2014 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

optimistic-mummy wrote: »

8 weeks till new years eve !

its scarily fast how quick this year has gone !

i have an action plan ready and waiting for me for 2015 regarding frugal living i really hope we do it!

i have a budget and a few things i hope to buy before this year is out to cut costs next year. one of our biggest expenses after bills and food is fuel. but my car is a life line with a disability so will not be getting rid anytime soon

I am really impressed that how organised you are. I too need to start thinking about 2015 and planning my budget. You have inspired me to set aside some time tonight to get it done.

cw18

I've started an almost complete rewrite of my budget spreadsheet. Bank accounts are getting very low, so I need to really tighten my belt at the same time as I either get the house totally sorted (so I can get the ball rolling to become a foster parent) and/or find another job outside the home.

I'm splitting my "anything else" into loads of categories (having monitored what I've booked against it this year), but am setting them all to a zero budget. I'm them going to make money available for those by using up grocery stocks, toiletries stocks, and cleaning stocks.

When I use something from my stockpiles I'm going to credit half the original cost (or current replacement cost if I don't know what I paid) to my zero budgets. I honestly don't think I actually need to hit the shops for any toiletries or cleaning in 2015 (apart from the possibility of some toilet rolls), so as they're starting with budgets of £120 each that could free up £120 for my zero budget categories there I live in the hope this will stop me just restocking on things from those categories and free up space in the house (as well as money I've spent on them when I didn't need them!)

Also, any vouchers I use for things I'd normally buy will see half the monetary value credited to the zero budget categories - but no benefit for them credited to the category I used them for (so if I have a 40p off a block of cheese I'd have knocked it off the grocery spend in the past, but now I'll charge the full cost to my grocery budget while putting 20p into my 'anything else' spending pot). If I buy a paper to get a money off voucher, then I'll deduct the cost of the paper from the value of the voucher before halving the saving (eg. 40p paper for £4 off £40 spend will move £1.80 to my zero budgets).

I'm still trying to decide whether to treat Whoopsie buys the same way, as that would give me a much clearer picture of my grocery spends over the year (and might stop me filling my freezer with Whoopsies that I'm not going to use for months - another good thing as I still need to clear a freezer and find the money to replace my built in fridge/freezer. the fridge actually froze the radishes in the salad drawer and the dregs of a container of skimmed milk in the fridge door last week :eek: ) I'm a bit nervous about this though as I've reduced my annual grocery budget, but I've been coming in so much under budget this year I really should be able to stay within budget even charging everything at full price as I've not had that many Whoopsies (though what I have had have generally been really good savings on fish and meat).

I also have a load of stuff I need to try and get rid of on eB@y as I get stuck into the decluttering, so money I make from that (after deducting eB@y, PayP@l and postage costs) will also become available for 'anything else'. But as I don't want to just replace clutter with clutter it won't be all the money. I'm currently considering (on a month-by-month basis) half of the first £20, a quarter of the next £80, and 10% of anything about £100. So if I make £30 I can spend £12.50, if I make £80 I can spend £25, if I make £100 I can spend £30, and if I make £200 I can spend £40. I'm hoping this will give me the incentive to list things on a very regular basis, as I get more to spend by selling something every month than by doing everything in a mad panic at the start of the summer which I know I'd find really stressful.

Probably all sounds complicated, but I'm writing the spreadsheet to do all the calculations for me - so all I need to do is make sure I enter every penny I spend and vouchers I use on a daily basis, and then I'll know what I can spend on things for me and the house rather than the essential bills. As it stands at the moment my bills are coming in at just under £8k for the year after I deduct what I charge DS1. That's still keeping on my gym membership (debated cancelling, but know I won't go swimming at the local pool as it's hard to make a lengths only session and I can't use any of my toys or gadgets there), but cancelling my contact lens contract after the next delivery in February (at which point I reckon I'll actually have enough in the house to last me the rest of the year, mainly because I only wear them when exercising and haven't done much of that since I broke my wrist in July - just starting to get back into it now). Definitely going to speak to window cleaner about reducing number of visits, which I hope may save another £100 or so over the year.

I'm starting to struggle to find anywhere else I can cut back. The only things that could possibly be classed as luxuries are mobile phone (which I don't really consider a luxury given the time I spend out of the house on long walks with no-one knowing where I am or when I'm due back), gym, window cleaner and car.

But the car isn't as much of a drain on finances now that DS1 is on the insurance (he pays the extra to have him on the policy, then for his petrol, and a good chunk towards the other costs of car ownership based on the mileage he does) and having used public transport to get to DD's and back 3 times while I couldn't drive (due to broken wrist) I can honestly say it's not something I'd relish facing for the minimum 6 trips a year (that's just for birthdays!) with the potential of needing another 3 - both in terms of monetary cost and time taken. And my parents (who live near her) aren't in the best of health, with the thought of having to try and make the journey at night (or even on a Sunday or Bank Holiday) filling me with dread.

I know people who've not had service cover for central heating system and then had very expensive bills and a several day wait for someone to do repairs, so I don't consider my maintenance contract a luxury (and is definitely something I'd considered an essential if I were fostering).

That leaves Council Tax, Gas & Electric, Water (metered), landline & broadband (on cheapest package I can find with no inclusive calls - I use the inclusive minutes on my mobile contract for anything but 0845 where I can't find a landline alternative or 0800 or to DD who's with the same company which gives us free calls between us), buildings & contents insurance, glasses, dentist, prescriptions (if needed) and flu jab (a necessity to me), general medications and plasters, vitamins and minerals (diet is definitely lacking in a good number of them - especially calcium) and presents (which I've trimmed back to closest family only, and reduced what I'm prepared to spend for a number of them!)

Everything else (including clothes, shoes, household bits such as light bulbs and replacement small appliances, books, cds, dvds, magazines, garden tools and seeds) has a zero budget.

[Deleted User]

cw18
Thanks very much for going to the trouble to post your very clear and useful plans:T. You've certainly given me much food for thought.

As soon as I can find a chunk of uninterrupted time (my concentration goes to pot if I have to keep stopping and starting something:o) I'll have a really good think about how I can adapt your ideas to fit my needs and goals.

Am quite looking forward to doing it:p

[Deleted User]

CW18 thanks you so much for such a useful post. I am sure I will be taking lots of inspiration from it.

alja

Another thank you here CW18 I'm liking the idea of zero budgets. To be honest I've never set myself a monetary budget for anything, just tried to cut back here and there, so I'm wondering if I should give it a go for 2015...


I could set zero budgets and then try to remain money neutral by raising the spending money required through selling items and surveys etc? Shall have a think...


I'm usually pretty good, but when I'm out and about I sometimes throw the money saving idea out of the window or I end up with loads of unneeded "bargains". I need something like a certain bracelet or ring to wear that reminds me to stop and think before delving into my purse...wonder if that would work? haha!


I have lots of toiletries to use up and plenty of clothes really. So I wonder if 2015 could be my most frugal year yet?


Thank you for inspiring me CW18

[Deleted User]

Currently hanging on the phone tying to cancel an auto-renew home insurance policy. These so my head in, the idea that if they say 'Do nothing, relax you are automatically renewed' in the hope that you do nothing and then take their inflated quote. I suppose some people do though. And as usual its not a Freephone number!

sparrer

cw18 wrote: »

Glad I don't have that many.... or quite that close

Only planning on Christmas presents for 14 at most, possibly only 10....

.

Please don't think I was complaining cw18, I'm very happy to have such a lovely family. It was increased by 6 over the last few weeks when DGD1, who we last saw many years ago (through no fault of her own) when she was 4 years old, came back into our lives with her OH and family. It may be a budget Christmas but it's going to be the best we've had for a very long time. We don't need to spend fortunes to show how much we care about each other

cw18

Didn't think you were complaining at having that many, but it is unfortunate you have so many birthdays around the festive season

Glad you've got reconnected with your GD It's always hard when you lose contact with family when you don't want to

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, enjoyed reading all your plans for next year. I'm going to keep with the budgets we have this year but go back to writing everything down, as towards the end of this year that has slipped, but I want to know which areas I spend the most on (for example, our clothing budget is for all 4 of us, would be interesting to see who gets bought the most)

icontinuetodream

My frugal living is going to be taking on a new meaning very shortly as I have just quit my job!! :eek:

Time to batten down the hatches and account for every penny.....