2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

mumof3.12kindebt wrote: »

£52.20 spent on the food shop. So we have £7.80 for any top ups needed in the week. I need to phone and pay the council tax tonight. Then I need to crack on With my studies. I'm thinking of applying to do an access course or degree next year. Not sure which route to take yet. I have plenty of time to look through my options. I basically have 3 career options I can work towards. Need to think through everything before I take the plunge..

Well done keeping under that £60 :T Nappies are a huge expense so once you deduct those, you'll be much less than £1.70 per person, which means sme great savibgs as soon as your littles are out of nappies.

spudsmum

Just been told husband's firm has been taken over - completely out of the blue. The current owners are being very cagey about the future which makes me think theres a strong possibility of redundancies. Just when we were starting to get back on track !!!9785;!!!65039;

FrankieM

It's a very expensive month here and I'm only 6 days in!

The diet change has cost a bit to get up and running and with no board from my daughter this month and an extra mouth to feed with my son, I'm feeling the pinch.

Also my son is taking the opportunity to do some work in my garden so its money, money, money!

And it's car tax, mot and breakdown renewal time. How does that come around so quick!

I'm sure it'll all pan out but I envy everyone else's wonderful budgeting skills.

I'm on holiday with the family from Sunday for 4 days and I'm going to have to have a good sit down and look at the numbers when I get back.

I still need to buy my plane ticket to see my parents at Christmas and I want to get a new laptop as my netbook just isn't cutting it.

parsniphead

Mumof3, that's an amazing amount in one year. Well done :T

B17c

Hope everyone is ok, no one has posted in a week or so.. I love reading this thread...
I've been ticking by, paying off my minimum amounts on my debt but I really need to get my finger out and start smashing these debts away
It’s all too easy to keep plodding along, making minimum payments, jusssttttt getting by but not really living life because you can’t really afford to but you can get by with the minimal pleasures in life eg chocolate, wine, take outs, the odd night out... I would love to travel the world or hope to own my own house but those dreams are never going to become reality unless I ACTIVELY DO SOMETHING ABOUT MY DEBT!!!
So this week I've:
:T listed some things on fb marketplace and eBay
:T did an online shop for the month instead of the week, this way I'm not having to meet the minimum spend AND pay for delivery every week
:T batch cooked and meal prepped so I've no excuse to impulse buy a McD's because I haven't got anything to take to work!
:mad: gone thru last months bank statement and totted up all my non essential spends and realised I spent £270 on b*gger all! That's £270 that should've gone to debt, or for €€ when I go away in October...:mad:

cw18

B17c wrote: »

:mad: gone thru last months bank statement and totted up all my non essential spends and realised I spent £270 on b*gger all! That's £270 that should've gone to debt, or for €€ when I go away in October...:mad:

You can't change the past, so just take it as lesson learned, "could do better" and "try harder" this next month (Sounds like my old school reports )

FrankieM

B17c I feel your pain. Though this month it's been the 'extra' money covering children. We had an all inclusive holiday that they paid their own way for but I still ended up covering transfers and food at the airport. Taking my son to pick some of his stuff from uni accomodation and buying lunch. And my daughter was poorly so I paid for prescriptions etc.
And n one of that covers the fuel I've used!

I sound like a grumpy old woman when I list it but when your budget is tight and you have debt to pay off, it hits you hard.

On the plus side I've barely bought snacks or takeaways...I've not had the money!

Frugaldom

Good morning to all.

Regarding going through bank statements, the mere fact that you have done this (and do this) shows you are dedicated to the frugality 'game' and really do want to clean up any mess that may have been made. Each day is a new start on the debt clearance path and that will ultimately lead to the moneysavings path. Make it fun buy jazzing it up a little bit, even if you need to do it in a literal sense - gold star by the overpayments on any debt statements, red mark by the non-essential spends. Then a penny into the pot to save for the next overpayment.

I plan on doing a mid-year accounts 'survey' at the end of the month so I can assess the situation and plan ahead for the second half of the year.

Tanya12345

Hope Y'all don't mind me sneaking back in....... Have been reading thread and everyone seems to be doing brilliantly and winning the battle.
Would love to do the 1/2 year survey and really knuckle down to rest of year. Focussing on grocery spend at the moment but seem to struggle with what I call "pocket money" ie everything not covered by other pots. I started a sealed pot challenge so am putting bits n Bob's in there but still need to either rein in other spends or set a more realistic budget...... Ho hum, back to the drawing board !!

B17c

FrankieM I'd be exactly the same, it's the extra bits that add up! Frustrating having to spend money when you're trying to save/cut back/pay off debt. I'm hoping to pick up an extra shift or 2 this week at work, I'm not feeling too good so it'll be a struggle but the debts aren't going to clear themselves!
Thanks CW18 and Frugaldom, I'm trying to stay positive but it's niggling away at the back of my mind, I'm just chomping at the bit to clear as much as I can and I feel like I'm not making any headway!