2019 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

cw18 wrote: »

My exercise plans for 2019 are to complete 3521 miles of walking, running, cycling and swimming (I'm on 2840 for this year). My base targets are 621.4 miles (1000km) of running, 380 miles of recreational/commute walking, 500 miles of cycling and 26 miles of swimming. By the time I add in the walking I expect to do at work (as a minimum) I reckon I still have another 380 miles to find by going over and above those targets. Cycling to work an average of twice a week instead of once would give me another 600 miles, assuming it was always to my official office and I wasn't being loaned out as often happens !!!

Wow Cheryl, this is impressive. You have inspired me. I have a sedentary job so in January I will aim to do 30 mins (may up to I hour depending how I get on) of walking per day and a 30 min swim 3 days per week. My big problem at this time of year is lack of daylight as it's dark in the morning when I leave for work and getting dark when I get home. I am on holiday just now though so have no excuse. I will start today. I will look to increase these as the year progresses.

lantanna

cw18 wrote: »

I'm a postie. I've averaged 7 miles of walking per working day this year, but because of carrying the post (and pushing heavy trolleys) and all the stretching and turning it gives a much higher calorie burn than just walking would do (I use a heart rate monitor so know where I'm at with it). Work plus exercise this year has earned me an average of 1130 calories a day - every day, not just working days.

My exercise plans for 2019 are to complete 3521 miles of walking, running, cycling and swimming (I'm on 2840 for this year). My base targets are 621.4 miles (1000km) of running, 380 miles of recreational/commute walking, 500 miles of cycling and 26 miles of swimming. By the time I add in the walking I expect to do at work (as a minimum) I reckon I still have another 380 miles to find by going over and above those targets. Cycling to work an average of twice a week instead of once would give me another 600 miles, assuming it was always to my official office and I wasn't being loaned out as often happens !!!

Wow! Now I understand. You must be super fit !

Mortgagefreetobe

Please can I joint this amazing thread. We cleared all debt this year and have some good savings so plan for this year is to overpay the mortgage and pay for some work that needs doing on our house.

I need to work out our budget and will go from there. I have an allotment and plan on growing a lot this coming year which will greatly reduce our food bill.

Happy New Year to you all

Shortie

Afternoon all. I'm really noticing the feeling of the weird Limbo between Christmas and New Year this year. Not totally digging it to be honest

Buuutt... In thr meantime we are trying to eat out of the freezers and fridge. Just had a late lunch of macaroni cheese made up using blie cheeses and mild cheddar from the untouched cheese board from Christmas

We've re-fixed our mortgage and bought a few super cheap reduced store cupboard bits (eg dishwasher tablets with a torn box, IAM dog food that I can't tell why is reduced..)

Over to a friends house tonight, so might inflict some of our left over chocs or biscuits on them :rotfl:

Oh, and also need to take a pork loin joint (reduced) out of the freezer to make shredded jerky pork to take to a friends for New Years food tomorrow - off to do that now

spudsmum

Hi all hope you're all well.

Just starting to work on my budgets for next year. 2018 was the first year of frugality for me and a bit of a learning curve but some things have definitely stuck and become more "normal" day to day life rather than an added extra.

I'll post my figures for this year in a bit but I know I've managed to come in £2000 under total budget this year so I'm definitely going to shave that off next years budget straight away as a starting point. I will also have more spare income now I'm mortgage free so I'm going to work on assigning a "job" to each one of those spare pounds to stop money being frittered away (it lulls me into a false sense of security and I go a bit mad - the more I have the more I tend to spend!!)

On a positive I have a massive stockpile of food - 3 freezers full and a huge stash of stuff in the garage.. I also bought loads of meat on offer over Xmas so I'll just be buying fruit,veg, nappies and milk for a while - I reckon even conservatively I've got enough to last 6 weeks at least.

Jobs for this week

1. 2019 budgets
2. Make a new list of fridge, freezer and cupboard contents and do a new meal plan
3. Look for better deals on contents insurance as renewal is due,

Nicki_Sue

Where did 2018 go?

I'm all in for this year with more posting (and accountability) and less lurking. We have a long-term goal to save for (moving up to our favourite place in Scotland), some debt to get rid of and fierce short-term and mid-term savings goals.
I'm really looking to get a handle on my grocery spends and meal planning (we have some special dietary needs but still, could do better). Move to a cash-only budget wherever possible and altogether enjoy living a much more simple and mindful life. We made some significant changes last year and it has made all the difference. We have got a way to go, though!

My tasks for tomorrow:
Full stocktake of all food.
Meal plan for the week
Aldi shopping
Complete monthly and annual spreadsheets
Use Tesco vouchers to put towards F&F Railcard.

Good luck with all of your goals!

cw18

It's official......


I have toooooo much food in the house !!!


I split lots of long-life food (tins, packets, jars) evenly into 10 piles - one for each 5 week period I want to meal plan for.


I've almost finished the first 5 weeks of planning (which I should be able to use as the basis for the rest of the year with just a few small tweaks in each 5 week window), and I still have the basic parts of more meals that I have holes left in the plan. And all the days I've filled in use some of the pile I started with :eek:


At least I know I'm not going to starve in 2019


I also know I'm going to look like a chicken by the end of the year, as at least 50% of my meals are chicken dishes...........

Whippet1

That's fab! I can't wait to start it'll be great doing it with other people rather than struggling alone.

spudsmum

spudsmum wrote: »

Hi all hope you're all well.

Just starting to work on my budgets for next year. 2018 was the first year of frugality for me and a bit of a learning curve but some things have definitely stuck and become more "normal" day to day life rather than an added extra.

I'll post my figures for this year in a bit but I know I've managed to come in £2000 under total budget this year so I'm definitely going to shave that off next years budget straight away as a starting point. I will also have more spare income now I'm mortgage free so I'm going to work on assigning a "job" to each one of those spare pounds to stop money being frittered away (it lulls me into a false sense of security and I go a bit mad - the more I have the more I tend to spend!!)

On a positive I have a massive stockpile of food - 3 freezers full and a huge stash of stuff in the garage.. I also bought loads of meat on offer over Xmas so I'll just be buying fruit,veg, nappies and milk for a while - I reckon even conservatively I've got enough to last 6 weeks at least.

Jobs for this week

1. 2019 budgets
2. Make a new list of fridge, freezer and cupboard contents and do a new meal plan
3. Look for better deals on contents insurance as renewal is due,

Final figures for this year as I think it will motivate me to see it written down.

Total debt reduced from £21050 to £17875 - that's a reduction of £3175
Of that £2815 is overpayments I have made.

I have shaved £2077 off my yearly budget so next years budget will be £8k instead of £10k - meaning another £2k to debt repayment straight away.

Total extra income made in 2018 - £3026.15.

I have also set up an emergency fund and several savings pots for ongoing expenses - this has meant (and this is probably the thing I am most proud of) I have been able to meet all my expenses from income and have not had to put a single expense on my credit cards for the whole year!

Overall I'm absolutely thrilled with that for year 1 of frugal living

chocolatelover93

Spudsmum - wow that's amazing!! Well done!!

Made a meal plan for the week ahead yesterday (until Thurs which is when I do shopping)
I am heading back to SW so I'm trying to eat all the unhealthy stuff in the house first! I like cw18's idea of splitting the tins and things into piles for meal plans so I might give that a go!

Budgets are all set and I am going to be giving my CC to my dad soon so I can't spend on it anymore

C x