2016 Frugal Living Challenge

chocolatepiggybank

Hello everyone! I'm a bit late, but can I join? My aim is to live on £500/month after rent. Currently at 211.97/500. Bit scary considering I have 165 of moving costs for the end of the month, but I'm not getting myself further into debt to cover it, I'll make do.

Here's to a frugal 2016!

[Deleted User]

sheba wrote: »

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


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.

Ooh nice. I had forgotten about the no council tax payments. Thanks for the reminder. Best of luck with your savings goal.

cw18

I don't have the 2 months without Council Tax any more. Discovered at the end of 2014 that my council now allow payment over 12 months, so I opted to switch to that from April 2015 - makes budgetting for it much easier.

Savvy_sewing

I have not been so frugal today. The grocery budget went out the window last week, and I spent £12 today buying whoopsie sticker things and had to get pack up things for school. Although I did use £3.50 Tesco voucher that was lurking.
My new Tesco card has arrived and I got my points from the last two weeks added.
The PIN number has arrived for my new bank account so the switch is imminent.
The credit card hasn't arrived but the old card is now showing a -£39 transaction.
So I expect a card any day now.

I'm off to Portugal on Thursday for a long weekend, so have "bought" my granddaughter's Euro change off of her, and my Mums. That gives me €70 ish with all the change to start the weekend with, if you add it to my change from my last trip to Europe.
It's going to take a while to get this frugal lark down to a fine art I think.

FunBrum

I've frugally spent the day at my friends house, so NSD and have cooked and eaten there. It helps him out as he's single and would normally just snack, this way he gets 2-3 home cooked meals a week. Plus he supplies the food and I cook and eat with him.:)
I've registered my Nectar card at Sainsburys to get extra points on items that buy from there.
I don't plan on shopping until next week and then only the items either on offer or that I have coupons for. I've got to figure out a strategy for my shopping, so that I get the best value for money.......should be interesting!:D

bargainhunterss

Wombatchops wrote: »

I can't remember who asked about contactless supermarkets, but of the ones I have tried, T3sco and Sainsbury's don't, but A!di, L1dl, and B00ts (not a supermarket, but good for toiletries, cosmetics, and baby/toddler stuff) do.

I've had three NSDs this week so far, and reckon today will be number 4.

At the moment, we are looking to switch from Santander 123, because the fee hike will no longer make it worthwhile, since we are remortgaging away from them. We're debating between M&S and 1st Direct.

Talking of supermarkets going contactless, the Morris near us has recently had a refurb and theyve installed contactless card readers :T OH says he read they might be rolling it out

lynnejk

jess444 wrote: »

I am tied into my TV / PHone / BB package for another 6 months, but was wondering what the cheapest package anyone has for just phone and broadband. I am honestly not bothered about the TV, but my OH insists that the TV is basically free?

No - the TV isn't 'basically free'


We have TT - paid yearly it works out at £15.93 a month for line rental and then £3.75 for ASDL broadband. Plus I have found them a super company as regards help with techie stuff. Free calls and loads of help

Mooloo wrote: »

My Mum is buying me a vacuum sealer ........The sealer, is so I can do the meat from Muscle food, and also seal veg etc etc. My brother has both of these items and says his food in the fridge even will last around 5 more days.

I just put the stuff in freezer bags, suck out the air and twist. Seal with a tie and voila

poohspals wrote: »

..... Hoping to make it a regular thing now but will look at cheaper ways to feed 20 people in future :-)

Big pot of chilli - stacked out with beans and veggie ?? Do it with some bread/garlic bread/rice/half jackets


Lx

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Spent £1.50 on 2 loaves of bread yesterday..

All the talk of cash back cards.. I am now looking at using my te$co cc instead of the amex one.. As at least I don't have to hit a min spend before I get vouchers etc.. So will request my pin number and a new card ( its been dormant for a while) has anyone got one?? Have you worked out what type of % cash back it works out at if you spend the points back in store??

So I will be using tsb for contactless spends at lidl

Tesco cc for fuel, and online sales.. Etc.

I think this year we might see serious money problems etc so n this country .. I think the government has made a pigs ear of trying to sort it out.. We owe more money now after all the cut backs over the last few years, then when they first came to power!!

On the news last night they were saying you can tell by the scrap metal market how the economy is doing.. And its rock bottom.. This shows there is no growth anywhere.. So this might be a sign of another crash??

Wombatchops

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Spent £1.50 on 2 loaves of bread yesterday..

All the talk of cash back cards.. I am now looking at using my te$co cc instead of the amex one.. As at least I don't have to hit a min spend before I get vouchers etc.. So will request my pin number and a new card ( its been dormant for a while) has anyone got one?? Have you worked out what type of % cash back it works out at if you spend the points back in store??

So I will be using tsb for contactless spends at lidl

Tesco cc for fuel, and online sales.. Etc.

I think this year we might see serious money problems etc so n this country .. I think the government has made a pigs ear of trying to sort it out.. We owe more money now after all the cut backs over the last few years, then when they first came to power!!

On the news last night they were saying you can tell by the scrap metal market how the economy is doing.. And its rock bottom.. This shows there is no growth anywhere.. So this might be a sign of another crash??

Hi CTC, the Clubcard credit card recently changed their cash back rate due to the new EU legislation, so you have to spend a full £8 per transaction to get 1CC point (it used to bec£4), it's not paid out on an accumulation of £8. In case I've confused you, if you are making two purchases, one for £7.99 and one for £8.01, although that averages to £8 per purchase, you will only earn your 1 CC point on the £8.01 purchase, and nothing for the £7.99 transaction. Does that make sense? However, if you use your card in Mr T, you still get 1 point for each £ you spend, same as you do with your regular Clubcard, but you'll only get credit card points for each full £8 you spend. So, if your shopping comes to £10, you earn 11 points (10 points for your regular shop, plus one credit card point for having spent £8). I hope that's helped?

As for the economy and the Government's handling of it, I agree that they have made a proper mess of it. I never agreed with the cuts, but I also never agreed with the Tories. I dread to think what will happen when Cameron steps down, as his current likely successor is either the Chancellor, or Boris Johnson aka Bozo :eek:

Wombatchops

bargainhunterss wrote: »

Talking of supermarkets going contactless, the Morris near us has recently had a refurb and theyve installed contactless card readers :T OH says he read they might be rolling it out

Ooh, I don't have one of those near us, but I do occasionally shop there if I'm near it, so maybe my closest ones, which are fairly new, have the contactless facility.