2014 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

I wouldn't dare wear a piece of jewellery worth that much! I inherited a couple of pieces (nowhere near that valuable, but worth a lot more than I'd spend) and I get the jitters every time I even think about giving them an airing

quidsy

Oh is getting some extra weekend work which should pull in an additional 2-300 a month, Have told him to use it as savings, currently we have no saftey net, I have revised budget to save 100 from my money too so hopefully it might ease some of the stress I feel about having no savings. I am self employed & the main earner so it is a worry. This extra will go some way to easing that a bit.

his_missus

Hi all,

I get jittery when I wear the £85 watch Hubby bought me for my 40th, never mind anything worth hundreds or thousands of pounds :rotfl:.

Made a very frugal, leftovers tea last night. Ham, blue cheese and (sqidgy) mushroom creamy pasta - only ingredient that wasn't a leftover was the pasta.

Less frugal though was my shop from 0cad0 - bought lots of goodies and meal deals (£66!:eek:) using the money left over from my bonus. Planning a rather lazy Saturday though with little cooking (oven meals) and mum is coming over for tea on Sunday so wanted to get something a bit special in for her. I did get a free tea towel

The rest of the bonus has been used to buy a new sofa for when we have the home improvements done at summer

afoolwithmoney

Yippee NSD yesterday & loads to do in the house today so hopefully a NSD today as well Now best get on with it lol

icontinuetodream

Been lurking but not posting much recently!!:o Have been on and off the wagon over the past few months, but I am now back in work and back with a vengeance on the frugal living front!

Paid off all but £100 of the credit card yesterday, have had and paid for a delivery of oil which I am hoping I can get a few months out of, have defrosted the freezer and put in quite a few joints of meat which I got cheap over the easter period when t*sco had some good offers on and started to fill the rest with leftovers from meals so that I can minimise the grocery spends and stick to the budget on the grocery challenge!

I have set myself a 'personal' spend of £60 per month...this will be a challenge as I currently smoke and have tried giving up so many times its totally embarrassing...however, I am going to really make the effort over the next week to cut down and then stop....I can't justify the cost, can't roll my own and am fed up with being a slave to an addiction..:o

I am growing some veg this year too...courgettes, tomatoes, runner beans, French beans, butternut squash, potatoes and salad leaves - hopefully, I will have a glut of at least some of them and will be able to either freeze or dehydrate them to help see me through the winter months....

Sorry about the mega post....not sure if I have said any of this before though and thought that getting it all in one place will help me stick to the plan!! :rotfl:

Kantankrus_Mare

[Deleted User] wrote:

Payday for me today and a good chunk of my wages heading into savings which is great. I am hoping to build up a good sum over the next 5 - 10 years which will allow early retirement.

Frugal wise - my heating is now off and I am hoping it stays off now until about October.

I was up at a friends on Tues evening and she was talking about the gift she wanted from her OH for her 40th this year. I was flabbergasted when she said it was a new ring costing around £8k. She has also just bought her OH a watch costing £4,500 to make up for 'only' spending £2k a couple of years ago on his 40th. This is someone I regularly talk to about finances and she is currently trying to pay off her mortgage. I kept quiet but was thinking to myself - I would rather put this towards my mortgage. But maybe that's just me!!

That is a ridiculous amount to spend on a birthday. Well for any occasion..........and I agree, I would rather spend it on either paying down the mortgage or home improvements.

quidsy

Icontinuetodream,

I used the tablets from the GP, they really do work, they are like beta blockers, they remove the desire to smoke, you still smoke for a couple of weeks on them but fund you have less & less until you actually can't stad the taste. Speak to gp or boots to get on the stop smoking program.

cw18

I had the tablets from the GP - but it took 3 goes for me to get there with them (and I've a feeling, from a comment that was made, that they're only supposed to let you have them twice!). But I know that a BIL went straight back on the cigs after completing the course, and DS1 didn't manage to come off the cigs during the second week like you're meant to (so gave up on them). I'd previously tried patches, lozenges and nasal spray with no success at all (don't think I had a single smoke free day with those!).

Have you considered an e-cig? OH opted to go that route and it's worked/is working for him. OK, so he still gets a nicotine hit - but he's not getting all the nasty tar. DS1 won't try them as he's worried about what else may be in them / lasting effects from them (though I can't see how it can be much worse than smoking tobacco!). OH mixes his own fluids (buys liquid nicotine, flavourings and whatever the 3rd ingredient is - glucose of some sort I think?) which reduces the cost further, and also means he can drop nicotine strength much more gradually than with the pre-mixed ones which go in big jumps.

his_missus

I continue to dream - I'm not a smoker but my friend, who was a heavy, long term smoker, has started using e-cigs/vapour cigs (whatever they're called). She couldn't break the habit of "the early morning cig" "cig with every brew" etc but this seems to be working for her. Not sure if it's any cheaper though...

Nicki_Sue

Well, budget drawn up for May and looking do-able.

I need to find a costume for the 7yr old (a banana!) for his school play so will hit the charities for yellow items (He doesn't have anything suitable to dye even). Why oh why couldn't he have been an owl....