2018 Frugal Living Challenge

DawnW

I'm still here. I don't post much, but read every post, am keeping my spreadsheet and spending diary up to date meticulously, and it has really helped, as the last year has been challenging, with health issues, having to help out relatives etc. Lots of expense over the next couple of months coming up on vehicles (tax, MOTs, services, repairs, new tyres etc) :eek: but we have the money to pay for it

lindez

I have started my spread sheet it is my first one !! I cant believe how much I am spending on direct debits I had three life insurances on there, one was from my old house 14 years ago, I have phone up the insurance company and closed two of them, that is a saving of 28.00 per month. My gas and electric is 124.00 per month so I am on a mission to go on comparison sites to see if I can get a cheaper deal. I live alone so this is an awful lot of money for one person in a 3 bedroom house, so off to turn some of the thermostats down. I manged to pay extra 25.00 off cc 1 yesterday. I am now going to concentrate on one card at a time and hope to clear all debt by December 2019, its a long time off, but I have just spent willy nilly on cc, not only for myself but mostly on my two adult children and grandchildren I never say no to them. Thank you for adding me to the group. Has anyone got any ideas of what I can grow easily, I have a garden, but I am not a gardener I just about manage to cut the grass !!!

FrankieM

I'm still here. Bumbling along, trying to figure out what this frugal life looks for me.

Did a long of work today, sooo tired. But no spending.

I have worked out that I have £70 left for the month. For fuel and odds and sods. So it's a mini challenge here

frugalish

Sooo, I'm a bit shocked if I'm honest :eek:. The budget is much worse than I thought. There are some savings we can make (we've cancelled Sky and DH's gym today, my Kindle Unlimited and charity donations), but in order to meet our basic expenses we need to increase our income. Basically, we each need to earn £400 per week. DH manages that most weeks, but I don't. So I need to get cracking on the Etsy shop, ebaying, and getting more work in the day job. Sharpish.

On a lighter note, I've had six NSDs out of the past eight. Start as you mean to go on

datlex

Hi folks not posted in a while on this thread. Have been reading through it though. Few things have stood out. Porridge- I like mine really thick so you can almost pick it up. Brand snobbery- I am not a fan of down branding as I think it encourages people to stick with more expensive brands when they don't like the next cheapest alternative. I prefer best value product. So for some items the value range is best, for others the premium brand. e.g. spaghetti hoops I prefer Tesco to Heinz but with floor wipes I find the Dettol better than the Tesco. Folk feeling guilty about takeaways- I get one every week with the OH from a local Indian restaurant. I make mine last two days. There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself- budget for it then you won't feel guilty.

I have not noticed anyone mention Iceland. I find I can save loads by buying things from there such as chicken breast mince, frozen veg and other items. £35 for a free delivery but you are likely to get enough on that to fill the freezer. Their bonus card scheme is good too as every £20 you save you get £2 free. (sometimes you get additional bonuses).

Tomorrow I have to do a huge spend at Boots- 81p on conditioner.

Nice short pay week this one. Last week due to the bank holiday did not get paid until Thursday, this week it will be back to Weds. I lose track of the monthly pay days most folk have. Being paid weekly, I never have the payday weekend or the long wait to be paid. Mind you I do have to ensure my weekly pay covers my monthly bills.

Frugaldom

Frugalish, good luck with your new budget and weekly income challenge. I'm from a very small and rural background so I cannot even contemplate those sorts of earnings, far less outgoings but if there is anything I can do to help you with your numbercrunching, it's what I do

Datlex, we don;t have any Iceland near us but there is a Farmf00ds about 20-25 miles away that distributes money off vouchers quite regularly. I think it works out at 10% off - I am never there at the right times to use any vouchers I have ever rec eived!

cw18

datlex wrote: »

I have not noticed anyone mention Iceland. I find I can save loads by buying things from there such as chicken breast mince, frozen veg and other items. £35 for a free delivery but you are likely to get enough on that to fill the freezer. Their bonus card scheme is good too as every £20 you save you get £2 free. (sometimes you get additional bonuses).

I love their chicken nuggets and family sized pies, and tend to get some dusted fishes when they're on multi buy - but I always shop in store as I almost never spend more than £8 in a single transaction (and I only spend that much when they're doing a 'spend £x however many times to get £y free). The normal reward for loading the card if £1 for every £20, but they periodically offer an additional £1 per £10 (meaning £3 per £20). When they do that I load a good chunk of money onto my card - show me a bank that pays that kind of interest rate on such a small investment with instant access to it, and I shall let them have my money to look after instead

frugalish

Thank you, Frugaldom, you're very kind :A. I realise we don't have a hugely frugal budget (yet!!) but I needed to get it down on "paper" so it doesn't get away from me again

I did a weekly income challenge so that I wouldn't feel completely overwhelmed by the £3,000 a month that's needed!! :eek::eek::eek: Just the thought of that makes me feel very sick. But £550-ish of that per month is on cc minimum payments. We have a vintage VW campervan we're preparing to sell, which should raise a chunk, and DH has an inheritance coming sometime this year which should pay off most if not all of the rest, and hopefully give us back our 3 month emergency fund. That's the plan, anyway. That *should* leave us debt free, and this time I mean forever!

Another big weekly expense that's going to be put on hold is £40 pw for counselling / psychotherapy. For me, it's not a luxury, I really benefit from it (it's also what I do as my main job). But atm we can't afford it, so it's going on hold for 6 months or so. That takes my weekly budget down to £360 in one hit! :T

I've really thought hard about whether we need two cars (well, atm we've got three, but the camper's for sale ), but because of the work we both do we both need to be able to travel. There isn't enough work in our little rural town for me to give up my car, otherwise I would. I've even thought about selling the car and just working from home, but I can't make the sums work... Yet!

Anyway, really sorry for rambling on! It helps to get it out of my head I'm still waking up in the night in a panic, but at least we've got a handle on the problem now. Thanks guys for the welcome and support :A

System

Still reading this thread although not posting much. Love reading everybody's posts and tips. So much to learn here.
Being as frugal as I can...spent £23 on food on Saturday for the week for 2 of us. OH was with me and think I would have got it under £20 if he hadn't been.....biscuits:eek: and a bird nut feeder were thrown into the trolley. :rotfl:
Not actually done a spread sheet of spending yet, as TBH I am not sure I have the time to update it all the time.

Still onwards and upwards...

Buffythedebtslayer

I am still here, Frugal is debatable. Between the car and garden and the car again any budget has gone out of the window. I have a loan and savings and was debating what to do, but then my dentist phoned...... Yeah so that money will have to be found some how.

I am going to be on a use up everything in sight for the rest of the week. I do have to go shopping for my sister on Wednesday but will resist temptation.

I really need it to stop raining............