2018 Frugal Living Challenge

FrankieM

I find that can be the downside of taking your lunch to work mooloo You either don't feel like it or sometimes what I've made isn't as nice as I was expecting.

Glad everything is well with your daughter moll Is she going to find out the sex?

Yesterday was another NSD and I took my lunch in again. DS coked tea last night. It was okay, but I'm going to put a weekly meal plan together so I know exactly what I'm buying and cooking and choose meals that I really want to eat.

While it's lovely having DS at home and he's really no trouble, I'm not used to sharing my space every day or taking someone else into consideration,. It's taking a bit of getting used to. lol

I've picked up an extra shift today. i wasn't going to do anymore weekend work but my credit card is groaning at me and I need to what needs to be done. Work will feed me too, so one less thing to think about.

Some washing done last night and on the rack drying. I also tried to ring the energy company but couldn't get through and couldn't leave a call back so that's something I'll need to still do.

Frugaldom

Still frugalling away here but its made quite easy by there being so few shops etc within the 10 miles to the nearest town. Heatwave continues, water (or lack of) now becoming a bit of a problem with so many trees planted here but I'm looking at it from a survival of the fittest perspective.

Moll - good luck with your PPI enquiry. I've never tried it as I don't think I have ever had PPI but I do know a couple of people who have had thousands returned through successful claims.

Hope all the gala days and fetes etc went well!

spudsmum

Moll - we werent going to bother doing PPI claims as we didnt think we'd ever had any but the both mine and my husbands banks wrote to us and asked us if we'd like to claim. He got £7k and I got 8.5k (sadly pre-lightbulb moment and we spent the lot I could kick myself now)

Recently I claimed on a really old card that I'd closed down 10 years ago. It only had a £500 limit and i didnt have it for long so i didnt think i'd get anything but I got £1387!! So Definitely worth a try.

As for me, still plodding on here - I've built up a huge stockpile of non perishable food from when I had some shopping vouchers, and that, along with the fact some of my homegrown veggies are ready (yay!:j) means that I havent needed much shopping for the past two weeks - this weeks full shop cost me £22.42 and last weeks was £30.35

Food shopping is definitely my downfall and where i spend most so I'm hopeful i can save big for at least a couple of weeks by doing this - last week I ended up coming in £122.53 under budget so definitely a good start and hoping for similar this week.

I'm being really careful about meal planning and I still have 3 freezers stuffed full (husband brought home a load of freebies from work this week) and a huge box of tins etc in the garage so plenty to keep us going a while.

Still continuing on with debt payments - I've paid £90 extra already this month but going to cut back on that for a few weeks as my car is due its MOT and service so I want to save a bit more to cover if. I'm determined I'm not going to put repair costs on the credit card like in previous years so I need quite a substantial pot of money on standby as its just an old banger (I had £500 ready but the brakes failed unexpectedly on my husbands car a few weeks ago so £415 went on that and I'm nearly back to square one)

Frugaldom

I'm in awe of all the PPI claims amounts - I don't think I have ever had any in my own name, would possibly have had it under married name for mortgages and home improvement loans, though... makes me wonder! Shame it doesnt go back that far but I haven't had anyhing for past 15+ year since divorce.

FrankieM

Afternoon
It's pretty warm here, though it means all the washing is dried an put away.

Did the shopping today and put fuel in the car so quite a bit spend day. I also treated myself to ben & jerrys and crisps...and some beer for Wednesday's football..

That's got to be the last of the splurges for a while though...food and money wise.

I'm using up last weeks veg and cooking pork chops for tea. It's all a bit too hot really, but it can always be frozen once it's cooked.

I never took out ppi, sadly. I always thought it was a rip off. Could do with a lump sum now though.

Savvy_sewing

Yes all my stuff was pre bankruptcy. Ironically if it had worked the ppi should have saved me from going bankrupt. Not one of my services told me I should be making a claim, on it, (in the proper way not as a sold incorrectly). If my payments on my cards and loans had been covered I would not have gone bankrupt. My life would have been completely different.

Nonnadiluca

I was away for the end of June, but would like to enter my half year figures to see where I am and keep me motivated.
Here goes:
Spent so far. Annual budget
Shopping budget. £1,756.74. /. £3,600. Slightly under - good!
'other spends' budget. £3,079.98. /. £4,800. Way over - not good!
Annual budget. £8,599.37. /. £18,000. Slightly under - good!

Extra income:
Premium bonds winnings - £325
Interest - £274.66
Yougov. £50
Roadkill. £8.44. a grand total of £658.10

Looking at this it seems like I have a good handle on the shopping budget, but the other spends has been somewhat underestimated! I still have insurance on both cars and MOTs in the next two months. However, the overall annual budget is looking good. This has been an interesting experiment and will hopefully help me to make more accurate predictions for next year. I will also keep picking up the pennies!!!
Let's see what the second half of the year brings!
Thanks to all of you who are much better at posting regularly than me, I am thankful for the inspiration.

FrankieM

I finally got through to the utility company and have reduced my monthly payment by over £40. I'm chuffed!
It brings the monthly household budget to just under £1000, which is the budget that I like to work to.

My diet isn't going very well. As much cause I can't stick to it. I'm almost at the point of just accepting being overweight and getting on with my life!

Moll

Had a busy weekend helping out at our village Gala , to be hoest im glad its over , and the heat was horrendous . we wanted the sunshine so crowds would come , but it was toooooo hot , Had a fab night out last night ,,,,,,with my old Dad, Mum passed away 2 years ago ,,,and Dad bless him , took up cooking , to keep himself busy , ( No frowning at his house its not allowed lol ) he makes bread from scratch , pies , stews etc , he provides for us all , which is a great help to us on the frugal front, and hes happy that hes being usefull , AND at the age of 88 he joined the sally army ??? it was more for company to be honest , but its been brill for him , Anyway all the local churches ( Inc the sally army ) were invited to a FREE concert . A trio of singers , All was amazing ,,,,,,,,,,,,, one of them was Helen Shapiro , Oldies among us will remember her from the 60's having a few hits "Walk right back " etc , i just went for the ride really , but i thoroughly enjoyed it , Hard to believe but i googled Helen Shapiro ,,,,,,and it said she is 71
Spudsmum .........wow on the PPI , hope we get something , its worth a try , i know we definitely had PPI on stuff years ago , but were we missold it ??? i dont know

Frankie M Thats brilll that youve shaved off £40 a month on your utility bills , well done

FrankieM

Morning

Back to it here and less moaning!

Your weekend sounds lovely moll I'm still struggling to figure out how to have a frugal social life as all my friends are overspending money spenders. I could do with a real life frugal group of people.

I've got egg salad for lunch and chili for tea.

Social media training at work ...it could be interesting. lol