2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Goldiegirl

I''be just finalised the figures for this months grocery spending.

It's exactly the same as my average for last year

On the face of it, that sounds disappointing, but I'm really pleased. I've been in a 'stocking up' phase, and I've bought much more than normal. So I've got a lot more, for the same money.

So next month, grocery spending should decrease.

I was rummaging around in my kitchen cupboards and pulled out my old food processor. It's getting on for 30 years old, and probably hasn't been used for at least 20 years. It needed a clean up, but it's still perfectly functional. It'll be great for my next batch cooking day. Last time, the chopping of the veg was worst thing!

It seems to have been a long month, but I'm pleased with progress

It gives me a feeling of real pleasure to be producing my own bread, and doing things like HM pizza. The batch cooking experiment worked - I've still got lots of meals in the freezer. Getting into baking again is also good.

The only downside to doing cooking - it means more washing up!

My plans for February include investigating soup making, and I also want to do something with pastry. It's been years since I made pastry, I feel like I need to relearn that skill

tatabubbly

Hey all!

NSD yesterday and a LSD today. Paid for £5 worth of call credit ( I really needed it) and paid for my transport to and from work.

Tomorrow shall be a LSD as well, I need some milk and fruit so going to pop to the local shop to get organised. My tutoring student told me today she wants to cut down an hour so I'm back to 6 hours a week. I earn decent money so I'm hoping that I'll be able to stretch that money for all my weekly essentials.

As I am abroad, my OH phoned me today and told me we are getting a return flights home this week coming.. I am so excited! The downside is we will probably spend a bit of money as when we go home, we are expected to meet people for drinks etc. Hoping to alleviate this by spending cash on our wedding first and then meeting people! lol!

alja

Evening all today was another NSD for me. This evening I shall be checking out how much money I have saved for this first month of the year! I have checked my credit card bill and this was lower than expected, which is great. I use my credit card for the majority of my spending (about 90%) and always pay it off in full every month. So I'm hoping for a good amount saved for the month, fingers crossed!

Trying to do as many surveys as I can at the moment, to ensure I get as much out of them as I can this year. I'm awaiting a £40 payment from 1poll and I'm already over 10% of the way towards my next £40. In T0luna I'm over half-way towards a £15 love to shop voucher, which I will use for things I need for my holiday to keep my holiday costs down.

The next thing to keep an eye on is my phone contract. It's due to end in a couple of months time. So I'm going to note down how many texts, mins and how much data I use over the next couple of months to make sure I get the cheapest tariff I can get for what I need

LionessInWinter

patentgirl wrote: »

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)

Thanks I'll check it out

skintygerlinky

Evening Frugalites xx
Another NSD woop!! Also got £15 in my account from ebay. My niece who's 15 has started listing bits on ebay for the rest of the family (ie she does all the admin, photos etc) and we negotiate her costs once the items are sold!! Everyone's a winner!

Spotted a couple of bargains today - 10 cards for £1 in Card Warehouse, alongside the usual 5 for a £1.
Also if anyone's a vegetarian, lots of popular frozen food shops are outdoing each other on veggie basics eg chicken style chunks, mince,sausages and burgers. You know, the main brand - begins with a 'Q' and rhymes with corn! As far as I can tell, Aldini looks about the cheapest where I live (nr Liverpool).
Will be going shopping on Sunday I think - or poss Monday. I get paid on the last day of the month and my DDs and SOs go out on the 1st - this month, of course, they won't show until Mon 3rd Feb and I want to have a real idea of what's what before I go shopping.

Just dug out some CDs I've not listened to in a while and updated my ipod shuffle. Keeping the spirit of 'appreciating what I have' instead of casing the shops for something new!!

sparrer

Went shopping with DD today and treated her to a new rtc bath mat and an rtc sweater. Had a pub lunch lunch and just had a jacket and cup of tea so not too expensive.
Have been considering re-joining the gym but really can't afford it, then today I was fortunate enough to be offered a treadmill which is coming at the weekend. It might stop my 'window shopping' trips which I use as an excuse for exercise

abby1234519

I don't know if this is taking the frugal to the extreme however I have a massive box left of diet shakes and meals from when I PLANNED to do lighter life. Some are out of date (but still will be fine)

I have weight to lose for our wedding so thinking I should kickstart with these, would sure save me money as I'd only need to feed my other half for 2 months!

Frugalsod

abby1234519 wrote: »

I don't know if this is taking the frugal to the extreme however I have a massive box left of diet shakes and meals from when I PLANNED to do lighter life. Some are out of date (but still will be fine)

I have weight to lose for our wedding so thinking I should kickstart with these, would sure save me money as I'd only need to feed my other half for 2 months!

It is barely extreme but it is worth doing. You can be lighter for your big day and clear the cupboards at the same time.

TM6

tatabubbly wrote: »

Hey all!

NSD yesterday and a LSD today. Paid for £5 worth of call credit ( I really needed it) and paid for my transport to and from work.

Tomorrow shall be a LSD as well, I need some milk and fruit so going to pop to the local shop to get organised. My tutoring student told me today she wants to cut down an hour so I'm back to 6 hours a week. I earn decent money so I'm hoping that I'll be able to stretch that money for all my weekly essentials.

As I am abroad, my OH phoned me today and told me we are getting a return flights home this week coming.. I am so excited! The downside is we will probably spend a bit of money as when we go home, we are expected to meet people for drinks etc. Hoping to alleviate this by spending cash on our wedding first and then meeting people! lol!

I'm intrigued - what part of the world are you in?

Also could you not have a party in one place and everyone brings a bottle?

DawnW

:mad: Waitrose order arrived last night - or about half of it did I rang the customer service line which wasn't very helpful and said that I must fill in a missing items form online. I did this and it took ages - I had to type out the missing half of my order. Received a prompt email to say that they were experiencing a larger than usual volume of emails and it would take longer to deal with them than normal, and to ring the helpline :mad::mad: If no response by this evening I will ring the helpline AGAIN!

It must be me, but every time I try online shopping I have something like this happen. I know some people swear by it, but in 4 times of trying I have not once received what I asked for, even allowing for substitutions.

On another note, BT came yesterday to install their new infinity service, after persuading my daft OH over the phone to agree to it :mad: They should not have done this, as I am the account holder. He isn't very technical (to say the least) and shouldn't have agreed to it anyway, but I was suprised they were allowed to do this. Anyway, I suppose it is marginally faster, but my email no longer works and the wireless printer doesn't work either. I am sure I can sort both out when I have time to mess about with outlook and find the software for the printer, but I could do without the hassle to be honest This new installation was 'free' I understand, and it won't cost any extra... I don't suppose it will, for about 5 minutes, but I am sure they will soon put the price up :eek:

Anyway, enough moaning from me. I have another trip out of the office today so had better find something tidy to wear :eek: