2014 Frugal Living Challenge

his_missus

Attempt at being frugal - ordered my Mr A's shop to be collected to keep Hubby out of the supermarket

optimistic-mummy

Thankyou blueneleh will keep my eyes pealed

im very busy atm 2 kids a house studying and ive just started blogging too

not much to update on the frugal front unfortunately

hope everyone is well x

Nessa56

Frugaldom wrote: »

Carbootcrazy, there are no vegetarians or vegans in this household, I need to buy chicken in bulk, so I use https://www.musclefood.com/SK5873 for a freezer order. Code SK5873 at checkout will get you extra free chicken fillets (and referral points for me). Register for their newsletter emails for fab offers. My last order included 10 x 400g premium minced beef at only 99p per pack and my chocken fillets at £4.85 per kilo. Share order with friends or neighbours to get free delivery or split the costs.

Word of warning - the above site sells 'exotic' meats as well as the more traditional beef and chicken.

Thanks for the heads up. I placed my order this morning. :T :T(Goes back to lurkdom)

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COOLTRIKERCHICK

thanks frugaldom.. might take you up on the seeds offer, if I cant find any cheap reduced seeds around.. got some cheap reduced seeds in wilko's last week, half price, but I only looked at their seeds, which were already cheap at 60p a pack, so got a various lot at only 30p a pack..


over the summer I did lose track of things, a bit, but over the last few weeks I am back to batch cooking and wasting nothing..


I can remember when I first started on mse. ( many moons ago) that someone used to do 'peelings' soup, any peelings used to be washed thoroughly, boiled up in some stock, or a chicken stock cube, and then blitzed..


does anyone do this ??


I know some people do broccoli stalk soup, but its only me that likes broccoli, so I tend not to buy it, unless it is really cheap for a huge amount. and then I just boil it up and eat it in a bowl with a bit of butter... mmmmmm

Kerry_Woman

Have to keep a close eye on the amount of spending on food until the end of the year so that I can keep within the budget I have set. It is getting very close to the amount set.


I know that the general spending is going to be up compared to last year, but still within the budget set for the year, due to having to pay extra for travelling to work compared to last year as I had to use the tube for work, sorting out the wills for my Mum and I and having to get a computer(had last one for 10 years and there were issues with the old one and was only a tiny bit over my budget set for new computer and printer together) and printer.


Decluttering the flat is coming along nicely.


Have chased up the agency for work, so hopefully something will come along soon.

Nessa56

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I can remember when I first started on mse. ( many moons ago) that someone used to do 'peelings' soup, any peelings used to be washed thoroughly, boiled up in some stock, or a chicken stock cube, and then blitzed..


does anyone do this ??

. I have done this a few times now and the soup comes out lovely. You get all of the goodness and it is very flavoursome. You can add anything to it, stock, chilli flakes curry powder. The combinations are endless really.

Hope you enjoy

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No onion peelings or such like though

optimistic-mummy

hi everyone stupid question alert

so i currently pay for my tv licence via payment card but want to switch to paying it annually. do i just phone them and can i pay over the phone in full. also im getting confused with my online account

it says my tv licence runs out next month ... my current balance is £52 i know i have to continue to make payments but what happens to the £52 if i switch to paying in full yearly

thankyou in advance

Frugaldom

Hi Nessa, welcome back out of lurkdom, I hope you enjoy your meat order and remembered to claim the freebies, plus signed up for their email specials.

I, too, have made peelings soup to try it - tasted fine to me - but I found it laborious scrubbing and peeling, so went back to feeding any cooked peelings to the hens, or I have compost bins and the wormery is still going strong.

Not sure how the tv licence payments work, it is monthly direct debit here, as there are no savings to be made paying it up front. If they have a freefone number, I would phone that if I was you, O-M

Spending and savings plans going well here, on track to shave £1 per day overthe entire year despite a couple of luxury spends, recently, still got the festive period to come, though.

Hope everyone is doing well. Very quiet both here and in frugal forums,so I am hoping it is because most of our original members have cleared their debts and moved on to bigger and better things.

Frugaldom

his_missus wrote: »

Hi all,

Still reading but not posted in a long time. I'm finding it difficult to get Hubby to live a frugal lifestyle these days. When we were in debt and trying to get out of it, he was happy to cut back on expenses because he had a target to work to - being debt free by xx/xx/xxxx.

However, now we're trying to save up he seems less keen to be frugal because we can afford little luxuries so why not have them? He doesn't seem to realise we still have something to work towards. He can't see that we have a new target to work to - to save £xxxx by xx/xxxx

So frustrating! ...

Fear not, this is a very common and often recurring problem. It is like being on a diet, losing all the excess weight then wondering why you put it back on again. You simply need a new goal on which to focus your efforts and validation as to why it is important to you. I now use my 'bucket list' as savings targets in the same way I used my 'brick bank' to be mortgage free. Why do you want X amount by dd/mm/yyyy and do you both want the same things? If yes, then start saving, if no then increase the target amount and extend the date so it incorporates both. Fair's fair and all that.

his_missus

Frugaldom wrote: »

Fear not, this is a very common and often recurring problem. It is like being on a diet, losing all the excess weight then wondering why you put it back on again. You simply need a new goal on which to focus your efforts and validation as to why it is important to you. I now use my 'bucket list' as savings targets in the same way I used my 'brick bank' to be mortgage free. Why do you want X amount by dd/mm/yyyy and do you both want the same things? If yes, then start saving, if no then increase the target amount and extend the date so it incorporates both. Fair's fair and all that.

What's annoying is that we do have a specific, time dependent goal. We're saving up for next year's summer holiday, already booked and deposit paid so we have the remaining amount to pay by March.


I think the problem is we do have some savings so his thinking is if we don't save up enough in the holiday fund we can dip into the other savings. However the other savings are earmarked for emergencies and to pay a lump sum off the mortgage so I don't want to touch them.


Think the click and collect grocery shop may work. I kept well in budget this week