2018 Frugal Living Challenge

cuddlymarm

Hi Couldsavemore

I use value brands as much as possible and make extras to freeze. Pasta, noodles, mashed potato, frozen veg are cheap, filling and make food go further. Porridge is cheap, also lunches of soup or beans on toast, egg on toast etc are simple and quick. Also take into account cooking time, food isn’t cheap if you need the oven on all afternoon to cook it.
Not all meals need meat. Use strong cheese to make a cheese sauce and make cauliflower cheese or pasta and cheese sauce or vegetables au gratin. Also a good way of sneaking veg into kids meals.
Don’t forget that a good diet is important. No matter how much money you want to save you need to balance a good diet against your money saving.
You can get away living off cereal or beans on toast for a few days in an emergency but long term not a good idea.
Look out for offers and if you can afford to stock up, but only things you really like. It’s not a bargain if it gets wasted.
Hope this helps
Cuddles

shish100

Coudsavemore,

I don't aim for the £1 a day, but i do use own brands foods, look for yellow stickers, as well make a few changes to the main meals.

Some changes I have made are:
- when a recipe calls for one onion, i put two in , to bulk out.
- All recipes I always try and increase the amount of veg and reduce the meat.
- when I make a curry or similar with chicken, I reduce the amount of chicken and add a tin of chickpeas. They carry flavour well. Chicken and chickpeas go together really well.
- when i use minced beef, I use half beef, half own brand quorn
- lentils stews are great with using leftover meat and veg, nice and thick and warming, especially in the winter.

These approaches have worked well, and also had a positive impact on my OH cholesterol levels.

Couldsavemore

Mumof3.12kindebt

Felt christmas tree decorations... felt is cheap and you can get free patterns on the internet

Home made truffles... with or with errr brandy / rum

Home made sloe gin / brandy

Hand drawn stick family portrait.. have a google

Scrabble letter wall hanging

Salt dough tree decorations

Frugaldom

Couldsavemore wrote: »

Thanks frugaldom.
I read your house saving thread... very inspiring! ... I went food shopping... spent 36 pound. Theres only 2 of us. How on earth do people meet the challenge of £1 per person per day for food! Although £12 was on cat food / litter!

The amount is not based on daily spends, as this would render the challenge impossible in most circumstances. The budget is set at £1 per person per day over the year, so 2 people gives a basic food budget of £365 x 2 (or however many people are in your household). Pet keeping is classed as a luxury item in my spreadsheet, so has it's own column - our pets cost many times more than my £4k household budget challenge but it's another one of the reasons I need to budget so tightly.

Stock piling long shelf life bargains (we ignore BBE dates here)
Buying reduced items on or past BBE dates
Preserving
Baking
Growing anything that costs more to buy that you can safely grow
Swaps and trades - if you bake and someone else jam makes etc

Keep all costs involved strictly noted and if these costs are not part of a general food budget, keep them separate so you can see exactly where every penny goes. Even the costs of running a car to the supermarket and back, or cost of delivery should have its own column in the expenses notebook or spreadsheet. Takeaways get added into food/grocery budget because at the end of the day, treat or no treat, they are just a meal like any other meal, no mater what the occasion.

Every penny counts.
Good luck with the mortgage over-payments

Frugaldom

FrankieM wrote: »

I also had a letter from tax credits about a payment they gave me at the beginning of last year that they now want back. I applied when I was on a very low wage and then the next year when I'd managed to get a better paid job, they decided they wanted every penny they'd given me paid back. So it was a complete waste of time and no help at all. It's annoyed me quite a lot but for now, I'm just paying it all off

This is the exact reason I gave up even asking. Being in the frtunate position of having no rent to pay and no mortgage, it means I am able to live on so much less and do so much more with what doesn't even amount to national minimum wage. (I can't remember the last time I earned minimum wage but I manage and still squirrel away whatever I can.

For anyone budgeting using spread sheets, don't forget to factor in all the costs involved with work. These can mount up significantly without being noticed. I started counting takeaways as a work expense because their occurance was a direct result of not having enough time (or energy) in the day to cook proper meals. Just thought I'd add that here as an afterthought, it isn's directed at anyone in particular.

Hobbies and habits are another set of expenses for things like cigarettes, alcohol, sweets, crisps and anything else extra that isn't a strict requirement for staying alive.

I had to be extremely strict (many said OTT) to finally escape into the realms of debt-freedom and unshackle myself from employment without falling into the trap of the 'benefits' system.

