2019 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

lessonlearned wrote: »

Hi everyone.....

Is it too late to join the party.

Will go back and read the thread for tips and ideas.

This is a great time to join as it's final quarter round-up which means preparing for next year. Welcome to our frugal living, virtual family.

lessonlearned

Thanks for the welcome.

Just managed to save myself £294 on my car insurance. Wahoo. A great start.

I've also done a fridge/freezer inventory, going to have a use up month and see if I can reduce my grocery budget.

Sorted my small change jar, £20 bagged up. Earned £15 interest on my meagre savings......:rotfl:

Used my meerkat 241 yesterday so cheap trip to the cinema. NSD today.

It's a start. . Onwards and upwards.

lessonlearned

Great news.

In addition to saving myself £294 on the car insurance, I hit the chazzers and stocked up on knitwear and some winter skirts. I have lost three stones (deliberately::rotfl:) and was a bit low on winter clothes. Anyway I spent just £20 and got a bagful. Well pleased.

I also checked my current account to make sure all the direct debits had gone through. I expected to have around £300 in there, turned out I have over £1000. I have double and triple checked everything and I don't appear to have forgotten anything......so I must have just miscalculated. Maths never was my strong point.

I shall just put it into my savings and ignore it.

A good start this week. Hopefully there's nothing nasty ahead so I can now make some real progress and start overpaying the mortgage.

This challenge is really making me stop and think about where I spend my money and what further cutbacks I can make.

Hettyhound

Been reading but not posting much recently. Saved £11 on house insurance and hopefully cash back will track properly. I’ve got to look for car insurance early November; got the magic 21 days before marked on the calendar. Not going to make a Christmas cake this year as no one else eats it but me so no point. My energy tariff exit fee expires on 12th November so going to try MSE cheap energy club; I’m over £100 in credit with current provider and they have just reduced DD to £41 so hoping I’m in a good position to move smoothly. Car due mot on 3rd November and I’m not hopeful but we will see.

Made a lovely and cheap cauliflower and potato dal on Friday, riverford recipe tweaked a bit. Cauli cost 95p, had potatoes and split peas already, made tea on Friday and two portions for freezer

Shopaholic_no_more

Hi everyone
Not posted for a while but have been following religiously
Ok so have been trudging on with getting my debt down and changing my outlook on money and FINALLY I am seeing some progress!! Am so so chuffed ...I have paid off one credit card completely, no longer using my overdraft and paid off one store card ( I only had one thankfully!). Checked my credit rating and it has gone from good to excellent!! I couldn’t believe it ...had to double check...but yes it is there in black and white!
Still have two more credit cards to pay off and they are not small sums sadly but I am deffo going in the right direction. I get paid on the 19th of every month and so far this month I have 15 no spend days. Amazing.
I have started doing a bullet journal for my finances and putting in debt quotes along side my figures to keep me motivated and this is really working for me.
So determined now. I cannot wait until the day I can tell you all I am finally credit card debt free. Bring it on

Siebrie

Well done, OLaney!!

sinkorswim2018

Also been reading and not posting lately. I've gone over on several areas of my budget recently, eating out and groceries are the worst culprits. Making soup and trying to eat from the freezer a bit to try and turn that around.
Got a £1 trail pack from simply c00k. This is the one that provides the spices etc but you buy the main ingredients. Tried one so far, the wild mushroom penne, have to say it was lovely. Not very money saving at full price but might buy their one off pack from time to time.
Got some reduced indoor ceramic plant pots in b&q today for some orchids that need repotting. They have some really good reductions on the pots of anyone is interested. My theory is indoor plants are a lot cheaper than buying fresh flowers.
Despite going over budget I am managing to overpay my mortgage by £50 amd month and save £260 a month. Looking good for.my home improvements (I plan to take out on my mortgage in two years and extent the house). Also hoping to get a promotion in the next month which will increase.my wage, reduce my in social hours and give me weekends off. Fingers crossed.

2Scratters

In responce to frugal queen and her shrinking thermals:(, I tend not to put my tops into the dryer at this time of year as mine too shrink...It would be easier if it was me doing the shrinking instead, that however is continually work in progress:o.
Went shopping then other week with my sister and got her bargain hunting on the bottom shelf for bedding in JL no less. She came out happy with her very good find:T

Frugaldom

lessonlearned wrote: »

Great news.

In addition to saving myself £294 on the car insurance...

Well done! That is a massive saving!

OLaney wrote: »

...I have paid off one credit card completely, no longer using my overdraft and paid off one store card ( I only had one thankfully!). Checked my credit rating and it has gone from good to excellent!! I couldn’t believe it ...had to double check...but yes it is there in black and white!...
So determined now. I cannot wait until the day I can tell you all I am finally credit card debt free. Bring it on

:j:beer: Brilliant! You'll be back here telling us of you CC debt freedom day sooner than you realise. Keep up the great work!

I'm glad people are still following their dream pathways towards debt freedom and then continuing along the same route to progress to better lifestyles. Hearing the success stories is what makes this all so worthwhile and why I keep on relaunching the challenge each year. :T:T:T Time is marching on again and we'll soon be looking at starting over again for 2020 so I'm on a final push to top up savings before the end of the year. Achieving complete debt freedom, for me, was like a halfway mark all those years ago but I don't think the frugal living bug will ever leave me - it is most definitely a lifestyle choice and one that I'm happy to make. Besides, it allows me to do so many other things with my money. If we could use hashtags here, I think mine would still be #lovingfrugalliving :rotfl:

lessonlearned

Yes, definitely working on the dream pathways. I am renovating my house, bit by slow bit, doing as much as I can myself to save on labour costs. Trying to be creative and looking for imaginative solutions rather than just chucking money at it.

5 no spend days so far. Stocked up groceries on Monday so shouldn't need much now for the rest of the month. Spent £70 so far this month - much better than September. Fingers crossed.

Have been fiddling with the mortgage over repayment calculator, and I will be aiming to start overpaying by £200 a month as from this month. My current deal is a 5 year fix which ends in 4 years so I want to really get ahead by then and reduce the balance. I have worked out that if I can overpay by £200 a month it will reduce my mortgage debt by an EXTRA £10k. - in just 4 years. That's amazing.

Tbh it's a big ask and I'm not sure if overpaying by that amount each month will be sustainable but I'm going to give it my best shot.

Here goes.