenance it needs every week and don't ignore out of the ordinary sounds, smells or warning lights.

It does get to a point where it becomes fun!

Valli

415SanFran wrote: »

If you can hold out on washing stuff till the new year, not sure why but the big stores tend to have really good sales at this time of year. I think it was all half price, but only on certain brands......(Proctor & Gamble)

The reason is they are cashing in on the spring cleaning bug;)

anyway, cloths. I use old towels, cut down, which can be washed with the towels anyway. I keep one by the loo for wiping the loo and the rest live in the basket under the sink and when they are used they are washed; the one by the loo is changed at least weekly.

I WAS using cheap bath gel for handwash but realised I had so many bars of soap, from gift sets, that I put the liquid soap away and we are slowly going the the soap stash. I find a shop called Savers far better value for cleaning stuff - much cheaper than supermarkets! Would go to Home Bargains but there isn't one here. Main thing is know what you would usually pay then you can recognise a true bargain! eg Mr Sheen is (usually) £1.33 in Morries; 99p from B&M or Savers!

And winter is coming. In winter (blowed if I know why) drivers seem to drop (used) dusters in car parks. They are fine washed - recently found a huge m/f cloth on the road where I live - looks like new now it's been washed!

marmiterulesok

Thanks Deleted_User,it was meanqueen!I might have a look at frugalqueen's blog as well.

There are so many consumer items that we are brainwashed into believing we need.One example is fabric softener -something I never use.I don't have a problem drying myself with a scratchy towel.

I used to buy these wet wipe pads especially to fix on the bottom of a flat broom to clean tiled floors.I used these for ages,even though I could see that they didn't really do the job.In fact they left a film of dirt on the floor.Then I had a brainwave.I bought a mop and bucket and now clean my tiled floors once a week with a mixture of warm water,a squirt of washing up liquid and a squirt of bleach.These same floors have never looked so clean.

[Deleted User]

Not much to report today, not spent any more, ended up doing 3 hours overtime, so I am knackered now, doing surveys at the moment so a good day earning money.:)

thriftyniftyme

Hi Fairyface, I am glad that you have kept up the momentum That is half the struggle really. I am one who paid off all their debts by extreme moneysaving. I used to have graph paper taped to my fridge, every tiny square was 50p of my debt. It was coloured in tiny block by tiny block until I'd coloured it all in and was free! But then I let things lapse because I didn't 'need' to be frugal anymore. Not the basics but the more 'extreme' end of things if you know what I mean. Once the challenge was complete I got fed up because I stupidly didn't set a new challenge. Actually, I did, but I stop posting on DFW so I didn't stick to it and pretended it didn't matter...

I really wish I could remember my old log in details for that account!

But of course, here I am, back again... So yes, it can be done. I used to think of moneysaving as my hobby (and do again now) and it is addictive and great fun!

Best of luck xxx