2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Tanya12345

Hi Fruggles, spend today £27 in Morrisons ( within budget and on list ) smiley face....
£10.20 in sainsburys Eeek sad face..... There were bargains though so I'm hoping that I'll recoup some of that another week ! Still, hens are laying and my first attempt at sourdough bread , after the course last week, is rising in the kitchen so fingers crossed. Looking at all my gardening books to get tips on taking cuttings - would like to start new garden without spending a fortune !!

EmergencyNurse

hazelisok wrote: »

Emergency Nurse - Oh dear. Well it's working on the saving money front. I hope you are not running out of food.

:rotfl: I'm ok for food, I'm actually I'm eating more than normal cos I'm off work!!

Treasurequeen

I got a letter through the post from my local council saying my rent has gone down and another letter from dwp saying my disability benefit has been increased. So I need to adjust my budgets. I have been searching for a tall bookcase for months now and on local gumtree I found a vintage one for £20 it needs a bit of love and care and a very good clean but its well made and is solid wood. So I've saved some money as I had a budget of up to £100. ive got my nans birthday this month but have a budget set, ive got fully stocked larder cupboard but need to do a fridge and freezer shop and then that should last me a month.

Frugaldom

Good afternoon frugalers, I hope everyone has survived the worst of the latest batch of wintery weather. We were very lucky that it missed us, only the freezing conditions, lack of water, lack of drainage and power cuts to navigate. :rotfl: My student is now safely back in Germany afer her epic survival skills training in Scotland! :rotfl:

The weather has been dry enough to get out and plant more hedges around Frugaldom - these are all for foraging berries, I've planted my onions sets and the garlic has grown up almost 10cm already. Garlic and onions are things I use a lot of, so it bodes well if I can grow plenty. Hens are laying fairly well, all things considered, so everytime guests arrive, I seem to be making pancakes! They don't mind, as they also get some.

Only a few small spends so far this month but I am still holding out before doing a proper grocery shop. There is always so much food in the house and at the caravan that I don't think I would run out even if we were snowed in for a month!

EmergencyNurse, you are doing well with your no spend days I hope you don't mind, but I have now added your name into our challengers' list in post 2 of this forum.

I can now confirm that pasta with grated cheese, chopped pepperami and diced chicken will be made again - no cheese saice needed, I just added a little bit butter and a splash of milk. (The mini pepperamis were from App Foods at a riidiculusly low price, something like 1p per box and they've been lurking in the cupboard since last year because H doesn't like them! Now I have a way of using them up in pizza topping, quiche, pasta etc :j

shish100

Have been foraging in the cupboards, tea consisted of an omelette with peppers, onion, cheese and ham. All were looking sorry for themselves, but it tasted delicious . Aiming to wait until the weekend to go shopping, with a strict list of items and errands.

For Minimalist March,
I have recycled all the old parish mags that seem to have made it in to random corners of the house.
Been making a dent in the food in the cupboards
Listed a couple of items on an auction site
Started a pile for other things to list for auction
Rummaged through my seeds to see what needs planting in the next couple of weeks

I feel excited for the weekend - can't wait to get back in the garden properly.

PennyGrabber

Hi all,

Really impressed with myself. I went ysing yesterday, in THREE shops. There were no good ys things, so I bought NOTHING. In any of them! I can't remember the last time I walked out of a sm without buying anything, and I did it three times yesterday!

What's even better, is that because I didn't get anything, my first thought was is get a chippy tea, but then I had a stern chat with myself and went home and cooked something.

I know I will mess up from time to time, but I really feel this year that I'm changing my mindset.

So, as of yesterday, 8 days of March so far, 7 nsds for groceries, and only one spend otherwise, which was the new battery for the car! I'll take that for minimalist March!!

In terms of decluttering, I've put out this week's and last week's bins, plus a couple that had been hanging around, I've done two of today's decluttering tasks, and I'm debating whether to do another one or have a cuppa before work... I don't know why I'm up and attam today, but im trying to take advantage of it!!

PG x

PG x

Kerreh

How has it been over a month since a post? Still lurking just that the time seems to have run away with me... summary for Feb:

February plans at the end of January were:

• Meal plan for all of February
• Stick to budget
• Cut the grass! Silly eh... it's already starting to grow so I just need one good weekend day to get that done
• Read more books and possibly pick up my cross stitch again

So February Successes:

• I meal planned
• I've so far taken a packed lunch to work every working day of the year
• I stuck to budget! I stuck to budget so much so that the day the snow hit was food shop day which resulted in three days stuck in the house with nothing but bread and two eggs. Repetitive but necessary as I was determined to hold out and get back into a supermarket for a proper (aka following the list) shop which I did on Monday.

March Plans:

• Meal Plan
• Stick to budget
• Completely clear the credit card
• Pay for a new dining table chair (budgeted)
• Cut the grass (snow permitting)
• Lose a bit more weight (1.5 stone down from Jan 2nd so far)

lynnejk

Still progressing well.

Eating from food and freezer stocks over the last few weeks has certainly made a difference. One freezer now only about a quarter full and the shelves of stock in the pantry cupboard are reduced by a whole shelf :j

Have only bought grocery twice this month (one day was just cereal and milk for DH as run out) - so seven NSDs

We are off on a week's holibobs to Valencia tomorrow - bought and paid for before DH was made redundant. We meet up with my DS, who lives and works in Ibiza permanently, before he opens his bar again for the season starting for the Easter vacations. We run a separate budget for this so monies already saved.

Hope you all have a great, frugal week and I'll 'see' you all on my return

Hasta luego
Lx

Kerry_Woman

lynnejk - Hope you enjoy your time in Valencia.

System

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Hi all,

Really impressed with myself. I went ysing yesterday, in THREE shops. There were no good ys things, so I bought NOTHING. In any of them! I can't remember the last time I walked out of a sm without buying anything, and I did it three times yesterday!

What's even better, is that because I didn't get anything, my first thought was is get a chippy tea, but then I had a stern chat with myself and went home and cooked something.

I know I will mess up from time to time, but I really feel this year that I'm changing my mindset.

So, as of yesterday, 8 days of March so far, 7 nsds for groceries, and only one spend otherwise, which was the new battery for the car! I'll take that for minimalist March!!

In terms of decluttering, I've put out this week's and last week's bins, plus a couple that had been hanging around, I've done two of today's decluttering tasks, and I'm debating whether to do another one or have a cuppa before work... I don't know why I'm up and attam today, but im trying to take advantage of it!!

PG x

PG x

Well done. Sometimes looking for YS's is so disheartening isn't it? Mr M's seem to have a lot of YS bread lately every time I go in...think somebody must be over ordering...:rotfl: