2016 Frugal Living Challenge

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Yep that is the only thing with amex, once the introductory cash back offer is up, then its 1% on 3k or more..I linked it to eBay, Amazon etc and we use it at our local asda petrol station, which is all self serve pumps...last year I didn't reach the spend needed for cash back, but have this year..

Def going to look into a tsb account ( if they will have me lol) as I do most of my shopping in lidl now, little and often.

If I want to try and do this £20 a week on food for the family thing that they do on fb, I have £1.96 until Friday!!! Don't think I could do it, as I need bread tomorrow. .. Maybe I should try £30 a week.. In reality it should be easy as I got loads in the cupboards and freezers, but once that starts going down, it will get harder and harder

bmma

NSD today = 8
on Saturday 3 freebies from my niece-- 2 bags of bread flour and a jar of lime marmalade x

Moominmama76

Hello all ! Siggi updated not much left for jan but forgot my budget is till the 23rd of jan when my cc gets done deof won't be as low next month gonna be more realistic. I have a job interview on Tuesday with more moola attached so will see how I get on !!! Also know which gluten diry free food is worth paying for so will be sticking to that and not giving so much to the dog lol !! Another 14 pound down thanks goodness for herods 12p for a Twix. Got bread milk other bits. Slow cooker been on and making the most of freezer contents chicken dinner soup today had nachos all tasty stuff !! Also doing the bemorewithless 33 item capsule kitchen challenge you pic 33 food and drink items not inc water or spices and you only use those for the next three months !! Been compiling my list today due to the gf Df I will need to buy two types of milk but hve just put milk once. It should make meal planning a tad easier or shopping list :T:T can't commit to more than 3 NSD this week due to circumstances but heyho will be limiting damage and finally trying to shifts some lbs lol !

Pinot_Grigio_enthusiast

I'm a bit late to the party but I'd love to sign up. I'm DFW , wombler and Oldstyler convert. Love he idea of a frugal challenge. Count me in X

FunBrum

:wave:Hello all you frugalites!

I'm not feeling great today, so have been conserving my energy even though I really wanted to walk as its been a fine day.:(
I've been given two large tubs of strawberry yoghurt and enough granola for two breakfasts. Also roughly 3lbs of tomatoes, which I will turn into pasta sauce. Not sister also gave me half a spitroast chicken that I turned into curry for my friend.
I popped in some potatoes and mushrooms and served it with pitta bread, as that was what was in. He really enjoyed it. :j
I only had a very small portion as I wasn't feeling too good.

Luckily I still haven't been shopping. It's more difficult than I first though as although I don't buy much, I like browsing around for bargains!:rotfl:

sheba

Ayup peeps, hope you are all managing to keep the purses closed!

I have managed to spend very little and am both meal planning and using up stores for dinners, which is great although the cupboards are starting to look very bare �� and I shall need to do a proper shop on the 19th as have meal planned till then but then will be in desperate need of supplies.

My fiscal plan for the year and further is: as the aim of saving 25k is formidable I am going to break it down into saving 100 lots of £250 as that percentage amount seems a lot more achievable.
Hopefully, with the next two months of no H2O or Council Tax and also my self-employed hubsters tax return at the end of the month likely yielding a rebate (as he broke a hip in 2014 and was not allowed to put any weight on it from the break date of 18th September til doc said he could on 18th December leaving us with no incoming money at all for that period ��) I am hoping to be able to save at least 4 of those hundredths.
That would be a great and very encouraging start but I need to remember the savings amount will not always go up as I want to keep our emergency fund at a steady 5K and as work/vehicle/life costs arise any extra money in the budget will be used to replenish the emergency fund first- the hip debacle of 2014 was only bearable as I had an emergency fund in place and obviously our costs went down as hubby could not drive so no fuel was consumed, so we really know the value of such a fund. It really saved us as I couldn't do any work as needed to be there for him as he was really in a pickle and could not walk or move easily at all- i have no clue how a single person would have coped alone?
But I digress, so assuming no more broken bones (or any other life changing scenarios) I would like to get to 10% saved by May as that's when some of the annual costs start to come in (liability insurance, van insurance, mot costs, van tax yadda yadda yadda) and I imagine the saving pot will go on the back burner for a while.
Fingers crossed.

bmma

back from town -opened purse just to let a crack of day light in -spends £1.49p (tea bags and orange juice).
hope you feel better soon FUN BRUM x
runnning total now £1872.13p/£1,920

COOLTRIKERCHICK

bmma wrote: »

back from town -opened purse just to let a crack of day light in -spends £1.49p (tea bags and orange juice).
hope you feel better soon FUN BRUM x
runnning total now £1872.13p/£1,920

Hahahaha, lol sorry but the remark re open purse to let a crack of day light in

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Tsb account opened..couldn't find any cash back etc for opening the account. When all the bits are sent to me, so will try and get the account working for me re- interest and the contactless cash back.

I must admit a few years ago I was on the ball etc with how to work bank accounts to get the Max out of them same with credit cards . but got distracted etc..

So think I will see what I can do with my other bank accounts maybe re bank switching etc..

So thank you for the heads up re tsb cash back. As its now got me back on forcus

FunBrum

bmma wrote: »

back from town -opened purse just to let a crack of day light in -spends £1.49p (tea bags and orange juice).
hope you feel better soon FUN BRUM x
runnning total now £1872.13p/£1,920[/QUOTE

I feel much better bmma, thank you asking.:)

Hahaha....this made me laugh about your purse!:rotfl: