2016 Frugal Living Challenge

milasavesmoney

his_missus wrote: »

I do find it much harder to be frugal now I'm a saver rather trying to become debt free

I think for me it's the mentality of 'Oh I have it so I can spend it.':o This attitude usually leads me into a bit of debt. Then I'll straighten up and pay it off. It's never much, but it's ridiculous. I now have decided to save and the challenges really help me. I'm doing the 3-6 month EF and XMas 2016 currently. It seems I need a goal to focus on.

Frugaldom

happytails wrote: »

Can i join in? ...

Welcome on board the Frugaldom wagon, happytails. Your username makes me think of bunny rabbits! I hope you can focus on clearing off that £15k debt, you're very brave factoring in a holiday at the same time.


So far, so good on the Frugaldom front - things are progressing well here and we are still on schedule for FrugalFest2017 :beer:

HOWMUCH

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Quick question, how do you store your dried tomatoes in oil and garlic? And how so you make spicy mash parsnips? I am planting tomatoes and also, for the first time, parsnips.

Thanks!

Sorry I've only just read your post, I freeze the tomatoes or add to jar then you have to fill the jar with toms and then top up with oil. Spicy mash parsnips either chilli powder or flakes. x

HOWMUCH

Sorry I've not been on the thread for almost a month, I've been busy and we've had illness in the family. The frugal way and batch cooking paid off as we had plenty of food in the freezer for when shopping days were not possible. I've don't well with YS items too so this month's spend is only £89.65 and no petrol spend. The tomatoe chutney is almost ready to taste, I've started the last of my HM damson jam and the last of the previous chutney. Bye for now x

jess444_2

Hi all, Sorry I have been AWOL from the thread for a while, have not been too well.
My frugal ways are going well, have managed to stay within budget and have saved £2,000 since January - hooray! Have even been away for a weeks holidays and managed to stay on track. Water bill has been reduced by £4 a month because I am being more careful with it and I have tons of veg seedlings in the greenhouse ready to plant out when the weather gets a bit warmer.
Main problem is I have been diagnosed with diabetes, so I am being a lot more careful with my diet. No more YS bread or cheap porridge for breakfast, as both of these seem to spike my blood glucose. Food budget is up by about £10 a week!!
Will catch up on the thread over the next day or too. Hope everyone is doing OK?

happytails

Frugaldom wrote: »

Welcome on board the Frugaldom wagon, happytails. Your username makes me think of bunny rabbits! I hope you can focus on clearing off that £15k debt, you're very brave factoring in a holiday at the same time.


So far, so good on the Frugaldom front - things are progressing well here and we are still on schedule for FrugalFest2017 :beer:

Thanks Frugaldom, My username used to be my old business name 10 years ago - i did dog walking!

Weds & thurs we have followed our meal plan and saved ourselves some money! Yesterday was a low spend day. £2.40 spent at a soft play - we had free entry & i bought a tea (usually i buy a coffee at 50p more) and 3 lollipops for the kids!

Today is beef ragu using stuff we have in. Hope the kids like it!

ancientmum

Hi all,
It has been quiet on here lately hasn't it? I must admit I have found it hard to keep on track, after being enthusiastic straight after Christmas. I am in the grocery challenge and had to give up in April, although I am back in for May. MSEing takes concentration and energy but I find it is worth doing, or at least trying for the sense of achievement, paying off debt or having a savings pot.
I have a few days off ths week so am planning to start off some veggies in containers. Good luck to all, and hoping that we will see some spring weather this week.:):)

miss_try_to_save

hi all must admit ive not been on for ages and definately not been saving money so as i want to take my family on holiday next year ive decided now is the time to get back on track plus as my oh is soon going to be changing jobs and its less money but also a lot less stress for him things need to change now rather than later so i intend to save as much as possible this year my target being £5000 wish me luck

happytails

Morning!

A better week for me than a lot of the previous ones.

Saturday night was expensive as we went to laserquest and had a takeaway so that was £42 with £7 of that on parking!!!

Sunday saw us at the hospital so £2.50 parking fee and hubby bought us costa, that was £6.60 plus we bought my brothers birthday present, £9.99 & £15 petrol!

Monday was £16 on food at sainsburys.

Tuesday was £8 on subway, £44.01 tesco delivery.

Just keeping track of this and its scary! We would often get takeouts and coffee etc an just nip to the shop for XYZ and buy ABC whilst we were there so it would cost double etc.

Meal planning is going well though, we had HM burgers and chips last night. Today is cottage pie!

x

Shortie

Morning all

I'm still checking the boards frequently but need to get back into the habit of checking daily.

We had a weekend away over the Bank Holiday which was nice, and we didn't blow the budget which felt good. A few cheeky food purchases have started sneaking in though (lunches at work being the main one) which I need to get back in control of

I'm half way to having my £1,000 emergency fund in place. I'm hoping to have that filled in the next few months. I could have it done sooner but need to sort car hire for our summer holiday and I need to have ANOTHER repair done on my car <sigh>

This month has also seen quite a lot of Cubs money go out. DS2 started recently and is going on all 3 camps this year - but as he joined after a lot of the payment plans started for them, I'm playing catch up and had all the money for all 3 camps disappear suddenly from my account this month o_O - which served as a good reminder why I left a buffer in my bank account and didn't run it really lean just to get my Emergency Fund filled super fast.