2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Coulddobetter

Having not been posting for a while, sorry, life seems to get in the way.

Need to put on my big girl knickers and get refocused on the mortgage. We didn't pay £100 off the mortgage this month as we seem to have too much month......
I did organise some life insurance via a cash back site that should give us £84 so that can go straight off the mortgage. It is coming down slowly. I want to pay it off in 2017 so I better get my act together.

Has some amazing butter nut squash curry tonight with lots of veg and some rice, yummy.

Could do better x

Shortie

Morning all. Been mega busy here in the run up to a kids birthday party. We tend to throw quite big parties and the 'problem' isthat we always cook proper food for them so a lot of work goes in upfront to get food make and frozen, and then time cooking on tbe day. We usually cook again for those who chill outand hang around after the kids party.

Every time I promise not to go so big next time but the kids love it and it's good to catch up with everyone too..

So the next 3 nights are bolognaise and curry leftovers. I have cake for peeps in work and an arrange of other leftovers including jacket spuds and pasta for work lunches ao at least it helpa the reat of my budgetting

We're on holiday as of next weekend so now to be busy packing for that! Lol

cw18

Feeling quite proud of myself tonight....

For the first time I've ever I've haggled over a car insurance renewal quote - and although it wasn't quite as much of a reduction as I'd have liked they dropped the price

Renewal premium for me and OH was £340.41
With DS1 as well it was £488.34 (so an extra £147.93 for him)
As a new customer on their website it was only £295.39 for me and OH, but was up to £554.65 with DS1 as an additional driver

DS1 pays the difference between what I can get without him and what it costs to add him on, so he was looking at renewal £488.34 less 'new customer' £295.39 - meaning he'd be paying £192.95
As he only paid £57 to be added to the policy for 4.5 months that sounded steep

Shopped around other sites, but while I could get a fair bit cheaper not all the terms were the same and reviews of the cheap companies weren't generally very good.

So I managed to get the renewal for all 3 of us down to £451.22 - a saving of £37.12 which means DS1 now owes me £155.83 which is a lot closer to the £150 we'd anticipated and the £147.93 between renewal premiums

Would really have liked another tenner off it, but he's just going to have to be grateful for what I managed to save him

mrsinvisible

Well done, you! haggler supremo.
Car insurance is a big issue.

kb_soma

Hello everyone, it's awfully quiet around here...

I hope you're all well and that the frugal is going great. I've had a rubbish few months, but did pay an extra 550 off debt last month. I must tighten my belt more!

Kerry_Woman

kb_soma - Great news about paying extra off your debt.

kb_soma

Thanks Kerry Woman!

Kerry_Woman

Am still plodding along. Am trying to stick to menu plan and food budget each week. It is the first year I have done this and has helped. Have broken down the annual food budget to monthly, then weekly. Have managed to save about £100 compared to last year. This can change, but going to keep a close eye on budget.


As for my general spending, it is up from last year only because where I am temping I have to pay for a travel card(have to use London Underground to get there). I finish the contract is 3 weeks. Would have been there 11 months when I leave. There are loads of changes happening in the organisation, so am glad I am moving on. Hopefully my agency will get me more work.


Still trying to sort out things in the flat - decluttering. Trying to be more mindful as to what is being brought into the flat. Finding things hard at times with work, caring for my Mum and my own health issues, but trying to be positive with what things I have achieved. May not mean a lot to someone else, but for me it helps.

quidsy

I feel kind of proud of myself today.

I struggle with random internet buying of things that we could use but don't really need so today I sold an expensive item on ebay & got paid via paypal, this & hopefully my other sales will reduce the deficit I will be in by end of month if I stick to budget, so what is the first thing I do once I see this 130 quid paid into paypal? That's right, go online to order camping chairs & some other stuff I could use but don't need..... BUT whilst adding randoms to the basket I thought, lets just check the budget spreadheet, which reminded me that even with the sales gone through I still need to magic up £150 quid this month from bootfares/ebay/hooking (jk) that buying camping chairs to use NEXT YEAR, really wasn't the best thing to do. lol

So important step for me right there, instead of buying then rejigging an already tight budget I stopped myself. There is hope after all

cw18

I've not yet completed putting last months spends into my spreadsheet - I've about 10 days of receipts in a money bag waiting to be processed when I get home from holiday (home Saturday and OH and his niece leave mine sometime Sunday afternoon/evening, so will try and allocate some time on Monday).

Also need to make changes now my Camino won't be happening until next year - that's a big chunk of my annual budget to be removed from this year.