2015 Frugal Living Challenge

happybird71

Woo hoo! Thank you for the topcashback recommendation. I just registered then booked transport through it for a family trip to see my husband's family. Initially it was £269 but we had £82 on a loyalty card which was a great saving. I then got an email telling me I had earned £14.12 from topcashback One happy bunny What was an essential but expensive trip has been made as cheap as possible. Can anyone please tell me the limit you need to reach before you can get paid? Thank you.

Wombatchops

I am still reading through the 2014 challenge and I am nearly at the end. It inspired me to look through our spending for last year, which I record monthly on a spreadsheet.

The spreadsheet is split into categories, and I include money put into our savings and money put into the kids' savings, plus mortgage overpayments, as well as money that leaves the house (via bills, mortgage payments, groceries, rip-off amounts on childcare, and so on). What I didn't include was the money we are setting aside to do the house up with.

Our total outgoings for last year were over £28,500.00 :eek: I was totally astonished. And when I looked at our income, which includes child benefit and child tax credits, we only just come in over this amount. Yes, I know we still brought in more than we paid out, but it was a wake-up call. And this year, with me on maternity leave for the whole year, it made me realise how much we need this challenge, and how easy it could be to not only be unable to set any money aside for savings, but also for us to have to maybe borrow money.

So thank you for making me take a proper look at our expenditure. In the past I have only done it on a monthly basis and not an annual overview. Now I just need to work out where to trim the fat, and how. It looks like I have found you all at precisely the right time.

Skinnylatte

happybird71 wrote: »

Woo hoo! Thank you for the topcashback recommendation. I just registered then booked transport through it for a family trip to see my husband's family. Initially it was £269 but we had £82 on a loyalty card which was a great saving. I then got an email telling me I had earned £14.12 from topcashback One happy bunny What was an essential but expensive trip has been made as cheap as possible. Can anyone please tell me the limit you need to reach before you can get paid? Thank you.

Well done, what a great saving. I don't believe there is a minimum limit to withdraw from topcashback. It can take quite a while to clear though, I've got one from November 4th that hasn't cleared yet :mad:

lynnejk

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

.....6 days into this year, I am struggling with other peoples view of my money -

Do any of you come up against this? Do you have any tips to deal with this (bearing in mind that my money burning family already call me cheap).

I wouldn't rise to their comments. It's up to you what you do with it and I would just say 'thanks for the suggestion, I'll have a think about it' or something similar.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

.....the farmfood leaflet was posted through my door ( the one with the moc on it)

.. have anyone bought their frozen meat..

edit.. I do shop there, and get bread, and frozen veg etc

I am not happy buying frozen meat ex bacon. I prefer to buy little and good or hunt for YS stuff if I am free to cook that day. I have found A*di quite good, especially for chicken - whole and joints - and the dates are usually quite long.

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have a packet of basic sponge mix ( te$co basic ) that I bought on a whim many moons ago ( might even be out of date now) is there anything I can make with that, if I make the sponge mix up?

You could
put it over fruit and bake it.
make pineapple-upside-down cake
cook it and use in a trifle thingy
make a steamed or micro-wave jam or syrup pudding HTH


I have managed to do my yearly budget but too tired to start posting it now so hope to post the morrow


Hope you all keeping warm, safe and dry in this cold and windy weather and have a super Sunday
Lx

youngmummy

hi all haven't updated for a while. I was really proud of me and partner Christmas just gone. we requested or were given practical presents
I brought partner a new motorbike helmet, sunglasses and snood thing
my dad brought him a scarf and socks etc
my partner brought me a ceramic pan set ive kept on about (unknowingly our in laws also brought us a ceramic pan set so we now have all new pans)
I asked my dad for trainers ... I chucked mine last yr (10 yrs old and on there last legs) so that's saved me buying some this year
in laws brought us a 8 in 1 fryer slowcooker thingy me bob and a wok .. my partner had mentioned a wok earlier in the year and I kept putting off buying one .. he also mentioned a fryer and I mentioned a slow cooker .. again I kept putting off buying them


its ds1's birthday monaday .. my grandma has brought him a hoody/jacket and we have brought him a hoody and trousers and some dvds after searching everywhere for a lego set and no where having anything suitable for his age I was shocked that it cost £50 for so few items but im still going to Sainsbury's tomorrow to see if I can get a small lego set as I know he will be over the moon with it so hopefully will only be another £50 at most including a cake and trip to MacDonald's so £100 total should cover his birthday


I have had a change of plan regarding studies and a career realising I need to stop being so stubborn and put my health before my dream so over the next few years will be saving up for a number of things ... house deposit, wedding, education, partner also wants to go self employed in the future once qualified in his new career choice and I may set up and go self employed in my new career choice too at some point... its all dreams at the moment as altogether its all going to cost a lot of money .... so I need to stay focused save as much as possible and in the meantime I will carry on dreaming .. if it all comes together it would be amazing


so im close to paying my debts off altogether I have around £500 to go it was sat close to £2000 end of October so I don't think we have done too bad as we had ds2's birthday mils birthday partners birthday and xmas between then and now


im not sure where we are budget wise ...so annoyed with myself week one and im already loosing track as of next week im taking the budget money out each week so we know where we are and until its time to take out the budget money again we wont use any of the cards


I only spent £1 last week on son at the shop though which is good. his nan picks him up on Friday so I gave him £1 Thursday to spend on some sweets ..


