2018 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

Happy Friday everyone!

Food shopping day here - did a meal plan and took a list - was tempted by a couple of ys items but they are things i'll defitely use so incorporated then into the meal plan. My local tesco have just set up self scanners Which will be much better now i can keep track of my spending as I' going round iinstead of adding everything up on phone. Bought all the kids easter eggs while there was a good offer on - buy two get two free so worked out 75p each . Figuring I wont get them much cheaper so might as well buy now. Bought 8 (enough for all the family kids plus me and DH) so they can fight it out over which they want. Just need to get something else for nephew as he hates chocolate (weirdo ) Even with buying those I still came in nearly £10 under budget with a spend of 60.83.

Also within that was clothes wash luquid £5.00 (hopefully the last before we swop to laundry gloop.)
Alternatively ordered a free sample of soapnuts to try courtesy of the link frugaldom posted a few days ago do eill see which I like best.

Used up a few ledtover bits form stores to make a bread and butter pudding to fill the oven while it was on for the smalls tea. Thats our desserts sorted for over weekend so no need to buy any.

This week is going to be tight budget wise. DH's wages were short due to being on holiday last week and thats the money i use for my budget. Also I have dentist on monday and need to pay eldests cubs subscription so thats £50 gone right there. I 've been significantly under budget every week since LBM so I will be gutted if I break my run but sometimes I guess life gets in the way. If I can come in on budget that will be amazing and snything else is a bonus.

Ps drum roll please ........ FINALLY posted off the PPI complaint form thats been hanging around for weeks. Dont think I'll get anything as its from years ago and had no details but at least its simething else to cross off the list

System

Hello happy Saturday everyone I went to farm foods yesterday and got freezer staples and bulk crisps and toilet rolls. Although it made me feel a bit, I don!!!8217;t know the word, weary that my trolley was just junk food and essentials because I then went to Aldi and got all of our fresh meat, vegetables and fruit ect! Have spent £40 so far so have another £20 left for the week coming as trying to get the monthly food shop around £250 for a while.

Not sure what we are doing today, maybe swimming with the girls but as I!!!8217;ve got a local gym membership so it!!!8217;s only £7 for the OH and DD1 to join us swimming.

Overtime shift tomorrow night so an extra £200 to shove at the debts. I have just taken control of OHs wages and seeing if that helps us budget better with our first joint account.

Have a good weekend

DawnW

Moll wrote: »

DawnW wrote: »

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

A tree in a container works exactly the same as any other tree

Frugaldom

FrankieM wrote: »

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

I'm stil thinking about this and think we should beging 'whatever' as March minichallenge. I just haven't quite sussed out the best place I can make further savings, but I have let many tings slip over the past year or so.

hazelisok wrote: »

Hello. Can I join in please?

Hi Hazel, welcome to the challenge - I think you'll be able to become a great pasrt of this as I love to hear of people who have managed to get the finances under control enough to be able to improve their own well being and avoid the misery of having to work at something we really don't like.

Have a good weekend, everyone. :T

System

hazelisok wrote: »

Hello. Can I join in please? My husband and I are fortunate to be debt-free. Since I left my job 2 years ago we have been very careful with our budget. I thought I would need to find a new job, but by living frugally, we are managing just fine with one income. My mental health is also much improved.
I am interested in picking up tips from others on here. Already I grow some food, bake my own bread, re-use, recycle, use cashback sites and freecycle etc. I just discovered wombling!
Thanks,
Hazel

Hi Hazel
I haven't been on this forum for long, but have managed to pick up some great tips and ideas.
I keep reading about Wombling, but never seems to work for me. I never seem to find any receipts....lol. Is there a secret to it?

Tanya12345

Hi Fruggies, hope you're all well and keeping warm - unusually for here (Cornwall) tis proper chilly at the mo ! It all went a bit pear shaped ( not in a good way Moll !!) this week, I have well and truly fallen off the Frugal Express. So, starting tomorrow it's feeding the family for £1 per person per day. My week will start Sunday and it should be a gentle intro as I have a full freezer and 1/2 full larder. I have a weekend away next week ( uni visit for no 2 son) and will set a budget for this. This should leave a little over at the end of March to straighten things out and after that I will save into the new house/ emergency pot, I WILL post everyday...... X

cw18

Moll wrote: »

DawnW wrote: »

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

As long as they both carry the same type of fruit - so are both apple trees, or are both pear trees, or are both plum trees. You can't have one apple and one plum whatever the size of the trees.

System

Went shopping this morning and knew I should have left OH at home. I told him all I needed was fruit/veg and coconut oil but he saw porridge that he thought was cheap and insisted on buying some as it was such a good price, even though we had 3 packets in the cupboard...then got cross with me 'cause I said we didn't need crisps as we already had enough....and then I wanted to stop and check how much we had in trolley and he got annoyed 'cause I hadn't added it up on the way round....so he walked off in a huff and waited in the car.:mad: Hey ho.....I have now explained to him how hard I am trying to sort out our finances and how we have enough in the house to eat for the next week at least and really only needed the fruit/veg and oil. He is not the easiest of people when it comes to things like this. He wants to sort our debts but also can't understand that it is not a bargain if you don't actually need it!!! And now I shall get off my soap box...lol :rotfl:

evuka

Hi *Hazelisok*, welcome to the challenge!

I'm very interested to hear about how you managed to become a one-income family, I'm sure you can contribute to the thread with tips and ideas!

I'd love to do this - leave work and stay home and live frugally - but unfortunately, none of my cats would want to be the breadwinner of the family :rotfl: I guess I'd need to find a partner/husband first!

NSD today, with two loads of laundry out on the line and today's dinner from the freezer. It turned out to be a big portion enough to be dinner for tomorrow as well, another frozen tub is thawing with lunch for tomorrow and Monday, only need to make some rice.

Made 5 designs for wedding invitations yesterday and now just waiting on my sister and fianc!e to decide which one they like the best.:wave:

*Tanya*, good to see you back, looking forward to your daily posts!

Off to watch some film on utube or AMaz0n and either do some colouring or embroidering in the meantime. Night, night, frugallers :wave:

Moll

Hello Hazel . nice to have you with us


And thankyou for all the fruit tree advice , I never knew you had to have same type trees , so I learned a valuable lesson


Wombling , I knew about Tesco, but not about Asda , and I made a trip to our local Asda and found a few till receipts , put them into the system when I got home , but none were eligible , Is it hard to come across any till receipts , that would get a money off coupon back ??????? just wondered if Asda had their prices sorted , and its hard to get them ?


Doing ok with the savings, I got scuppered today , as DS phoned to say he was taking my Gd to a play centre and did I want to go , , ,,,,,yesssssss, . grown ups are free , but £3.50 per child , I offered to pay , so that bit wasn't so bad out the budget, weve been here before , and I took a few nibbles and drink with me , but bought ds a big breakfast , and gd a jam sandwich meal ( Just a couple of sarnies, few crisps on the plate, and some cucumber on the plate , pop for both ,,,total ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,£11.50 !!!!!!!!!! oh dear , and I didn't have anything , at least its not a regular thing , and gd has been poorly , so id buy her anything to cheer her up , but I think that's extorsionate prices for what they got to eat, so a big hit today , but still on plan , and going strong , need to do a farm foods shop tomorrow , see on their flyer that the 5 litre Fairy , has risen to £6.99 . now in sure it was only £3 , when they first had it , so Moll will be looking for an alternative , Ate rice & chilli meal for dinner out the freezer , and stew out the freezer for tomorrow , so food is lasting well at home , The dog needed his tablets from the vet £54 ) luckily this is budgeted for , and he has to have them for joint pain , . and DH has fitted the new clutch in my car today , so that's done , and thankfully we just have to pay for parts, Good luck with all you want to achieve, Ive got a nice hot bubble bath with my name on it waiting , and then im off to bed , so goodnight xx