2013 Frugal Living Challenge

out_of_debt_at_last

Been a bit absent recently, been busy spring cleaning and sorting out junk! Made a bit of cash from it too by doing a carboot sale and by selling on *bay! Picked up my free pack of toilet rolls today from a voucher sent from a nice little koala!

mummy2threeboys

hi all checking in , had a quick catch up, love to all xx Spring is on its way slowly..3 loads on the line so far this past week ..Heating is now off most of the day , managed to fix my loo by myself..keeps over flowing (and as i pay for water it was wasting money) and a bit that connects to the pump pully and handle snapped..total cost £1.49 for new part and a bit of google work to sort out over flow (screw had come loose). 2 vouchers for koola loo roll..they sent 2 by error (im not complaining!) libary books i reserved turned up and we had free entertainment for the baby there (bounce and rhyme) and even the older 2 loved it, (and free tea/squash and biscuits) I love our libary, i know a lot of homeless who use it in winter, where else can you keep warm, catch up with internet access and read a paper for free? Even are staff are so lovely they give out tea coffee and biccys (if they are making one for themselves) Food shopping for 2 adults and 3 children is still coming in at £66 a week..not so bad seeing as it was about £80 (cook from scratch, no ready meals)
One of the muti national fast food places (mr king) where giving out vouchers family eats for £10 (saved us £6!) and some bog off and free coffees etc..as a very rare "treat" (use term loosly) we take them about once every 2-3 months . Has been this half terms treat so far. Possibly tommorrow im going to take them to the cinema £2.50 each and bus fare then free/cheap mr king should be about £20 max all in (will take from childrens entertainment money tre hey recived) ..humm oh current debt stands at £4650 ..hopefully will pic up more now as we just remarried and payed off the last bit of our holiday (£70 for wedding and £190 for holiday this month) ..anyway waffle waffle lol..have a great half term holiday xx

Baking_Mad

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi Baking Mad. There are just the two of us. On a good month we can usually send some of the food fund to the savings account but is does mean being quite focussed with planning and shopping for bargains. The £7 a week thread is brilliant for insipration (sorry can't do a link - on my phone during lunch break!) and the OS Grocery challenge. I could probably get the cost down even more but I do like the occasional(!) treat and I do have weeks where I just can be doing with all the planning so I have a break and then watch our spend go up (so get back on it the next week).

Thank you, the fact that it's a budget for two made me feel a bit better! I've been reading the £7 a week thread a lot and have used some recipes from there, very inspirational!

Well, OH and I are seriously considering getting a new loan. His car is about to die, it's very old, there is no way it'll pass MOT next month and the repairs will cost a fortune.

Gutted as I was convinced that by June this year we'd be DF...:mad:

miss_empty_piggy

Saved £262.00 on my car insurance - and you guessed it:

I feel EPIC!!!:j

gallygirl

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

Saved £262.00 on my car insurance - and you guessed it:

I feel EPIC!!!:j

Saved £100 on car repairs and a further £35 with discount card. I too feel EPIC

miss_empty_piggy

gallygirl wrote: »

Saved £100 on car repairs and a further £35 with discount card. I too feel EPIC

whoop whoop - check us out!!!:j:j

cw18

Life's about to become a real financial juggling act for me again from 22nd March, as I handed in my notice at work yesterday!!

I'm never going to fit in there until I can regularly turn up late, take longer breaks than I should, spend half my shift texting friends, tick off jobs I haven't done and only make a half-hearted attempt at those I do do without feeling guilty about any of it. I've come to realise in the last few weeks that I don't relax until late Saturday afternoon (having clocked off at 2:30 on Friday), start stressing again Tuesday lunch time (for a 6am start on Wednesday) and am back to chewing my nails as far down as I can (having stopped around Easter 2009). Haven't mentioned it to OH or family yet, but I know I've done the right thing as yesterday was the first time this year I've come home from work and not wanted to crawl straight into bed......


I'm not sure I can really justify the £40/month cost of staying a member at the gym (was already considering giving it up this year before I got the job which came with free membership), so I've already told my PT that I want to drop from 2 session a week back to 1 with immediate effect - meaning the 3 I've already paid for will be used in the next 3 weeks - and that's my lot. It'll also be the end of my swimming lessons there. I'm not ruling out membership entirely, but am going to check out the local coucil run places first as I can get an off-peak (before 5pm and not Saturdays) membership for £20/month for gym and swim. The two drawbacks I can see are that (probably the main one) most swimming sessions are 'casual' which means I'd be trying to swim lengths around people swimming widths or just messing around. The more minor one is that they don't allow the wearing of waterproof MP3 players, and I find having music keeps me in the water longer (the same as it keeps me walking/running for longer). The closest council one is 2.8 miles from home, whereas the gym is 3.7 miles - so more likely to walk or less petrol needed. But the gym cost includes classes, whereas the council one doesn't unless I pay £30/month - and at that I think I'd rather pay the extra to stay where I am as I know the place and it has more kit.

There's just one thing on the website for the council places that I need to challenge. According to a statement on one page if I pay £1.60/year for a card that proves I'm a local resident I can get up to 45% off membership - so that could bring it down considerably. If that's really the case then my financial head says I'd have to settle for going there as break even is pretty low (compared to £3.60 a swim session if I pay each time I go).



I'm currently reworking my spreadsheet based on staying at the current one, but plan to go visit the council place next week to see what I think / check out the possible discount situation. I also want to find out what they charge for swimming lessons compared to my gym, as it's something I'd like to carry on with if I can.

Kerry_Woman

cw18 - Hope things work out for you. Sending you hugs.

Also hugs to others who might need them.

natnat13

cw18 - hope it all comes good. I am well into my exercise but cannot afford the gym so I run and do cardio and weight work at home. But it does take enormous disapline to do it, at least when you're paying a membership you feel you have to go because you're paying for it.

I am off on a hen night tonight, meal and lots of drinks I'm guessing so frugalness might go out the window unless I can find a few nice men to buy me drinks :rotfl:

I have spent a lot of money this week, got a new car and insured it. I saved about £500 on my insurance, mental and I feel epic too!! Managed to pay for the year in one go and am now going to start a money pot for next years, £2 coins or something.

I have lost the small amount of HB and CTB I used to get because of my savings which is fine but my whole budget needs rejigging. That is tomorrow's job whilst nursing the hangover from hell I suspect. I do find being frugal easy when I'm not busy, its when I get caught up in work, friends etc it all goes out the window but I'm a lot better than I was so its ok. Just want to start saving now to buy a house. That is my next and massive goal.

[Deleted User]

Hi All, Not been a frugal week for me so far. I have been treating myself to some new crafty things as I am setting up my summerhouse as a new craft room. I am attending a free local class on learning how to crochet and I have been teaching myself how to knit using you tube videos.

Almost pay day and I have set out my budget and planned my savings for this month.