2013 Frugal Living Challenge

quintwins

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

Just wondering where is the best plce to get spreadsheets maybe print offs? And where do you go about setting a budget starting point? We are on gas/electric meters too so pointers in budgeting those in whould be fab. Do i just write down the readings once a week and try to keep them s low as possible by keeping heating off , lights etc? thanks

I think theres some spreadsheets in one of the first posts or one of the stickys, i'm not a spreadsheet person i prefer a notebook and a pen and take one month at a time.

For my budget i start with things that are set, like rent, council tax, whater rates, insurance, phone, broadband.

For elec and gas i take the most expensive month so usually winter and use that it's better to over estimate and have more money left to save/pay off debt that sitting in the cold and dark.

I pay £4 to the school each week i did consider adding this in but added it into my grocery budget instead atleast that way i have an extra £4 for stuff in summer.

Then you add stuff like your food budget, you could try the mse budget planner so make sure you dn't miss anything

Caseymoo

Hi everyone this is my rough budget for the next 4 months, Me and my boyfriend are full time students and also work self employed buying and selling and we have our own gift baskets company. The gift baksets do extremely well September-December but other than that are quiet. Then we buy and sell April to September when the weather is good at carboot sales. Any money made this year is being put into savings and holiday funds .

Pay day 7th of Jan- Needs to cover 4 months of bills and rent.

(C also owed £1600 in grant money but not taking into account because already been waiting 4 months)

C-Loan-£1179
C-Bursary-£1500
D-Loan-£1306
D-Grant-£1083
Rent from Flatmate-£675
Total £5743

Outgoings

Rent £1640
EDF £244
Mobile- £240
Tv Lic- £37
Sofa- £100
Water- £80
Internet £120
Petrol- £600
Food- £600
Haircuts £40
Presents-£80 (big families, always try and save in sales etc but have over budgeted here slightly)
Pocket money and Entertainment- £640
Road Tax-£150 foryear
Car Insurance- PAID
Total:£4571

Woohoo! better than i thought £1172 remaining (i think) really hope i can stick to this budget so that money can be saved

Current Savings
Bank-£960
New York Fund-£138
Euro's- €200 for jan holiday (€100 of this is for my new baby goddaughter and my best friends that have just got married but im staying with my mum and only there for 5 days so €100 is more than enough for me. Then managed to save €170 for our holiday in July- The holiday is all paid for did that last night
50p's-? check this every 2 months
£10 a day-£15
Sealed Pot-? check next new years day

Money to come from extra earnings (hampers and buying n selling)
Holidays-£3000
Savings-£2000

ostrichnomore_2

Cancelled my Lovefilm subscription today. Only 9.99 a month but that's £120 a year. I used to 'need' it as had no tv signal, but now that's sorted I'm more than happy to cut that from my budget.

Took me about 10 minutes of saying 'yes I want to cancel, yes I know there are cheaper packages, no I don't want a cheaper package I want to cancel, yes I know there is a package for only £4.99 a month but no thank you, yes I have been happy with your service but I still want to cancel, yes I know you do membership holidays, no I don't want to take a 3 month membership holiday and then resume making payments after that, I want to CANCEL.'
gordon bennett!

JayneC

So today I did a survey and signed up for mystery shop - get free lunch and £7 fee. Not been shopping yet this year, so doing ok up to now:p

I'm on a very tight grocery budget so the longer I can survive on post Christmas food (mostly cheese it would seem;))the better. Also need to keep on top of meal planning, plus I would like to build up a decent store cupboard in case of unforeseen crisis (well ok economic meltdown, which is looking increasingly probably ). Must, must be more productive in food growing this year too.

Hope everyone is doing well. x

slowlyfading

JayneC wrote: »

I'm on a very tight grocery budget so the longer I can survive on post Christmas food (mostly cheese it would seem;))the better.

I'm doing this too, except it's chocolate in our house, not cheese :rotfl:

JayneC

Lol SF didn't have a lot of chocolate this year - was quite restrained for a change Not quite sure how we ended up with so much cheese but it's keeping us going for now:p

xnatalie81x

Mega food hoarding going on here lol. Loving approved foods at the moment! 2 orders and jan and half fb now sorted and enough coffee (cappuccino) for the year!

Savvy_sewing

I spent more than intended in Mr T today, £29.80 but I did buy a huge joint of pork, 2.85kg for £10.85. This I have cooked this evening, and plan to chill over night, and then slice with the electric carving knife, and then freeze in individual portions tomorrow. I am hoping that I will get a minimum of 10 portions out of it. But hoping that using the carving knife will get me more. (I miss the old food slicer that I used to have, that cut the meat really thinly if I needed it). I also bought bread, squash, and 3 packs of cold meats, for £5.
We were having and supplying lunch for my daughter and our two little ones.
The biggest Hole in the budget before I even start was having the TV aerial fixed. It cost me £70 for the man to go up on the roof, find the fault, and replace the parts necessary in the booster thingy. Sorry I am not technical. Anyway, it now gives us back TV upstairs. Which is where I like to sew.
I have made a cover for my iphone (second hand one from my daughter), using scraps that I had around. It is made from the same fabrics from the kindle cover that I made yesterday. Get me all this technology eh!
Time I went to bed, I am really tired now, and my back is aching. I will have to put the underblanket on for a few minutes just to get the back straight!.

Merle

Hi Everyone
Happy New Year to you all and continued frugal success.
I have been quietly reading your posts for years and have been impressed and inspired by your generous sharing of frugal tips and ideas.
I am 59 and a year ago I finished work as a teacher due to ill health. I had high blood pressure which is now hopefully under control :j. My husband is retired also. We are happily living simply on a much reduced income free from the pressures and stress we knew at work. We have 7 grown up children. Three still living at home 25, 23 and 21 who cannot afford to move out. I have not worked out a budget yet but I know we live as frugally as we can. Last year I got some chickens which live at the bottom of the garden. They don't lay many eggs at this time of year but they are a delight and if you have room I would recommend them to anyone. They are so much fun with lovely characters. When they are laying I have a dozen eggs a day and more. My family buy the surplus for £1 a dozen which goes to paying for their feed etc.
We have plenty of omelettes and pancakes when the food budget is low.
I too am busy using up left over Christmas food and making it last as long as possible. I have been adding to my 50p pot challenge and I am saving 20p's.
I have resisted the temptation to go shopping in the sales instead I have been emptying my wardrobes and am finding things in there that I had forgotten I had bought.:o I am getting to grips with clutter this year and getting rid of things I have kept for years.
Good luck to everyone may this year of the Chinese Water Snake be a happy, healthy and prosperous one one for all.... starts in Feb.
Merle X

couldsavemore_2

back to work today taking lunch with me and flask of coffee. been sorting craft stuff out taking a while but have no intentions of buying any cards this year so just need to sort stash out.
washing on airer no hating on its quite mild here over the weekend i have the wardrobes planned for good clear out then will start e- baying

hardly used the car over the holidays so the petrol has lasted best part of three weeks but will need to re- fill this weekend .

doing this challenge makes you stop and think about everything, how to do things more cheaply or if indeed you really need that item
also should cut down on waste.

also going through the house to see what we have bought in past and never used ie bought some tie backs for curtains and never put them up. so they will go up this weekend

have agreat frugal day everyone