2019 Frugal Living Challenge

grandma247

Whippet1 wrote: »

Hi Teedy, thanks for your message. I have no idea why I have the compulsion to buy snack lunches but its been a problem for about 20 years! Part laziness, part a need to treat myself I suppose. Newspapers and scratchcards have become regular additions to the lunch as well, which compounds the problem.

Whippet 1 you might find this article interesting, check out the 2nd from last paragraph.

greenbee

ecoelle wrote: »

I have tried the spreadsheet on post 1 but it says it's read only. Has anyone got another one they could post?

'Save as' and then give it a different name. Then you have your own version.

Igamogam

Have just spent half hour or so using the spread sheet - have adapted a bit...what a revelation!! Haven't put all my figures in yet but feeling more enthused about the debt busting now....maybe when I have input all the numbers I may not be as enthusiastic:o


OOD sultanas and mixed nuts have gone out in the garden to feed the birds....really not nice to eat. Sultanas all dried out and musty and nuts all soft. Birds grateful. OH confirmed that B*urbon biscuits just 10 days past their use by date also not nice...:rotfl:

Marinebee

teedy23 wrote: »

Morning folks, almost no spends yesterday, two coffees at £1:10 each and thats it

I've tried not to mention..I really have but Whippit1, why are you spending £6 on snack lunch ?
Marinbee : I was in a similar situation to yourself, paying ridiculous interest on cc balances, needless to say that was before I joined/discovered this site. I couldn't transfer all balances to zero percent so had to get rid of as much as I could from high cards. I worked in the town centre at the time so it was easy to access banks etc during my breaks. I had one of my many attempts to stop smoking, and every day walked along to the bank and paid my cigarette money to my card, after all interest is added every day, and if I saved in any other way, even small amounts, this was added in to my daily pay in. The girls in the bank got used to seeing me and I told them what I was doing, so had a bit of support from them, it all adds to the feel good factor, and its amazing what a difference it makes both to your purse and your fitness levels.

Thanks Teedy23... it has inspired me to take this bull by the horns and get this show on the road. Any further advice from fellow frugalers will be gratefully received

skint_chick

star_trek_fan wrote: »

Trying very hard to be frugal. Hard when you have to take OH food shopping as all the lifting is just too much. There was an extra £9.21 added to the bill yesterday thanks to his off list spending, none of which I'll eat. This is 16% of the bill and takes me over budget again.

I have this issue when I bring OH shopping, so now I separate his items and our household items and make it clear if they weren't on the list he is paying for them out of his spending money. We use the free wunderlist app to write our grocery list so we both have access to it on our phones and he likes ticking things off - and it keeps him busy and prevents things sneaking into the trolley

I've sold some clothes and bits on ebay - OH had an ipod classic he doesn't use anymore so i listed it and was surprised it fetched £165 - I paid £150ish for it new! So we put the money in the weekend adventures fund. On the subject of savings I have the Santander 123 lite current account that charges £1 a month - but I get £9 a month in cashback and it has a regular saver that pays 5% on a max of £200 a month. So I have £200 a month going into that, then my main savings account is paying 1.35% instant access, bills and holiday money is in my cash ISA. I pay my credit card in full each month, and try not to use it when I know I have money in my bank account. OH gets paid every week so the day before payday anything left in the account gets put into savings even if it's only a few pounds.

Towser

Last years annual spend:

Food & Drink 5432.63
Savings & Financial 2640
Entertainment & Leisure 2635.17
Clothing & Grooming 2591.18
Household Bills & Utilities 2099.82
Cash Withdrawals 1511.41
Bank Payments & Transfers 937.75
Childcare & Education 613
Retail (Other) 470.01
Motoring Expenses 397.08
Home & Garden 291.38
Business & Donations 253.04
Healthcare 114.7
Holiday 55.83
Uncategorised 22.5
Public Transport 9.45

My challenges to reduce my spend:
1. Shop only in aldi, meal plan - Food & Drink
2. groupon for grooming, charity shop for clothes - Clothing & Grooming
3. Entertainment & Leisure- make more use of mc donalds as it is cheap
4. Household Bills & Utilities- find more wood for logs, shop around for best deal
5. Cash Withdrawals-less takeaways, cook more, nails- learn to do my own.
6. Childcare & Education- can't cut down
7. Retail (Other) use the tip Re-Use shop more rather than the expensive charity shops.
8. Motoring Expenses -tax, insurance can't cut down
9. Home & Garden - use the tip Re-Use shop more rather than the expensive charity shops.

