2014 Frugal Living Challenge

lovefullshelves

KazLA - it would seem he's gonna pay it off £50 a month as he bought it from his friend. I don't think he realises that will take him 4 odd years! Since moving 7 years ago I paid off 2 credit cards, 4 catalogues and an overdraft from hades. It was probably near £6000 but Ihave paid it. I cut up my cards and lived on what I had. OH on the other hand refuses to cut up credit cards and had paid off none of his debts. We don't have rent to pay, I work to pay the bills, i just don't get it.
Oh well, at least he paid for the top up shop today, all I contributed was £1! And as I worked all day with DS he put me in a much better mood because he does understand money and does get why buying it wasn't the best idea!
Ho hum and onwards x enjoy easter everyone xx

Shortie

Sorry to heat about OH's spending LovesFullShelves


Nope, I'm not doing well at saving this month again, but it's all not being wasted.. We've been cracking on with the garden (the previous owner was a complete and utter hoarder and we're changing the layout drastically too).

So, today we bought a lot of blue slate for round the pond that we put on top of weed membrane that we already had. I also bought a Hippo bag if bark to be delivered to covrr the ground where a trampoline is going

Tomorrow if the weather holds we're going to pull the sleepers into the back (free as they were round the pond in our old house which we had to fill in before it was rented) pop down the membrane and fill with the bark when it arrives

Also rehoming the chooks into a spare shed tomorrow as their housing is fast falling apart!

Then on Monday to buy the trampoline. I'll try and fit a rest in before going back to work on Tuesday!

optimistic-mummy

Frugalsod wrote: »

Actually there could be considerable scope to save money. I listened to an interesting podcast about economic rates of return of investing in the home having far higher rates of return than you would get on saving in the bank or investing on the stock market.

First I would look at the grocery budget and see if you can double or triple dip on the groceries? If you can that will free up money for stage two and that would be switching to terry nappies for the young one. With the low age the costs of switching to terry nappies with disposable nappy liners will be immense.



Then look at switching lights to LED as they are half the running cost of low energy light bulbs. While they have a high price the energy savings are huge and you can always take them with you when you move. I have sensor versions in my hall that come on when there is movement. So they are off most of the time. That means my electricity bill is much lower than most even though I am at home all day.

I would also go old school in terms of meals. Bake your own bread and it will save you money and be far healthier. If you can do that with as much as possible then your grocery bill will fall further. I splashed out on a top of the range food mixer and processor and for me alone I estimate that the payback rate is less than 2 years. That is equivalent to an interest rate of more than 50% pa. So my food bills are even lower. You could even use it to make your own baby food which will save you even more money and probably be healthier than jars of baby food. Though be careful not to salt it, babies cannot regulate their salt levels. It will also allow you to introduce your baby to foods that will mean that they do not develop food allergies, during the early years when their bodies are building their immune systems.

Look at switching utilities as that can save you money as well. Do the same with insurance and see if you are not already get some things covered as part of a fee based bank account.

Thankyou for the tips ... i already use cloth nappies with washable wipes and liners ... was BF too but due to TT and lack of support had to put baby on formula i do pump but cant get my supply up enough so combination feed.
we buy 99% of asda or asda smartprice or that type ... no finest or branded in this house lol
im planning on baby led weaning when the time comes
im cutting corners slowely as much as possible have canceled some unnessesarry DD
currently re writing out my budget as i stupidly forgot to save it and my laptop crashed :mad:
ive also done a meal plan and list for the week

macwah97

Evening All!!!

Loving the Vertical Pod garden. This is fast becoming a plan as our garden has become a mess and we will never get it in shape in time this year.

Glorious weather today but temperature outside now down to 6 so fair chance of a frost.....brrrr

Happy Easter Everyone!!

sparrer

macwah97 wrote: »

Evening All!!!

Loving the Vertical Pod garden. This is fast becoming a plan as our garden has become a mess and we will never get it in shape in time this year.

Glorious weather today but temperature outside now down to 6 so fair chance of a frost.....brrrr

Happy Easter Everyone!!

This reminded me, I have a friend whose husband grows herbs in a wardrobe shoe hanger on their balcony. I laughed when she told me, now because I'm running out of space in my wee garden I'm thinking along those lines myself.

Happy Easter

lynnejk

sparrer wrote: »

nsd/npd
Cleared out the fridge and put together a pizza and some soup from odds and sods
Turned the heating down to 15 c and 3/4 hour morning and evening. Not quite brave enough to take my shower in a cold bathroom yet
Managed all winter with just a standard lamp near the sofa I sit on, with a low wattage bulb of course, and pleased not to have to turn it on til just now, after 8.20pm, this evening.
Since I retired I've always ironed my bedding but after listening to what other people do I'm just going to iron the pillow cases and the top of the duvet cover in future. No-one will ever know . What will I do with all that spare time?!

Have you tried led lights as even cheaper to run. It made me laugh about your ironing - I only iron about once a month maybe, then just a few shirts or tops that really need it :rotfl:

lovefullshelves wrote: »

Ho hum and onwards x enjoy easter everyone xx

My DH was a bit like that, though not quite so much money, and it's taken me 19 years to shift him into a more MS mode so there is hope

optimistic-mummy wrote: »

we buy 99% of asda or asda smartprice or that type ... no finest or branded in this house lol

Have you tried the discounters - Li*l and Al*i, Home Bags, BnM and Sav*rs - and had a punt around the £shops ?? You might be surprised at the difference you find


For those with a garden, I only have a balcony, but I found those cheap bags of dried peas can be used to grow pea-shoots for a salad and you get LOADS. Just wondered if you could actually get pea-plants from them a bit cheaper ?


Hope you all have a super Easter Sunday
Lx

mrsinvisible

Good morning all, happy easter. I have to confess to falling off the frugal wagon, as I bought 4 acers in H*me B*rgains yesterday, but at £8@ it would have been rude not to.
Ye gods, £2000 on a generator without even a 'bye your leave', It would have been a very quiet Easter at Chez Invis, if that had happened, and quiet still till about Christmas!!!!! No wonder you get upset!
No plans for today, other than Skype with grandlittlies and DS1 but it looks like a sunny day, so into the garden, I think.

pm2326

Morning

No plans for today other than making a chicken casserole in the slow cooker. Not sure what the weathers up to yet but if it clears up and stays dry I may venture into the garden and do some more tidying up.

Was considering buying bark to provide ground cover so less weeding needed but by the time I factor in the cost of buying the weed control fabric to go underneath its coming in at about £100.

Thinking it will be cheaper just to seed some ground cover plants and let them control the weeds....already have a large patch of bluebells and nothing gets through them, only problem is there's nothing to replace them when they die off so need to have a think about what I can plant.

pelirocco

lynnejk wrote: »

Thank you for all the kind thoughts and comments.


Yes, he has tried that but the new management will only take on drivers that already have a driver cpc :mad: :mad: - what happened to loyalty I don't know - (shaking head).


Just trying to keep chin up and fingers xd and hoping something turns up soon


Hope you all have a super weekend - and loads of choccies/flowers/what you like
Lx

If a driver hasn't got his cpc by September he won't be allowed to drive . This new regulation was planned at least 3 /4 years ago to enable drivers time to complete the module hours required.

Mrs_Cheshire

Morning all, need to hide lots of eggs and rabbits in the garden as soon as DH gets up! Then I think we'll probably spend some time in the garden getting it tidied up. DH cut the hedge right down to a managable height in the week. Need to sort the weeds between the paving slabs in the front and cut the grass in the back.
Hope everyone has a great day and enjoys their chocolate!