2015 Frugal Living Challenge

his_missus

Alja, I tend to try and use loyalty points and vouchers from survey sites towards presents too. Either that or I make gifts. I like to be generous at Christmas time but I do have a budget to stick to.


I had a mad cooking session on Sunday and filled the freezer with a variety of stews and casseroles to see us through for a few weeks. All can be reheated in the oven, preset so tea's ready when we get home, which in turn heats up the kitchen enough to not need the heating on yet. And casserole ingredients are quite inexpensive too.


Did the gas and electric meter readings last night. At the moment we seem to be using about £1 of gas and electricity in total per day, which I think is ok especially as we pay £50 a month by DD so we're already well into credit for winter.

Kerry_Woman

Still plodding along.


Unfortunately this month I have gone over my budget for food/household. So now I will try and save/cut back over the last two remaining months.


With all going well the double glazing is going to be fitted this weekend. Am hoping not too much damage will be done to the plaster.


Went and got a bottle of wine in M&S for my Sister's birthday. It is the usual bottle of wine that we get for birthdays/Christmas and usually costs £8. When I went to buy it, it came up as £4. So came home and printed off 2 vouchers that I do surveys and save for shopping for Christmas for presents. Brought 4 more bottles, so saved £16. Am really pleased with that.


I am hoping things with my temp work will pick up as not getting a lot of work at the moment. So am getting stressed about that.


Have done another free on-line course. So have now registered my interest for another free on-line course. Hopefully I will hear soon once they hear when funding is available in my area where I live.

sistercas

Not been on for a few days as life has been busy
Just had payday thank goodness , although my car has just cost me £270 mot and service 😰
I have lots of family birthdays in November too plus dd1s graduation , which means a hotel stay , I'm so looking forward to it though .

I would love to be in a position where I am prepared for these events rather than being on the back foot. That is my aim for 2016 to get organised and prepared for birthdays and regular outgoings and once my CC is paid off to build an emergency fund too :T

I need to look at our outgoings and make sure we are paying the best rate possible . I have just swapped our energy supplier which will be an annual saving of just over £200 . That said the present energy company want to put the direct debit up by £50 :eek: and we are in credit too , it's bizarre
I have switched bank accounts to include rewards which should bag us £120 over the year in dh's account and £60 in mine

Another saving is dd1's phone bill now she has a job she is paying for that herself , every little helps :T

COOLTRIKERCHICK

With us losing our main business, we are relying on eBay now for our income which h is rather sh!te sales wise at no,

So forward thinking about turning our hobby into a small business re- produce etc from our smallholding, managed to sign up for free to do the food hygeine stage 2 for free with a local development trust... Which saved a few quid...

So fingers crossed I pass, as my memory is hopeless and I haven't done a test exam in years, and then my mind used to go blank...

So going to be on the look out for other free courses that might help for the future.. Etc

stressed.mum

Hiya, just a. Quick one to say the Food Hygiene is really easy to pass. Normally it is learning modules to read the a multiple choice test at the end that is pretty straight forward xxx

lynnejk

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

With us losing our main business, we are relying on eBay now for our income which h is rather sh!te sales wise at no,

So forward thinking about turning our hobby into a small business re- produce etc from our smallholding, managed to sign up for free to do the food hygeine stage 2 for free with a local development trust... Which saved a few quid...

So fingers crossed I pass, as my memory is hopeless and I haven't done a test exam in years, and then my mind used to go blank...

So going to be on the look out for other free courses that might help for the future.. Etc

Sorry to hear you've lost your main business and good luck with the food hygiene course.


Have you tried other things to boost your income ? It might be worth a look at the Make £10 a day challenge November, as there's a lot of ideas on there. Also, if you look in the Income thing at the top-right of the page there are some ideas that might be useful. Good luck


If anyone is in the Sealed Pot Challenge for this year the opening of the pots and count-up is the morrow - 5th November !! Please remember to post your totals


We've had a minor disaster - the main freezer has pegged out !! Suppose can't complain, it was a recon one six years ago and only cost £50, so had our money's worth eh

It took me three hours to find a new one. Tried using Quidco and the electrical shop that sounds like it sells indian food. Found a freezer that would suit but couldn't get past the 'find a delivery time/day page'. Tried a few other places and eventually bought one from Mr T.

On the down side it cost £200 and might have to wait until Monday for it to arrive :eek: Also, obviously, I had to throw away quite a lot of stuff. Fortunately it was mainly frozen veggies, bread and ice-cream, as managed to cram all the more expensive stuff into my small freezer. Also had started running down stocks in both, ready to defrost and refill end of November, which I normally do anyway.

On the up side I get free delivery as I have a delivery saver, saving £19.95 and they will uplift my old freezer for £9.95, saving me £15.05 if had to use the local council at £25 a time !! No wonder there is a plague of illegal fly-tipping. Plus 200 points. This makes a total saving of £37.

Btw - it was £10 cheaper with the Amazing site but delivery was £29.95, so Mr T might be a good place to check in future for large h/h items.

I was really pleased that I had an empty c. card to use, which we won't have to repay until end December :j


Hope you all have a thrifty Thursday
Lx

sistercas

cooltrikerchick good luck with the courses x

Trying to plan Xmas lunch as frugally as possible , I already have my table cloth and table decs / crackers left from last year , so it should just be food , I'm planning on making my Xmas cake as I do every year but also a Xmas pud which I've never made before and mince pies , I've got 2 jars of mincemeat left from last year too
Not sure where to get my turkeŷ from , last year we got it from a local butcher , but they have closed now

What is everyone else doing for Xmas lunch

alja

I'll be going home to my parents house for Christmas, so we'll have the usual foods. Before we open presents we'll have some kind of bubbly drink along with some nibbles/buffet style snacks. Then in the afternoon we'll have turkey with trimmings along with christmas pud for them and I'll probably have a chocolate pudding. In the evening we'll eat too much chocolate, dates and nuts :-)

Frugal wise I think I could have done better lately, but I've not been ever so bad. I'm just still in a bit of a limbo moment whilst going through the remortgaging process. So most of the Christmas shopping has taken a back seat until I know where I'm at. However, I think I have sorted everything for my friends for just £25. This includes 2/3 friends that I spend more on, 3 other friends and one of my friend's child. So I'm pleased with that as I could have spent much more :-)

crazy_cat_lady

I actually have no idea what we will do for Christmas lunch this year. We've always gone to my mam's house - but she's going away this year. As it's just the four of us I suspect it'll be a chicken dinner pretty much like I would make on a Sunday, but with stuffing and chipolatas. My best friend's husband is a butcher so whatever it is, it will be nice.
You've got me thinking now. It could be time for another list. I do like a good list...

sistercas

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

It could be time for another list. I do like a good list...

Me too you can't beat a good list and ticking things off when it's complete :j