2019 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Dave_Saver wrote: »

I'm new on here but have decided 2019 is the year I turn my finances around. I have challenged myself to save £8,000 towards a deposit on a house. I have £2200 of credit card debt to pay off first but then is gravey. I am aiming to save £1000 a month.

WOW! That's a phenomenal amount for anyone to save each month (or maybe just me, as I don't even earn that amount :rotfl:) so good luck with it all and welcome to frugaldom. Once all the debts are gone and your spending priorities are in order, things begin to fall into place automatically so we'll be right behind you, every step of the way, until you get that house. There's a link in the first post to the old house saving challenge, which I'm kind of always on, as Frugaldom is an on-going project now.

natnat13 wrote: »

Re Brexit, do we need to be stockpiling? Are things going to get that bad or will it just be that prices rise?

I'm not stockpiling anything at all apart from my income - the less I spend the more I can save to afford any hiccups, surprises or shocks. The whole Government seems to be in turmoil with new 'mini-facts' emerging all the time. The latest one about UK not having the correct type of pallets for stacking exportable goods in the case of a 'no deal' is like a joke. I, for one, am not panicking about anything - prices will fluctuate, our choices may become restricted in some things but at the end of the day, we will survive in the same way we always do - by doing our personal best to find sustainability within our own lifestyles. If all else fails, I'll be setting up a Frugaldom self-sufficiency commune. :rotfl:

sinkorswim2018 wrote: »

...My budget is in minus amounts for home improvements and holidays at the moment, though I still look to stay within my yearly totals. I have around £25 left in grocery budget and £50 in eating out left.

Sinkorswim, you know you're sorted financially when you have money in the eating out budget - I don't even have one of those, far less anything left in it. :rotfl:

2019 proving to be a really tight year here as there is so much work needing done that I cannot do myself. Holiday business idea seems silly as nobody in their right mind seems to want to visit rural Sctland to sample frugal living when there are so many fabulous, warmer, better served areas to visit and price certainly doesn't seem to be the determining factor. So, onward and upward - more changes to plans needed and a heap more work to do. On the plus side, I am well within my frugal living budget as I haven't the time to spend money anywhere other than the essential bills. even the monthly shops have reduced to 6-weekly. :j

Frugaldom

cw18 wrote: »

Hammersmith & Fulham comes up at around £310 a week.

Almost choked on my cuppa at that! :eek:

stirchleygirl

Hi I'd like to join. Due to my disability (CFS/ME & problems with my working memory) and it now being bad enough to get PIP and now only being able to work part-time I'm entitled to more benefits (disabled WTC; some housing benefit & council tax disability discount - on top of my 25% single occupancy discount) so ironically for the first time in my life I now I no longer need to scrimp for every penny or rob Peter to pay Paul as I did previously when I worked full time (though I give up the benefits instantly and go back to working full time if I was miraculously able to get rid of my disability). However now that I'm (in comparison) 'comfortable' financially the habits of a life time are hard to shake off and I love the ideas on this board and would like to make eco-friendly choices (where possible) as well as being eco-nomical. I realised reading this board the since my disability I've been less eco-friendly the amount of packaging that goes in my recycling bin and also the rubbish bin is appalling considering that I live alone. I realise this is due to my disability as I can no longer go shopping and do it all online so everything comes in packaging. However after reading this list I'm going start to purchase the not packaged fruit & veg where available and look at buying larger sizes so slightly less packaging per quantity as some mentioned on here. I'm also going to look at the shampoo bar idea and possibly the bamboo toilet roll as I have the space to store it (just me in 3 bed semi) and can afford the extra cost. Does anyone have any other ideas that I could use that fits in with my limited life style?

Dave_Saver

I have always spent the vast majority of my wage on rent, household bills, school trips, uniform, kids clothes, food for a family of 4. Last year I broke up with my partner of 10 years and leave behind that responsibility as they were not kids. I have moved back home to help care for my poorly dad and therefore no rent to pay and lower bills than ever before. I have been avoiding expensive days/ nights out, cut out buying snacks, take my lunch with me to work and got my cc debt on to 0%. If I don't do this now I fear I will never own my own place as I'm 42. I am sacrificing now to give me a better future. I have saved over £1000 this month, I won't be able to achieve it every month but if I don't try I won't succeed.

Dave_Saver

I have always spent the vast majority of my wage on rent, household bills, school trips, uniform, kids clothes, food for a family of 4. Last year I broke up with my partner of 10 years and leave behind that responsibility as they were not kids. I have moved back home to help care for my poorly dad and therefore no rent to pay and lower bills than ever before. I have been avoiding expensive days/ nights out, cut out buying snacks, take my lunch with me to work and got my cc debt on to 0%. If I don't do this now I fear I will never own my own place as I'm 42. I am sacrificing now to give me a better future. I have saved over £1000 this month, I won't be able to achieve it every month but if I don't try I won't succeed.

stirchleygirl

Welcome Dave Saver and Wow what a fab achievement £1000 in a month. Sorry to hear about the break up (I've been single for over 20 years now but I can still remember how much it hurt and leaving 2 lovely boys behind {they were not mine] hurt more than the heartbreak caused when their father ended the relationship with me) and how poorly your dad is I'm sure he is glad of you living there and looking after him. Keep up the good work and do as much as you can even if it not 1000 each month every little helps.
I'm 50 and being single since 30 I've never earnt enough on my own to be able to get a mortgage that would buy somewhere in Brum - house prices have been far too expensive and out of reach for single people - unless you earn a fortune. So I applaud your efforts at saving up to own a home.

stirchleygirl

My sympathies to all those on this list who have been made redundant (I've had that twice when I was a youngster) or whose jobs are insecure or zero hours. Praying that better paid/more secure employment comes along for you all.

stirchleygirl

As my 'comfy' finances have only been recent I must just say that I've been using Martin's website for years and am on the cheapest deals for everything :-) I'm also lucky in that in the 13 years I've been living here my landlord (it's a private landlord but excellent and he only lives a couple of streets away so any repairs are dealt with promptly) has not put the rent up so I'm still only paying £500.00 pcm for a 3 bed (end terrace/semi it only a block of 4 so not really a terrace) in Brum that has a long (approx. 120 foot) garden and a conservatory. Current rentals on my estate are £700-900 pcm depending on features.

stirchleygirl

My outgoings:
I get £325.00 which is a fair bit (not all as I'm under occupied) of my rent costs back in housing benefit from the local council due to my disability (not sure if I qualify for that because I get PIP or because I get disabled WTC).
I haven't had contents insurance for years as I couldn't afford it but now I've got spare money I'm going to see what deal I can get via Martin's website and compare with the deals my union offers to see which is best.
I also get 25% single occupancy discount on council tax and then a whopping amount of discount for being disabled (again not sure if it's PIP or WTC gets me that discount) so it was only £24.00 pm for 12 months - I swapped from paying the standard 10 months to paying it over 12 months (this was 2 or 3 years ago when things were dire - before I started getting any benefits) last year - haven't had this years bill yet.
I'm still on water rates approx. £45.00 pm (but only 8 months) - I don't want to swap to being metered as per Martin's recommendation of less people than bedrooms as my water needs fluctuate due to my disability - as I would rather have a set monthly (8 months) amount that I can afford rather than worrying about huge bills due to my health.
My Gas & electric was approx. £45.00 pm but they just put it up to just over £50.00 pm - I'm sure it will drop down in the summer. I swap companies every year to get the cheapest deal. The current company has been able to connect to the smart meter to take readings although the monitoring handset is still blank to me since I let the company that installed it (about 2 or 3 companies ago).
My v1rgin internet is £19 pm for internet only as I don't have a landline. The usage is caped for that but if I go over that it's only an extra £7.50 to get unlimited for the rest of the month which still works out cheap than the standard virgin internet only price - I phoned and haggled (when things were dire 3 years ago) armed with Martin's info on latest cheapest deals and told them I would leave (I been with them for years) if they couldn't match the cheapest price - they did but with the usage cap - I took it as it saved the hassle of swapping/having to get a landline installed as all other companies internet is via landlines where as v1rgin is via cable. I need the internet as due to my disability I can not go to shops or bank and have to do it all online.
My v1rgin mobile I down graded to approx. £6.00 pm with usage caps but they are what I use anyway (virgin checked my usage before swapping me to confirm the deal was suitable) so didn't need more and on the odd time I do more phone calls I just pay the extra. I need a mobile as I don't have a landline and live alone - I carry the phone with me even around the house in case I fall/become ill so that I can contact my carer or call an ambulance.
I got rid of my TV and v1rgin TV package a few years ago as I just wasn't watching it and saved all that money which stood me in good stead when I had go drop down to part time hours due to my worsening disability. Now I could afford it but due to my disability I can't always cope with noise or always follow the programme so watching something 'live' would not be good for me so DVDs that I can stop and rewind many times to work out what's going on is beneficial for my brain problems. I have recently treated myself to amaz0n pr1me and n0w TV (entertainment package only) subscriptions.
Household shopping (food, toiletries, cleaning etc..) is approx. 80-120 pm as I've have to order online I have to reach the minimum spend to get delivery I usually do it every 2/3 weeks using up fresh first before moving on to frozen, tins, packets. Sometimes it's a lot more - when I get a voucher (usually spend 120 to get 24 off) I run stocks out and then use the voucher on a re-stocking shop to make it to the voucher spend but then I've got months worth of things that don't expire and will always use e.g. toilet rolls, cleaning products. My carer does me packed lunches to take to work and on odd occaissions (time allowing) will batch cook and then single portion meals (some for fridge and some for freezer) other wise I live on ready meals or sarnies as I can no longer do food prep/cook.

natnat13

On the subject of redundancy my university lecturer said this week "no job is ceertain now and we should all be financially prepared for redundancy at any time" scary but true I guess