2014 Frugal Living Challenge

cydney65

Not been on for a while as RL got in the way! Still plugging away though.

Yesterday I finally gave in and bought a pair of walking shoes as my other ones leak and are wearing out. I found a voucher code for 20% off and free delivery from Ambrose which knocked £9.10 off the order...I was well chuffed!

Dad finally out of hospital so now saving up to travel down to see him. I keep debating as to sell my Dr Martens boots on fleabay, which would help considerably, but I'm rather attached to them.

I'm on the second week of YNAB but without the software (I don't have a smart phone and I'm tight like that). It's going really well and forcing me to look at what I spend, which is an eye-opener. I quickly realised that I was allocating TOO MUCH to savings and so I had to amend that lol. Too MSE for my own good!

pm2326

Morning all

Well I started decorating my bedroom yesterday, dug out the huge tub of white paint from spare room and managed to paint the ceiling....didn't think it needed it when I started as couldn't really see the difference but today, now its dry, its definitely an improvement!

Found wallpaper in B&M and will cost me £50 for both rooms, I only want blown vinyl and they do 2 styles which are £3.99 or 3 rolls for £10, so I'll do one room in each style. Need 9 rolls for this room and 4/5 for other room. Plan to buy first lot next weekend.

Have washing on the line but a huge black cloud came over within 15 mins and dumped on it before I had a chance to get it back in :eek: It's sunny again now so hoping its a one off otherwise I'll have to bring it all in and rinse it through washing machine again

Finally I've decided to try butternut squash for the 1st time, so making a soup and have it in slow cooker with onion, chicken stock, ginger, garlic and chilli. Smells yummm!

Coulddobetter

Sorry life getting the way of posting. This week has been busy, busy, busy. My lovely Sis bought us a Xmas present of English heritage membership for a month and cream tea so visited another property this week in South Yorkshire. It was very interesting. The gardens were lovely but the weather was a big mixed. We took a picnic so no spending at the property :j
Had a friend over for lunch today, roast beef from the freezer, made plum crumble using fruit from the freezer. Finally managed to turn off my Xmas freezer, at last. It is in the conservatory so it's a bad idea to keep it on during the warmer months.
Will be a cheap week re food, I am away with work for 3 days and worK pick up the tab. Hubby also out so little spending on food at least.

Another lovely friend has lent me a book so no spend there. :T

Coulddobetter x

sparrer

Shopped in @ldi this morning, with the money spent in the market yesterday the total for the week came to £14.33p, 67p under my weekly budget. Love it when that happens

Shortie

Mornig all. Had the weekend away in Paris and now back to reality in work

It was a lovely weekend, very busy with lots of walking and food. The food was eye watering expensive though, not helped by tbe fact that there was a large number of us and we seemed to have some people who didn't buy anything in foodwise...

We bought a couple of lovely Morrocan rugs while there from a marmet we passed. Wedon't really have the spare money but I'd have regretted not buying them. They have a place already but it will be a while before they go up as we need to decorate and move furniture first

My turn to buy in milk for work and I then have £2 in my purse to last me all week. I get paid Friday, phew.. I'm struggling to get my head around the savings I need to replace so will need to spend time on that during the week!

Hopefully the car I'm buying will go through an MOT this week so that I can go and pick it up this weekend too!

Frugaldom

Just popping in for a quick hello, still checking updates but never seeming to have the time to post here. Glad things just roll along without me but it is still nice to stay in contact.

Looking forward to seeing a few of you at the next frugal 'meet-up' and sharing the latest moneysaving gossip.

I got the toilet roll offer from Groupon last year, very cost effective for me when I have no transport and no supermarkets near me. Pity the loo rolls turned out to be scented, but I dealt with that by storing them in shed. Going to start looking out for another deal, Wowcher one sounds ok to me.

Still sticking with my original £4k challenge, still winning the good fight, always online if anyone needs me for anything and the giveaways are all listed under 'cyberdosh exchange' in frugal forums... mainly seeds and plants at this time of year.

Keep following hhe frugal lifestyle. You know where I am and you know I am here to help.

alja

Hellooo!! So sorry I have been MIA! Had a super busy weekend last weekend for my birthday and then work was so busy life kind of got in the way!!


