2016 Frugal Living Challenge

jess444_2

Those are expensive tyres Sheba, but as you say it has to be done. Do you camp in the van or take a tent along too? We used to camp a lot when the kids were younger, but not so much now. We might have to dig the tent out of the loft and put it to use again now that I am planning to retire.

Planning my meals for the rest of the week around some YS shopping from Asda last night and a bag of gammon bits from B@M. I love those gammon bits, so far this week I have made a huge pan of soup with them and had a BLT for lunch one day. Enough left for spaghetti carbonara for tea tonight and Bacon and pesto pasta tomorrow. Last week OH made a risotto with them which was lovely.

Two months free of paying Council Tax, so will be using the money to pay for a weekend away we have planned in the Spring :j

sheba

jess444 wrote: »

Those are expensive tyres Sheba, but as you say it has to be done. Do you camp in the van or take a tent along too? We used to camp a lot when the kids were younger, but not so much now. We might have to dig the tent out of the loft and put it to use again now that I am planning to retire. :j

They are expensive jess444 compared to a car but they are a funny size and apparently need to be 'load rated' ? which bumps up the price. We sleep in the van as in the back it has a fixed platform for hubby to put tools on and below, for plumbing, and then when we camp all the tools come out, foam mattress goes in and our rear seats fold forward to extend the bed to full length. We do have a drive away awning to add extra living space while we camp and a pop top roof which saves our backs as well. Also a telly for our love of sporting events. Oooo I'm really feeling cabin feverish with all the talk of camping- can't blooming wait to get away!

Enjoy your break Jess, we are off to Chester for the weekend after next as a valentine treat, in van but on hard standing, as city breaks are favourable to muddy fields at mo. Lots of walking and Tesco exchanged vouchers meals out! Lovely Jubbley to quote the epic Del Boy xxxx

mumtoomany

Hi all. I have updated my signature to take me up to the end of January. Amounts are not looking too bad. Food and groceries I'm quite pleased with, only £270.66. This is for 5 adults and a child. So only a little over £49 per head ( if you count DGS as a half person). Everything else is not looking so good! Having to replace a part on the Stanley ( or have NO heating) and replace the fridge have not helped at all, even though we have only paid half of each of these costs. Let's hope this month is better. M2m.

bmma

monday spent £2.78
tues NSD
wed spent £4.00p
home made soup for tea tonight and home made scones as a treat x

jess444_2

sheba wrote: »

They are expensive jess444 compared to a car but they are a funny size and apparently need to be 'load rated' ? which bumps up the price. We sleep in the van as in the back it has a fixed platform for hubby to put tools on and below, for plumbing, and then when we camp all the tools come out, foam mattress goes in and our rear seats fold forward to extend the bed to full length. We do have a drive away awning to add extra living space while we camp and a pop top roof which saves our backs as well. Also a telly for our love of sporting events. Oooo I'm really feeling cabin feverish with all the talk of camping- can't blooming wait to get away!

That sounds like a good set up for camping, would never have thought of a drive away awning.

A nice surprise today. Car insurance have paid £60 into the bank as it has taken more than a week to repair the car.

Shortie

Morning all!

Pay day for me next week, and whilst it's all allocated I think I've managed to balance the month now, follow a disasterous Jan-Feb and another large unplanned bill hitting us in Feb-March. I am left with almost nothing spare though so not only will I have to be careful with money, I will also have to be very watchful of when things come out to make sure it doesn't all go wrong.

The weekend is nearly here, yaaaay :beer::j and I'm hoping we can get some of the decorating finished (that's the problem with decorating nearly the WHOLE house after building work - there are tonnes of 'bits' to finish off.

We may need shopping before next pay day. We have £30 left in the kitty for it, and we have in quite a lot of joints of meat (YS bargains), potatoes, UHT milk and bread in the freezer. We may need fruit/veg and cheese but I'll have a stock take tonight when I'm back from work or tomorrow morning. If we can save any of the money, we'll add it to next month's shopping kitty and I'll reduce my planned outgoings accordingly

We also have cakey bits etc in the freezer for when DH takes the boys out during half term, we just need to be organised and remember to take things out to defrost!

FunBrum

Everyone seems to be plodding along very frugally!:D

Golly....I can't believe we are half-way through this month already! Although I haven't been spending, and have one less direct debit this month....council tax....I've been 'crunching numbers' and I seem to have less money! I knew things are tight this month but I'm not sure why! I've only had 1 spend day, but I still feel broke!
Is it just me? Is it the weather? Who knows! What I do know is my mood and feeling alter the way I view things. I try to stay positive most of the time but occasionally, influences around me dictate a situation. I used to get stressed with it but now I tend to walk it off, which I did on Wednesday...7 miles!:)
I've been neglecting my physical well being, so I'm down the gym Monday morning. I have a 'Be Active' pass so it's free. The catch is its at 7.30am! I'm an early bird so not a problem, it's just that I gave to walk to the gym which is 2 miles away. Still, it's all exercise isn't it?:j

I still have plenty of food in and will only be buying a bottle of wine £3.99, to take to my friends house this evening.:cool:

I've caught up on the sewing/repair projects that I've had so I think I will use my stash of fabrics to cut up and make a quilt. I'm knitting squares to turn into a blanket, but I've ran out of wool, and as I rely on donated yarn, I can't continue until I can 'womble' some!:)

Well I'm off now. I'm taking care of my little GD 2. She's watching the tv but I will get her to play hide and seek with me. I love it when she can't find me! :rotfl:

mumtoomany

Hi all. Shortie cheese is £3.99 per kilo block at farm foods at the moment. Don't know if that helps you. The extra mature is very nice. M2m.

Shortie

Thanks mumtoomany xx Will have a look to see if we have one near us, otherwise Lidl seems cheaper that Mr T (our other local supermarket)

cw18

I get mature / extra mature cheddar from Aldi. It's £1.59 for 350g, which works out at £4.54/kg. They also do an 830g block of mature for £3.56 (£4.29/kg), but I'd have to freeze at least half and don't currently have freezer space.

F/Foods is a good price, but again I'd have problems finding space to store it so it doesn't go off Even at Costco (who I considered cheap for block cheese if I had the storage space) the mature is £3.79/kg - and you have to buy blocks of around 5.5kg to get it at that price !!!