2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Gretchen2012

Count me in for this year. Small changes to begin with so I can stick to them. Food budget, like so many of you, is first to adjust.

Going to try and work out a budget for the year tonight. Also determined to stop smoking this year.

Good luck to you all in this.

smithywilko

I've read on a few people's posts something about this 'Spreadsheet of Doom'! Is there a link to that or does it no longer exists?

pm2326

pm2326 wrote: »

Hi guys I wanna join in!

As a result I've found a few out of date bits and pieces that need to be used up. So this morning I've dug out the slow cooker and I'm making soup using some whoopsied chicken thighs, out of date dried casserole veg mix, out of date stock cubes, dried herbs etc. I should get at least 5 portions so that's next weeks work lunches sorted already!!

Ok so I may have put a teeny bit too much in my soup as I added the last bits of some dried pasta and a big tin of peas I found in the cupboard.... it ended up thick enough to stand your spoon upright in and I managed to get 10 portions out of it!!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

millionaire_in_training

:rotfl: @ pm2326. Good stuff as now 10 lunches taken care of.

I have been doing my sums all day and it still looks dismal. But I love a challenge.

I used a voucher I got for Christmas towards 3 birthday presents for January. So instead of the £60 I had budgeted for these gifts I spent just under £26 so that's a nice wee saving to start off the year

pm2326

I've been messing around on the internet this afternoon, completing some surveys etc and I was wondering if it would be possible to earn enough nectar points over the year so that come Nov/Dec I could go shopping for christmas food and the remainder go towards stockpiling for 2015.

I currently have £13.78 on Nectar and would love to have £150 by end of Nov 2014, but I'm going to be realistic and see what happens. After all anything is better than nothing!

DawnW

May I join? I used to have a diary on the MFW board but we were fortunate enough to be able to clear our mortgage during 2013 :jso I no longer feel it is appropriate to post on there or have a DFW Diary (as our debts were paid off some years back).

I am taking early retirement at the end of April 2014 :T so will be looking at a big drop in income, as my pension will be minute compared to my quite good salary :eek:

OH and I are fairly frugal but have got used to not worrying too much about spending money, and this has to stop! We grow a lot of our own vegetables in our small garden, and have 4 hens (who are not laying at the moment ) and a little dog. OH took early retirement two years ago and gets a small pension, and we each have a small business. Mine needs a lot more work than it is getting at the moment if it is to make money, otherwise I won't be able to keep it on (it started from a hobby, and is something I love doing, but it must at least pay for itself).

I am due to be paid tomorrow and look forward to working out a budget for 2014 We have loads of food in (I went a bit mad with the Xmas food shopping , but in defence, we fed 5 people for lunch yesterday and 15 today). I need to buy some washing up liquid (and that is all) tomorrow, and book my car in for its MOT. And after the New Year we need to get the chimney looked at as the woodburner has stopped working properly . Hopefully it is just a blockage, though as it has only been used for about a month since it was last swept I fear it might be the liner needing replacing, which will be expensive :eek:

I look forward to updating progress on here, and keeping up to date with how eveyone else is getting on :wave:

helencal80

I almost has a NSD today, but decided my leftovers would be much better as a curry. Roast potato, parsnip and turkey curry, it was lovely. And as my turkey was less than half price (bought on Christmas Eve!) it tasted even better.


My job for the next week is to get my credit report sent off for and work out my 2014 budget, as well as do two assignments for uni!

ForMyGirls

Thanks so much for the warm welcome and advice allie23, WantToBeSE, debtfree2014, Goldiegirl and Shortie!

WantToBeSE - I am sort of doing what you suggested - my CBT weightloss program hasn't been through a therapist - it has been following a book called 'The Beck Diet Solution: Train your brain to think like a Thin Person". When I had my lightbulb moment I decided to try adapting the program to train myself to think like a frugal person. So far most of it seems to be adaptable :-)

debtfree2014 - I have started a diary like you suggested. It is called "Learning to think like a frugal person". I will use it to share my journey through the adapted Beck program - and I will see how it goes as to whether I just post there or here as well. But I will definitely be reading this thread as I can see there will be lots of inspiration here. It would be great to have you "pop in" to my diary thread. Do you have a diary thread as well?

Needless to say anyone else who is interested in saying hello in my diary thread would be very welcome.

Coulddobetter

Please can I join the forum? We need to focus during 2014 on getting our financial house in order. We have 4 more years on a fixed mortgage with huge penalties so we want to try and save as much as we can during 2014 and use this towards the mortgage. OH has CC on 0%which also needs tackling and his car loan is paid off this year.
I have tried to budget in the past and never made it past 31st January.
We have talked about sells things in the past but never do anything about it. I need this year to be the year we take action and follow through on our promises.
I already take packed lunches to work, buy reduced food that I actually eat, save towards car tax and insurance but I could do better....
I have a couple of New Years resolutions that include like others reducing my weight and taking care if the pennies.
What do others think to the 5:2 fast re losing weight but also saving money? I tried starting it last week and guess what we only had eggs on toast, an apple and a satsuma so real reduction in our normal food costs. Is there a catch?
Sorry for the rambling post.
CDB xx

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Morning all,


What a night/morning the wind has rattle lose some of the slates on the roof, so when the weather calms down, will have to send hubby out to have a look... I am going to buy some spare slates, as if one slides off the roof and breaks, then at least we have some here to replace, rather than phone the roofer etc..


Yesturday we spend the large sum of £1 for bread rolls ( the local a$da didn't have ANY bread)..I do have a bread mix in the cupboard, so might try that today.. I don't know why, But me and bread making don't really get on, even though I got a bread maker... Someone suggested in just using it to make the dough.. so might try that too...


I am also hitting the sites such as swagbucks, maximiles etc again,, and going to try and get back into a routine with them, Even if I get £20 - £30 off each site in a year...


I was given some specialist chilli seeds, and was thinking of growing quite a lot of them, ( diff types etc) and doing a one hit sale with them somewhere... I need a heated propagator to start them off, so rather than buy one.. I am improvising, using a normal Propagator with a one of our reptile heat mats under it...




The only spend I can see today is milk, and possibly bread ( if my bread turns out naff..lol)


I would be interested if there is a spread sheet already floating round