2014 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

Window cleaner day - so I asked the big boss man what the cost is if I reduce the number of visits. Instead of £5 every 2 weeks it's £6 every 4, which would save me £52 over a year. That's the equivalent of £1/week which doesn't sound a lot, but every small saving adds up - so I'm going to go for it given the windows don't often look in need of doing when they come (and I can do the downstairs ones myself in between if needs be - I don't see bedrooms or frosted bathrooms as being quite as desperate for doing anyway).

So I think I've sorted my budgets for 2015. Bottom line is I need £11,200, but after I deduct what I DS1 contributes (including estimates for car mileage) "only" £7,900 of that is money I have to find from somewhere. Quite impressed as I didn't think I was going to get down to £8k, especially after I included 2 outgoings I've missed off my spreadsheets in the past (total of £468 to find for those).

Personal challenges for the year are going to have to be to use as much from stock (groceries, toiletries and cleaning) as I can, sell as much as I can as I declutter, and to carefully monitor (and attempt to reduce) the gas, electricity and water. Getting increasingly frustrated with DS1 leaving lights on, which has only got worse since OH sorted the external light for me a few weeks ago - DS1 turns it on so he can read while having a smoke in the evening / overnight (smoking isn't allowed inside the house) and fails to turn it off when he comes back in Need to try and sort a draught excluder for the bathroom door too - he leaves the window in there open, and there's quite a gap at the bottom of the door which means it's not uncommon to have a gale blowing around the landing and down the stairs which negates all the benefits from having a double layer of curtains on the external doors :eek:

debtisgoing

£land are selling door draught excluders, the type that slot under the door and have a strip of covered foam on each side.

cw18

Thought of that kind, but not convinced they're the best for a damp environment (he leaves window open so we don't get condensation from his showers). I've never used one, so not sure how they impact on the opening/closing of the door either - could be an issue with thin vinyl tiles on side and carpet with underlay on the other?

Was debating trying the type what normally gets screwed onto external doors.

optimistic-mummy

so i didnt think we were doing very well on our trial run of frugal living for 2015 but if things are good next week we should be ok

ive made £20 pending delivery/collection today selling a few things

nothing else to update on as of yet im not even sure whre we are financially i need to check my accounts

optimistic-mummy

£10 over budget for the week but we have paid next weeks bills this week so its actually looking quiet good. i dont include debt repayments in my budget or rent or council tax but everything else is counted

First_Trouble

Decided I didn't really need to pop to shops for a top up as had some LO beef stew already in the fridge so did some sweet potato mash to go with it and had that. Very tasty!! and that means I still haven't spent any money since Friday last week :j

Bobarella

Have had another item sold on ebay. It's quite big so although it hasn't sold for loads I'm glad of the space.

Becky_2

Today I am having a days' annual leave to catch up up with myself. One of my plans is to choose which bank to transfer my current account to and also who to transfer my cash ISA to.

Apart from that, this weekend will not be a frugal one since I am off to London tomorrow to go Christmas shopping with a friend. I bought my train ticket ages ago to go on specific trains to save money.

Well done to all for your frugal choices.

cw18

I've suggested to OH that we jointly buy a Christmas present for "us" this year, as neither of us has any idea what we want from the other or what to get the other.

We've got out of the habit of going out at the weekend unless there's a food festival or we've been invited somewhere, which is something we keep saying we need to change around - and not doing anything about.

So I've suggested membership to the N@tional Trust, English Herit@age or Historic H0mes Association. I've had a quick look at the places we'd get entry to from the three (around home and where we stay in the Lakes), and from what I've seen so far have a personal preference.... but I'm going to do a bit more digging / research, and then wait and see which he prefers. Unfortunately the one property I'd like to revisit (went with school and would love to go back) doesn't belong to any of them

So (other than petrol and wear and tear to whichever car we take) that could be most of our days out for 2015 sorted and pre-paid :T

black_cat

I think that's a lovely idea, CW. We're National Trust members. We certainly get good value and it's great to go back to local places just for coffee or to see only the bits you want to see as we're not worried about getting our money's worth. We did belong to English Heritage but there aren't enough places near us to make it worth our while.