2014 Frugal Living Challenge

happycrafter_2

First day back at work, took my lunch in and spent no money all day. OH made tea with left over frozen sliced beef in gravy (packaged up from Boxing Day) with left over veg not cooked over the holidays. I'm making curried parsnip soup with the ones that are a bit rubbery. Have agreed with OH to take £20 out per week until payday to buy bread milk fresh fruit and veg as needed. So that means we have £60 shopping money until payday but the freezers and cupboards are well stocked.
Still knitting to keep myself busy but it's getting very heavy now and my hands keep cramping up

Buffythedebtslayer

I ate it.


I shall let you know how it goes!


I love Mark Porter (tv doctor, he is so sweet)


Am watching Celebrity Mastermind (Horsechestnut tree)


xx

[Deleted User]

Wow, I can't believe how fast this thread is moving, I can hardly keep up!

Not a particularly frugal day for us today. We went shopping and spent some of our Christmas money and OH treated me to lunch:D.

DawnW

Back to work, which was really boring as hardly anyone is in

Spendy day today as OH bought chimney rods and brushes after our recent flue blockage, and they cost £229.72 :eek:

Still, it was paid from savings, and he can easily do the job himself now he has the proper equipment. The sweep charges £45 a time in this area (yes, rainy SW England, so everything is expensive ). Bearing in mind we only had it done in the summer and it needed doing again over Christmas, it will soon pay for itself I guess. We think that some stuff that had been stuck to the liner came free due to a treatment that we have started using once a week to keep it clear (ironically recommended by the woodburner firm who also swept it!) I am afraid that the previous owner of the house used to burn things like old railway sleepers :eek:, so the flue liner is still quite tarred up from that. This will hopefully buy us a few more years before we need to have it replaced.

Anyway, apart from that just bread and instant coffee bought. Supper was from stores with veg from the garden, and I took a packed lunch to work with me.

So, I will have to be super frugal for a while, especially as my car has to go in for its annual service next week!

Gretchen2012

Wow this thread moves quick. Happy new year to everyone, sorry its late. Have had two NSD's already and have not touched a cigarette so very happy. It has been harder today than yesterday though.

Going to go down to the allotments on Saturday and see where I am on the waiting list as I can't wait to get growing, even if I have to do it at home again this year.

optimistic-mummy

food shop and menu plan for january done. My frugal journey will start tomorrow including food shop that is being delivered tomorrow ... i now need to update my diary for 2014...

mum2one

not exactly frugal done an order with dotcomgiftshop - for £50 but ordered all sale items, and got a wack of items for birthdays and hopefully will be able t attack my Christmas list -

Set myself up a spreadsheet with where I spent money on bday/xmas presents for 2014, so far £165 has been covered by vouchers - rest is on an iou to pay myself back, just got to get round to sorting it. Got an argos delievery coming next Monday, (ordered Xmas Eve) and then when dotcom comes sort everything out, so no more present spending till these are allocated.

A no spend day today tomorrow be car parking at hospital got to take my daughter for allergy testing, would have normally gone to pub as a treat but going to McDonalds instead.. xx

pm2326

Mrs_Cheshire wrote: »

Where do you live, we might be able to give you some suggestions! I have a friend in the North East that does the same thing!

I live on the coast about 15 mile outside Newcastle Upon Tyne, any ideas would be gratefully received!

Another NSD today. I had fruit for breakfast, homemade soup for lunch and another beef dinner when I got home as I used up the potatoes and veg from yesterday.

I spent a few hours yesterday registering for free cinema tickets, and entering some competitions. For the comps I try to only enter ones where I either could use the prize personally or give as a gift. I don't tend to enter the ones with huge volume of entrants as I don't think the odds would be good.

Postie also brought me some vouchers for sainsbury's but mine are £4 off a £20 shop for 6 weeks. I won't use them all but I'm going to see if it works out cheaper to get my next delivery from them rather than asda (my cat wont eat aldi or lidl food so have to get it from supermarket) . I'll have to consider the £6 voucher I have for asda versus the £4 off at sainsbury and the nectar points I'd get!

Have made a decision about an ISA I have. The account only has £400 in it and earning 2% but I have an overdraft of £500 which is costing me £12 a month (fee + interest) so I'm going to close the account and transfer the money to the overdraft, I should then be able to clear it in full by April once I pay off a catalogue debt which has a higher interest charge.

dizzy_lizzie

23rdspiral wrote: »

Doh! I thought this was NSD1, but husband just bought a dishwasher online! We tried without for a month & it didn't work for us. But at least he bought it in the sales.
Thanks for the well wishes dizzy, it's nice to 'see' you again. I have an extremely scary/worrying hospital appointment on Wed last week.. (For a test that can in itself do a lot of damage), I have everything crossed that life will indeed be less stressful after that.

Hi Spiral :wave:
Oh my word that does sound worrying. Let's keep our fingers crossed that 2014 will be a healthy one for us both
I must admit we couldn't do without our dishwasher though DS still leaves his plates on the side or puts them in the sink and we've had one for years! Lads eh!
It's lovely to see familiar names back on here and also new ones. Looking forward to reading how we all get on in our shiny new frugal year.
Today OH was back at work and when he came home we had our dog walk for an hour, which I said we'd start to do, lovely to walk and talk and I made tea from what we had in, home made bean burgers with veggies and mash and paused the tv while we sat at the table and ate it.
We never do this, it's usually tea on our laps whilst watching tv but this year I'm determined to restore some sort of order to our working week, which I think will also help me in my frugal attempts, if that makes sense.
Popped out with DD today we went to The Next Clearance store in Manchester and I bought my first present for 2014!!! DD also bought some clothes for DG at bargain prices! Usually we'd call somewhere for something to eat but not today...kept my pennies in my purse :j
Hope everyone has had a great day today
x

KazLA

Went into town (had money to pay in, jeans to return & library book to pick up) for first time since trying to get my head into a 'no spend zone' over the last couple of weeks. I can't believe how much temptation is literally everywhere, I felt like I needed blinkers on, it was a strange feeling being aware of it.

Bought 1 pack of cranberries at 50p that a friend told me about (they will be used for school lunch box) and shreddies, as they were 3 for £3, and down to our last pack from when they were £1 each, but avoided the chocs she had pointed out, down to 75p. Other than that, picked up drainer unblocker from lidl for 99p to clear the bath - worked well, so worth it and a couple of other essentials.

Hv managed to put away just over £10 a week from our grocery budget (of £66 a week,as it was a 5 wk month-2 adults, 2 children & cat litter for 2 foster cats!) last 2 weeks, including new yrs eve shopping for huge family buffet, so pretty pleased.

Had mini toad in holes using left over cocktail sauasages for tea, children loved it!