2018 Frugal Living Challenge

FrankieM

Morning All

Did a short shift at my Saturday job yesterday. I now have nothing else booked. I can never decide whether I'm relieved about that or panicked.

Plodding through the washing and I'll give the house a vacuum. I'm not up for a lot. Just enough to keep it looking okay.
And then it's shopping. I'm living the dream

the_cross_rabbit

Frugaldom inspired pancakes with blackberries from the allotment for breakfast.

Frugaldom

MamaGeek wrote: »

I came across this thread last night and I've read quite a lot of it, some of the ideas are amazing! Probably far too late in the year to join but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of some motivating articles or anything similar?

Hi Mamageek, it is never too late to join us in the frugal living challenge. If you go to page one of this challenge then there are links covering a whopping 11 years worth of inspiration, money saving ad frugal living hints and tips plus plenty of links. We now also have a facebook page where a few of us hang out regularly.

Sage 1 is the hardest, as it means taking a long, hard look at how you spend your money. It can be a reall shocker seeing where it goes if you take a week or, better still, a month of writing down every penny spent. Dealing successfully with any imbalances can only be done once you know for sure where the money is going. We try to make it as fun as possible but it isn't always easy and can take several years to acclimatize personal spending habits to keep them within the real household budget.

Good luck with your quest for financial freedom and feel free to ask for any helpful suggestions.

Frugaldom

Ploughing through piles of laundry here after the holidaymakers left - 3 loads done, 2 more to go.

I made more pancakes yesterday lunchtime and then used up the last of a small loaf by frying it to have along with mixed grill & eggs. I cooked a chicken overnight in the slow cooker so that will make about a dozen meals by the time I make curry, sweet & sour, stir fry, frugal chow mein and a pot of soup. We love our stretchy, many meals, 'rubber' chicken.

H has been beach-cleaning and salvaged me several more fish crates, so I'm gradually getting them filled with herbs. There are a few deeper ones that I'll sow some late year-round, salad leaves and some winter veg.

Moll

Trying to make a good start , Been out with the dog for a nice walk , Home......cut up a pile of beans i picked from the garden for the freezer , and made a curry with some left over chicken , hope i can keep this up x

FrankieM

Beach cleaning Frugaldom? I hadn't realised you were near the sea, though it sounds very cold. I find looking out at water (rain doesn't count!) very relaxing.

I miss meal stretching. It's just not something you can do once you've taken the carbs out, well except for adding everything to an omelette or frittata..

I've been reading the £1000 in 100 days thread link that was posted here the other day. It's fascinating and gives you more ideas of how to earn a bit extra. I was part of that thread too!

I agree with Frugaldom Mamageek I have been with this challenge on and off since it first started on here. I was married with 4 children in the very begining. With a DH who was terrible with money and I just could never get on board.
Fast forward to today and I'm single, earning my own money, with only one child living with me full time and it's a completely different story. But even then, and I would say I was fairly frugal and good with money, it's taken me from January until last month to put together a 'proper' budget and to really be honest with myself about where my money goes.

FrankieM

A bit more washing done today and put on the rack. The weather can't decide what it's doing here today, so not worth putting it on the line.

I'm in my slobbies, enjoying reading threads on here and doing not very much. It's lovely.

I've got sausages out for tea and I'll do bacon for brunch sometime soon. And then make tomorrows lunch at some point tonight. It'll be back to the routine quicker than I realise.

I'm looking at ways of getting extra funds in. I've been joining the £10 a day challenges each month but if it wasn't for weekend work then I'd get nowhere and I don't really want to have to rely on just that to earn the extra.
I'd quite like a few different income streams, but I'm lacking in ideas.

Like mentioned by someone else, I'd like to get some passive income on the go. I'm 50 in 5 years (omg, how old!!) and I'd like to be able to work part time by then so I need to get a move on with my planning.

And that's really the reason I'm here, doing this frugal thing.

Kerry_Woman

Have been going through what I have spent this month. Added up all the totals in the various spends. Have done 21 NSD's so far this month. Planning no more spends in. Food etc already in. Must do a shopping list for shopping on Saturday. Need to work out what I need to get as most of the weekends I am busy doing various things, eg charity walks. Then I can do top up shopping. Still need to start decorating in the flat as soon as I sort out a few things first.

FrankieM

Morning

Hi moll and Kerry woman

Back to work today. I've just made lunch and got some chicken out for tea. I need to start doing these things in the evening, really.

Managed to stay in my weekly budget for food and fuel (just) I've got a lot of meat so hopefully that'll help for the coming weeks when DS is no longer contributing (or eating). I'm still not sure how it will go and I may need to tweak my food budget.

I also went to Tesco to pick up the things I like from there. Forgot my vouchers and came to the conclusion that I should probably do the Tesco shop every 3-6 months online and use my vouchers and a cheap delivery time. It's a good 20 minute drive away and seems uneconomical to do monthly.

I've also booked myself a weekend away in York for the end of September. The hotel is covered by my savings so far and I need to earn/make my spending money. Or it may just be a very cheap weekend of me wandering around free things. Either way, I'm really looking forward to getting away.

I realised the other day that I had paid some money for some exercise classes but had not used them all. I've got 3 'free' classes, so I'm going to book those on and then start going twice a week, using my personal spends/entertainment money (I don't imagine I'm going to feel entertained though!)

Back to work today Only 4 days though so here's hoping it goes quickly

Frugaldom

FrankieM wrote: »

Like mentioned by someone else, I'd like to get some passive income on the go. I'm 50 in 5 years (omg, how old!!) and I'd like to be able to work part time by then so I need to get a move on with my planning.

And that's really the reason I'm here, doing this frugal thing.

The passive income is my ultimate aim, investing whatever I can, however I can, with the aim of generating enough to cover my hobbies and enjoy an early (ish) retirement while working on projects that I enjoy. Over the past 2 years I've been letting out a holiday caravan but site fees keep increasing, so it may become much less viable soon. The little cottage we bought last August was renovated then let out for holiday accommodation this summer, but I've now turned it back into residential let. Holidaymaker was here looking for a house and work, she has now found both. The income potential has been slashed but I have a lovely tenant who will hopefully look after the place while she lives there and the rent is far more than we'd make from bank interest even at the highest rates. My biggest 'problem' is my very expensive pony-keeping hobby, as there is absolutely zero reurn from them and they just eat money even although they are on our own land. :rotfl: I need a separate source of income to cancel out what the ponies cost to keep. :eek::rotfl: