2015 Frugal Living Challenge

lisa110rry

Hi His Missus,

I reckon you're right. Back in the mid-80s my husband was working 100 miles from our home, so commuting weekly. Our son was in single figures. I found I saved so much on the food budget it was incredible. It was a case of "have to" in those days. We had an overdraft of around £3000 and I managed to clear that in no time as my husband was living on his detachment allowance and I was being very frugal with my costs (though continuing to feed our son a healthy diet).

alja

Frugaldom wrote: »

Alja, if you already own your own mortgage free home at 26 then there is nothing to stop you retiring at 30. :beer: I would have loved to have been debt free at that age so it was all about savings, life work and investments. Keep up the good work, notmany can say they are home owners at your age, unless home is a caravan or something of such price range.

I didn't mean to offend anyone by my comments as I actually had read mrmoneymoustache site before now, he is a money man who still earns from his writing, I won't retract that statement. Nor will I apologise for suggesting it is better to pay off every penny in debt before spending money on books whose content can all be found online for free. Easiest way to have more income is to spend less, it has been my motto since starting this challenge on here in 2007.

Oh sorry I'm not mortgage free I'm just a first time buyer. Quickly updated my signature the other week, need to make it clearer! ...definitely new to all of this! Hehe :-) but thanks to the help of MSE I was able to put down a hefty deposit (even the estate agent said "not all have a deposit as big as yours" so I must have done well!)

Definitely want to build my savings back up again now. It makes more sense for me to put money into those instead of overpaying my mortgage at the moment, so that's the plan :-) shall try my best to retire as early as possible though! Hehe!

[Deleted User]

Been totally carp this month with my budgets. Got into my old habit of 'living like a king' the first few weeks of the month and am now consequently 'living like a pauper'. Last £5 to do us until pay day is in my purse. I must do better next month.

Part of the problem is that me and OH are still living as though we have 2 wages coming in. It's time to get real and make some changes.

JustStartingOut

Been a rubbish couple of months budget wise. Been trying to get the freezer emptied so can defrost it (had more ice than the arctic!). Flung the few bits that were left as were frost bitten. Now the fridge and freezer are sparkling and defrosted - almost like new!
Have an asda delivery tomorrow along with fruit and veg from the local community garden, and on Thursday have my first order from muscle foods arriving (very excited!). because I'm a new customer got a variety bundle for half price-ish. So freezer will be full again

Also need to stop spending! I will admit I really do need new summer clothes. I have very few. Last year was the year they all became old and bedraggled, but will try and buy them outright rather than adding them to my catalogue account!

[Deleted User]

Morning All. Up sharp and a load of towels put into the wash. It's a beautiful day here so I want to make the most of it and get a washing out on the line. Will hopefully do a clothes wash later too.

Dinner today is quiche - ready roll pastry from freezer with eggs, cheese and bacon from the fridge. It will do OH and I over 2 days. I have some frozen Spag bol and a frozen pizza in the freezer that should do us to the end of the week so zero spend on food until then.

Frugaldom

Still going but have almost run out of things to say here as it's all been said before - I think long and hard about every penny I spend. it is easy not to spend when living where I do, especially when walking to and from work at Frugaldom project.

Musclefood is great, I have been using them for past couple of years, making the most of their deals but ignoring theim in between times. It is hard ignoring 99p/400g beef mince, but I don't need it.

make the most of sunshine. I'm missing laundry on line but no line/whirlygig here at new place yet.

his_missus

Hi all,


Hubby's away this week Mon - Thu. The house is tidy and I'm eating healthier...and more frugally too. Only £40 spent on food this week instead of the usual £70-£80, told you Hubby being away for a few days would make a difference I won't need that much shopping this weekend either - just some fresh bits and meat.


Also, with a correct tax code (finally!) and my payrise I'm £140 better off a month - straight into the savings pot

JustStartingOut

Gorgeous day today here. Done some 'spring cleaning'. waiting on asda and veg delivery, so will get some washing done in the meantime, the stairs hoovered(hate the stairs, normally tell OH to do it, but he's working 8 days in a row so wouldn't be fair), and my handheld vac has given up on me :mad:. However I will restrain on getting a new one as although I love it, it really is unnecessary.

Currently thinking of how I (frugally) can spruce up our tiny tiny TINY yard! did I mention it was tiny? Any ideas?
I would never buy this place partly because of that. Cannot wait to buy our own.

Shortie

<Sneaks head around the door>


Evening all. I totally fell off the forum for a while as life went super busy. And I mean bonkers. I want to get back on track and I need to be around likeminded moneysavers.


Problem is, I don't really feel like I 'fit' anywhere and this has always been a friendly thread and feels like the closest fit for my goals - I hope no-one minds me chipping in occasionally again? I'm nowhere near living on £4,000 a year but I would really appreciate the inspiration from this thread xxx


So, so far in just over 3 months of 2015 we've remortgaged to release equity, started major building work 6 weeks ago, I changed cars to a decent 7 seater, we're going through foster carer training, the cat dislocated it's hip and needed an op so was bedroom bound with us for 3 weeks (and he's a solid lump that suddenly wanted to snuggle up all night long, lol) and most recently I've been nosing at the job market and worrying about the potential price drop so that I can try and work closer to home. I'm now trying to convince / work out with Mr Shortie the idea of an older towing caravan..


Phew! Yes, it's been manic


So, we're still debt free -


I 'borrowed' from myself to buy the car - I am trying to repay myself at the moment as it was money I had saved to decorate etc the house when the building work is finished


The mortgage is a 2 year fixed and when we've sorted out the house we'll start saving to pay a chunk off the mortgage at the end of the fixed rate.


So, lots of general plans to do with saving money / spending frugally


And I could really do with the inspiration / camaraderie to keep myself on track

Azzzaa

Evening all, i feel like i should post on here to keep myself motivated and hopefully make some friends along the way, I'm currently living with the rents, working full time and saving up for a brand new canal boat to move onto (Big obsession of mine) plus i'm not a fan of these huge mortgages people are getting I'm a strong believer of start how you continue to go on, so i've started my frugal living challenge.

Apart from for work i haven't left the house today, i've re organised some of my stuff, put some stuff for sale on ebay and various Facebook sites and most of all I'VE SPENT £0 TODAY!!!

Tomorrows plan is to do the same again then head over to my secret charity shop i know off to see if i can pick up some 99p clothes which could make me some extra pennies on facebook or Ebay