2019 Frugal Living Challenge

Working_Mum

little_green wrote: »

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!!

I always for a receipt I am afraid!! This means that if I don't have one and my purse doesn't balance then I have a smaller gap to fill in!!

I always have post-it notes in my bag and sometimes I will scribble a note on one of those and thrust it in my purse as a reminder. I tend to empty my purse every day and balance it in a little book! I like to know what I have to spend

Crafty_Lisa_Hampshire

I managed to increase my no spend days by 1 in June. At last. I had 8 no spend days instead of 7. Obviously still need to work on that but its progress.


I got my refund from my cancelled holiday nice and quickly and I have now found a working holiday for £170.00 which I have booked on. I have to wait until September rather than getting my holiday in July but at least I will be getting a holiday and on the plus side is quite a bit cheaper than the other one I booked (although won't be quite so relaxing).


I started working on my garden as I really want to get this sorted this year and for my birthday my Dad helped me build a raised bed and I am currently laying a very small patio. I was really impressed with myself as I found a reclamation yard near me where I got a load of scaffold boards to make the huge raised bed (never would have thought of doing that before starting my frugaling/eco journey). It is good solid wood that will last a lifetime for £78.00. If I had purchased the new wood it would have cost me a lot more than that. I would definitely go there again if I needed things for DIY/garden, it was a complete aladdin's cave of interesting bits and pieces. I am really pleased with how the raised bed had turned out and lots of friends of mine have said how nice it is looking. I also went to my local tip and whilst I was down there had a look at the garden chairs. I bought two perfectly good wooden foldaway chairs for £10.00. Can't be bad. I also have an old pallet which I am going to turn into a herb garden. Need to wait for some more funds before I can progress with that but I am pleased with what I have achieved.


On the sewing side of things I have started to make bowl/plate covers. I wasn't sure how they were going to turn out but, again, the first one I made seems to have been a success so I can now use up loads of larger scraps of fabric to make more. I may give some away as part of Christmas presents this year as well.


I have sorted through all my fabrics and found a load of odds and sods which aren't big enough for garments but may be big enough to turn into other things. I have set myself the challenge this month to work through this pile and see how many things I can make.


I don't think there is much else to add on the frugaling side. Thank you all for your continuing inspiration.

Nonnadiluca

How did you make the plate/bowl covers please? It's an idea I've been thinking about for a while but not sure of the best way to go about it.

2Scratters

Well its real now, here I am in semi retirement. Frugal will be kicking in with immediate effect!!
Started off with the rhubarb got 3 new plants - gifted - all a bit skinny on the stems. What did I do throw them away to start, then found out to just freeze them till I had enough to make something with them. Checked in the fridge and saw a large box of strawberries and thought mmm in reality I wont eat them before they over ripen... so in the freezer they went too
onwards and upwards

have a good day

little_green

Working_Mum wrote: »

I always for a receipt I am afraid!! This means that if I don't have one and my purse doesn't balance then I have a smaller gap to fill in!!

I always have post-it notes in my bag and sometimes I will scribble a note on one of those and thrust it in my purse as a reminder. I tend to empty my purse every day and balance it in a little book! I like to know what I have to spend

Because the music is so loud you cant hear what they say lol. I roughly know what the drinks cost but not exactly. Oh well, guess lesson learn, will just shout at the barman i want a receipt lol

cw18

I got confirmation today that my day off system has changed at work....


After almost 3 years and 8 months of working 5 days weeks with every Sunday off plus one 'rotational day' that didn't rotate (and I rarely found out until Friday or Saturday which day I had the next week) I now know where I am until I retire (or leave this office, or the office votes for a change).


I now work 6 day weeks - but only for 5 weeks. And then I get a whole week off. I was really, really hoping to get this (one of the reasons I wanted this office, though losing dependancy on the car was more important), but it had been suggested earlier this year that 'new' staff were coming in on the system I've been on.


This is going to make a huuuuge difference to my personal life, as I'll have time to do jobs I need to do around my house (one day is never enough - by the time I get up and moving and get things ready to start, it's almost time to pack up). And I can now book dental and optician appointments without having to be on annual leave and not on holiday. It also gives me the chance to do jobs for my parents, and the opportunity to spend more time in the Lakes (I've had very few Saturdays, and when I've got them the place we stay at has often been in use already - but now I can book a year or more ahead). As long as my car passes it's MOT at the end of this month I might even manage a trip to Frugaldom now :dance:

mumof3.12kindebt

Thanks parsniphead. Should of explained a bit better we are currently saving our £10k emergency fund. We have £5500 left to go

Skip run today. And dropping clothes off at the clothes bank. Hoping for a no spend day today.

I'm going to admit we havent done very well since moving spending alot of money on stuff we really don't need. And rediculous amounts on food. My aim for the rest of this month Is to rain in on it so we don't end up dipping into our savings.

I'm hoping to have the £10k in our bank by Christmas so that we can start the new year paying extra to the mortgage. I would love to get the mortgage clear in ten years. And it's possible on our current income but it wouldn't allow for any extras and in ten years time my eldests childhood will be over so we are going to aim for ten years but I want to allow for money towards experiences and some holidays during that time too. One big and once in a life time trip we plan to do in the next 4 years is a trip to Disney land paris. If I can get the time off work we may turn it into a roadtrip and travel some of europe too.

Another thing which I'm slowly getting use to (and I'm not moaning trust me I am extremely greatful) all the cleaning and tidying that comes with a much bigger house. This house is 2.5 times the size of our 2 bed flat we were in. I'm also now working full time and communting 15 hours a week whereas previously I worked 24 hours and only spent 2 hours a week commuting. Although I did do 60-70 hour weeks since February to save up for the house.

Have a lovely frugal weekend everyone.

Love, hugs, peace, positivity and prayers to you all

FrankieM

Hi All
cw the new job sounds great. I'd love something where you got a chunk of time off. A 2 day weekend never feels long enough!

Not such a frugal month here.

Some planned spends (though more than I was expecting) and then the dreaded unplanned spends that seem to always involve alcohol, snacks and takeaways.

Perhaps I should just budget for them? lol

chocolatelover93

Not been so frugal here, DS has been ill, my MH is in the toilet so it's taken a back seat but I will try to be more frugal

C xx

Shopaholic_no_more

Hi everyone

Hope all is well with you all.
Here is my update:

I had a letter from one of the credit card companies I had 0% on but has now expired (I had to leave it here because at the time I had nowhere else to move the money to ). The letter basically said that for the last 12 months I had paid more in interest than the actual capital:eek:. This was the kick up the backside I needed as I got quite upset about how people seriously get fleeced even when they are trying to reduce their debt:mad:. So I contacted my bank who I have a car loan with anyway and asked if I could add this credit card debt to my loan and extend the term to 5 years and they agreed and so I now have a 5 year loan at 5.8% instead of the shocking interest rate I had before. Ok it is still a loan but the interest is way less and I have a set amount I pay each month and hopefully as time goes on I will be able to overpay which will bring the term time down :j

I am now selling quite a bit of stuff that has been lying around the house for the last few years on my local FB sale sites and so far have made £220!! This is going towards our week in Edinburgh In August :T. I really do have the bug for this now and am looking around the house to see what else I can sell!!. The other half had better watch out he could come home to an empty house one day :rotfl: