2015 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

Hi sistercas, I very very seldom use salt these days, definately not when cooking potatoes in microwave or slow cooker. I find the stock cubes very salty but I do like pepper in meals. No need to put water in bag but as a special treat sometimes I will put knob of butter. Yesterday I put 3 chopped sausages, handful of chopped mixed veg (reduced stewpack split into 4 servings) a couple of cubes and the last 1/4 of white cabbage in one bag and a chopped potato in another, sometimes the potato can soak up too much of the juices for me. I had half yesterday and will see how much is left, may do more potatoes to add for today. Makes 2 cheap dinners for 1 person. Hope you enjoy your meal.

sistercas

Frugaldom wrote: »

Will respond to this after work

Can't wait :T

whmf00001 the casserole was lovely as were the potatoes I shall definitely Do that again . I did notice the roasting bags pushed the lid of the slow cooker up when they puffed up ,but it didn't seem to affect anything , it was cooked to perfection - thank you :T
There is another portion left for another day so I have frozen it .

I need to do a top up shop for fresh stuff today so will nip to the local veg shop , I can get orange juice from there too which DH can't live without apparently . The new charge for plastic bags doesn't affect me as I never used them anyway I always take my heavy duty jute bags , I've had them years and they are still going strong :j

sistercas

frugaldom I managed to read the link before the mods removed it .

I feel humbled after reading that . I dont have that driving force pushing me . I don't think I could ever be so driven ( unless something happened where I had no choice). the single mindedness and determination you have shown to pull yourself out of the deepest despair to get to where you are today shows incredible strength and courage

I do Think frugalism has different tiers and we are all on different Levels . I am on a lower level of frugality and I'm ok with that at the moment as it suits our needs . I will need to re-evaluate our wants and needs as time goes on

Wombatchops

Oh no, I missed the link. How annoying.

I think I have found it on your blog, however. That's a lot of food for thought. I have noticed our mindsets changing (mine and my DH's) since my DS was born in May 2014, and then with DD2 in January of this year. I think we both need to have serious discussions about how we handle our finances. We live in Buckinghamshire, a very affluent part of the UK, so prices are high, particularly childcare. I realistically don't think we can cut down in that area, but we do need to discuss every other area and, like you say in your blog, Frugaldom, if I understood it correctly, it will be something that has to happen by degrees.

As for taxation on luxury items, your motivation to quit smoking sounds like something I would do. I am fortunate that I have never smoked, so I've never had that expense, and nor has my DH, but when I found out that fruit juice has VAT applied to it, I gave it up. Why give the Chancellor any more of my money than necessary?

I shall keep reading your blog, and this challenge, and I will take control of my finances and debts. I'll show them.

Thank you.

crazy_cat_lady

I have spent much of my free time today reading through this thread and getting inspired. I'm due to be debt free in December after almost 6 years. I am wary of returning to my own ways though, and home circumstances may mean that I have a lower income over the next few months, so I am going to lurk on here and prepare myself for a frugal 2016.
Frugaldom - my mother's family are all from Stranraer, I've not been there for years though...

cw18

Wombatchops wrote: »

but when I found out that fruit juice has VAT applied to it, I gave it up. Why give the Chancellor any more of my money than necessary?

The one that gets me is dried fruit. If I buy a 500g bag of raisins it's seen as being for baking, and is VAT free. But if I buy a pack of those small boxes that many parents put in lunch boxes for children they're seen as a luxury item and have VAT applied. Needless to say I haven't bought the small packs for years, even when I take my grand-daughters on holiday.

Wombatchops

cw18 wrote: »

The one that gets me is dried fruit. If I buy a 500g bag of raisins it's seen as being for baking, and is VAT free. But if I buy a pack of those small boxes that many parents put in lunch boxes for children they're seen as a luxury item and have VAT applied. Needless to say I haven't bought the small packs for years, even when I take my grand-daughters on holiday.

Really? I had no idea. I only buy the 500g bags. It's the same thing! That's absurd and totally unjustifiable. That has really annoyed me, now. I'm glad that I don't buy them. But thanks for the tip off, cw18.

Frugaldom

Crazy_cat_lady, I'm about 25 miles from Stranraer so if you ever manage a trip out this direction, I'm sure I can put you and any family/friends accompanying you up for a few nights in caravan.


Adapting to frugality is incremental and in some cases seen as completely mental, depending on how steep a climb or deep a cut you want to make it! LOL


My incentive now is to stick with my tiny (to some) budget and invest everything else into a self-sustainable retirement plan that can become a suitable inheritance for family. Living in hope of seeing projects completed is where I'm at now, as they are all so long-term. LOL


Anyone interested in the VAT free grocery shopping, we did a challenge for this several times but there is absolutely no point in my linking to anything like that as I instantly get reported and can't be bothered with this whole saga any more, so just do a search for HMRC VAT on food and they have lists of absolutely everything. VAT only applies to foodstuffs that the Government considers luxury items, there is no VAT on basic essentials.

alja

hello all I posted in here a few months ago, but as always, life got busy and I went awol...


It's been a busy few months in my first home, working a busy job etc and fitting in lots of things outside of work too. I'm currently in the process of trying to staircase on my property (where I'm buying the final share of my property so I own 100% of it). So once again my head has had to return to a more frugal place. I'm always careful with my money to some extent, but I'm trying even harder these last few weeks. So I thought I'd pop in, get some inspiration from you all and note down what I've been doing to keep on track.


I've been ramping up my use of survey sites, I requested £5 from Sw*gbucks yesterday, recently received a £7 WHSm*th voucher from T*luna and used my T*ckbox points towards some gardening gloves for my mum for Christmas.


With Christmas coming up, I'm trying to be careful. So I've noted down the "money" I have on my loyalty cards and have started to use that instead on my real money


I've also recently looked at the type of homes I'd consider for my next home, and I was quite shocked to see how much extra money I would need to buy one! We're talking an extra £90k I'd need! I'm quite tempted to set that as my next saving goal...not that I'd get there but I'd get some way towards it I guess! Houses are very expensive round here...


Hope you're all well

crazy_cat_lady

Frugaldom wrote: »

Crazy_cat_lady, I'm about 25 miles from Stranraer so if you ever manage a trip out this direction, I'm sure I can put you and any family/friends accompanying you up for a few nights in caravan.

You may be sorry you offered that. I do love going up to Scotland now and again. Not been to the West for ages though...