2015 Frugal Living Challenge

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I like that, extreme frugaling, like a blood sport..


I think its time to take this to the next level!!!


How extreme are people going to go in 2015???

cw18

My 'extreme' for 2015 is made up of three things

1. Making myself use up the huge grocery, cleaning and toiletry stockpile mountains I've got (and which I don't really have space for). I'm hoping to spend absolutely nothing from my toiletries budget in shops other than on toilet rolls and tissues (which I reckon shouldn't come in at more than £30 of my £180 budget, with £12 of that coming from DS1). Have a feeling cleaning won't need more than some fabric conditioner, but not totally banking on that one....

2. Dejunking my life/house of 'other stuff' that I don't use / don't like / don't appreciate / don't have space for / have outgrown

3. Setting myself zero budgets for the areas of my spending that could (in the main) be classed as non-essential.

Hopefully point 3 will help push me to work on points 1 & 2, as the first two give me funds for spending on the categories in point 3. But all spending on zero budgets will have to be carefully considered even when I have funds available, as it also includes house repairs / replacement of household items (such as my built in fridge/freezer which is a few years overdue replacing).




As for zero budgets

- Books. I have a number I'm watching second hand prices on, and won't pay more than £3 each for (including postage). Given most of them are around £15 each new, I'm surprised how many of the titles drop to my limit over time

- Magazines. Haven't bought any for months other than one I've had on subscription, and I'm about to cancel that as I don't tend to read them until several weeks after they arrive and can't justify the regular commitment of the payment (not long since paid, so will still have a few to come that won't 'cost' out of this budget for 2015). I often check magazines out when I'm in a supermarket, but have become very fussy about what they have to provide in order to make them an affordable purchase - and now find myself walking away empty handed evry time. May just do the rounds of the supermarkets for the freebies instead, given that my sibscription mag and most I bought in 2014 were cookery related

- CDs. There are again a few I'm watching, but won't purchase until they're no more than £2.50 each including postage (doubles) or £2 (single discs).

- DVDs. There are a number I'm watching, and I'm currently adding to that list. What I'm prepared to pay depends on what it is and how many DVDs in the packaging, but I've managed to get some really good box set bargains this year so have plenty of watching to tide me over the next few months anyway !!

- Clothing. Having been through my wardrobe and purchased the few things I was desperately missing this last month, I don't think I can justify any spends in this category (unless something really special comes up and I don't have anything suitable). The only exception may be bras, but I'm hoping that even with (much needed) weight loss I've enough of various sizes I shouldn't need. I did a few repairs last week and a have a couple more to do, so that's a habit I hope to maintain in order to lengthen the life of clothing

- Footwear. The only footwear I could do with is a pair of 'knock around' trainers. The pair I'm wearing now are the ones I use for cycling, and the soles are starting to wear so may not last the year if I continue to wear them out and about on a regular basis. But I have time to look for 'the right pair at the right price'. They don't actually owe me anything as they were bought as gym shoes in 2010, and then became general use/cycling trainers in 2011 - and they were only around £20 when I bought them.

- Fitness. This includes clothing, footwear, books, magazines, DVDs and equipment. I shouldn't need any clothing apart from a pair of lightweight waterproof overtrousers if I can ever find a pair that aren't several inches too long for me (again bras being the one possible exception), have pretty much stopped buying magazines (think I bought 1 this year), am only watching a couple of books (which I won't pay more than £3 each for), and don't pay more than £2 for a DVD (again watching several) unless it comes with a book and/or equipment. The stumbling block may be running shoes. The ones I have now were around £100 a pair (have 3 pairs - should always have at least 2) and are probably around their recommended mileage limit. Equpment is likely to be things like inner tubes and tyres for my bike, and I suspect I need inner tubes now (won't hold air) so may yet get those before the end of year. Also batteries for my Heart Rate Monitor (both watch and chest strap).

- For Children. This is a bit of an oddity, but is to cover books, toys and games I buy for when I spend time with my GDs or OH's niece. Most of the books and games I bought in 2014 came from a local charity shop (some books came from Amaz0n), and I've had some fantastic bargains with £20+ value games (alll with educational value to them as well) totally complete and for just 75p-£1 :T

- Garden. Unless I can fix the one I have (didn't manage early this year) I need a strimmer. Other than that I hope I can get away with just seeds (may not even need those) and such for growing some veg this year. Not yet figured out how I'm going to charge my grocery budget for any food I grow though, as a lot of what I grow is stuff I can't justify paying supermarket prices for.

