2018 Frugal Living Challenge

PennyGrabber

Morning everyone!

It's payday today, so I've been doing my banking. Bills money for the month has been transferred over, £100 into my car account (this covers mot, insurance and tax, plus bits towards repairs/a new-to-me car), and money has gone into my savings account too. I used to, in the olden days, save what was left at the end of the month, but that was never anything, so it goes straight into savings at the start of the month. I've also started putting a bit more than planned in, on the understanding that it's there if I need it...

I have a mini-goal of getting out of my overdrafts. The two between them are about £340, where they were £490 ish.

I have noticed that regularly thinking about my goals (short, mid and long term) has really helped me to stay on track. Obviously, being ill has been a help too, as I haven't left the house, but that's a challenge for next month!

Having soup from mum for lunch, and not too sure about dinner yet. Yesterday was the first day in over a week that I actually managed to cook something, so will spend this morning thinking of something easy to do.

Off to write in my journal!

PG x

grandma247

Tanya12345 wrote: »

Afternoon Fruggies, was having a good day but now a bit down as I went to get a couple of cooking apples from my store (garage) to find all but 5 of them are rotten !! I had carefully picked them and wrapped them in newspaper and then put them in plastic mesh crates, really not sure what went wrong - perhaps just need to make more cider next year (Hic!!)

It is really easy to bottle (can) apple. You don't need a special pan, just one deep enough to hold enough water to come 2 inches above the top of the jars plus boiling room.

sinkorswim2018

Just applied for the Natwest reward account, as mentioned on Martin's email. £125 for transferring my current account. A monthly fee of £2 a month, and a cashback of 2% of my bills...which is £20 (bills £1000) if they are all included. I've swapped account before and It's fairly painless. I feel more confident as I currently know exactly what all my bills are.

nannygladys

Hi everyone, back in the land of living and feeling good! I haven't really been spending much the last couple of days as I haven't left the house, so win win for me.
Been eating out of stores but may go shopping tomorrow as I have a Tosco coupon for £6 off £40 and I can replenish tins and freezer stuff to last a few months with it.
Bought 2 pairs of jeans that were needed and pleased that Ive gone a size so I must try all my stuff on and either alter or cs them if too big, otherwise not been doing much.
Nannyg

Moll

nannyg glad to hear you are feeling better


had a spend day today , as its my Tuesday at Brewers with a friend , we meet up and put the world to rights over a nice 2 for 1 meal , and re fillable coffee,
Had an unexpected bit of good luck yesterday . was de cluttering , and looking for more stuff to put on the bidding page , ( It actually makes de cluttering fun looking for treasure to sell ) and I came across a glasses case, ,inside was an old £10 note, !!!,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ( I put money in a glasses case if going out and not taking a bag big enough to hold a purse ) I have no idea why this was forgotten , not like me to "Lose" a tenner ,,,,but very pleased to find it ,,,,,,,,took it into the bank and exchanged it for a new shiny one , so its gone into the holiday pot for this week ,
All the snow has gone where I live , Dad goes to hospital tomorrow , keep your fingers and toes crossed that the news about his cancer isn't bad , xx

Milly-Ann-Molly

Hi, can i join please? I would love to be more active in being frugal, paying off debt and saving. I am keen on self sufficiency and reducing waste so this thread could be a perfect fit. I do a monthly budget every month but have a habit of using CC for the purchases so it stretches further! that has backfired and now i need to be very frugal so that i can clear the cards! eek. hopefully you will all let me in? pretty please x

cw18

Milly-Ann-Molly wrote: »

hopefully you will all let me in? pretty please x

Always room for one more - welcome aboard

spudsmum

Any room for another little one?

Maternity leave, a sudden unexpected increase in family size (twins!) and a couple of household emergencies has left me nursing £21k of debt on credit cards and overdrafts.

That figure is scary to me so I really want to get a handle on it and make some serious headway in becoming debt free and living within my means before my next "significant" birthday.

Very interested in the idea of frugality and hoping it will help me some way towards my goals.

Can i join you please?

cw18

spudsmum wrote: »

Can i join you please?

Budging up the bench to make room for another as I type

Moll

Ive had a spend day . got to add up the damage yet, but I don't care,,,,,,im celebrating , Dad did ok at the hospital . and he doesn't have to go back for 3 months, and if hes still the same then , they'll increase it up to 6 month check ups , so life is good , We expected the worst , Nice to have good news for a change, ill be back when ive added up , and see if ive got anything to put in the holiday fund this week x x x