2018 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

Moll wrote: »

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 ?

Think it just depends what you buy Moll, whenever i go to Asda and womble my receipt I always get at least £2 often more.

Hazelisok welcome! I'd love to live the frugal life and drop to one wage - unfortunately I'm the main breadwinner so I think that would work out better for DH then for me :rotfl:

Well, its blooming freezing here - managed to survive only putting the heating on for an hour to take the chill off and putting an extra jumper on.

Spent most of the day going through the twins wardrobes and filtering out all the things which were too small so I could list them on the selling site. Sold two items already and theyve actually been collected! :eek::eek: so thats another £6.50 to the jar.
Also went through all the stuff they have in the next size so I know what they still need and wont buy what they already have.

Went trough all my budgets today and updated my figures - my total debt is now £20,563. That means my debt has reduced by £300 in the last 4 weeks and by £487 since I started on 1st Jan. DFD has been brought forward two months too! Still so much to do but its a good start :j

shish100

Morning everyone,

Just been away for a few days in out camper van. It was exciting, only a few tweaks need to be made to what we have done. Even in the chilly February temperatures in Cornwall the van wasn't that cold
I have been keeping a rough tally of how much the holiday has cost for 5 nights. So far it's not looking too bad, I keep saying to other we could have tried harder. For example we only cooked breakfasts in the camper and one evening meal. OH is saying look how much we normally spend, this holiday is bargain in comparison. So I'm taking away some tweaks for next time, but am not going to destroy OH feeling of happy - it's all about the incremental changes!

need_an_answer

Hello.

I may be following Hazel over from the wombling thread and wonder if I can join you all too?

My life has been totally upended in the last few weeks going from the security of good incomes to suddenly finding out my DH is being made redundant soon after 30 years,a total blow!
I've been a stay at home mum for more years than I care to admit and even the offspring have started to fly the nest to uni,and whilst there is an less of a presence of DS at home he still represents a large financial part of our life too.

I've dabbled in the past with moneysaving and its usually been more out of curiosity rather than need and I admit it's proved previously to give us lots of perks,experiences and things we wouldn't normally afforded,but now we seem to be entering a whole new territory that just frightens me going forward.

I will read back on the thread and hope to contribute a lot more going forward but in the meantime I'm hoping for a friendly ear or someone to cheer me through the next few months of uncertainty.
I'm at a very low ebb at the moment wondering how it will all pan out.

I'm at the moment not going to set an annual budget,purely because I think it will deflate me more than encourage,however I think the mini challenges are the way forward,monthly food budgeting is something that I really would like to initially address so will probably opt for a figure in March and see how that goes.

In the past I have been a self confessed beauty junkie and have many half used things that need using up,thats been ongoing for at least the last year and total spend on toiletries is now minimal.
As you can see by my sig I am already a womble,not to everyones taste but sometimes its the thing that will actually get me out the house and keep me active!
I am also an avid user already of my spreadsheets and as in previous years my goal for this one is £200 a month of freebies,be that free products,trials vouchers for surveys etc and free cinema screenings.
At the moment I'm just a little up on the year but will update more fully at the start of March.

evuka

need_an_answer wrote: »

Hello.


My life has been totally upended in the last few weeks going from the security of good incomes to suddenly finding out my DH is being made redundant soon after 30 years,a total blow!
I've been a stay at home mum for more years than I care to admit and even the offspring have started to fly the nest to uni,and whilst there is an less of a presence of DS at home he still represents a large financial part of our life too.

I will read back on the thread and hope to contribute a lot more going forward but in the meantime I'm hoping for a friendly ear or someone to cheer me through the next few months of uncertainty.
I'm at a very low ebb at the moment wondering how it will all pan out.

Hello :wave: need an answer, welcome to the thread!

Sorry to hear about your situation but on a positive note, you are at the right place! Uncertainty is the biggest enemy, I believe, with all the whatifs, whys, hows...

Is it possible for you, your hubby and DS to have a meeting to discuss the situation and sketch up a few ways to handle it?
If everyone feels there is a safe place to talk about their feelings and fears and you are there for each other for support, it could take away most of the uncertainty by substituting it with the "we are here for each other, we can do it together" mentality.

If your husband worked for the same company for 30 years, it means he is valuable and reliable. This situation may give the last kick for DS to become a bit more individual - he may not be able to contribute to the household but he can decrease his reliance on your finances, even if only a bit.

In the very first post, Frugaldom listed several links to previous threads, you can find lots of valueable info there as well.

