2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Our schools have been on holiday for the past 3 weeks and so far the weather has been great... many weeks of dry sunshine, near drought conditions but a couple of rainy nights replenished the water butts. I'm on a holiday park that runs off a spring-fed well, so the water levels have been fairly low recently. Next week is the annual agricultural show so the rain will probably decide that's a good day to fall in torrents.

Mumof3 your summer plans sound great and you also sound very organised. Hope you enjoy the hols.

Nice to hear from you CW18 - make the most of those lighter mail bags

FrankieM, good luck with the new regime. It just takes that one tiny change for everything to drop into place and become your new routine as a diehard frugaler, it's finding that one tiny change that takes the longest. You are definitely making progress, though, as your posts testify to that.

FrankieM

Thanks Frugaldom I've taken to heart the fact that it's a constant learning curve, with little tweaks needed along the way.
It's about finding the things that are important to me. Where I want to spend my money and where I don't.

Food is very similar. What's worth the calories. What makes me feel healthy and what make me feel bloated and bleugh...

Speaking of food. They afternoon tea fund raiser has seen me eating and eating and eating. So no tea required for me tonight and if DS wants something then there's food around for him to make something.

DD has paid her board into my account today, as well as the money she owes me and a little bit extra. Not required but such a lovely thought, so that's the first amount for my Trips, Treats & Travel account

I'm off to give the local choir a go tonight (finally) It'll be nice to do something that's not either work or family.

Savvy_sewing

My budget holiday could easily have been described as a disaster. The hotel was full of partying hen do's, stag parties etc and it kept us awake most of the night. The day we arrived I got an email that our flight home was cancelled. So two extra nights at the hotel cost 130 Euros.
After 4 nights there on my Birthday on Sunday I decided I didn't want to stay there a minute longer, so I went to Booking.com and booked us another hotel from that afternoon 645euros.
The extra time here has added 80 euros to the car hire and 21 pounds car park excess fee back home.
So far I have managed to just use the Euros that I brought with me, but I am a little close to the wire on that one and another 24 hours or so left here to go. But at least I am in a better hotel, and breakfast is included.

[Deleted User]

Frankiem...how did the choir go?
Mooloo...that sounds awful!! Hopefully you'll be able to claim back something - not your fault the flight was cancelled!
Lessonlearned...good luck with the renovations I'll be cheering you on and probably pulling my hair out with you at times as ours both progress! :rotfl:

All the holiday plans with the little ones sound great I used to love the holidays when my babies were little! :happyhear

We'll, the house is starting to look like a building site!! :eek::rotfl: ds has been taking off skirting, architrave and tiling along with some other stuff so it's moving forward nicely we've cleared lots of things and have dates for other furniture to be rehoused :j

Long journey ahead but at least I'm on it!

FrankieM

Morning

And it's payday..yay! I've moved my money around and I'm feeling much better with some money in my account again.

Unfortunately I've put on a lb this week, though it should've been expected given the carbs and cake I've consumed this week. So, it's a learning curve. I may just have to contribute and give to these thngs and not take!

The choir...well to say I was out of my depth is an understatement, but during the tea break, loads of people said that they can't read music and just learn their part when the song is being taught, so I didn't feel so bad then. It's not on next week cause lots of people are away but I'll go again.

Sorry to hear about your holiday mooloo I hope at least some parts have been relaxing.

I realised last night that my fridge temp was quite low. I thought my milk was going off quickly and I had top throw out some veg this week. I've turned it up and hopefully that'll make a difference.

Last day of work today. I've been ready for the weekend since Monday!

Savvy_sewing

Well I am finally home. The fridge is bare and the freezer sticks low. But I will try and rustle is up something with the bread, milk and eggs I bought in the local shop. Then menu plans before I properly shop. Didn't get to bed until nearly 2am so quite tired. But the suitcases are unpacked and the washing machine is on it's first load. Dgd hasn't moved from the sofa where she fell asleep last night. I just covered her with a blanket and went to bed.
I am probably going to have a nap myself soon. Then make note of what I have to do. Prioritise it, and then block time in my days ahead to tackle Ryanair, insurance companies and what ever I have to do to organise myself again.
It's going to take quite a while to ever be a millionaire!:rotfl:

FrankieM

Welcome home mooloo I enjoy that time of getting back into routine and organising yourself after a holiday. It always feels like a fresh start to me.
I hope you get some money back and that part of things all goes smoothly.

It's been raining here and a little bit breezy so I've had windows and doors open to take advantage and give the house a good 'blow-through'.

I've had the house to myself this weekend, which has been lovely. I got all the chores and errands done yesterday morning and I've just been relaxing since, doing a bit of reading and catching up on weekly tv.

I think I'm at that stage when I'm ready for the kids to move out

FrankieM

Evening

A day at work, after a bit of a disturbed night's sleep last night. I really need to get the sleeping thing sorted.

Finished up the last of the horendous turkey meatballs tonight for tea. It seems garlic, cumin and tumeric makes them palatable.

DS has mentioned finishing the garden tonight. It seems his rent is due on Wednesday lololol. We'll see how it goes. I think i'll get him to pay for it and the still only pay him for the work done. I can't afford to be handing out money for nothing, but we'll see what happens.

Other than that, things are just ticking along until the end of the month.

Frugaldom

Things seem to be fizzling out a bit on here so I guess everyone (except us tiny handful of challengers) is now debt free and away living the good life. :rotfl::rotfl:

Keep up the good work FrankieM and feel free to come over and chat in our Frugaldom group on FB, tha's where some of us hang out each day. Likewise squirrelgirl and mooloo.

End of month 7 and I should have around £1,665 of my annual budget remaining. I need to get spreadsheet up to date just to see where I'm at with it. I don't think I have been spending more than normal but have finally bought the car I've been promising myself for x number of years. :T Sad to say the insurance company wants an extra £76 because I've only been a named driver on another policy for the past few years - I have accrued no 'no claims discount' of my own!! :mad:

System

Just wondering if its ok to ask on this thread about saving money with energy suppliers? I have asked on the energy thread but awaiting replies.
Just doing my annual switch search and wondered if anyone had any good or bad points to make about any of the lesser known companies? Green Network Energy and Avro are coming up as cheaper options. Always a bit weary about leaping into the unknown.
Anybody got any tips?
We are currently with Sainsburys but they want to hike our monthly payment by £20