FrankieM

The benefits system is just ridiculous. I've never been on the right side of it.
And to think that you live in fear of spending the money they've given to 'help' you in case they ask for it back.
It's made me cross

On a more positive note, I did receive a letter from HMRC saying that they owed me some tax back, so that's a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.

This weekend has been work, so more money for the emergency fund.

I've also finally put the heating on. I'm still not sure it's working properly but I'll give it a little to find it's groove before contacting the landlord.

For a while there I found I was getting a takeaway a couple of times a week Frugaldombut justified that it came out of my over time money. Either way, it's still money that could be better spent elsewhere.
But working a lot does mean having to squeeze the normal everyday running of a house in during the evenings.

FrankieM

Morning

I spent yesterday feeling grumpy, not sure why, but probably cause everything feels like a hard slog and I'm cranky about it!

It was not helped by coming home to cold radiators

My daughter gave me an early Christmas present of snuggly socks and that helped a bit.

I've messaged the landlord so hopefully the heating will get fixed soon.

I've been thinking about having a 'cash' emergency fund as well as one in the bank. Does anyone else do this? Any idea what would be a good amount to aim for?

Frugaldom

FrankieM wrote: »

...I spent yesterday feeling grumpy, not sure why, but probably cause everything feels like a hard slog and I'm cranky about it!...

It's as soon as the long nights/short days arrive and then the clocks change, I find. It reminds us of how much of our time is spent working/doing for others at the expense of looking after our own interests, such as home, health and happiness. The winter debates start and then we start questioning our own lives, whether we chose them for ourselves or not. It's quite a spiteful time of year for many, but stick to your quest for debt freedom and to h€ll with the rest. There will always be someone looking for money and always be something you want (not need) even once living in debt freedom so better to get there sooner than later. From thereonin, you can choose how to spend what is truly yours however and whenever you want AND cut down work hours. Hope that makes sense? I found sympathy spending was what delayed my money plans while I was questioning how I got to where I was at that point and asking myself why I needed to work so many hours just to stay afloat. Keep on frugaling! And come visit Frugaldom next year.

Working_Mum

FrankieM wrote: »

Morning

I spent yesterday feeling grumpy, not sure why, but probably cause everything feels like a hard slog and I'm cranky about it!

It was not helped by coming home to cold radiators

I've been thinking about having a 'cash' emergency fund as well as one in the bank. Does anyone else do this? Any idea what would be a good amount to aim for?

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit blergh! Hope things improve soon ((hugs)).

I have two savings sources. I started the £1 per week at the start of this year i.e week 1 = £1, week 2 = £2 through the year and I pop this into an online savings account. I am using this as part emergency fund and part Christmas spends. If I did it for the whole year I'd save almost £1300.

I also started the "penny per day" at the start of the year and do this in cash in a money box in my office (so I am then not tempted to spend it on takeaways at home!!). If I did this for the whole year I'd get £667. I have dipped into this for things like my nephew's 21st where I gave him £100 cash. I am self employed and there have been times I haven't been paid by my clients so unable to "pay" myself so I have used the cash from this tin to pay for my weekly fuel or food bills so that I didn't resort to using cards.

I also have an emergency tenner in the back of purse which I use to buy expensive stuff like toothpaste when I see it on offer AND I have a spare purse with £30 in it, in fivers, which I save for any impromptu social things like going on a walk where there is a cafe at the end (which I may not have budgetted for).

I resolved to make indents in my debt this year and have made serious inroads and consciously spending AND savings has helped me achieve this.

Take good care

[Deleted User]

FrankieM wrote: »

Morning

I spent yesterday feeling grumpy, not sure why, but probably cause everything feels like a hard slog and I'm cranky about it!

It was not helped by coming home to cold radiators

Being cold is the only thing that makes me apoplectic, never mind grumpy!! :rotfl: I honestly can't think of anything worse so I really feel for you! I know what you mean about it all feeling like a hard slog...there are days when I just wish I could curl up and forget about it all - I just try to remember when I have those days that I'm in a much better financial position now than I ever would have been if I had carried on and not done anything about it and eventually, I will have the financial freedom that I have longed for.....plus the support and encouragement on these boards is second to none so we always have a sympathetic ear when we need to offload

Frugal living is not easy at the moment in my house - I know that next year will be better though, having to juggle so many things at once at the moment is a bit of a nightmare, but once these major works on the house have been done, I will have my full concentration on getting my costs down and I am very much looking forward to that!!;)

Keep on frugalling - it's all worth it in the end!!