2016 Frugal Living Challenge

bmma

Thanks folks for the help x

sistercas

nellis10 let us know how the soup is

sheba

Can I join please? Fortunately we have no debt except for the mortgage which has only 10 years left on it and is set at 1% above the base rate which is fab, and also we have an emergency fund as husband is self employed so it's only prudent to have one. But we really want to get 25k together as soon as possible- 2.5 k each towards our 2 sons weddings (no sooner than 2017) and 20k so we can extend the house to be a much more social space in readiness for any grandchildren we may be fortunate to get, or for existing extended family get togethers. I appreciate this is a huge amount to try to raise but have to start somewhere. Really only things I can do are: reduce grocery bills -so am going to make the move to Lidls and Aldi's, also not stockpile so much of anything unless it's at a price so ridiculous that I'd be a fool not to stock up, also work more agency shifts if it suits my family and also eBay or otherwise sell any unwanted items. Lastly I'm a keen wombler, and living so close to paper shops near schools I very often find change that the kids seem to throw away on my walks with t'pooch. How many coppers do I need to womble to get to my dream total? 2,500,000 pennies? Two million and five hundred thousand?? Is that correct? Blimey I 'd best be looking a bit harder then!

bmma

Good Morning folks
spends today £4.00p cat food
running total £1913.21p

nellis10

sistercas wrote: »

nellis10 let us know how the soup is

The soup was bloomin delicious!! I can't believe how tasty it was (mind you I did add a big pot of whipping cream to the soup - but the pot was half price as part of the christmas clear out lol)

lcc86

Most direct debits have now gone through. Spent 51p on 3 large bottles of water for my frogs' tank and £2.50 on a fruit smoothie today. A total treat but was during a work meeting. Apart from that the month is going well (although early days!). Plan to use a free gym pass tomorrow, no intention to join though lol.

sugar23

Have a little book I have kept a note of all spends in.
Putting off doing a proper food shop for as long as possible. Trying to use up what's in the house.
Eldest (year 2) is suppose to get school meals (o sent him with pack up just incase) apparently they didn't get the menu back in time which I know they did. Going to start filling it out at school as soon as it is in his bookbag so they can't say they didn't receive it !

I'm now a single mom currently soley reliant on benefit.
All my money for the year is accounted for (between bills and overpaying on debt)
The aim is to be debt free by the middle of next year (end of this year if possible)
I don't include any maintenance the kids dad pays into my income as this can vary but the next few payments will go towards the bunks they need .. (buying new hoping they last until they outgrow them)

I have spent the last few months trying to sort my financial situation out and hope by the end of the month I will know where I am with it all

As well as being a single mummy to two boys I'm studying and I've met someone else (no financial ties though as we are taking things slow)

I feel better knowing I have a plan in place although at times it is daunting ..

Here's to 2016 let's hope it's a good year all round 😀

bobobski

I'm really enjoying reading everyone's frugal methods - it's really keeping me on the straight and narrow.

With my 54p diary from John Lewis the other day I'm tracking certain financial info on the go. I've had 3 NSDs in a row, thanks to you guys putting the idea in my head. I walk past a tasty smelling pastry shop and my brain goes "NSD!!" (and my belly goes "Not MORE!"). So, yay! I'm having a little competition with myself but not setting a target of 21 days etc as I'm not sure what I can manage on my day-to-day money and life (no OH in bobobski-world). With NSDs, I'm not counting regular expenses (e.g. council tax, rent, bills) or money that will be refunded (work paying for my train ticket) - is that right?

I got my first £1+ interest payment yesterday - a full £2.10! Working out where to "store" my monthly spending money turns out to be (a teeny bit) lucrative.

Oh, and I had leftovers for dinner last night. And it was delicious No leftovers today but I did one of my faves: broccoli pasta bake. Very cheap and a great way to trick yourself into eating greens if (like me) you're bad with your 5 a day...

I've been reading the wombling thread tonight - going to walk everywhere with my head down from now on. Gotta say, it took me a while to realise that "roadkill" didn't actually mean roadkill - I'm aware that some people do forage (if that's the right word) for roadkill but thought there was quite a lot of it going on over on the wombling thread!!

FunBrum

Hi y'all,

Still haven't shopped! I did feel tempted today but that's only because I'm used to looking out for bargains.:)
After house-sitting for my sister, I'm staying at my friends until thursday morning, so yet again, my utilities should be low again this month.
I checked my gas and electricity statement and discovered I'm paying more in standing charge per month than I do for the usage!:mad:
Something that I need to rectify!

Everyone seems to be doing so well, so pat yourselves on the back!:T

bargainhunterss

Mooloo wrote: »

I have been looking at the budget, and playing around with figures, and after listening to my motivational tapes the plan is to now stop putting money into the savings as the return is negligeable and instead pay the 10% I usually add to savings to pay off the debts. They have crept up to around £3,300!
So adding 10% to the regular payments I make, I have decided to pay 20%
To the smallest debt, and the DD as normal to the other card, and then once that one has gone transfer the 20% to the other card, plus the usual amount I pay.
So I am hoping to pay £84 a week to my debts.
Hence the food bill is cut to £25 a week while I use up the freezer and stock cupboards.
I plan to walk to work at least twice a week, and save fuel costs, with the current amount of driving I'm making £30 last me two weeks. Two years ago I was spending £60 a week!!
But I need to do something with my sky package. Research required as no tv aerial and virgin media don't do this area.

Apologies if someone as already said this, or if you've sorted out what you are going to do (haven't read through the thread yet!) but the trick we use is to cancel sky (you can still have the freeview channels with the sky box), and then they usually send you a 50-60% off offer after a week or two to try and entice you back! Worth a go...nothing ventured and all that! :money:

Edit: you don't need a freesat box as once you cancel sky you get a lot of free channels on your old sky box (a few missing from normal freeview like Film4 but most of them!)