2014 Frugal Living Challenge

mummy2threeboys

99p stores have a sale on this weekend , all goods including brand names foods/cleaners are 80p.

Becky_2

I haven't posted on here for over a month during that time we have downsized to a smaller house to rent but with a much larger garage compared to previously. The rent will save us £200 per month, the council tax will remain the same and gas/electricity should save us a lot of money. The previous house was a cold house with a lot of draught. This one is much better insulated.

During the move we sold various furniture and made £100. We now have 3 local foodshops all with a walking distance from our house,this will save money on petrol and on our weekly food shopping.

CV18 hope you feel better soon after your operation
Lynnejk Great news that your DH has finally got a permanent job.

Today I have also started to think about buying Christmas presents to spread the cost. I am also looking into changing my current account over the next few weeks.

icontinuetodream

lynnejk wrote: »

The good news is that DH has today started a new FT job on permanent contract :j Such a relief after all these years on agency work/no work on and off.

:T:T:T That's wonderful news!! :T:T:T

lynnejk wrote: »

icontinuetodream - love the recipes - where do you find them ??

I make them up as I go along :D

lynnejk wrote: »

Have managed to reduce household budget by £40 a month over the last two months :j Been concentrating on using cheaper products and waste is now minimal also. Anything left gets used for soup or frozen to add together for another meal. Also started using Morrys as can buy most fruit and veg in 'ones' so don't get wastage.

Brilliant!

I have had a very expensive week - I won't go into the detail as I am far too embarrassed about my ridiculous spending but suffice to say that I have fallen very far from the wagon and need to reel it back in immediately!!

The good news......My cancellation of s*y will conclude tomorrow :j- final bill will be at the beginning of next month and then I can put the difference towards the mortgage and I have had an email from my electricity supplier to tell me that they have put a credit onto my account :beer:

Today I am going to do a meal plan, work out what I have left from the grocery budget and clean the house - if there is any time left after that (house is a bit of a mammoth task at the moment ) I will relax and have a glass of wine!

Just_be_2

I too have cancelled s*y.

Frugalsod

Just_be wrote: »

I too have cancelled s*y.

I think that cable and satellite TV offers very poor value for money unless you watch it a lot. There are many repeats and I have found that I am perfectly happy with the offerings of Freeview. I gave my brother an old sky box so now has Freesat and is happy with that. I will try and get him a Freesat HD box soon so he can at least benefit from that.

Nicki_Sue

Hi All!
I hope everyone is doing ok? I'll have a proper read back throuh later when I've children tucked up and what not.

An update for you...... DH finally has a new job and starts tomorrow! He's not been paid since the end of May as his employers simply didn't pay anyone in June, or July......
The company was supposed to be liquidated however the directors of the company had to all vote on this so all resigned. It has now been taken over by administrators so in another month / 6 weeks he'll get his 8 weeks max backk pay (no notice or redundancy coming).

It has been tighter than tight but we've survived! Even better the job is a really good one and he's looking forward to getting stuck in.

Not complacent though, when he gets back pay it will catch us up, no more and while his wage will be much higher that will be mostly offset by what we'll lose on tax creds. We've a new basic budget though worked out on what we expect TC will be and wages as well as payments out once we've caught up which includes buillding savings etc up.

DH's wage goes up again after 12 weeks which means we'll be on an even keel and caught up (or even ahead) properly by Xmas hopefully.


And BREATHEEEEE.

Nicki_Sue

LynneJK FAB news on the permanent contract!

Kantankrus_Mare

Thats brilliant news Nicki. Must be such a relief!

My rental property sold and we are at the solicitors Tuesday with a completion date of the 29th fingers crossed.

Cant wait to pay off the cards we have used to enable us to keep paying mortgage and council tax on an empty property.

I am debating having a different way of spending once everything is sorted.

We have always put food and petrol on the tesco credit card which is then paid off in full monthly. We always seem to spend more on the card than planned though so I have worked out we can draw out £160 per week to cover all grocery shopping and petrol.
£15 per week will cover petrol and £15 per week should more than cover what we spend at good local butchers.

That leaves us £130 for the weekly shop.

If we can't manage on that for 4 adults and a chocolate lab there is something going drastically wrong.

Even daring to hope we might have a bit left over to go in the fun pot.

Have been getting more and more from lidl and with my sainsburys save £6 on a £30 shop for the bits I cant get from lidl , it should be easily doable.

Nicki_Sue

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

Thats brilliant news Nicki. Must be such a relief!

My rental property sold and we are at the solicitors Tuesday with a completion date of the 29th fingers crossed.

Cant wait to pay off the cards we have used to enable us to keep paying mortgage and council tax on an empty property.

Fab news! I read about you paying two mortgages. A great opportunity as you say for a new start financially.

icontinuetodream

Nicki_Sue wrote: »

An update for you...... DH finally has a new job and starts tomorrow!

Hurrah!!! :j:j:j:j That's excellent news!!:T:T:T Wishing him all the luck in the world in his new job