- Holiday Accomodation. I'm going away for 3 long weekends (one with my 2 youngest GDs) and 2 separate weeks (one with 2 eldest GDs and OH's niece) - all with my OH. But I'm lucky that I have access to a property owned by a family member, so in return for airing it out and cleaning through all we have to pay is for the gas and electricity we use and any phone calls we make. So while I will be spending against this, it'll only be a fraction of what it could be if we had to pay for traditional holiday accomodation (even if we only went for a week that way). I may also look into booking some time there on my own (preceding time I'm up there with just OH, in which case I'll probably get the train up and he can give me a lift home), but that depends on how I get on with dejunking the house as that's my priority for the year.

- Household bits. This is the one that's likely to be hit hard, as I need to try and find the money to replace my fridge/freezer. But before I can do that I need to empty the freezer, which goes back to point 1 and using up stockpiles (obviously groceries in this case)

- Household repairs. This is for things like plumbing or electrical jobs - either the bits and tools to DIY, or the cost of getting someone in (had to get a plumber in to do work on all 3 toilets and my wshing machine inlet last month, and that was an ouch!)

- Public Transport. Self explanatory. Don't normally spend much (buses to city and back - or just back if I walk in - a couple of times a year), but 2014 was a larger spend due to not being able to drive for over 2 months after breaking my wrist, during which time I had to get trains to/from one of our holdays as we were taking the 3 eldest borrowed youngsters and didn't have space in just one car as well as taxi fares to/from hospital a couple of times. If I go away on my own I'll look at using the train (and possibly a bus at the other end) as I reckon it's cheaper than running the car there and back - and leaves the car here for DS1 to use for work.

- Everything Else. Just what it says Though I'm debating separating out 'days out'. We do a few food festivals a year (admission costs), and took the girls out while on holiday in 2014 (soon tots up, though I managed to cover most of it by boosting my Mr T points and I still have quite a few we can use this year ). We're hoping to have a lot more days out in 2015, but only because we're jointly buying us membership to a NT type organisation which will give free admission (and the cost comes out of my 2014 present budget). I'll watch what else I spend on over the year and decide if I need to separate out anything else due to it being a substantial percentage of this one.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

apart from 1 magazine subscription, which I paid for upfront at the royal welsh spring show last may called Home Farmer ( you subscribed you got a free book, which included one of the books I wanted to get ) I don't buy any magazines anymore, I normally thumb through magazines in the supermarket, for ideas etc, and if there is anything interesting, ( normally pictures of interiors or craft ideas) I take a picture of the picture with my phone.. so there is no need to buy the magazine lol..

Money_Tree_Faerie

I've just moved house and ready to get back on board the hardcore frugal train.

Best of times in 2015 everyone.

sweet-candy

As we end the year with my hubby being out of work, I am definitely going to join the frugal living, currently the cupboards and the freezer are full so use up all which will help,I have plenty of cleaning products and hygiene products so 2015 is definitely time to start, I will be following closely looking for ways to make money as I'm quite crafty so hopefully can put this back into practice.

Happy 2015 to All.

Fruittea

Thanks Frugaldom
I'd love to join. This is my first year of retirement and my budget will really have to change. I grow quite a bit of my own food - so that saves me quite a bit. I'm looking forward to sharing ideas.

Aphidgirl

Merry Christmas all!

I'll be joining in this year. My goals are:

Pay off all my debt by the end of the year (£4600)

Spend no more than £100 a month on non-needs

Cut down alcohol consumption, starting with Dry January

Save something each month for Xmas and holiday expenses

Minimise grocery costs by buying mostly Value range items


Getting the debts cleared will be fantastic. Good luck everyone! 😀

miss_try_to_save

I would love to join this challenge please just to help me cut down my out goings to start with I already do the grocery challenge so would love to give this a go as well

COOLTRIKERCHICK

been really good today, stayed in, and haven't bought anything in the online sales..


might go out tomorrow to buy some better plastic food cartons, so I can batch cook and put it in the freezer, the cheaper 'takeaway' cartons I have been getting ( £1 a pack) once you have used them once and 'pinged' them in the microwave they arnt any good then.

nicki_2

I'm going to give this challenge a go. My aim is to pay off my overdraft (ignoring the other debts other than monthly payments until 2016) and not use my credit cards for ANYTHING all year.

I also have an arg05 store card which needs paying off (Currently on a Buy now interest free for 12 months offer, I have that bill already set up in my budget to have it cleared BEFORE the offer expires) and when that's cleared I'll use it to replace one item in the household that needs doing at a time. Next item on that will be a new TV as ours is an old "black box" style one and the picture breaks up/goes pink/goes green/fails all together when its got a mood on with us :rotfl:It'll be nice to be able to read the news ticker on the news channels without sitting 12" from the screen!

I'm looking forward to a more frugal 2015, although I bet my daughter won't be :rotfl: