2014 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

I don't appreciate chocolates either! Hormone changes seem to have altered my sweet tooth rather dramatically (not even a huge fan of marmalade any more), but that's not a bad thing given I've been told I'm high risk for type 2 diabetes

Unfortunately neighbours tend to alternate wine and chocolate, so I'm due the chocs this year :-o Struggle to give them away as well - parents are both type 2 and high cholesterol, DD really only likes milk without additions, DS1 won't eat half the centres and OH has high cholesterol. And of course I get them after the Christmas Fairs are all over and done with




I've recently been through my socks and undies drawer, and reckon I don't need new for at least 3 years. Seems I've stocked up on them when there have been offers / vouchers in the past, so I need to stay clear of that section too - and I don't "need" any other clothes either, so anything spent there wouldn't actually be a saving. (And that's another change to my way of thinking - in the past I saw money off as good even if I spent on things I didn't need)

COOLTRIKERCHICK

CW18, its not often I go to T's any more, and they have been trying to tice me back with a £6 off a £40 spend.. a few years back my weekly spend would have been double that amount..lol


I went there today, to do a shop, rather than just pick the odd thing up, OMG I was shocked at the prices.. so I went to Ar$da, and even their prices seem to be creeping up, their 6 pack of cat food has jumped up to £2.50 from £1.99 before it went down to that, it was only about £2.20 something...


will ask at the 2 butchers that I use if they do a pet mince/mix suitable for cats, Used to get bones for free for the dog, and there used to be sooo much meat left on them, there was no need to feed him the day he had bones lol...


does anyone know how much the 6 pack of tinned cat food is in Lidl? are they still £1.99? if so, going to buy as many as I can, before they go up in price..

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I forgot.. to say, don't forget the big supermarkets tend to remove the basic/value lines from now on to make room on the shelves for the premium/Christmas lines....

Living_proof

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I forgot.. to say, don't forget the big supermarkets tend to remove the basic/value lines from now on to make room on the shelves for the premium/Christmas lines....

All stores seem to remove the functional and replace by the entirely frivolous. I thought I had seen it all until in Aldi at the start of October I saw mince pies. And not even Halloween yet..... I find it terribly difficult to shop for basic, boring, necessities until mid-January.

I have now given in my notice at work and will be starting off again in mid-November on a self-employed basis so it may be a few months before anything like a regular income is coming in. Thanks to all the practice I have had in the past and all the good advice I have seen on here over the years, I am sure it will be easily achievable. It's a case of making a virtue out of necessity really.

Mrs_Cheshire

The one good thing about Aldi is, they put the seasonal produce in the special baskets so you don't actually lose much normal everyday produce. One thing you can't get is bbq sauce as they use that space for Cranberry sauce and other speciality jars of sauce.

Frugaldom

Living_proof wrote: »

I have now given in my notice at work and will be starting off again in mid-November on a self-employed basis so it may be a few months before anything like a regular income is coming in. Thanks to all the practice I have had in the past and all the good advice I have seen on here over the years, I am sure it will be easily achievable. It's a case of making a virtue out of necessity really.

:j:beer:Good luck and I wish you every success with your venture. Knowing we can scrape by on a pittance when we need to is what can make the difference between make or break.

No supermarkets here but the A$da.com home delivery trial is still on the go with £1 delivery slots dropping to 50p if you match times with a neighbour. Thankfully, I can't see store lay-out online.

Still managing to save equivalent of £1 per day, so I should have £365 by new year, might even get around to buying a proper cooker, who knows!

[Deleted User]

Frugaldom wrote: »

Still managing to save equivalent of £1 per day, so I should have £365 by new year, might even get around to buying a proper cooker, who knows!

That's an amazing achievement, Frugaldom, when your original costs are so trimmed to the bone they are eye-watering.

Am doing everything in my power to cut my costs but have now hit the buffers as I can't think of any more savings I can make. Please could you share with us how you've managed to make your latest savings?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have gone back to where I was a few years ago, and trying not to buy as much in the supermarkets, and batch cooking once a week ( mainly on a Saturday at mo) this sorts of lasts until tues/Wednesday, and can even stretch to a Thursday.. depending on the size of joint of pork a cook.


so we eat like kings, and then eat like porpers at the end of the week lol..


last night we had a tin of all day breakfast with loads of bread and butter for tea..


tonight we will have a pork dinner, and I will prob cook enough veg to have another dinner tomorrow, or Monday... will cook a whole 500g of pasta twists, and then this is the base of anything my teenage boys want to add to it..as long as I got mayo and tomato sauce that is lol..


I really do need to get the hang of making bread...

Frugaldom

carbootcrazy wrote: »

That's an amazing achievement, Frugaldom, when your original costs are so trimmed to the bone they are eye-watering.

Am doing everything in my power to cut my costs but have now hit the buffers as I can't think of any more savings I can make. Please could you share with us how you've managed to make your latest savings?

This is my rejigged budget, which is still being held at £4,000 plus council tax for the year, but it had to be rejigged to allow me to save the equivalent of £1 per day for the full year as part of this year's 100-Day Challenge participation. Figures in brackets are how much I have remaining from each category.

Groceries Toiletries Cleaning - £830.00 (£63.33)
Electricity - £575.00 (£86.18 + £50+ credit in meter)
Coal - £290.00 (£43.00 - coal bunker full)
Logs - £200.00 (£80.00 - log store full)
Misc./Other - £233.50 (£153.69)
Mobile - £20.00 (£7.01 after buying a cheap PAYG + top up for emergencies only)
Telephone & Internet - £375.00 (£76.11 - annual line rental paid in full)
TV Licence - £145.50 - (£24.24)
Footwear & Clothing - £50.00 (£46.65)
Gifts - £250.00 (£156.18)
Travel & Transport - £300.00 (£57.20)
Postage & Deliveries - £100.00 (£29.14)
Home Insurance - £146.00 (£0.22 - paid in full for year)
Household Pets - £120.00 (£33.49)
Savings - £365.00 (£76.00 - representing £1 per day throughout the entire year)

TOTAL - £4,000 (£932.44)

All my challenges facts and figures are in the frugal forums, I no longer record them here. No mortgage, as per long term challenge posted on here and only other necessity is Council Tax of just approx. £1,000 per year. Gave up the car a couple of years ago and now just have a pedal bike.

All income over and above the challenge budget is saved/available to spend when needed or wanted.

optimistic-mummy

thanks for this frugaldom ^^

my challenge next year is too live off £8000 a year after debt repayments i have managed to get it down to £8256 by canceling and cutting down a few direct debits i should be able to get it down closer to £8000 ... it will be tight but im really hoping we can stick to it ... also hoping family will buy the kids clothes for xmas and birthdays as they dont really need toys so this will help too

i have a plan but weather we can stick to it is a different kettle of fish

i really hope we do

our budget includes everything except rent and council tax