2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugalsod

Cantfindafreeuserid wrote: »

Saw this and thought it was amazing not only would your gas/electric bills drop but you would e changing the life of a whole family in Africa too!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=amb_link_179857787_1?ie=UTF8&docId=1000782163&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=012FSPTRGSKQSAYEFV58&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_p=468149467&pf_rd_i=1000783273

I am planning on getting one at some point. They are really good for those who want to slow cook while camping. I have worked it out that they are even more economical than a slow cooker, as you only need to cook on a hob at full power for 20 minutes as opposed to many hours in a slow cooker at a tenth of the power. Unfortunately they are relatively expensive so from a frugal cost benefit aspect they will need to be used a lot to cover the costs, but if energy prices keep rising they will pay for themselves even quicker. The fact that they provide one to someone in a developing nation is a good bonus.

evuka

Not sure if I've ever posted in here apart from signing up for the challenge...

In February I decided to reduce my usual £100-120 grocery budget to £90 PLUS I added a penniless week so I calculated with £70 only (rough estimate). I set £3 per week (3 weeks only as one was a no-spend week) to buy bread, veg and fruit and anything else that is necessary (a friend of mine just found it hilarious when I added this phrase telling her about my weekly budget). So far so good. In the beginning of the month I did one big online grocery shopping for £61 and still use stuff from my freezer and cupboard.
I have 13 meals frozen, only need to cook pasta/rice/potato for some of them, still have tinned toms, baked beans, sliced mushrooms and some tinned fruits and a fresh apple.
I think I'm gonna make Jack Monroe's apple soda bread out of it and spend my £3 mostly on fresh veg and fruit and buy sugar because I ran out of it.

Next week I start my new job, a bit worried about lunches and brekkies and snack (haha, what NOT? ) but I try to do batch-cooking and prepare food in the evening for the next day. Need.to.be.organised.if.I.want.to.keep.this.challenge. :cool:

QUESTION to the more experienced:
I moved into my flat in December and so far didn't get any fuel bills because previous tenants were on quarterly billing. Do you think it's advisory for me to stay on this method or is it better to have a direct debit or an estimate each month?
I did some daily check and during winter time me being home all day I used 5-7 units on both gas and leccy which I expect to be less when I'm back at work.

Florenceem

Been sorting out clothes today. Got a trouser pocket in Mr F's jeans to repair and some socks to darn. Mr F has a cotton blend type of sock with non elastic tops - not the cheapest so they are darned to get more life out of them.
Mr F has gone out with the dog to the charity shop - taking the two bags of stuff that I sorted yesterday. I have another bag started for the charity shop.

dolly84

I would like to join in with this challenge. I have been dipping in and out and reading for a few days. Since the beginning of the year me and my family have completely changed our spending habits. I want to pass good lessons on to my children and the way I was behaving before was not good at all.

We have surrounded ourselves with so much stuff that paying for it has been and is stopping us from being able to afford to do things we really want to do. No one in our household needs anything at the moment but with two growing children I do need to have a budget for clothing/shoes and the like.

One thing I do find hard is not really having anyone who seems to be in the same boat or is prepared to say they are anyway. There are so many people posting on these boards and others but no one seems to want to talk about money in real life and prefer to go on about what they have been buying/where they are going on holiday/home improvements etc and you feel like the odd one out when you say 'well we are cutting back dramatically' etc.

I want to take a real step back from consumerism and just buy what we need and a few treats here and there.

sparrer

I've received an invitation to a rather posh do, went half-heartedly through my wardrobe then spent yesterdayday doing the cs's and the bay of e. Found nothing that looked 'sparkles' enough as per the dress code, then had a :idea: moment. In the drawer under the bed I have a long, figure skimming, plain black velvet dress, a bit tight but otherwise perfect. I have 6 weeks to get it to fit properly, no problem. There's a lovely pair of heeled gold lace boots in my size on the local selling site and with a loose chain belt and lots of cs gold bracelets/necklace my total outlay will be around £9. I also have a gold and red silk pashmina which will add a splash of colour - I reckon I'll be a thoroughly modern, and frugal, grandma

Goldiegirl

Having a fairly quiet day again.


I popped out this morning, and had a little look around the shops. I bought a TV Magazine, that's all. Last week we did without the magazine - it hasn't done us any harm, but we've found that we miss programmes we like to see, if we haven't got the magazine. I know it's all on screen or on the internet, but sometimes it's comfortable to leaf through an old fashioned magazine. I think this small pleasure can remain !


