2016 Frugal Living Challenge

determined_new_ms

jess444 wrote: »

Welcome Determined New MS. I am a newbie to this thread too and also have trouble sticking with things! You sound organised, so hopefully can stick with it.

Thanks for the welcome jess444 did make me laugh when you said I sound organised! :rotfl: glad to see that's what I'm projecting if it's a far stretch from the reality!

I am quite organised around finances though. We got out of debt in 2010 - we paid off around £13k from Jan to Oct and since then I've kept account of big spends so can guess at what a lot of these are. Food I've just allowed £180pm x 12. I can and have done it for less, so that's always a card up my sleeve in leaner months but have realised if we don't have tasty food in the house we're very likely to reach for the phone to call in a TA

Let's hope we can stick to it or come under. I did one year do the crazy clothes challenge (2010 didn't really have a choice) and stuck to my budget of £100 but found it too restrictive and the following year needed to get quite a bit. This year I am setting aside £300 and have wrote a list of things I think I would like to get which will compliment my current clothes.

Ha ha maybe I am more organised than I think!

jess444_2

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Thanks for the welcome jess444 did make me laugh when you said I sound organised! :rotfl: glad to see that's what I'm projecting if it's a far stretch from the reality!

Haha! I am so disorganised that most people seem organised to me. Fact is the harder I try to organise myself the worse I am.

We go our of debt around 2010 too, a good job really as I was made redundant and was out of work for a while in 2011. The last year have slipped back into bad habits, hoping this challenge will help. Good luck

daydream_believer_2

Just updated my signature and this is my first post for 2016.

Not a great start.....my 10 per day has turned into 32.18 per day average up to yesterday :eek:

But, we visited friends and went out, and had birthdays over new year and the beginning of January, so spent way more than usual in such a small period of time.

Hopefully now things will settle back to normal, just seeing it in print on my signature annoys me!! :mad:

Frugaldom

Welcome to more newbies to the challenge, I hope you all have fun being frugal!


January is always an expensive month for me, as so many one of payments for annual 'stuff' need paid. BT line rental is up again, no doubt insurance will be up, coal bunker needed filling etc., etc., etc...


Soup and pudding weather is upon us, so I made another clootie dumpling and a big batch of carrot & lentil soup after cooking a smoked ham joint. That should keep us going for a bit. I'm still doing my £1 per person per day grocery challenge and it's still working out alright, although when I tried to cut it down to £5 per person per week I got really confused because I forgot how many people had been to visit or stay and for how long! This year, I've allocated £720 for all groceries, regardless of who comes to stay when - everyone can eat soup and if they don't like it then they can lump it - simple as that.

Shortie

Morning all. I've gone from feeling super organised about money to suddenly feeling a mess. I had forgetten about a few holiday travels to pay for 2 of which need paying in the next couple of months. On top of that I found out on Tuesday that as I am moving roles in work I am losing my on-call retention payment either this month or next which stung. I should have realised it was coming but it's human nature to get used to it and forget it's a role-specific addition. That stung...

I can manage it but it's going to be a mega shuffle around for a few months.

So generally things have been pretty frugal here so far. We have blown the food budget a little but not much. We should be in a better position though for the Jan to Feb paypacket.

Popped to tescos on the way to pick up something from eBay last night (something I spotted on the MSE app as it goes). Omgoodness the bargains!! 2.5kg bags small spuds, jacketing spuds, bags of spinach, bags of mixed veg, croisants, hot cross buns, choc doughnuts, fresh noodles... all for pennies (literally. The most expensive things was 5p). Oh and a Finest pizza for 20p!!

With needing mince, cheese and tinned bits, we spent about £15 and came out with 5 bags full!

And then the seller threw in a freebie item that had been used so that didn't want to sell it but it looks in perfect condition..

Am feeling so chuffed at the moment

Just a few more days to survive to pay day.. and I need to book the flights to go and see my sister this morning to get that one out of the way

Have a good day all xx

[Deleted User]

Frugal plans this weekend:
1. Food plan and cooking from scratch (as usual). Dinner tonight will be HM quiche with HM chunky chips.
2. Use up voucher for afternoon tea in Dobbies on Sat afternoon as a wee treat for me and OH.
3. Get up to date with washing - all washing is now hung to dry.
4. Top up freezer with reduced bits from Mr T. Already got reduced bread earlier this week but will be heading back either tonight or tomorrow night to top up.
5. Make a start on crochet baby blanket - want to build up a wee stock of these so I have them ready for when needed.

On Saturday morning I am back volunteering in my local British Heart Foundation charity shop. I really enjoy doing this but had a break for about a month due to illness. I'm looking forward to getting back into it as the people who come in are lovely.

FunBrum

cw18.....my son didn't pay towards anything so I saved lots!

Hugs crazy_cat_lady:grouphug:

Well I've had two more direct debits leave my bank so just one more on 20th then I will know what's left over/saved. I've been ultra frugal this month and tightened my belt further. :money:
Today is my 15th NSD so that helps if I can keep clear of the shops!:j
I've still got food in and I should get some freebie food tomorrow so I can put together another batch of dishes.:)

I've hardly been home so my utility consumption is low, but it's started to get really cold here, so unless I spend a lot of time out of the house, I will have to use some form of heat. So far I've managed to keep my gas and electric down to £26 pm. Annoying as most of that is standing charge!:mad:

I plan on hiking a bit this weekend, weather permitting, so a tightwad weekend for me, I think!:rotfl:

parsniphead

I did a budget and followed it mostly. I like being more focussed on being frugal. Unfortunately yesterday I found out we have more redundancies looming. I will find out at the end of Feb if I'm jobless. I've never been made redundant before so have been lucky but this time I think I may be out. The joys of working in Specialist FE.

Super extreme frugality is on the cards from now then. I'm going to have to make sure I read this thread EVERY DAY.

I hope you get sorted crazy-cat-lady.

Frugaldom

Good luck parsniphead. I have been extreme frugal living for longer than I remember and anything else is now alien to me. I love the lifestyle.

jess444_2

Have entered my meter readings for gas / electric and due to the mild winter my payments have reduced. This alongside a switch of tariff (same supplier - EDF) means direct debit down £30 a month.