2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Wow! Over £1000 saved this year so far! Well done Spudsmum... Here's to your clearing all the CCs soon! I still use mine regularly but pay in full every month - it accrues a to y bit cash back.

evuka

DawnW wrote: »

Depends really on whether you still like the coat, Evuka, and if it is a good state of repair. If you love it, and it is still almost as good as new, and comes up beautifully after it has been cleaned, I would say it is worth getting it done. If not, well, after 6 years, it probably doesn't owe you anything, does it

Thanks Dawn for the insight, it looks nice after cleaning so I'm keeping it!

spudsmum wrote: »

The mutant chicken came up trumps again

:rotfl: your mutant chicken always gives me a laugh!

allie23 hope you feel better!

LittleGingerFox wrote: »

I will pay the balance on that credit card on this months pay day. Boom, one credit card down in two months. Just another credit card to go, wooooop!

Congrats LittleGingerFox, that's an achievment! :beer:

sinkorswim2018 wrote: »

a six month supply of loo roll (important). 84 rolls for £20. Oh the glamour!

Where do you order it from? I tried a 45-roll package but don't really like the TP so looking for some other type to try.

spudsmum wrote: »

Totted up the amount of money in all my pots and virtual jars and I have broken the £1000 barrier (£1024.99!) Thats all money I would have wasted/frittered away without realising in the past that I am now diverting towards specific goals. Cant believe I have accrued that much just since New year - its madness!

Wow spudsmum, you are rocking it! :T

Frugaldom

Keep up the good frugal work, people! Thos of you who are still posting on here are a real inspiration to others and I hope we can see a few more returnng soon. The 'oomph' seems to have gone already for some folks so let's hope their frugality hasn't left with it. Frugal(free)dom is an awesome place to be and provides an entire lifestyle for those who want to achieve and maintain freedom from debt. If I can do it on my meagre income then anyone can do it. Just ask.

DawnW

I must make the effort to post more I read every post, and am faithfully keeping my spreadsheet going, but tend to lurk rather than post. I was a bit confused by the rules initially, so am just bumbling along on the sidelines with my budgets

I am finding the discipline of recording and budgeting all spending / bills (many thanks to Cheryl for a copy of her spreadsheet) extremely useful. It may be a bit different from what others are doing, but it really makes me think before I spend!

I did succumb to a magazine this morning though , as a consolation prize for both an early morning walk in the rain and a rather unpleasant medical procedure at the end of it

Many thanks for the thread, which I am sure many other people aside from regular posters are finding useful

Bebelles_2

Hello fellow frugal fans,
Sorry some of you are going through a difficult time at the moment my thoughts are with you.

I just wanted to point out something obvious and I am sure other people realised this long ago. But it's just dawning on me with tracking my spending and the change it attitude how much stuff I used to buy. As I look round my house, stuff bought on a whim, not used, confined to already overflowing cupboards. I used to buy so much stuff that I just didn't need.
I used to spend time in shops just going for the sake of going without an actual need to buy anything or worse going into a shop for something and coming out with a bag full of stuff I even remember saying to staff on the tills when they asked did you find what you were looking for and saying well I didn't even know i needed these things! Don't get me wrong there is a pleasure in buying things, but also realising what you were doing and then not doing it is also worth a small pat on the back!
I'm not saying I'm perfect and i have completely changed my ways but I'm certainly improving just having a greater awareness of what I'm doing.
From tacking my spending though I certainly still spend far too much money socialising; mainly down the pub; so going to try and either look at alternative activities or at indulging a little less on the Pinot - that's still a work in progress!
I've been freezing leftovers like a possessed woman with thoughts of future meals and lunches to take to work, I've also sold a few bits and bobs on eBay.
I am going to have a bit of a stock take this weekend, and see what I have got in and more importantly what I can get rid of (either sell or donate).
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend, look after each other

[Deleted User]

Finally finished the last of the mixed berry vodka so have used the remaining fruit to make a fruit spread

I've decided that I am going to make a chocolate cake, use some of the spread to sandwich it together and finish it off with a white chocolate ganache.....I don't eat cake as a rule but I have house guests at the end of the week so it will be nice to have something to munch

I've made the meal plans for the next four weeks...I've been unwell so my immune system is shot - with this in mind I am changing my diet a bit (it's been shocking this past few weeks) so may spend more on fruit and veg but am sticking to running down my current stockpile

I'm going to plant some salad leaves tomorrow- I bought in my current supply and will have to for the next few weeks but won't be doing that for the rest of the year, there's no excuse really when it's so simple to grow. I'm also going to have a check on my wine situation- I have several that are in need of bottling ready for the summer and I want to have an estimate of how much I'd like to get done this year.