A few weeks ago, I mentioned that my salary was £100 less than usual. HMRC gave my employer some wrong information. So I wrote to the Tax Office asking for the situation to be rectified. I got a letter from them - a complete load of piffle, so I had to ring them ( a nightmare in itself) to get this sorted out.


At least I now understand why they did what they did, which they've admitted they did wrong, but even so, I still won't get a tax refund until next tax year. Fortunately, not too long to wait.


I'm lucky that this hasn't caused financial hardship, but many people would have had real problems to suddenly be £100 down.


So after my phone call I felt a bit frazzled


We have haddock for dinner tonight - It's dusted haddock from Sainsburys, which we like, but I'll have to look into whether I can 'dust' my own haddock for a lower price!

DawnW

evuka wrote: »

QUESTION to the more experienced:
I moved into my flat in December and so far didn't get any fuel bills because previous tenants were on quarterly billing. Do you think it's advisory for me to stay on this method or is it better to have a direct debit or an estimate each month?
I did some daily check and during winter time me being home all day I used 5-7 units on both gas and leccy which I expect to be less when I'm back at work.

It is probably easier for budgeting to pay monthly by direct debit than have a potentially large bill to contend with. Paying by DD is often cheaper too. Have you checked that you are on the best tariff? Are you under contract so that you can't change supplier or tariff?

icontinuetodream

mum2one wrote: »

Dont know if you have a £1world - was in our local shop earlier and they had packets of tom seeds for £1. xx

Thanks for the info mum2one unfortunately, I am in the middle of nowhere but have picked up some seeds today for £1.99 :eek:

Although it's expensive, it's a price that I don't begrudge paying because I will probably have enough seeds to plant for the next two seasons and will get shed loads of tomatoes from it!! When I think of how much I would pay for shop bought tomatoes, the seeds pay for themselves before the end of the first meal in this household

I am sorted now for the next couple of weeks shopping wise...I have put £5 aside for milk but other than that, I am reasonably convinced that I need nothing else until the beginning of March!!:j I have got my meal plan sorted and nothing can sway me from the path of organisation! :rotfl:

Weather looks promising tomorrow so I have not put any washing on yet today....I will put on a load to be ready to put on the line first thing in the morning and then will continue to do laundry throughout the day....my mini-challenge to myself is to not use the tumble dryer for anything other than 'finishing off' where necessary for the rest of this month and the whole of next month......I hope that I manage it, it's been many, many moons since I last regularly used a washing line!!:o

Shortie

dolly84 wrote: »

I want to pass good lessons on to my children and the way I was behaving before was not good at all.

I'm absolutely the same - not sure how well I've pitched it though so far :rotfl:

I don't shy from telling the boys that we can't go and do x as I'm waiting for my pay day. However, I felt awful when one day out of the blue DS2 (6 years old) walked up to me with some coins from his money box and offered it to me. When I asked why, he said it was 'so that I could buy some food for the week :(:eek::(:o Whooops.... we always have food in the cupboard and have never been without. I'd obviously been over-egging it a bit

But then on Sunday DS1 (nearly 11) was asking me how much I get paid, so I told him. He looked a tad blank so I continued to say ' the mortgage is £x, food is £y, utilities are £z....' Then a few minutes later I asked if he'd like me to show him how I budget monthly. ' Eeerrrr.... oookaaaayyyy....?' I was surprised at the reply as my eldest is very 'grown up' so I asked why he was unsure. He mis-heard me and thought I was offering to show him how to do 'councilling' :rotfl::huh::doh: No idea where that came from - it's not my line of work!

evuka

DawnW wrote: »

It is probably easier for budgeting to pay monthly by direct debit than have a potentially large bill to contend with. Paying by DD is often cheaper too. Have you checked that you are on the best tariff? Are you under contract so that you can't change supplier or tariff?

Thanks for the reply, DawnW! In my previous flat I was on monthly estimates with actual reading adjustments and when moved I was in credit. Now, well...now I don't even know yet which company provides me with fuel and whether it is dual or not... The agency said when I moved in that the previous guys couldn't tell them the name of the provider. Though later when I asked if they provided the meter reading and set up my account, they confirmed they did... My contract doesn't specify any provider so I suppose I have the right to change to my best interest. But as I still have no letter/bill from the supplier, I have no idea what tariff I'm on

I thought I'd wait til the last week of February to see if I get a bill and if not then I contact the agency for more info and set myself straight. (My previous agency was a a whole lot of different bunch - always on top of things and I knew all I needed to.)

Will defo do a comparison of tariffs.