If you could show me more ways to cut down I'd love to hear from you.

BrownHare

Spent a little more than expected after unexpected dinner with friends yesterday. I need a few NSDs to make up for it.

Aside from that I've spent minimum on few bits of veg, bread, eggs. I've made up a weeks worth of sandwiches and put them in the freezer as suggested by a few people.

I needed to send a card and managed to find a suitable blank one in my stockpile of cards.

DawnW

Towser wrote: »

Last years annual spend:

Food & Drink 5432.63
Savings & Financial 2640
Entertainment & Leisure 2635.17
Clothing & Grooming 2591.18
Household Bills & Utilities 2099.82
Cash Withdrawals 1511.41
Bank Payments & Transfers 937.75
Childcare & Education 613
Retail (Other) 470.01
Motoring Expenses 397.08
Home & Garden 291.38
Business & Donations 253.04
Healthcare 114.7
Holiday 55.83
Uncategorised 22.5
Public Transport 9.45

My challenges to reduce my spend:
1. Shop only in aldi, meal plan - Food & Drink
2. groupon for grooming, charity shop for clothes - Clothing & Grooming
3. Entertainment & Leisure- make more use of mc donalds as it is cheap
4. Household Bills & Utilities- find more wood for logs, shop around for best deal
5. Cash Withdrawals-less takeaways, cook more, nails- learn to do my own.
6. Childcare & Education- can't cut down
7. Retail (Other) use the tip Re-Use shop more rather than the expensive charity shops.
8. Motoring Expenses -tax, insurance can't cut down
9. Home & Garden - use the tip Re-Use shop more rather than the expensive charity shops.

If you could show me more ways to cut down I'd love to hear from you.

What jumped out for me was 'cash withdrawals'. Might be worth keeping a spending diary so that you know what these get spent on? If it were me it would annoy me not knowing what 'uncategorised' was, too.

chocolatelover93

Evening everyone

Had a good day today, went to see mum and dad with DS. We had lunch there and I had a kip on the sofa haha. DS had a good day and was treated to lots of naughty bits he isn't allowed at home. I'm sure thats a grandparent things coz I was never allowed half the stuff he gets!!

Was really tempted to order takeaway but remembered that I had got out some nice steak yesterday so I had that, wedges and eggs instead and was really yummy! Plus saved myself money too and bagged a NSD.

Sold some clothes on FB and dropped them off too so made £30, £20 has gone into the 1p a day pot and £10 into my purse for budgets tomorrow.

C xx

Nicki_Sue

Morning all. Sorry for being AWOL..... We didn't get the bungalow.
From what I gather it was pretty much a coin toss between us and the other applicants so they went for them with one child at uni rather than us with two at home (said the agent). To say we were disappointed would be a huge understatement. It really was perfect and I've never seen a property in that location with those benefits come up in nearly 10 years. Hey ho. We were a bit crushed but it isn't something we can control so it's time to move on.

I'm the last one to jump on any media bandwagon but have been decluttering like a mad thing while watching Marie Kondo (I hated the book). I'm 10 bags down already and the husband has a pile of papers and so on to go through. It feels good to have a purge and get rid of stuff. On the upside, by the time we find somewhere else to live, it'll only take 20 minutes to pack the entire house by the time I'm finished

Other frugal news, not much! The soap bar was not for me. I've gone back to the curly girl method so conditioner only and after a couple of weeks it feels and looks amazing. The husband, however, LOVES the hair soap so apart from one bottle for the kids, we've ditched plastic shampoo bottles altogether and are looking at alternatives for conditioning. I also had a new cut at my local salon, a dry cut or DevaCut. They have special training and cut my mad curls from dry, it was amazing. I see the senior stylist and it was only £25 which was budgeted for. It's been a nice pick-up and of course I'm using less hair product which is also a win (cheaper).

My month starts on the 20th and already I'm seeing that I could have organised things a little differently but am having a play with the budget on a monthly basis to find the best fit that is sustainable and allows us to save more.

Other than that, no news!

Happy frugaling all x