I need to do a food shop this week .. the cupboards and fridge are looking bare .. I also need to route through the freezer and see what I can meal plan with what's in there for evening meals and then hopefully its mainly just lunch breakfasts and snacks to contend with for the next 2 and a half weeks as I think there is enough at a push in the freezer for evening meals excluding veg

adrisco

Just pre-ordered the new Anne Tyler book .. felt very guilty until I remembered I had some cash left from my mum's present at Christmas. Anne Tyler is the only author whose books I buy .. otherwise it's books from the library and the occasional prize win. Have done extra hours at work this week. More to come. Hope to save some but third grandchild due in March... plus several birthdays and Mothers Day. But have to say I feel lucky to still have my mum .. she's 83. Three of my colleagues have lost a parent recently. Still trying hard to reduce supermarket bills .. used a few coupons and taken advantage of offers on toiletries. Onwards and upwards!

[Deleted User]

youngmummy wrote: »

hi all haven't updated for a while. I was really proud of me and partner Christmas just gone. we requested or were given practical presents
I brought partner a new motorbike helmet, sunglasses and snood thing
my dad brought him a scarf and socks etc
my partner brought me a ceramic pan set ive kept on about (unknowingly our in laws also brought us a ceramic pan set so we now have all new pans)
I asked my dad for trainers ... I chucked mine last yr (10 yrs old and on there last legs) so that's saved me buying some this year
in laws brought us a 8 in 1 fryer slowcooker thingy me bob and a wok .. my partner had mentioned a wok earlier in the year and I kept putting off buying one .. he also mentioned a fryer and I mentioned a slow cooker .. again I kept putting off buying them


its ds1's birthday monaday .. my grandma has brought him a hoody/jacket and we have brought him a hoody and trousers and some dvds after searching everywhere for a lego set and no where having anything suitable for his age I was shocked that it cost £50 for so few items but im still going to Sainsbury's tomorrow to see if I can get a small lego set as I know he will be over the moon with it so hopefully will only be another £50 at most including a cake and trip to MacDonald's so £100 total should cover his birthday


I have had a change of plan regarding studies and a career realising I need to stop being so stubborn and put my health before my dream so over the next few years will be saving up for a number of things ... house deposit, wedding, education, partner also wants to go self employed in the future once qualified in his new career choice and I may set up and go self employed in my new career choice too at some point... its all dreams at the moment as altogether its all going to cost a lot of money .... so I need to stay focused save as much as possible and in the meantime I will carry on dreaming .. if it all comes together it would be amazing


so im close to paying my debts off altogether I have around £500 to go it was sat close to £2000 end of October so I don't think we have done too bad as we had ds2's birthday mils birthday partners birthday and xmas between then and now


im not sure where we are budget wise ...so annoyed with myself week one and im already loosing track as of next week im taking the budget money out each week so we know where we are and until its time to take out the budget money again we wont use any of the cards


I only spent £1 last week on son at the shop though which is good. his nan picks him up on Friday so I gave him £1 Thursday to spend on some sweets ..


I need to do a food shop this week .. the cupboards and fridge are looking bare .. I also need to route through the freezer and see what I can meal plan with what's in there for evening meals and then hopefully its mainly just lunch breakfasts and snacks to contend with for the next 2 and a half weeks as I think there is enough at a push in the freezer for evening meals excluding veg

Well done on almost having your debts paid off. That's pretty good going since October.:T:T:T

I do a similar thing at Christmas as my mum and sister always ask what I want. My sis usually gets me shampoo - this saves me buying any for myself for the year ahead as she always gets supersize ones. My mum will get me the face cream and other skin care things I like and again this saves me buying it during the year. Although they are not practical things they are things I would otherwise buy for myself so it works well for us.


I have had a really frugal weekend. No takeaways - feeling quite chuffed with myself. With the weather I have mainly sat in and attempted to finish off some crochet projects. I am still learning crochet but have learned to make granny squares and am in the process of making a dolls size blanket. I will keep practicing as I want to make my mum a large throw for her birthday this year.

chika

Hello everyone! I'm rejoining this thread, I was a member a few years ago but slipped up into old habits and stopped keeping an eye on my purse.

I haven't done a budget yet but i have some goals that I want to achieve by the end of the year. Mainly save. I'm a supply teacher and the summer months can be very tight. Frugal things so far include getting rid of my expensive fancy car that I was paying a fortune in finance for. I've bought a very modest car paid cash - unbelievably it was less than two month's finance payments. My insurance has gone down due to the new car not being as desirable to theives and I've taken my best mate off the policy. Really please so far. the new car is diesel too and I'm amazed at how long the tank has lasted. in my old car i'd be lucky to get 300 miles, this has done almost 500 miles. Chuffed!

I've made a commitment to myself to get fit this year too - I'm lazy so I've got a personal trainer, its a big expense but I'm justifying it by the fact that if I become ill through inactivity then I won't be able to work and will have no income at all. I have to eat a rather expensive diet at the moment but I'm heading up to the Asian supermarket in a bit to stock up - the prices are so much cheaper than even 4ldi and 1idl.

One question, I'm almost out of laundry stuff. Does anyone still use the gloop? Any good?

rubiesr4eva

Just spent a big sum of £1 on my hubby's anniversary present for tomorrow and I love it.


Bought a white photo frame in the sale at wilko's for a pound, typed out words of our song and then over printed our wedding date on top of the lyrics. I had the idea off another website that wanted £20 plus for the same thing plus postage

thefrugalflirter

Love the idea rubiesr4eva, such a thoughtful gift too - I might do something similar for OH for Valentines. We don't usually buy much - just token gifts really.

allie23 - I'm exactly the same with birthday and Christmas presents, I always ask for practical things like shampoo, shower gel and clothes. It sometimes drives my OH mad, as he thinks gifts should be things that 'spoil' the recipient, but I'd much rather something I'd use than some luxury gift that's just going to sit in the cupboard unused. I also like to keep a list through the year of things that I'd like to get at some point (but aren't urgent), that way I can keep an eye out for them on freecycle, or if someone asks me what I'd like for my birthday, I always have an answer ready!