2013 Frugal Living Challenge

mummy2threeboys

Baking_Mad wrote: »

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

Well done huni! Do you know if you wi get an back dated over payments?


Well 3 Nsds in a row and 2 af days (broke the af last night as i had a shock a friend passed away) im sure some already at home port is ok for such purposes. Today went to town paid in £17 i had from penny jar. Use as part of my "overpayments" for the loan i think. Withdrew my £20 from weekly allownece for additional needs. Out of that i bought 3 cakes , a loaf of bread, a dress for me (thats ok for both summer and winter ) £2.49 and pair of dungerees for baby £1.50 , and a huge pack of card for £2.99 ..it was cheaper to buy one of those stuff as much as you can in a box deas than to buy a sealed pack !(Although the card was from change left over around the house) ..was super good..wasn't tempted by the craft shops yarn sae..and put 4 items back in the second hand shop
Need to get draw runners..will get them! Also next weeks budget will be mostly spent on 2 train tickets to london (bought myself and mum billy elliot tickets at half the price for our christmas presant..forgetting i need to pay for train tickets too..have looked around and they are not any cheaper elsewhere)
Tea for tonight is random out of the freezer stuff..left over fish pie, rice, fishfingers , rice and i have 2 odd chicken breasts with umm rice lol..but least its 4 items out of the freezer that have been lurking!
Have a good day all xx

rising_from_the_ashes

natnat13 wrote: »

I'll never stick to the spreadsheet so have got a notebook, can also do meal plans and other lists in that!

Ohhhhhh Nat you should drop in and have a look at this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4366765

It's got me totally inspired and I've spent days looking at how to organise things ..... did so a daily planner with to-do lists, checklists etc but it was getting a bit too many pages in the book so have now found some fantastic printable sheets.....

It's great as I've gone from having to carry around an A7 diary (spending diary), A7 spiral notebook marked up with each day (to do list) and an A7 day to page diary (appointments) to .... having it all in one folder:T:T:j:j

Still working on it

xnatalie81x

Have had to have a rejuggle already! My 5 and 6 yr olds got their places in a gymnastics club (been waiting months!) start next week £4.00 a session each. I'm still doing my £566 a year but have had to shuffle a little. My dd does gymnastics and ballet and my son gymnastics the 8 yr old wont do group situations at all so prefers to make and draw at home and the 2yr old is still happy banging pans ha ha - they obv all have 4-6 thirty minute swimming lessons a week each (bar 2 yr old who goes much less regularly but can swim as been doing so since 2wks) kids - expensive habit I have asked for money for their birthdays though to pay for things like this as they don't have room for lots of toys in our small space and they would rather do their activities

Lovely boring day here noodles with hm pasta sauce n cheese with pitta for lunch and hm bread toast for Brekkie. Second loaf in bread maker as I'm taking one home with me tonight and leaving one for mum and dad proud me and the kids have eaten only hm bread since before Xmas

[Deleted User]

Oh well, frugal plans out of the window this weekend. OHs car has broken down for the second time in a month - same problem we think. This is the third time since May 2012 it has done this.

Think we are going to have to get a new one asap. We need a car each due to OH working shifts and working a bit further away/. Just when I was starting to get a little savings pot together too!

natnat13

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhhhh Nat you should drop in and have a look at this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4366765

It's got me totally inspired and I've spent days looking at how to organise things ..... did so a daily planner with to-do lists, checklists etc but it was getting a bit too many pages in the book so have now found some fantastic printable sheets.....

It's great as I've gone from having to carry around an A7 diary (spending diary), A7 spiral notebook marked up with each day (to do list) and an A7 day to page diary (appointments) to .... having it all in one folder:T:T:j:j

Still working on it

Thank you I will do. Just cooked me tea out of freezer food and got out a curry, bread and bacon for the rest of the weekend.

vintagebrighton

Evening all

The last couple of days have been mixed.... a magazine and a sports bra found their way onto my 'desperately needed' list so bought those when I'm meant to be NOT SPENDING at least until the 20th of this month

Anyway, my budget for 'fripperies' for the entire year is now set at £520... That's for magazines, clothes, books, haircuts, make up etc for me. Also I'm going to include any presents, cards etc. It's gonna be tough but I need focus.

Apart from that I'm keeping a spending diary to find out where my money goes. I'm supposed to have £200pm spare which could be saved but I don't! I think there's an indication why not ^^

Bought some reduced toiletries but these come out of the food money so non spends for me.

We do eat tons of veg though so am going to see what I can do about growing some.. there's lots of info on MSE and although I don't know whether or not I'm 'green fingered' it seems salads are a good place to start...... well, that and herbs

Will go and update my signature remembering to include my spends over the last couple of days.

OLDBILL_2

Hi there,

Does anyone on this thread use any apps for windows to help with their money saving? I heard about one that tells you about the supermarket deals and another that tells you if an item is cheaper elsewhere... any ideas peeps? Im a bit of a technophobe and have only just aquired a smartphone!

slscarborough

Hi everyone

I am new to this so have set myself a budget of £24,000 all in. This is in order to clear the approx £8000 I have in debt by the end of the year. In theory this should be easily doable !!

Sue :-)

Baking_Mad

mummy2threeboys wrote: »

Well done huni! Do you know if you wi get an back dated over

Hi, yes, they will be backdating it to 1st of July 2012!!! So we'll be getting a nice little cheque in the post soon. :j I must admit the appeal was hellish and not fun at all. My OH did all the work, if it wasn't for him we would never have won.

Well, went shopping today and spent £12.99 on a pair of new trainers for DD, she needs them for school, fingers crossed they will last her a while. Then spent further £26.65 on food, got lots of fruit and veg and we've still got lots of meat in the freezer so hope to make this last.

Quintwins, I've tried your slow cooker yoghurt from another thread and it tastes yummy, my two year old loves it. Thank you

slscarborough

Can I ask for the slow cooker yoghurt recipe please - sounds fab!! I am trying to cut back on my grocery budget. I have set a budget of £350.00 a month but I would like to cut back a little further if possible. This is for 2 adults and 2 young children.