2013 Frugal Living Challenge

couldsavemore_2

rising from the ashes - you are clever that looks great you will be very organised

rising_from_the_ashes

couldsavemore wrote: »

rising from the ashes - you are clever that looks great you will be very organised

I hope so you have no idea how much time I've[STRIKE] wasted[/STRIKE] spent playing around with it!:o

dizzy_lizzie

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

I hope so you have no idea how much time I've[STRIKE] wasted[/STRIKE] spent playing around with it!:o

Ooh I like that idea Rising. Couldn't see it before, was just a little broken square pic but it's come up now for me.
Might think about doing something silmilar.
x

miss_empty_piggy

I think that looks amazing Rising -what a fabulous idea.

Had to get car taxed today so £120 lighter but hey ho. Been shopping and bought budget - enough for the next few days at least. Need to do a thorough meal plan for next week. Am panicking that I won't be organised when I get back to work.

Savvy_sewing

I managed to get 11 portions, well 22 portions of meat, as i put 4 slices together in packs, and froze them, from the pork joint that I got yesterday. As its only DGD and myself, and she is 5 I think thats enough between us for one meal.
So thats great, it means that its less then 25p a slice.
But the rest of the day cost me the earth.
The power packs for her Leapfrog, with delivery came to around £40.
The memory stick I need to back up the laptop, a further £23.00odd.
Then I had to get some batteries to tide DGD over until the power pack comes so I could finish downloading the games that were bought on the internet, using the card she was given for Christmas, as we were half way through download when the 3rd set of batteries this side of Xmas ran out!.
I feel totally exasperated, and wonder how on earth I will ever get into the frugal challenge properly if these things are going to hit me.
Then this afternoon twin2 rang me to tell me that the phone bill for thier house had arrived, the Reminder, and it needed paying so another £58.48 down the drain.
They do not have any gas, but they do have electric. I resisted in offering to pay that, told twin2 and DS that they had to sort it out or they will be paying over the odds with heating and water if they only use the electric. Its really very hard to get through to them the importance of the costs and the importance of keeping the gas topped up as they have daily charges to pay.
I AM NOT PAYING IT. (I have to keep telling myself this as I sway too easily. But today its easy after spending so much that wasnt budgeted for).
Seems rather incongruous that I am saving on the food etc, and DGD and I tend to go without things as I am keeping her aunty and uncle and sometimes her mothers homes afloat.

skint_chick

So far this year I've spent £27 £25 of that was my electricity top up for Jan, and hopefully the first few days of Feb. The other £2 was on a pack of new socks. Not very exciting but needed. I'd sold some old dvds to Music Magpie before Christmas and the cheque arrived today so have an extra £10.09 to pay off my debts. Went for lunch with my friend and I'd forgotten it was her turn to pay. I'll be having a quiet weekend as I've got a uni essay due so will be spending my weekend writing that and doing some other coursework and reading. I'm trying to use up all the food in the freezer and cupboards before I go to the supermarket so it'll mostly be pasta, baked beans and frozen veg for the next few days:o I also had a massive clearout of clothes that weren't suitable for sale on ebay and will be taking them to the clothes weighing store tomorrow in exchange for cash - hopefully around £10 so I can pay even more off my debt. It's my major priority this year for my finances - once I get this month's payments made then I'll be under £16k in total, which I'd like to be under £10k by the end of the year. It's going to be a HUGE challenge as I'm only working 3 days a week but I can't go on feeling stressed by it, I'm hoping to sell some of my craftwork later in the year to make a little extra to put towards it as I have loads of supplies and now the extra time so need to stop making excuses and get on with things!

couldsavemore_2

rising from the ashes . i can imagine how long it has taken. I loose patience with things like that and get very frustrated but it looks such a good idea I may chance it.

skintwellie

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Well .... I've spent the past couple of days making a home management binder!

It started out as a way to try to replace the several notebooks I carry around with me everywhere (A7 diary which is my spending diary, A6 spiral notebook marked up day to page which is my to do notebook and an A6 day to page diary for appointments) - they're quite heavy combined!:o

So .... managed to come up with something to combine everything into an A5 page

Looks very like this but it's been tweaked now!



Then I decided that I needed to do Meal Planning separately - really need to get a grip with this to keep my grocery spends under control ..... so they're going everywhere with me.

Working on the full home management binder (which will stay in the house ) just now .... this is addictive!:)

Wow! what an amazing idea. I used to live by lists and then found that they started to rule my life so stopped using them (probably the start of my spiral into debt and complete scattiness!!!) I think that if I took your book idea on board then my life would be less chaotic. Thanks x

Baking_Mad

Hi all and a Happy New Year to all of you!

I've decided to join this challenge in order to stay on top of our outgoings this year.

I've not got the exact budget figure yet as we've just recently won the appeal against our council tax band and still waiting to find out how much our new payments are going to be. :j

We've just cleared one loan in December 2012 and another one finishing in June so will be DF then!!!!!!!! Can't wait!

So far this year we've spent £25 on diesel and £20 on a car part. I've got to do a shop tomorrow cos we've pretty much run out of everything after Xmas. Boo!

painted_lady

Hi Guys,I lurked on this thread a little last year and find it inspiring as it is a lifestyle thing. To introduce my self: I am "Painted Lady," I don't disclose my real name as I am paranoid about posting too much online. I am a lady (well, female) and in my thirties, I live in my (mortgaged) house with my partner and our 5 year old son. I am self employed and my income is sporadic, I find it difficult to manage my cash flow as I have no regular pay day.
Whilst lurking last year, I discovered soapnuts, so I use these a lot, although not every wash as they dont get a 5 year olds stains out. I am naturally quite frugal anyway (although this doesnt explain why I have so much debt!). Today I spent money for the first time this year, £5 petrol (which was for todays journey not in my vehicle), approx £10.50 in food (mainly fruit and bread, sounds a lot when I put it like that!)
I think my main aim for this month is to keep my spending diary, I know MSE's say this is vital, but I have never done it properly.
I will post again soon and wish you all the best with your financial challenges in 2013.