2014 Frugal Living Challenge

Picklepot

Hi All
Was hoping to get a new TV for Christmas but now realised the budget I had set is far too low and although ours is a dinosaur it works.
Situation is we cancelled skyeee in feb so still have the box and dish. We have approx. 6-8 channels with nothing worth watching. With Christmas coming I need a plan.
Love film 30 day free trial?
Do libraries loan DVD's/box set
Decamp to DS bedroom and checkout freeview?
Put out a plea to family to loan some dvd's??

We actually cancelled skyeee and haven't missed it since but the cold winter evenings makes me want to have a plan.

Sorry if this is all very basic but in the bad old days I would have got a 0% card and bought a new TV but those days are gone now. I am desperately unhappy in a well paid job and am determined to stay until I have got this debt cleared.

cw18

The place we stay at in the Lakes has a standard Sky box with a card they bought for a minimal one off cost, and that gives us all the free Sky channels. Could you ask Sky about a card to do that? Or if you have a standard aerial connection in the living room you could get a Freeview box for in there. If no aerial, then they also do Freesat boxes which don't need a card (DD has one of those as her house has a Sky dish but no aerial thanks to previous tenants).

I believe some libraries "loan" DVDs, but last time I checked at mine (a good few years ago) the selection was terrible (no big titles even from the previous 10 years) and they charged.

I cancelled my TV licence at the end of 2010 (haven't missed watching shows as they're broadcase at all) and have put the £145 a year towards DVDs instead (almost all bought second hand and never until the price comes well down, so I get a lot for the money )

his_missus

Picklepot wrote: »

Hi All
Was hoping to get a new TV for Christmas but now realised the budget I had set is far too low and although ours is a dinosaur it works.
Situation is we cancelled skyeee in feb so still have the box and dish. We have approx. 6-8 channels with nothing worth watching. With Christmas coming I need a plan.
Love film 30 day free trial?
Do libraries loan DVD's/box set
Decamp to DS bedroom and checkout freeview?
Put out a plea to family to loan some dvd's??

We actually cancelled skyeee and haven't missed it since but the cold winter evenings makes me want to have a plan.

Sorry if this is all very basic but in the bad old days I would have got a 0% card and bought a new TV but those days are gone now. I am desperately unhappy in a well paid job and am determined to stay until I have got this debt cleared.

Could you buy a freeview box for the tv? You can basic ones without record facility for around £30 I think. Saw a few cheap ones whilst we were looking for a recordable one for mum.


Using a spending diary is quite an eye opener. I thought the majority of my £80 a week went on food but noooo! Seems I spend less on groceries and more on "other spends" than I realised. An area I can cut back on

[Deleted User]

I know exactly what you mean about the spending diary being an eye-opener, his missus:eek:. Our cat eats better than us:o

quidsy

Have a look at getting an apple box, they sell them on ebay unlocked. It basically converts your tv into a computer then you can watch lots of free stuff on showbox plus numerous overseas channels. My colleague got one and cancelled sky as it has so much

[Deleted User]

Picklepot wrote: »

Hi All
Was hoping to get a new TV for Christmas but now realised the budget I had set is far too low and although ours is a dinosaur it works.
Situation is we cancelled skyeee in feb so still have the box and dish. We have approx. 6-8 channels with nothing worth watching. With Christmas coming I need a plan.
Love film 30 day free trial?
Do libraries loan DVD's/box set
Decamp to DS bedroom and checkout freeview?
Put out a plea to family to loan some dvd's??

We actually cancelled skyeee and haven't missed it since but the cold winter evenings makes me want to have a plan.

Sorry if this is all very basic but in the bad old days I would have got a 0% card and bought a new TV but those days are gone now. I am desperately unhappy in a well paid job and am determined to stay until I have got this debt cleared.

Dont forget to sell your skybox. If it's a HD one these can be up to and around £50 even a basic one is giving £10.

I'd try carboots for £0.50 and under DVD's. Also Lovefilm & Netflix free trials, could use different email address etc too but to get those onto the TV requires some sort of Internet input. Cheapest thing would be a Chromecast if you already have a tablet, or smartphone. Otherwise maybe look at your phone / internet provider, see about changing to someone offering free additional channels, such as BT for 6 months and just cancel after the 6 months.

There is also the 32 inch TV in Tesco which was still available - Last time I checked at £99.

[Deleted User]

Sorry, prior to that spur of the moment reply. I should of introduced myself, been stalking this thread for a while now.

I am interested, just not ready to commit. I am worried about if I don't spend some of the money as a 'treat to me' am I going to be willing to work as hard for it. I.e. taking overtime etc.

I like the challenge / game of it all, and worry it could become addictive, my OH is even more worried as I have an addictive personality lol.

I am tempted to try it for one month, and see what I come in at. I currently track my spending as it is, so I guess it would be easy to create a challenge based on that and take it from there.

The creativity there is in this thread in ways to save money is unreal, and just from reading a few pages I've learnt loads that I otherwise never would have so I am very excited to become a member of this thread.

lynnejk

Hiya and welcome to the new peoples :hello:


Nicki- Sue I am soo pleased for you that things have turned around and you are now going ahead again on a positive note :T


Bobarella Well done on the job's front :dance:


Alja - I remember your earlier posts and well done on achieving a new and better job :dance:


I haven't sat down yet and sorted my budget for next year. The plan is that when I finish work on the 17th for Chrissie I am going to spend the rest of the week giving the place a good clean. Then I am going to sit down with a large piece of paper and a pot of tea and make a start - wish me luck


Hope you all enjoying the last month of the year
Lx

youngmummy

Thankyou for the warm welcome everyone

im looking forward to getting stuck in !

i have £100 so far in my savings account which was £0 last week

i have budgeted our money until next pay day and altho things will be slow with xmas presents still to get at least i have made a start to achieve my aims (see sig)

i know with some determination and hard work we can achieve it and it will mainly be down to this challenge making it all possible so thankyou

his_missus

Deleted_User wrote: »

Sorry, prior to that spur of the moment reply. I should of introduced myself, been stalking this thread for a while now.

I am interested, just not ready to commit. I am worried about if I don't spend some of the money as a 'treat to me' am I going to be willing to work as hard for it. I.e. taking overtime etc.

I like the challenge / game of it all, and worry it could become addictive, my OH is even more worried as I have an addictive personality lol.

I am tempted to try it for one month, and see what I come in at. I currently track my spending as it is, so I guess it would be easy to create a challenge based on that and take it from there.

The creativity there is in this thread in ways to save money is unreal, and just from reading a few pages I've learnt loads that I otherwise never would have so I am very excited to become a member of this thread.

I'm trying to be frugal so I can treat myself. At the moment we're saving up for a cruise next June. After that's paid for, we'll be saving up to redecorate our bedroom.


Maybe you could set yourself a challenge to live more frugally to have extra money to treat yourself each month? An extra night out or a new pair of shoes, whatever floats your boat - "If I can save £x this month then I'll do xxx"