2018 Frugal Living Challenge

indigowarrior

No I got my wires crossed! It's okay. Can't believe there is six months left.

Working_Mum

Mooloo wrote: »

I have not been following along, life once again put me in a tailspin and I am worse now than ever.
The debts are higher not lower as once again I have bailed out offspring and hit depression, comfort spending, eating out a lot, shopping daily or regularly at the Express shop.
Been working later and not following any of my plans. I had a brilliant life journal for both business and life, but it got put away several months ago and I didn't have the dissapline to follow through.
I need to start again.
Go back to basic with my budget, my menus and my work life balance.
I am determined that I will get it right one of these days as I was doing so well a few years back, and I should have been able to continue the journey but I am too soft with my adult children and I spend when depressed.

I am so sorry you are having a tough time Mooloo - like glendasugar says you have done this before you just have to regroup and go back to what you know you can do.... I read recently "rest.....don't quit" so see the last few weeks as taking a rest and then you can re-frame and g for it

((hugs))

WM x

mumof3.12kindebt

So tomorrow is July.... 6 months until the end of the year. !

Tomorrow I will be starting a no spend month.

Mine and my partners birthday is in July. We would normally eat out and go to the cinema but I'm going to do a fakeaway and movie night for us instead.
I'm also chanllanging myself to 30 days no make up. And the 30 day water challenge. Also going to focus on making an effort to do yoga more. And concentrate on my studies. With the lovely weather I also will be making no spend plans to get us out the house most days and every weekend I'm not working. Kids break up in 3 weeks so going to fill the calander with lots of free activities for us to do with a few low spend ones. We will take food drinks and snacks with us wherever we go to keep to the no spend.

Also Hope to do a carboot in July . And I've also just found out about a kids clothing exchange that I'm going to go to if I'm not working

Kerry_Woman

Have gone over the past 6 months spending. I see where I need to cut down on. I am still getting used to living by myself. I think some of the spending is linked to my grief/depression/anxiety. Have been managing to do NSD's each month. I will still down properly tomorrow to look as to what I want to achieve for rest of the year. One goal I know already is to decorate the flat by the end of the year. Have done some positive things in the last 6 months.

FrankieM

My first 6 months has been a real eye opener.

I stopped keeping record of my spending. It got messy and confusing and started adding to the stress.

I've over paid over £3000 off my car loan, but I'm not where I would have liked to be there, and I have no savings 'buffer' at all.

I've watched myself over spend on snacks and takeaways. Underspend on grocerirs and then binge spend.
I've had some children's expenses to cover when they've been short and I've got sucked into spending amounts on presents that I think I should spend rather than what fits my budget.

And I've been lonely and grumpy and cross and disappointed cause this isn't how my life was supposed to be.

It has also been a period of time that I have proven that I can do this on my own. I've had a promotion and pay rise. I've seen my DD3 get a job and become stable in herself and her confidence rise. And I've learnt that often it's my expectations of a situation that can cause me so much disappointment and so to adjust accordingly.
And last, but not least, that it's important to look after myself and to do whatever I need to do to make that happen.

Who knew so much learning about myself would come out of frugal living.

Frugaldom

mumof3.12kindebt wrote: »

So tomorrow is July.... 6 months until the end of the year. !

Tomorrow I will be starting a no spend month. ... 30 days

Don't forget JUly has 31 days, just incase you have budgeted for daily amounts.

Kerrywoman, things will get easier in time. Making tiny changes on a daily basis should help, even if it is just reorganising a shelf , changing a pair of curtains or moving around cushions to change te co-ordinated colour scheme of a room slightly. Once you have things in a way that reflect the NEW YOU, then you'll can relax, unwind and make your very own plans without having to consider the 'what if' someone else doesn't like/want/approve. Good luck with your quest.

I have been looking at bank accounts, spending and savings for the last 6 months and am entering the second half of the year in optimistic mode. The spending has been less than previously anticipated to reflect the reduction in paid hours worked while I concentrate on increasing longterm, passive income for retirement. I need to tighten up a bit on the rubbish shopping (doughnuts, chocolate, crisps etc) and will, instead, set aside any exra savings to invest more in fruit, nut and berry growing (my money trees).

FrankieM

I've spent this weekend feeling poorly and washing.

Did my DS's washing yesterday and all dried on the washing line and mine is out today. My clothes dryer fell over in the wind yesterday and the hinges bent so it's now broken. My first thought was to buy a new one but I asked about and DD1 has one I can borrow 'for as long as I need' so a saving there.

I've seen my utilities bills go down over the last couple of months so I'm hoping they'll reduce my monthly DD too.

And shopping..DS and I took a trip to Aldi and I think we went a bit mad with the veggie buying. I'm a little concerned some will go off before use, so I'm going to have to cook smart this week. It'll be spinach frittatas for lunch til the bag is used up!
I think going forward I'll just get 4 or 5 different types of veg and some salad. I think that'll be more manageable.

I'm going for a no takeaway or snacks month (or alcohol) Probably known as a 'no spend month'. I've got a very expensive plane ticket to pay off, so I've been over to the 'old style' board and refreshed myself.

I'm also entering this second half in optimistic mode Frugaldom

DawnW

FrankieM you can freeze your spinach if you don't want to eat it all at once Just wash it, dry it a bit by blotting with a clean tea towel, chop it up, put in a bag and freeze it. You can add it to whatever you are cooking direct from the bag, no need to thaw. I am about to cut some from the garden, and intend to do exactly that!

FrankieM

DawnW Thank you for that information...I thought it'd like freezing lettuce, though I do buy frozen spinach so goodness knows where I got that thought from!

Savvy_sewing

GlendaSugarbean wrote: »

Mooloo you have done this before and you can do it again. Deep breath, take the first step and be kind to yourself. You are important and you are worth the effort.

If you were to choose one habit to change first, what would it be?

Shopping daily on the way home from work because on my day off I am always running around after the family and often run out of time to drive the 24 miles trip to Aldi. End up in Tesco Express or the CoOp.