2015 Frugal Living Challenge

bmma

would like to join this thread again-lots of inspiration x

DawnW

Broken_Biscuits wrote: »

mad rush to the library today too after realising i was about to go into charges on one of my books
sorted and now pinned the receipt for the next lot up on the fridge so in more aware of dates. Should be fine... Was reading a bit less with starting a new job .. Back to full steam ahead

Thanks for that tip BB. I have just stuck my library receipt to the fridge as I am always looking for it to check when the books need to go back. Why on earth didn't I think of that?

optimistic-mummy

hi id like to join you all please .... I do have a budget in mind that I have a few last adjustments to make ... I hope with the help and inspiration of this thread to be able to save £200 a week towards our wedding/house fund we have around £1400 to live off after rent and council tax so that means we will have around £600 pm /£150 pwk to live off and will put around £800 a month into savings. we are a family of four and although in hindsight at first it looked like it could be tough so far its not been too bad tbh and its made me think a lot more before spending any money .. I like to think im quiet frugal/thrifty but I know there is a lot of room for improvement
6 things I would like to do before the year is out


1. do something for charity
2. save at least £800 pm
3. learn to use my sewing machine - and put it too good use
4. stick to budget
5. find ways to make every penny stretch as far as possible (cashback, coupons, yellow stickers, meal plan, no unnecessary spends, make sure im not paying more than I need to for anything)
6. join the make £10 a day challenge and try and make a few extra pennies


thankyou looking forward to getting to know everyone

Wombatchops

cw18 wrote: »

Guess it depends on how/where you drive it, annual mileage, and how much care you take of it.

The car I have now is a 52 plate with under 60k on the clock and still throws few problems at me (puncture, cracked windscreen and tatty wipers aren't really her fault)

My previous car was bought new in 1993 and was scrapped in 2006 (just before she turned 13) with about 120k on the clock. She'd have gone on longer had a pipe in the cooling system not corroded - new not available, only a vague possibility of getting one from a scrap heap, and body work around where they'd have had to weld it in looking unlikely to handle the work!!

That's true. I try and be careful but I seem to get through tyres at an alarming rate, which makes me question how careful I actually am. However, despite being the only driver in the house, I drive between 4,000 and 5,000 miles per year, which I believe is below the national average (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

You must be super careful, though, for your cars to last as long as they do. I'm impressed.

cw18

Tyres require regular checks on inflation. Running with them too high or low a pressure causes excessive wear on them (and more chance of an accident). I have a compressor in the car, so can check 'at will' rather than just when at a petrol filling station and remembering. I've had it since at least 1992, and consider it worth it's weight in gold - especially as I'm now on my third car with a space saver spare, the first two not even fitting into the storage compartment at full inflation but not having been warned by the garages!

Broken_Biscuits

optimistic-mummy wrote: »

hi id like to join you all please .... I do have a budget in mind that I have a few last adjustments to make ... I hope with the help and inspiration of this thread to be able to save £200 a week towards our wedding/house fund...

on my mobile so struggling to post a link. Google "mr money mustache wedding"
it'll be the first link.

best of luck on your saving, however, if you truly embrace frugality you will find you need much less than you think.

cw18

Just bought myself a midweek delivery saver scheme with Mr T.... as a birthday present to DS2

He got in touch to say he'd got 4 codes to hand out. Each person using one gets an annual scheme at half price, and for each one used he gets 2,000 points - which he'll double up to spend in a cycling supplies shop (meaning he gets £40 of stuff).

I don't spend enough to use delivery, but my budget for his birthday present is £15 which is the cost of the midweek scheme after applying the 50% discount. So I spend £15, and he gets £40 to spend on stuff he wants which sounds like a winner to me.

And then there's a chance I could get my money back next year, as they claim to refund you if you don't save by having the scheme (ie. the slots you use over the year would have cost less if paid for individually than you paid for the scheme). So by rights I should get a full refiund as I won't have used it at all

My DD is doing the same for him

Frugaldom

Welcome to our newcomers, hope you find plenty of useful stuff to help you stay focussed.

I have now been without a car for over 2 years and, despite some things being extremely difficult owing to where we live, it has been amazing how much money has been saved and how I was able to spend the savings on frugal fun! It is like my bucket list money now, so I have climbed to the summit of Ben Nevis, visited Iona, been right inside Fingal's Cave and stayed in a log cabin. Add to that all the other savings made over the years of frugal living and we now have an entire Frugaldom Project, extending to over12 acres. Proof enough for me that life ambitions can be realised even on a miniscule income.

Sticking with my £5/week grocery challenge for 2015 and it seems to be going well, so far.

cw18

I'm definitely on a 'fix-it' month - though this unfortunately means I'm spending money from my zero budgets that I hadn't expected to be spending, and money from a non-zero budget I hadn't expected to be parting with quite so fast this early in the year !!

Tyre (after puncture), windscreen excess (replacement due to chip and cracks) and windscreen wipers (totally shredding) all charged to car repair budget which I luckily set up, though it remains to be seen whether I allowed enough !!

Combi oven blew last Saturday, and was taken away for repair yesterday. Looks like it could very well be the magnatron, which could have been very expensive but is luckily still on a parts only warranty for another 12 months. No idea what it'll still end up costing me (other than the £48 initial call out charge!), but it should be a lot cheaper than £250+ for a new equivalent machine.

Tumble dryer was taken away for a service today, as it's been taking twice as long to dry as it should. I don't use it often, but when I do it's clearly bumping up my electricity bill more than it should be - so I see this as a spend to save moving forward Firm dealing with combi quoted £54 labour plus any parts. Local firm quoted £50 all in, which includes an element if it needs that (looking most likely). He opened it up here for a quick look, and the inside is full of fluff which makes it a fire risk :eek: So he's taken it for a clean and full service as he was really impressed with the condition for the age (9 years at best guess), and claims it'll be as good as new when it comes back.

Now my washer's sprung a leak !! Nothing running down from door or filter panel, but a puddle is definitely appearing in front of the machine. OH reckons it could be the washers on the water inlet hose (originals from when I bought 14 years ago), but local chap reckons it's more likely a hose just under the front of the machine. Said that if we can locate it this weekend and let him know (preferably by sending a picture) he'll bring over a spare when he returns the dryer (most likely Tuesday). And if he can get one off a scrap machine and we can fit it, then there'll be no charge

And I've still got my built in fridge/freezer to replace before it conks out completely :eek:

bmma

home made lentil stew for the week-end also soup and hopefully bread (breadmaker)
my financial budget is run from April to April -that is when rent increases,council tax increases and the pension is set for the year-so have a couple of months to sort out what I can tweak to live as frugally as possible x