Deep breaths, you can do it! :money:

Tanya12345

Howdy need-an-answer ! This is the very best place for support and ideas, if there is a frugal way it'll be here !! Like has already been said, uncertainty is so debilitating but just let this fantastic bunch help, you are not alone xx
My post for today is having spent the morning on a sourdough bread course ( already paid for !) I have 6 loaves cooling down on the kitchen counter plus haven't spent any of this week's precious grocery money yet. After my performance so far this month that is a real positive. The hens are laying and there is a couple of meals worth of kale/leeks and purple sprouting at the lottie. Am starting again with the spending journal as I became too cowardly to update it..... Can't believe how my mind thought I could ignore the spends then they'd go away !! Meal tonight sorted and will go on a fridge/ freezer and larder safari in a mo and plan the next 7 days. Happy frugally everyone and thanks for being here x

Frugaldom

First up, I'd like to 'officially' welcome HazelisOK and Need an Answer, I hope you have fun frugaling and learn to love the lifestyle (or recording it) as much as I do. I've added both your names to the challenger list in post 2.

Mini Challenge for March

I missed my usual February fitness challenge as there were just too many other things going on, plus DS wedding meant going away for a few days and I certainly wasn't going to leave out any available meal etc when it was included in the hotel deal. :beer::rotfl: That's why I'm now going to have a Minimalist March Challenge. I have bought all the shopping I need to last until 28th February, bringing my total spend for 2 full months to exactly £60 for the 2 of us. I have a student arriving tomorrow night who will be staying for a week, so that will be one extra mouth to feed for 3 meals each day - £7! :rotfl: My students know this is the budget, as they come here to learn more about frugal living & working while practicing their Englis skills - albeit with a Scottish accent. I will be frugaling like mad, as this particular student loves learning about batch cooking, baking and breadmaking. Food shopping will be minimised for minimalist March.

Here is a list of things I plan on doing to minimise the budget during Minimalist March:

• Declutter food cupboards
• Declutter wardrobe
• Recycle or give away all surplus to requirement items
• Take stuff to the charity/community shop
• Tie s many visits into a single trip to save fuel and minimise travel
• Bake and cook more - student is vegetarian, so I'll forfeit my meat for that week
• Work in the garden & polytunnel recycling everything I can salvage from last year
• Start a new food garden
• Plant a foraging hedge (we love hedgerow jelly)
• Take hardwood cuttings from wherever possible
• Cut down on Internet use via PAYG sim card data
• Get back to cycling rather than driving
• Cook more of the windfall apples and last year's blackcurrants into jam, jelly, sauce and/or pie filling for easier storage
• Retrieve an old fridge that was destined for the tip and turn it into this year's apple store at the barn
• Give the holiday caravan a makeover
• Work out a pony budget (I now have 3 rehomed ponies that need hay every day and that stuff costs a fortune! )
• Declutter, declutter, declutter and then declutter the decluttered clutter some more - there has to be something worth selling! :rotfl:

Bebelles_2

Hello everyone!
feb is a write off for me, glad its such a short month!
started off well with paying 300 off debts only to break my glasses, got a free voucher for the eye rest but change in prescription led to two new pairs!
New job petrol spend so far is about £60. i have been using sains for the nectar points anyone know of any places for regular fills ups with rewards?
hope you are all well, stay warm!

indigowarrior

:hello:
I have completely lost track. :rotfl: I ended up emptying my envelopes and slimming my budget down considerably to pay £450 off my debts. Whilst this seemed a good thing to do at the time I am regretting it now. :rotfl:

Unfortunatly I have to go up north and see my grandfather who is in critical condition. He went into have a heart bypass on Tuesday and hasnt woken up since. They have had to paralyze his lungs as he was struggling to breath.:(

Luckily my cousin covered my coach fare, my best friend has said I can sleep on her couch. So just have to cover transport and food for the two days.

LittleGingerFox

Hi all, welcome to newbies It's a lovely community so settle in and get cosy xx
My big achievement this month is paying off and closing a credit card. I then wanted to hammer way at the next one (over £6500) but a house I rent out needs some renovation so I've made an overpayment on the CC but not as much as I wanted. Ah well, its more than the minimum and we'll see what money is left over at the end of the month that I can throw at it. I've already started on the challenge by putting lots of things on ebay and gumtree.
Has anyone any experience with doing leaflet distribution? I thought it might be an easy way to make a but of money? Anyone any thoughts or experience about it?

Kerry_Woman

indigowarrior - Sending you hugs.