2019 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

Hi folks, wanted to make sure I came back on here to get me focused for next week.

Kerry woman best of luck with your new focus on self-care. It's something that I struggle with but am trying to get better at.


My plans for this weekend are:
1. Do a full freezer/cupboards/pantry inventory and make this weeks food plan from that.
2. Plan easy lunches to take to work this week.
3. Use up old bananas to make banana bread or banana muffins.
4. Get fully up to date with washing and ironing.
5. Use up apples in apple crumble.



Frugal self care plans:
1. Get outside and enjoy the winter sunshine. It is a beautiful winter's day here with clear blue skies and snow on the ground. Perfect for a winter walk.
2. Dry body brush before showering.
3. 30 minutes quiet time to myself today and tomorrow. I might try dong a little meditation or similar.
4. Do a simple 20 minute at home HIIT session each day over the weekend.
5. Set aside Sunday afternoon to restart one of my hobbies that have been long neglected. I have been thinking about picking up crochet again so with probably look to start off a new blanket for myself.

Have a great weekend everyone.

MrsMouse

For Towser: (my quote reply isn’t working on mobile for some reason 🙄). Regarding your earlier post about wanting ideas: I see you said you want to collect or find cheaper wood so presume you have a log burner. Would be worth calling round your local tree surgeon companies (and also firms who install wood burners for their contacts) and see if they are willing to offload (aka give for free) any softwood they chop down. People normally only want to buy hardwood but IMO so long as you’re getting the chimney swept properly, I don’t see why burning softwood should cause an issue. I also shred my paperwork and use with kindling in log burner.

Igamogam

ma-ri-ella wrote: »

union -10.23 ,

Do you claim against your tax for union fees? If not you can go back 5 years....every little helps! I just updated mine because had forgotten to and it turns out it was 5 years since I last did it so tax allowance gone up by £50 and a small cheque from HMRC on it way.


January update: so far so good. Envelope/purse system works well for me . I put aside a set amount of cash every week for hair/pet/car mot tax etc/entz ( entertainments). When the time comes to pay these things I either use the cash if there is enough or pay by card and put what money there is towards the grocery bill that week as I only use cash for that. So the ENTZ 'purse' got hammered this week but there was £20 in there so all OK
EF topped up by the 365 penny challenge and I also do the same but using £1s for each week so week 1 = £1 and week 2 £2 etc....EF topped up by bank transfer.

Today's food shop came in a little over budget as I bought a mop bucket:rotfl: but the cost of that has gone down in the MISC column so now food budget looks on track again;)

Any 'gains' I get eg sales surveys vouchers etc I put against CC debt. Today it was £4.85 - £2 from bank for staying in credit and £2.85 5p/litre fuel voucher:)

Starting to enjoy the debt busting again

ma-ri-ella

some good ideas. didnt know that about union fees. yes i have an emergency fund. no to grocery and eating out - it seems to be a buy whatever i fancy , well it has been for the last month. I had a 50 quid clothes budget for year which ive spent 30 already.... decent rucksack , work shoes and a pair of sketchers .charity shop buys

Next step is more surveys etc . i use receipt apps and the amazon vouchers from these i am saving up to buy the pet seed.

Frugaldom

PipneyJane our frugaldom fitess challenge isn't one that's on MSE, it's in frugalforums dot co dot uk

spudsmum

Igamogam - how do you go about claiming the tax against the union fees? My husband has been paying £15 a month union subs forever!

I do exactly the same as you - I find I budget so much better with cash. Any extra i make from surveys etc goes to the CC too - amazing how quickly those pennies add up.

Whippet1 - any news on your job yet?

Nice to see everyone else is doing well. Very hard to keep up with everything at the moment as it's moving so fast.

January update:

Total debt overpayment £303
Total extra income made £374

I've come in £164 under my budget so far for total spends.

All my savings pots are up to date and I have all the spends put away for our forthcoming holiday.

Food is our main spend and it's come on bang on budget this month at £280. It's high this month because i had some vouchers to spend which required me to spend a certain amount - I took advantage by stocking up on non perishable goods. We now have a huge stockpile in the garage and 3 freezers crammed full so I should have minimal spends on food for at least 6 weeks going forward - just bread, milk, packed lunch stuff and fruit.

We've done similar before and managed to stick at under £20 a week for food which means an extra £50 a week to debt repayment straight away. Let's see!

grandma247

grandma247 wrote: »

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

Whippet1 I replied to your pm but just in case you haven't seen it, just tap the word article above in the quote and it will take you straight to it. I hope it helps.

Igamogam

spudsmum wrote: »

Igamogam - how do you go about claiming the tax against the union fees? My husband has been paying £15 a month union subs forever!

You can go on the HMRC website and see if the union is recognised by HMRC...all the main ones are and lots of others too. I rang the contact number and did it all by phone. Need all the obvious info including NI number and the annual figures for what has been paid going back over 5 years....remember that is tax years so April16 to March 17 for example. Think you can also do it online but I just found it quicker to do it on the phone. Then every time the union subs increase you need to update....which is what I forgot!

HTH

Reset

Phew.. finally got to the end of the posts and have read everyone for this year. I may start on the past years at some point . I would like to join is as I want to seriously see if I can retire this year . I am lucky as I can retire at 55 from the NHS with full pension and I really can’t take much more of it.
So far this year I have reduced my annual bills by £1380 by either swapping providers or asking existing one for more competitive price.
I still have a few more bills to tweak so will update after that.
Gone back to food planning to reduce waste as it has been scandalous !
Took advantage of the 365 day returns at IKEA on products I bought but couldn’t manage the DIY project myself so changed my plans £290 back .
Am now clearing out the clutter to eBay.
Thank you all for the inspiration ❤️

Hettyhound

Today I have replaced the final 4 light bulbs with LED bulbs (£1.59 each) as advised by my electrician so will the electric bill reduce any? Fingers crossed. I’ve also turned the thermostat back down now the icy spell is waning, also loft getting done this week so hoping I’ll feel the difference. Going to start seed planting this evening, chillis and sweet peas. I sorted through all my seed stash in January and bought a couple of packs to fill in the gaps. I haven’t got a huge planting space so lots go in pots; the potatoes in bags last year were a success so I have seed potatoes chitting in the cold frame. My name is on a very long waiting list for an allotment (4-5 years) but I can actually see them from my back windows and they are half sized plots so perfect for me and a boy. My promise this year is not to plant too many courgettes! I couldn’t give them away fast enough last year so I’m restricting us to planting two seeds only....honest!