2019 Frugal Living Challenge

little_green

was just over budget for June. Hoping July to really knuckle down. Have made changes to my spreadsheet that should hopefully make for more accurate tracking

mumof3.12kindebt

Hello fellow frugalers , I hope you are all well. Hugs love positivity peace and prayers to those that need them.

Resisted going to the supermarket tonight for treats to watch the England game. So we have achieved our first no spend day of the month.
Our first mortgage payment went out today and we received the cashback from the bank for the mortgage deal we took out. So that has gone straight to savings. I have been posting on my diary and it's so strange to see it go from debt free wannabe , house deposit diary and now £10k emergency fund since October 2017 ! :j I'm so so glad I took the steps to do frugal living and feel so privileged and blessed for what we have achieved. All the 6-7 day working weeks have been paying off. :money:
I'm off to bed now. Good night everyone.

parsniphead

Mumof3. I love you signature. So inspiring.

10k emergency fund. That's fantastic.

Treasurequeen

I am back, have been AWOL on MSE for a while now. Last couple of months have been full of spending but I am trying to curb my 'stress shopping purchases'

I had a funeral last week: outfit came from a charity shop as I don't own anything black apart from leggings and boots. Managed to get a few summer clothes in charity shop too. got a pair of shoes, 4 tops, 2 dresses for under £20.00.

all my plants on my balcony died for some reason last month so I had to buy some more. I am growing herbs so I can dry them for teas.

i am going to start making some beauty products instead of buying them: face mask, scrubs etc. one to reduce plastic waste and two to save some money. scrub has been made and it was very easy and smells divine.

Hettyhound

I made some gooseberry jam this week with the fruit from my gooseberry bush, now considering rhubarb and ginger jam making at the weekend. I also made some chocolate and banana granola this morning using bits from the cupboard and a very ripe banana; it smells lovely and I’m looking forward to breakfast in the morning!

OhhEnnEmm

I've cut down landlord expenses by over 40% this year over the last. I just started taking control of my own expenses since the expensive agents didn't do their job anyway. Was getting stupid bonus fees for simple tasks too! Because they're all students they called an electrician out when the bloody fridge fuse went. I got a £100 surcharge on top of usual payments. My personal electrician who I now use on all properties would have laughed and out of loyalty to me being a long term customer wouldn't have bloody charged us a hundred quid thats for sure.

Another example. One girl lost her key and they charged her £5 to replace it (i found this out off her) but then charged me £20 for their time! A key cut down the road from me is £3 for crying out loud.

little_green

how do people keep track of how much things cost when they are out at a busy/noisy club/pub? most of those types of places dont bother giving receipt if I pay cash, whichi s what i prefer to work with.
I'm trying to tally up my spend from last night. I thought i wrote down how much cash i left with but I appear to have written it down wrong.
Calculations of what i thought i spent dont add up to what i have left (i'm out by quite a bit). Stumped!!

little_green

little_green wrote: »

Nooooo I bought 2 items online on 15th of this month. The website only offers 14 days returns (unlike most that offer 28 days) so I'm literally just days over the return period and of course both items have just been reduced by a £10 so I could have saved £20!!!
I'm so mad at myself for not being more patient I also feel a bit irked that it's literally like a day over my return period

This is where I feel like I should be stricter with myself

Omg you won't believe it and can't believe I'm writing this. Both items now have an extra 20% off the reduced sale price. They have also reduced the delivery price too ..... :wall: can't believe this!! If I'd bought them now it would have been almost £40 cheaper altogether I don't know if I'm more mad at myself or that website!!

cw18

Started at my 'new' office today The move happened a lot quicker than anyone expected - they have up to 28 days to move you, and I've been moved in just 10

I'm supposed to be getting an entry key card tomorrow (I'm one of the slower workers, so there won't always be someone else at the office to let me in at the end of day), and the manager is trying to sort out getting the lock changed on a locker (plenty of unused lockers, but no keys for any of them!). Until I get a locker I'm going to have to carry everything I need there and back, so all commutes will be walking as I can't carry my boots when I run !! I could (at a push) cycle, but there's nowhere for me to store my cycling gear while I'm out delivering !!


I was asked to start an hour early this morning (overtime), which meant I had to get up at the same time as I used to get up for the other office I get a lie-in tomorrow as there's no early overtime, and I need to drive as someone who lives near the office is dropping off 3 crisp boxes full of DVDs he no longer wants for me - no way I could carry those home on foot.... No idea what's amongst them, so I'll have a couple of evenings of fun sifting through those. If there are any I already have or have no interest in I'll see if my elder son or my daughter are interested in them - if not I'll drop them off at one of the local charity shops I've bought a load from (my latest batch were on a '5 for 50p' offer - would have been rude to come away empty handed from that )

cw18

little_green wrote: »

I don't know if I'm more mad at myself or that website!!

If I hold off ordering something in the hope there'll soon be a sale, you can guarantee my size and/or choice of colour will sell out before the sale starts!


You must have thought them worth the money when you ordered them, so I think you should stop beating yourself up about it