Dawn...happy retirement!


Spending money didn't count last weekend according the bad side of my brain, seeing as it was my birthday. But I did make sure that I made use of my free bottle of birthday prosecco from G!raffe...


This weekend I bought a couple of toiletries from M0rrisons now that their toiletries are buav appr0ved - great news! So I stocked up on deodorant, shampoo and I bought some lovely bath foam. I also bought a lovely skirt for my holiday in the new lo0k sale for £8


I'm trying to get in a decluttering frame of mind again as I have so much "stuff" lying around needing to be used/chucked away/found a home...especially some types of toiletries that I seem to have no end of! So I'm trying to make a point of using them up now.


Didn't go out this weekend, just had some friends round to watch the Eurovision. Usually my friends want to go out to eat somewhere, so I'm quite glad we gave it a miss for this weekend. Eating out often can get quite expensive!


Sorry for the ramble... I hope you're all having a good week!

lynnejk

cw18 wrote: »

We went for a meal which was fantastic value (3 course middle eastern, which we'd never tried before, for £18 plus drinks), which made up for the fact it was a slightly longer journey that I'd normally do for a meal out.

Don't know about Wow but had some good deals from Group. Mainly hairdos but also meals. Mind lots of meal deals about - Top tab** quite good.

Frugaldom wrote: »

Looking forward to seeing a few of you at the next frugal 'meet-up' and sharing the latest moneysaving gossip.

What is this about meet-up please ?


Still on frugal-mind and not spending out for anything not necessary - fingers xd it lasts


Hope you all have a tremendous Tuesday
Lx

quidsy

Hi Frugalites,

Well, paying off my personal debt is going well & I am close to being under the 10k mark, compared to 3 years ago when I owed just under 30k & considering I only had my LBM last year when I was just under 20k in the hole, I think I am doing ok.

Here's the problem though, I am thinking of increasing my debt by another 12k, I have wanted to do a degree for about 8 years but have always been deterred by life events, having a baby being one initially & the cost vs my debt ratio, I just couldn't justify it when I owed so much elsewhere but now I am down to 10k I think I can manage it without messing with my debt repayment if we make a few adjustments.

I could also get an interest free loan from my mum for the full amount (which in turn gives me 5% discount of total price too) & just pay her back over 3 years at £350 a month & that would also give me some leeway if I was out of work etc for a period of time as she would allow me to defer payment for a while too.

I just look back & think, day-um,. had I started this 8 years ago (even though it would have been impossible with a new born & baby brain) I would have the degree already so now I am so close to debt free living I can't see that putting it off for ANOTHER year is really worth it.

So I've alot to think about, not least of all is how to work in the 20 hours a week I would need to "find" to complete said degree in 3 years.

DawnW

Hello :wave:

Busy couple of days

Not a NSD yesterday as I went out in the evening to meet some friends at an event, but only spend was a drink for me and one for a pal, and the train fare. My car is STILL not back :mad:

Went to the town market today and bought some nice bread and some sausages. Very good quality and reasonable (though not cheap) prices. Still, it was only bread and sausages, so hardly a wild spending spree :rotfl: I like to support the market - it has only just started up again, and there aren't many stalls as yet. Hopefully more will appear. Also bought a book on preserving food, and a new pack of pot pourri in the CS, so £2 spent there too.

I am still cleaning and decluttering, and the house is looking a lot better now. The challenge is to keep it like that :rotfl:
My Dyson cleaner is playing up. I have cleaned the filters, so hopefully, fingers crossed that will sort it out. It is 8 or 9 years old, but I would prefer not to have to buy another one :eek:

We had omelette and salad for supper last night, and HM fish cakes tonight, as I had 2 potatoes and half a bunch of parsley to use up. The fishy component was canned tuna. I must try to think of something to have with salad tomorrow as I have lots of salad leaves from the pots in the garden Any ideas? Not anything eggy (which is normally my default option) as we had omelettes yesterday.

Oh and I made a blackberry cheesecake as part of my quest to use up my mountain of frozen berries before the next lot appear. It is seriously yummy, but hardly diet food :eek: Hopefully someone will turn up to help us eat it over the next couple of days :rotfl:

Well, time to walk the mutt, then coffee and cheesecake I guess