Tomorrow I will cook my sushi and ramen and I'll sort the black beans and pineapple salsa ready for Mondays dinner - just the polenta to cook on the evening then as I'm having it soft.

I'm going to put a moratorium on my credit card for a while and do everything cash - I think that it will help to make spending more real. This most recent fall off the wagon has made me realise that I don't value money as much as I should - especially as I've spent years without it so perhaps a bit of re-education wouldn't go amiss! ;)

Buffythedebtslayer

Afternoon ladies and gents

I haven't been posting much because my frugal ways have been a bit of a nightmare.

I was doing okish - dentist was an expense I knew about. Then the car insurance came(760). And then I went back to the dentist. Another root canal. £437 (cheaper than old dentist) but that is me skint and my plan of not spending has taken a few knocks. My BIL has been ill and the need to do things quickly has meant some expense.

I am off to assess the damage and "refrugal"

LittleGingerFox

Both ebay and Gumtree have been a but useless for selling things.....I think everyone is feeling the penny pinch so can't buy things. I have bagged up some clothes and shoes that didn't sell to take to the charity shop either later or Monday. I am still in the process of gutting my room (currently in a flat share) and everything I haven't used this year (unbelievable to even have had something for that long and not used it) has been listed on Freecycle.
I also found some great apps for cheap/ money back shopping. Checkout Smart and Shopmium. Free Nutella and cans of fruity wine alco-poppy things. Mmmmmmmm! Little treat
I've joined in a little group who are picking up coins on the street and adding up the monthly total. Silly really but it might amount to something? I have found 5p so far.....fingers crossed for a 10p piece soon !!!55358;!!!56611; Raking it in!
Its pouring down here and so its another no spend day. I have spent all my budget this month so the rest of the month has to be a no spend one. It might be tough.....but I think it will be liberating Good luck everyone, keep going!

shish100

Morning everyone,
Apologies for being a bit quiet, we had some house-guests for a week, whilst they were having work done on the house. My monthly food budget took a big hit for being so early in the month (£116 out of £200). On closer inspection it's not that bad once i actually stopped and looked at what I had bought - I was mainly making sure I had plenty of non-perishables, frozen veg, tins of beans and tomatoes, cereals etc

One good thing about the house-guests, there were having a clear-out to get ready for the work and came round with lots of food from their cupboards. Which was gratefully received and helps offset the big shop.

I did fall off the frugal wagon on Friday. My guests had gone, sad to see them go, and exhausted from helping them where needed with their work. So I treated me and OH to a takeaway and a bottle of wine.

I have been very good with keeping up with my spreadsheet and tracking my spend. It is giving plenty of food for thought.

My tasks this weekend:
Re-evaluate my food cupboards and amend meal plans accordingly
Tackle the guest room, clean and tidy it
Put some items up on for auction, that I found whilst clearing the guest room for the guests.
Read my library book

FrankieM

Hello Everyone

Another quiet lurker here. Though to be fair, I'm only managing a forum visit on weekends and catching up then.

My frugalling has been terrible. I'm disappointed with myself but because I'm making note of my spending I can see where it's going. Takeaways and snacks! Crazy!

I've accrued but money that could have paid off my loan or been saved has been spent. I hadtaken food delivery apps off my phone and done a list of all the foods that I like to eat and don't mind cooking and so it's back to the drawing board.

I was hoping that January would be my month of information gathering on my spending and February would be the start of the new frugal ways. But, it would seem not. I'm still learning things about myself and they aren't pretty. Still, no debt has been accrued but money that could have paid off my loan or been saved has been spent. What a waste.

I'd never thought of myself as a spender but it would seem that I am.

So, this weekend has been 2 spend days but I've got my fuel for the week and my weekly top up after doing my menu plan. My son is also home from uni so we went to the cinema and I also had a beauty treatment with one of my daughters, so some personal care. Both are much better ways of spending my money than takeaways and snack foods.

I need to work on budgeting for the things that are important and that add depth to my life and eradicating the things that don't.