2018 Frugal Living Challenge

FrankieM

Hellooo!

Long time no post. It's been a busy time working and getting the extra pennies in. My plan is to pay my car loan off early and so I'm trying to earn the extra money to do that. It means weekends aren't often my own but I try to keep evenings free so that I cook and I'm not too tired.

This month has been another struggle frugal wise. It's a constant learning curve.

I was having a conversation with my daughter the other day saying that I'd lost my frugal mojo. I think it's lack of planning etc and she mentioned how I used to be the 'frugal queen' and I think it was the boost I needed to get my focus back.

So, I'm currently eating out of the cupboards etc till pay day next week. I'm looking in my 'eat well for less' cook book (that I've cooked out of for the first time tonight!) for different meal ideas. I'm turning lights off as I leave a room. I've turned the heating off overnight and I'm not putting the heating on if I'm not in the house or if my daughter isn't and the savings I have will be used for presents etc this coming month and then put into my car overpayment account.

I've realised that savings just sitting there with no goal are just get spent. I need a purpose for every pound or its just gone.

It's 4 weeks between pay days this time round so I'm hoping it'll be a lovely focused period on finding (and being)that frugal queen I once was.

Your posts have all been a great help. It's a wonderful thing to know that I'm not alone in my direction (or my struggles) I also have 2 work colleagues who are anti debt and pro saving and that helps alot too.

indigowarrior

I am 30 in august:eek: So time is on my side I guess:rotfl:

spudsmum

Fizzyisbusy wrote: »

. So, in order to have peace of mind and keep my dogs safe, I’m moving further up the glen! The factor is giving me a stunning house, so it’s an ill wind and all that!

Fizzyisbusy !!!128522;

Good luck in your new home Fizzy :T

indigowarrior wrote: »

It will have to wait until my next payment day! I have knocked over £250 off my debt. Which is just a drop in the ocean I know.

£250 is a really good start. Well done indigo!

spudsmum

Spendy day here as I went in H0me bargains - always a dangerous one for me as it's full of bargains (obviously :undecided)

Spent about £10 but everything I got was needed or useful and within that I got:- washing soda and soap bars to try out this laundry gloop, birthday cards for my nephew - not til next month but I dont want to forget and end up paying £2 for a Asda bday card instead of 29p for a HB one. A few bags of mini eggs for our annual easter egg hunt and lightbulbs and batteries (again to avoid having a last minute dash to Asda)

Also picked up some crisps and muffins to keep in my car boot - realised I'm taking the kids to bun shop twice a week - we have to wait for eldest to finish football practice and theyre always starving - anyhow worked out it costs me £2.55 per time which is a huge £265 per year :eek: plus I always end up getting tempted by sausage rolls and cake too - not good for the preholiday diet! :mad: I'm going to try to be prepared and set up a box of snacks ready to grab in my carboot. Got 12 packs of crisps and 12 mini muffins for £2 which, all being will last them 3 weeks - saving me hopefully £230 per year and many inches on my waistline!

My mission to use food from the store cupboards is going well - have used up 5 things in the last two days :j Now going to meal plan around what we already have as much as possible.

DH's payday tomorrow so tallied up and I've come in £45.51 under budget again for last week! I'm still constantly amazed by this - long may it continue ::money:

Frugaldom

Fizzyisbusy, good luck with your house move!

Indigiwarrior, £250 is a great amount to pay off debts in a month and I notice your debt rfree day has been brought forward and now only 49 months! I promise you that time will fly past and then you'll be counting the savings and rounding those up to get to the next level in your quest for home ownership. It took me almost 6 years to clear all debts and then another 5 or 6 years to save enough cash to pool my funds with someone else so we could buy a cheap fixy up. 5 hyears after that, we bought another one, so all these things you hope to achieve are possible.

FrankieM, looking back over the old challenges, you have stuck with us for quite sme time now, so it's not like you gave up completely. Frugality just needs a little boost by showing you exactly how it can benefit you, personally, so maybe a mini challenge is in order?

Expensive week with DS' wedding but next week will be all work and not much play as we're planting more of the foraging hedge at Frugaldom and I have one of our German student volunteers returning for a week to help.

FrankieM

Frugaldom I certainly haven't given up entirely. Just got into bad habits and it's taking me a while to figure out what I 'used' to do. But it's starting to come back, and while I'm not in any way encouraging anything for anyone else! lol...becoming single was one of the best thing that I did for myself financially (amongst other things) Being with someone who has completely different views on money and consistently over spends no matter their income is a nightmare. I'm better off now on a quarter of the income, than I ever was.

Having said that I'm definitely up for a mini challenge! What do you suggest??

Moll

DawnW wrote: »

Moll, if you only have one tree, that might be the reason why it doesn't fruit well. Most fruit tree varieties need at least 2 trees to ensure pollination. Usually you use different varieties, but they need to flower at the same time. You need to google to see which varieties pollinate each other - a Victoria plum I am afraid, on its own, would not do any better than your pear

Dawn W , thankyou , this is all really good advice for me , and ill take it all on board and do some research , Sorry I meant I only have room for one tree, but I do have an apple tree nearby too . so hopefully it will be ok , so if I remove the pear , I can put in the plum ,
Lots of good advice for me thankyou xx

DawnW

Moll wrote: »

DawnW wrote: »

Moll, if you only have one tree, that might be the reason why it doesn't fruit well. Most fruit tree varieties need at least 2 trees to ensure pollination. Usually you use different varieties, but they need to flower at the same time. You need to google to see which varieties pollinate each other - a Victoria plum I am afraid, on its own, would not do any better than your pear

Dawn W , thankyou , this is all really good advice for me , and ill take it all on board and do some research , Sorry I meant I only have room for one tree, but I do have an apple tree nearby too . so hopefully it will be ok , so if I remove the pear , I can put in the plum ,
Lots of good advice for me thankyou xx

You need 2 fruit trees of the same species, eg a nearby apple tree will unfortunately not pollinate a pear or a plum, only another apple (of a variety that flowers at the same time), if that makes sense.

evuka

indigowarrior wrote: »

I am 30 in august:eek: So time is on my side I guess:rotfl:

Ah, haha, you are defo ahead of the game

I only decided recently that I want to own a home here as I'm a foreigner and in the past year it was always on my mind that I may go home plus I was temping for 5 years. Renting made more sense under these circumstances, giving me the flexibility to move to a cheaper flat or to another location, had the work demand would require me to do so.

Now I imagine my life here, I love Scotland and though brexit gives me some worry, I don't plan to leave.

I'm not against having a mortgage but I'd like to have more than 20% to put down. I'm working on a side hustle idea and if I'm able to grow it into a full-time job, I'd be in similar situation as Frugaldom. Namely that I wouldn't be fixed to a certain location to buy a home.

Frugal things for today:

designing a few wedding invitations for my sister's wedding for her to choose from

put laundry out to the line

go for a walk as exercise

start planning Easter cards for my family and friends

Hope you all have a frugal and fab day! :money:

Moll

DawnW wrote: »

Moll wrote: »

You need 2 fruit trees of the same species, eg a nearby apple tree will unfortunately not pollinate a pear or a plum, only another apple (of a variety that flowers at the same time), if that makes sense.

I understand , this is going to take more thought lol , would a "Proper" tree and a tree in a container work ?