2015 Frugal Living Challenge

abby1234519

I have a list of “preparations” to make for the rest of 2015.

1) Plan presents. So I’ve given myself £300 and as I’ve said I want to be able to do our whole family with this. OH family is quite a close knit family, whilst it seems silly to be buying his cousins presents, its only the cousins we are close to and they are 4 and 7. We used to all go out for dinner for every single person’s birthday but I had to say we couldn’t go anymore. Sometimes his mum will take our son and/or OH and pay for them both. The amounts are maximum amounts per person, I definitely want to spend less.

Me £20 (for husband to buy me a present at my birthday)
OH bro £10
My grandma £5
OH cousin 1 £10
OH sister £10
OH grandma £10
OH Uncle’s partner £5
OH Cousin 2 £10
OH mum £10
OH £20 (for me to buy his present)
OH Dad £10
OH other grandma (card)
My brother £10
My sister £10
My Mum £10
My best friend £20 (birthday and Christmas)
OH Uncle 1 £10
OH Aunt £10
OH Uncle 2 £10
My Dad £10

Our son £100 for birthday and Christmas

2) Have done a stock take of the cupboard of doom (aka larder cupboard). Every day I am going to pick out a different ingredient, ie I have tins of pineapple and peas! Not in one tin obviously. So today’s challenge is to use a tin of pineapple in something that my OH will eat. He hates pineapple, challenge on!

Wombatchops

My latest frugalling attempts have been focused on not using too much energy, after our supplier wanted to do increase our monthly bill by £16 when we were nearly £60 in credit :mad: So, if I am cooking something like pasta, rice, frozen veg, etc, I have used water boiled from the kettle, soaked the item in that water for a time using a lidded saucepan, and then when I need to cook it, I have put them on the gas hob. It has really reduced the cooking time. It mightn't save that much each time, but I am hoping that cumulatively it will make a difference.

I have also batch cooked loads of meals in the slow cooker ready for when the baby arrives next week so we don't live on take away.

Finally, when doing our meal plan on Sunday my DH wanted enchiladas. Instead of buying an expensive pack, we simply bought 8 tortillas, a box of passata (how embarrassing, I come from an Italian family and have no idea if I spelt that right), and used fajita spice in the above-mentioned tomatoes to make the sauce. Tasted really good, and cost less than a kit.

Oh yes, I'm feeling smug.;)

cw18

I make my own enchilladas from scratch - but I use hot chilli powder rather than fajita spice.

cw18

Expensive day today, but not as expensive as I'd expected it to be.....

Last May my glasses cost me £144.50 - and that was with a 50% discount :eek: (plus £25 optional insurance)

I've been having problems again in recent weeks, so went for another check-up today - but I went to a different branch of B00ts as it's easier to get to the one I went to today, and I can combine it with a trip to Costc0 (plus it's away from a lot of stores that always tempted me as they're not in the shopping centre I was at today - who it turns out actually have nothing to tempt me at all :T)

Yes my eyes have changed - by as much as they'd changed by between Feb 2013 and May 2014, but in just 7 months this time around Optician said I'd be able to manage with the glasses I have now for a while, but in the long run that's going to cause an even wider gap between my strong and weak eyes.... so I opted to get new specs today. When he passed me over to the lad who would actually take the order, the optician said not to push me to take a second pair as the ones I have now are sufficient for emergency use and I have contact lenses I can use as well - it was a welcome first not to have someone trying to talk me into a second pair

This time around they came in at £110 after my 50% deduction was applied. (I then added on the £25 insurance again. The lad kept asking if I were sure I wanted it - had picked up money was a deciding factor - until I pointed out that the insurance is cheaper than a second pair, and I don't want to have to go back to my current pair in a few weeks because I've broken the new ones and can't afford replacements A co-worked of his who overhead thought this very sensible )

And this time around I was shown the difference paying for 'thin and light' lenses would make, instead of someone just trying to describe it verbally - so I was happier paying the extra this time around (that was another £25 of my bill). He showed me what my lenses would be like without being thinned (think bottom of a glass bottle!), but said that if I didn't want it doing it wouldn't be as obvious as it could be as I go for large frames (from the mens section this time!) - but that also means they'd weigh more. They do three levels of thinning, with each level incurring an additonal charge! I went for a single level of thinning which he reckons will be more than enough (and appears to be what I had last time looking at the receipt from then), but at the rate I'm going I won't be stuck with them for more than 12 months if I decide they're a bit heavier than I'm really happy with.

Just hoping that this pair will last me at least 12 months, as even with the lower price than I'd expected I don't have enough in my budget for another new pair before year end !!!

Wombatchops

cw18 wrote: »

I make my own enchilladas from scratch - but I use hot chilli powder rather than fajita spice.

Ooh, interesting. Might have to try that next time. Thank you.

youngmummy

so annoyed. I was sure id backed up my excel spreadsheet for my budget on my computer cloud software or whatever its called. and now I cant find it


so now not only do I not no what I have spent so far this year ive tried to do a new one but im sure im missing things


once I have redone it I will be backing it on my plug in hard drive thingy mebob so hopefully it wont happen again


partner spent more on ds1 than what I originally budgeted


other than that we haven't done to bad


off to try and find my spreadsheet again!


night all

[Deleted User]

Morning all, I had a good frugal day yesterday and hope to have another one today. Used up carrots to make carrot and coriander soup and did a loaf in the bread maker.

This morning I am making some sausage rolls and some biscuits - I will prepare them both and do them in the oven together to save energy. Today should be a NSD.

Other than that I need to get wrapped up and head out to clear the snow off the drive, garden path and my wee section of the pavement.

Bambywamby

Good morning Frugal Gang


Very chilly today in East Yorks... and the plan is to have a NSD and take little one to the park at some point (weather permitting.)


I want to up my 3baying levels, even for the meagre profits it is better than having stuff laying around the house.
So I plan to 3bay at least five items a day for the next week.
I also want to declutter under the sink and take stock of my cleaning products and cloths... and the mountain of empty jam jars that I keep and never get around to using. I think I shall offer them on Freegle, if they aren't wanted I shall put them in the recycling bin.


Last night I finished reading The Complete Tightwad's Gazette. 900 pages of frugal and thrifty tips. (It only took me three months to read lol!) Some tips are only relevant to the U.S but it helps keep you in the thrifty mood and can be applied to the U.K in some way.

(Text removed by MSE Forum Team)

Okay time for a frugal breakfast; scrambled eggs and home baked YS ham.

Stay safe and happy y'all. xx

[Deleted User]

Wow Bambywamby that is so generous of you to pass along your Complete Tightwad Gazette. I must admit I keep my copy and regularly dip into it for fresh ideas and at times when I think I want to have a blow out and spend.

LolaLemon

Hello!
I'm joining again, think this is my 5th year doing this now.

Just working out my annuals/monthlies/weeklies

I mostly just lurk on here now, dont always have access to apc and the mobile isnt that great for viewing the forum on.