2015 Frugal Living Challenge

mummy2threeboys

Morning all. Sorry haven't been on in ages. macwah97 Sounds like a tough old time at the mo. Keep positive and strong . My mum has fybrio too and has also never claimed. BUt shes in pain now every day and getting older. I'm not sure how much longer she can last working tbh. Shes a stubborn old goat lol.

Humm so I really need to get on the frugal band wagon. My debts feel like they are crushing me. I have 3 passports to renew. I know we should not have holidays until we are debt free, but this is my doing not my childrens. And we have been given a fantastic Chance of a free holiday to Rome. My lovely friend is also ill and can't make it to her sun holiday so she let me have it, but i have to pay service charges etc..plus I want to extend it to 5 nights, as its right the way in Devon! ..And my son broke the hinge on hi laptop..severed it clean off. £50 to fix it. And we need it as we Home Ed.
Hum hum a parcel I sent back for refund has gone missing £55 item..thankfully i have a receipt but the post office attendant wrote on it the address..is that good enough proof?!
I need to look at my bank accounts and cry a bit. I did our monthly treat wine, and take out. Now back to free days out. Oh I am going to London with my Mum later in the month too. May ask if it's ok just to take a packed lunch and save money that way.

Re water bills. Ours was £27 and it's now £43. They say the amount we use its the same as a Two adult one bedroom flat with Garden. We are in fact 2 adults, 3 children, 3 bedroom , 3 toilet (Don't ask) terrace house family lol. I worked out if we used the amount they said we should be using, it would cost us £100 ish a month!
At this rate i'll just go to the nearest bar and ask for a lot of tap water. I can't help thinking there should be an allowence for a set amount of free water per person, for drinking (isn't that a legal thing anyway?) .Also we only have one water board here, and as every house is having water meters, we are stuck with having to pay whatever they charge us per unit. No choice of who we go with. Gahhh.

mummy2threeboys

OOh on a postive note..yay to lovely weather, line drying and now I'm off too see what Seeds I can sow!

[Deleted User]

It's very windy and very wet here today so zero chance of line drying my clothes.

Frugal plans today are:
1. Finalise meal plan for next week and then shop for it.
2. Put this months Christmas savers money into my Credit Union account.
3. Buy mothers day cards.

Other than that, no major plans for today. Staying inside and keeping cosy as much as possible. Tonight my parents are treating us to a meal so looking forward to that.

bmma

shopped at local convenience store today stockrd up on ys fruit and veg - a saving of £1.40p x

mummy2threeboys

Allie23..Have I stolen the weather It's lovely here again in Kent! Washingon line, seed planting to do. Also after lunch the local Health club has a free family fitness fun day. Swimming, Archery, badminton etc. They do it once a month. The boys can go swimming here free with our council but adults have to pay normally but not on family day, so saving £9 . No spend day today yay. Hope to finish knitting a jumper today. Also need to get printer out. I discovered I can refill the cartridges really easy with poundland ink..yay!
Anyway have a great Sunday all x

Kerry_Woman

Went to the Elvis Experience is London this week. I only brought the guide that went along with it, the guide for his home (don't think I will have the chance to go there) and had some photos done (which I saved on). Did look at other items and put them back, added it all up and it came to around £100. They would not be used and cluttering up the flat. The guides and photos do not take up too much space and are nice to keep.


Done a small bit of decluttering this week. Have only brought what was needed this week.

his_missus

Managed to stick well within my leftover budget without Hubby feeling he's missing out and is going to starve, but we now only have £9 to last until the 20th for bread, milk etc.


There is loads of food in the freezer and the cats have enough to see them through.


Expensive vets bill due on Friday though as one cat has to have some teeth removed

Frugaldom

Still frugaling away here, saving every available penny and hoping for some better weather soon. Got some sunshine for the Frugaldom open event on Sunday, so that was excellent.

Sticking to my £5 per person per week average grocery challenge and using up everything I can while saving the savings towards getting some more work done on the house.

Hope everyone is still happy to pursue the frugal living challenge. To all our newcomers, frugal budgeting eventually becomes second nature, so hang on in there, it is well worth it!

his_missus

Been looking ahead to my finances this afternoon (we're very quiet at work) for the next 2 paydays. Again, it's looking tight, especially as I want to pay in full the CC each month (holiday to be paid off when I get paid this month, vets bills will be on CC ready for April's payday) I do feel like I'm playing catch up with the CC at the moment but it will all be straight come mid May


Hubby's "discovered" £15 in paypal from Quidco pay outs - those £1 odds here and there do actually add up.


Also still in credit with first utility and I think we'll still be £60+ in credit come May when I predict our monthly spend will drop below our monthly DD again.
Does anyone know if/when you can ask for credit to be repaid to you?

cw18

My power company now automatically refund at annual review if you're more than 1 payment or £100 in credit (not sure if that's a "whichever's the higher" or not, as my payments are under £100 and credit was over) unless the account is flagged not to (which mine now is).

OH seems to have had a fairly hefty refund (and drop in D/Deb) each of his last 2 annual reviews - again automatic.

Reading the notes from my supplier it appears you can ask any time, but they may not be keen without an increase of D/Deb. If you're going to ask, then I'd say now (just out of the peak use months) is the time to do so.