2015 Frugal Living Challenge

his_missus

Been quite a frugal week, a £44 vets bill has seen to that! Leftovers for lunches (finally finished off the Christmas turkey and gammon this week) and still meals in the freezer. No unnecessary purchases at all so far this week but will need to buy bread tonight especially as we're out of cereal for breakfasts.

JustStartingOut

I've joined the Grocery challenge this month, and when I came across this I thought it was a good idea as well!

For a while my OH and I struggled with finances due to him having barely any hours at work, but we did well enough without using a credit card or going in to an overdraft (other than my catalogue ). He then got a new, full time job and is earning an extra £950 a month :j however I seem to have gone in to the mind set that 'I have money to spend as and when I want'.:o Whereas it should be "we have an extra £950 we can save"

We are getting married this year, and my parents are offering to pay for it all, no arguments, even though I feel guilty about it.
We have the honeymoon to save for (having that a about 7 months after the wedding so we can use the money gifts we get if need be:o).
Then once that is over with, save for a deposit for our house (father in law is letting us buy his 4bed at a reduced price so he can get his canal boat :rotfl:). however it needs a major make-over

I have a mountain of jewellery making supplies upstairs, but I don't get the time, or there is something I want to watch on TV(only have one tv in the house) :rotfl: Need to get beading and selling!
I've set up a spreadsheet, well multiple spreadsheets to be exact, for each spend area.
Hopefully OH will fill it in and keep receipts, otherwise I won't be a happy bunny!
I've only looked through a half dozen of these posts and have had loads of ideas already of where I can save money.

Good luck to everyone. Hope you meet your goals with ease:)

Aaleigha

Beening frugal today
I went to town and had a cup of tea instead of a costa coffee so saved quite a bit there
my neighbour has given me some spring greens and that will go great with my dinner tonight (all made from stores and freezer)
and the biggy my neighbour is moving and so gave me a soda stream - yes I know BUT it will save me a fortune in sparkling water which I can drink by the gallon and it also came with a spare gas cylindar - I cant tell you how excited I am by that

cw18

Aaleigha wrote: »

BUT it will save me a fortune in sparkling water which I can drink by the gallon and it also came with a spare gas cylindar - I cant tell you how excited I am by that

the gas cylinders are actually quite pricey - which is why mine is gathering dust somewhere in the garage, and why DD shelved plans to get one (she thought it would save her on the cost of pop my GDs like)

if you have one to trade in (and can find somewhere that does this - not as easy as it sounded 8 years ago when I last tried) they cost £10. And the Sod@stream website quotes them as making up to 60 litres of 'fizz', so that's almost 17p a litre. I can get sparkling water from Mr T for 17p for 2 litres, which is half the price - and doesn't use metered water from my taps which would add further to the cost.

cwtchingpennies_2

Hello All,

I have been lurking since the begining and currently reading through old threads. Just wanted to say, i LOVE this thread.

You all have some great tips and i promise i will try and post more frequently

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Hi All,


been busy with everything lol, car had its MOT, and only needed lightbulbs, which was a surprise,, so really pleased.. I didn't have to spend out on that..


Car tax due at the end of the month, doesn't make sense, but if I pay a one off 6 month payment its x amount, but if I set up a Direct Debit for the one off 6 month payments it saves around £6 ish.. so I was thinking of setting up the direct debit for the payment, and once the payment has been taken, cancel the DD, until next time its due...


I don't really want to leave the DD in place, just incase I change the car, and they take a car tax payment out of my account, when I don't have the car anymore..


right off to have a cuppa and a bath... as I haven't long got in from work..

Aaleigha

cw18 wrote: »

the gas cylinders are actually quite pricey - which is why mine is gathering dust somewhere in the garage, and why DD shelved plans to get one (she thought it would save her on the cost of pop my GDs like)

if you have one to trade in (and can find somewhere that does this - not as easy as it sounded 8 years ago when I last tried) they cost £10. And the Sod@stream website quotes them as making up to 60 litres of 'fizz', so that's almost 17p a litre. I can get sparkling water from Mr T for 17p for 2 litres, which is half the price - and doesn't use metered water from my taps which would add further to the cost.

I am now quite unexcited by the soda stream - I dont have metered water so will use it till it runs out of gas as all the water will be free until then - then will regift it

cw18

which means you have free fizzy water for a while, and that's :T

[Deleted User]

If you are using spreadsheets, may I suggest you download and use cw18 version. I have always given up in the past even though ( SAD ) I love spreadsheets but this one is great MANY THANKS cw18.

JustStartingOut

Still not read through all the posts! you have been a busy lot!:rotfl:

To pick up on a few points:

In regards to being frugal, I am easing myself in to it. I know if I go cold turkey I will quickly go back to my old ways! And what is frugal for me isn't frugal for others. It isn't up to us to judge other people's finances, only support as best we can.

In regards to the shampoo posts, I use timotei 0% parabens etc. in boots it's 3.49, but I find it in most 99p shops or home bargains.

Also for cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker, if you put onions in the bottom and put it on a very slow cook, then the juices run from the chicken, meaning you don't have to add any water or stock. HTH