2016 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Good morning to all you fruguys and gals - it's been a while since I was able to catch up or even post on here, simply because I have absolutely no spare time, have had restricted Internet access and am now hosting work exchange students at the Frugaldom project. It means costs have risen for heating, hot water and food, but it also means we are progressing quicker towards making the frugal retreat a reality and getting it open sooner, rather than later.

Money spending - not even started for Christmas and now have DD expecting grandchild #4 in a few weeks' time and DS planning his wedding for 2018. My own longterm plans are geared towards 2020, which sounded absolutely ages away, but it's now looming clearly on the horizon!

I am continuing with my £1 per person per day grocery budget, adapting that to the number of students staying and deducting the amount from the 'misc' column of the spreadsheet. So far, so good - I am still within reach of my 2016 target but am now looking at how to afford a car into next year's budget but I am still working with my £4,000 per year for household and general living expenses.

Hope everyone is well and I also hope to catch up properly before this month is out - almost another challenge gone!

nannygladys

Still trying to frugal along but I don't think I'm doing too well at the moment, I need to kerb craft spending which sometimes gets out of hand. I will try to make a budget for next year including a category for it, which I must start on soon.
Nannyg

lynnejk

Evening all

Sorry not been posting much. RL seems to get in the way so often

Sounds like life is quite exciting for you atm frugaldom and busy somewhat. All sounds quite exciting though and pleased to hear you progressing so well towards your aims.

Have done the accounts for November and still seem to be on course so far, apart from having to buy the new-to-us car. I'm not going to beat myself up about that however, and hoping other savings can pay for that over three years, as it was needs must with DH's work situation.

Hope you have all been enjoying the warmer weather and are gearing up for the festive season
Lx

ChrissieS_2

A latecomer to this thread as I haven't been on this forum for ages.

In August I decided I wanted to sell my one-bedroomed flat and move to a bigger place in a more happening part of the city. However, I had an £8K debt and I couldn't port my mortgage for the one I needed. That spurred me on to get rid of the debt and now I've got £2,800 left to pay off. I earn less than the national average so as well as doing a full-time job, I worked weekends and evenings. I've also lived off £10 a week for food and blogged about it: [Removed by Forum Team]

Recently I raised the food budget to £15 as I can't access so much free food in winter. I cancelled everything I could inc gym membership, leaving just household bills. I bought nothing even when my shoes had holes in them.

It's amazing how much free stuff you can access when you need it, but I expect you all know about that on here.

I did endure proper hardship with the food challenge and also got very exhausted from working so hard. However, the priority on pay day was to put all my money into the debt (zero balance card), leaving £60 for food (£40 + £20 contingency) and enough to cover household bills. I had an unexpected bill one day, which forced me to live on £5.30 per week for most of November. Tough times!

I'm going to read back now to find tips.

Frugaldom

NannyGladys, the fact that you have posted in here shows you are still dedicated to the good cause of frugaling, so that is a success, in my book!

LynneJK, yes, things have been really hectic here for what seems like the past couple of years and 2017 is looking equally busy, with my next grandchild expected in February! It doesn't seem any time since I was posting on here about organising the frugal side of DD's 21st birthday / engagement party and preparing for her wedding, but that was over 8 years ago!! How time flies!

Welcome to the Frugaldom challenge, Chrissie, we have been here for a long time, stretching our budgets and saving our spare pennies, so congratulations to you for your successes. If it helps any, I am still following my £1 per person per day grocery challenge and still managing well on that, thanks to the ever fluctuating food prices and constant price wars. Not much by way of freebies in the countryside but there's always something available from somewhere when things get tight. Friends should be our most prized possession.

I'm not sure how many of you are still here but as long as I'm doing my frugal living challenge then I'll keep running with this MSE version. Frugal living is my life, it's not just a temporary lifestyle. We are still maintaining debt freedom but have made a few largish investments along the way so, for the past 3 months, I have been providing free accommodation and meals for frugal visitors who have been staying with me to help prepare new fruit & veg growing (non-commercial) enterprise at what I call 'the trading post'. It's hard work but it's fun. We're just fencing it off now with all the free pallets we've managed to have donated.

Keep up the good work everyone! I'll be back soon to round you all up into the starting stalls for release into the 2017 frugal derby!

cw18

Still reading, but not doing very well at running budgets (other than keeping bank accounts in the black)

Want to get back to it properly in 2017, as I don't think my car is going to keep going much longer and there's no way I can afford a half-way decent replacement (and probably wouldn't be able to raise finance at a reasonable interest rate either!)

parsniphead

Morning all

I started this challenge in january then began a year of hell. I will do a little jig to see the back of 2016. This thread has kept me motivated, well when I bad time to read, so thank you all. Frugaldom, you face book posts have also been inspirational. You are doing some fab work.

My debt has to go asap in 2017. I need security and I don't at the moment. If there is a repeat of this year I may go under and that can't happen. To quote Dave Rams3y, I need to get gazelle intense. If the challenge starts in 2017 I will be with you all.

Have a good and frugal Christmas and a tightfisted new year. :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

I have not had problems really in 2016 and do not anticipate any in 2017 (well some arthritis problems but thats old age). but I like to keep in touch and I hope all the folks who are/have had problems have a better 2017. Merry Christmas.

Frugaldom

Thank you, Parsniphead, I haven't really had the chance to update on anything more than the project on my FB page but will try harder in 2017 to incorporate more about surviving my frugal budget. I'm definitely going to need a car, as getting about anywhere in a hurry is impossible here, so that's the big spend of 2017, along with starting to construct some sort of cabin for practicing a truly off-grid existence. Hopefully it all comes together within our tight budget!

Biggest expenses in household running costs still remain heating and council tax, accounting for about 50% of my entire household's annual running costs. Food prices fluctuate but we've been able to maintain the planned £1 per person per day even during the months we have students or frugal travellers staying to help work at the project. First of them booked in for 2017 already, so here's hoping our frugal meet-up in May can go ahead as planned.

Kerry_Woman

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2017.