2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Shortie

Afternoon all

Today so far.... Breakfast, snack and lunch brought into work with me. I've paid for my monthly travel card (it's gone up, ouch).

With the new wool I started tp crochet a slouchy beanie hat for my eldest. I think I finished it last night but needed his head to check the length before I finished it all off so hopefully I can get t hat finished tonight, see how much like a mis-shaped teacosy it resembles and start on my youngest's if it's really not that bad. I did make myself one but I made it waaaaay too long so the slouch at the back of mine is daft. I need to get round to unpicking it after I've finished the boys beanies.

3 more days in work, then my crochet lesson treat.. am really hoping the morning is dry too so that I can crack on with the chook run - I'm desperate to get the girls settled in there and also move on from the darned thing onto the next project, lol

vw_campervan_mum

Fell off the budget at the weekend. Went shopping on saturday and spent £22 on 2 dresses and a top, £10 at a cafe for me and a friend. Then I went for a night out and spent way too much about £25. Need to get straight back onto frugalism. Had intended to spend nothing like this in January as I am going on a weekend mini-break in february. :eek:

The only part of the budget I have really kept under is diesel for the van. Food has gone over by £30.

At least as others have said I am in a better state than if I hadn't been trying at all!

abby1234519

I have just spend £50.86 on an online shop at Sainsburys.
At the moment Sainsburys nappies are a penny per nappy cheaper than Asda. I usually get them in Lidl as they are even cheaper however they are often out of stock. I drive past on the way home from work (its about 5 miles from my home) and pop in to see if they have them, when they do I buy as many packs of the nappies as I can. However I once went 2 months without being able to get any nappies at Lidl. We are now down to last 2 packs. So anyway Sainsburys are 11pence per nappy and as I have never bought anything online from Sainsburys I can get £15 off.
So I've spent £1.20 on thin bleach, going to see if it works as well as thick bleach. Dirt cheap anyway 30pence per 2 litres. Might be a con!
62pence spent of Sainsbury's Lemon Curd, and then 25pence on value lemon curd. My other half loves the stuff on toast for breakfast so I am trying two different ones, I hope he prefers the 25pence jar! Its the cheapest I can find so far in shops.
The way I have done my maths is I have "charged" my budget the full price for the food items, bleach and £3.99 delivery, and then I will "charge" February £22.25 for nappies and wipes and charge £22.25 in March for the nappies and wipes. I've taken the £15 saving off the price of nappies and wipes if that makes sense. So half of the nappies should last a month. But really its only a saving of £11 but still worth it as nappies were cheaper to start with. I could have gone to sainsburys on the way home but I wouldn't have saved £11!!
I'm determined to make these nappies and wipes last. I wish he liked the potty, he just says NO

[Deleted User]

mum2one wrote: »

good for u, we all deserve a treat, hope you dont think I am being cheeky, byt if you have a college near you a lot of them have beauty salons for the students to learn the prices are a fraction of high street etc, may take a bit longer as there supervised, but a lot of colleges do evenings as well for the mature . part time students. Our college does all hair dressing, massages facials, waxing etc. xx

Yes, I have tried the local college but they only do a Wed evening which doesn't always suit me. I would go to them again though as the massage I had was good.

Savvy_sewing

Did a basket dash around Aldi and got the fruit, veg and meat for week ahead and only spent £18 odd. Cupboards bursting with tins and packets so shouldn't need to spend any more for at least a week. Fingers crossed.
Did have a shopping day organised with my friend haven't seen since May. Treated myself to two tops, charity shop £5.50. Some glass storage jars £2 for my buttons 4 jars. A replacement jug £1 as mine is cracked, and a couple of cups and saucers with Moo on! £2.50 had to be done!
But will be de cluttering equivalent amounts tomorrow.

patentgirl

Abby I use value lemon curd all the time really nice in cakes.


January just seems the longest month ever doesn't help when last paid on 20th Dec just worked out have has 10 NSDs with hopefully couple more aiming for 15 in February. Pleased with food budget have made all meals from scratch since the 1st using up leftovers like never before lol made list lists and more lists and seem to spend every minute of the day I have free looking for ways to save more Money and frugal recipes, what I have spent more on is diesel need to look at this, gifts and cards I hadn't really budgeted for ended up spending more by buying last minute!!! have been using a spending app on my I pad really shows everything up in black and white which is what I need to get more frugal.
Have good evening everyone

LionessInWinter

patentgirl wrote: »

Abby I use value lemon curd all the time really nice in cakes.


January just seems the longest month ever doesn't help when last paid on 20th Dec just worked out have has 10 NSDs with hopefully couple more aiming for 15 in February. Pleased with food budget have made all meals from scratch since the 1st using up leftovers like never before lol made list lists and more lists and seem to spend every minute of the day I have free looking for ways to save more Money and frugal recipes, what I have spent more on is diesel need to look at this, gifts and cards I hadn't really budgeted for ended up spending more by buying last minute!!! have been using a spending app on my I pad really shows everything up in black and white which is what I need to get more frugal.
Have good evening everyone

Hi, can you share which app you use? I'm trying to get organised and am struggling to find something that works.

Thanks

patentgirl

LionessInWinter wrote: »

Hi, can you share which app you use? I'm trying to get organised and am struggling to find something that works.

Thanks

It's called spending tracker was free, you can put in your spends in and income, it is splits into months which I needed, also has catorgies set up and you can add your own, I have put NSDs then gives each section different colour, really impressed so far. Hope this helps. ( app looks like a brown wallet)

nannygladys

Wish I had a phone to get an app like that! I want one! Don't need one but want one!!!

Anyway all is going quite well and I continue to frugal along hoping by doing this I will be able to start an emergency fund / holiday fund.

Nanny g

Frugalsod

abby1234519 wrote: »

I usually throw things away after 4 days, how long do you think I can stretch it for?

I keep things as long as a couple of weeks. I wait till it is starting to go well off before throwing anything away. A 4 day limit is arbitrary and wasteful. I have had cooked mince in for a week without any problems. You should reheat it properly though.