2014 Frugal Living Challenge

lynnejk

youngmummy wrote: »

.... 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 thank you

Just wondering if you find it helpful to have a bit more support in your aims to save £10 a day and get in control of your grocery spending.


You might like to look at two very friendly and helpful threads on here which run every month. The current ones can be found under -


1. December 2014 Grocery Challenge - loads of cheap recipes also
2. December 2014 ~ Make £10 a day challenge


Just look for them in forum search, join if you wish and don't forget to subscribe so you don't lose them (thread tools then add subscription).


Good luck with your aims


Hope you all have a thrifty Thursday
Lx


:xmassign:

Bobarella

Another day of small frugal things. Today's tips were 80p so with that & yesterday's I got a free bus ride today. It doesn't sound much but combined with getting free coffee & lunch at work it really helps our budget.

We also had some good luck today. As we've got rid of the car my husband rang up to cancel the insurance. I was sure we'd be slapped with a cancellation fee but because we'd paid a deposit back in April they took it from that instead. So all we had to pay today was £9.50. Which frees up £30.50 this month & £40 a month from January.
We have decided to roll it into our emergency fund savings pot savings which we started again 2 months ago at £50 a month.
Once we hit £1,000 we will start using the money for overpaying the mortgage.
It shouldn't take that long to get to our goal (failing terrible luck) we are on £105 as of this month. I have ear marked the £136 we'd usually pay on council tax during the 2 months off it in Feb & march (£272) without doing the increase that gives £472 already. So £527 by March. Maybe we'll set our goal as finalise emergency saving pot by June as our first goal for 2015. Sorry for the stream of consciousness post

[Deleted User]

lynnejk It's always a pleasure to meet you around the various threads on MSE as you are so encouraging and welcoming to all newbies:A

I see you frequently on the £10 a Day Challenge(which was my only challenge until very recently). I read this Frugal Living one avidly but am still revving up to join it:o. Maybe in January.
Thanks to you I've now discovered the Grocery Challenge:T and am blown away by the range of advice and help available from such friendly posters. I'll possibly be joining that one in the new year but might just read and post without committing to anything. Oh, and I forgot, I recently joined the new £1000 Emergency Fund Challenge but funds in there are currently zero:o. Money is so tight that I know if I join too many challenges I'm setting myself up to fail big-time:eek:.

Have a good day.

Picklepot

Feel very pleased.


I have been with a car insurance company for several years because I find them good. DS changed his car and it came up with a higher price than we hoped. Asked them to relook at it which they did (twice) and managed to get £162 off the original price quoted 2 weeks ago! His nan also offered £100 to assist the cause so £262 off the original quote.


Never thought I would get anything off being an existing customer .

Bobarella

Glad to hear it Picklepot. You are right it doesn't seem to pay to be loyal anymore in most cases.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have been thinking back over the years, in the last few days... and trying to look forward too, when the bank of England guy said in his opinion it would take 10 years to recover from the banking crisis/recession.. in 2008, Looking at where were are now, I honestly think we are still only scratching the surface of it..


By all accounts after all the cutback the government have done, they are still borrowing silly amounts of money, so I think we owe more now than when all this carp started...


They say the economy is growing?? where??? lol..


I have noticed my ebay sales for this time of the year are down...


Just wondering what your opinions and thoughts are now that we supposed to be starting to be 'better off'


I personally think that vicious downward spierrel has gained so much momentum that we will feel this for decades to come..


I have noticed more and more people with lists and calculators in the supermarkets now..

cw18

I'm not seeing any signs of improvement, but that could (at least partially) be because my personal circumstances are getting tighter - mainly due to my choice to pack in 2 jobs that weren't doing my health any good.

Having said that, my local A!di is a lot busier at the weekend than it used to be, and that's with a Mr M who are claiming to be the cheapest supermarket (so why do they need a price match scheme?) across the road.


Picked up my Mr T clothing order on Wednesday (when I was in the same small town to give blood), and one item is going back. The "sweatshirt" is nothing more than a long-line top, and the flimsy fabric (I wanted something for warmth!) is the type of synthetic fabric that leaves me prone to static shocks. I suspect they'll insist on crediting me back a £5 voucher (doubled up to £10) which means I'll then own them another £2.50 in cash, but I'd rather spend £5.50 cash and £10 vouchers on 3 items I'll wear than £4 cash and £15 vouchers on 3 I'll wear and 1 that'll not come out more than a couple of times a year (when everything comparable is in the wash).

COOLTRIKERCHICK

we have cut back and cut back every year... and stretch and stretch our meals..


we will be going to Hereford livestock market buying and selling pigs, so I will be trying to find out if there are any good farmgate/shops around that I can buy fruit/veg a lot cheaper than down here in south wales...


quality of clothes have gone down hill IMHO in the last few years...

cw18

I don't know about quality in general, but to my mind they've incorrectly described this item as a sweatshirt. To me a sweatshirt is a thick item which provides warmth (often with a thin fleecy lining). This 'sweatshirt' from Mr T isn't even as thick as my T-shirts !!!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

just come back from asda, ( it is literely across the road from us) and found a young lad picking up a tray of mince reduced to £4 odd, so I showed him the same size tray and the normal price was £2.98.. the SA just gave me the biggest glare lol...
it looks as though some people just automatically think if it has a reduced sticker on it, its a bargain..
another guy has the pre-cut little bags of fruit, and they were reduced to 40p a bag..


even though I batch cook our main meals most weekends, I really do need to get back to cooking cakes and biscuits etc... as this is what is bumping up my budget... as hubby likes a 'treat' in the evenings after every meal.. and in fact in work too, he always buys chocolate..


right back to my cooking..