2019 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Well done, spudsmum!

SarahC74

Morning all, I'd like to join again please. I joined in 2018, started well then went right off the rails 🤦 We are, slowly, paying off our loans and the mortgage but need to 'find' around £15 to £20k for house improvements by March/April this year. While we can't magic the money we need, by using savings, selling anything we don't need, and only spending on absolute necessities, I'm hoping the remaining bill won't be too huge 😬 We shall see... I'll complete the budget later today, although I admit I'm putting it off as it'll show me in black and white how bad the debt is likely to be, gulp!

SarahC74

Me too chocolatelover93 �� It's going to be such a big line I need to draw after weigh in this week ��

[Deleted User]

Happy Hogmanay everyone.

Spudsmum well done!! Having an emergency savings pot and other expenses pots is a great way to work. I agree, I feels great not putting expenses on credit cards. Fantastic to see people making progress like this.


My frugal plans today are:
1. Free exercise - 30 min walk.
2. Make use of gym membership and go for a swim. I went last night too and realise I will need to work up to the full 30 mins of swimming. I did 15 mins last night.
3. Make HM apple crumble for taking to parents for New Years Day meal using free apples I got from work.

Last night OH and I went through his shift pattern for the year and got some holidays booked in. We aren't planning to go away anywhere this year but will be having a 'holiday at home' where we will have days out locally with possible some days out further afield - a day trip to Arran is planned for the summer. I am actually looking forward to this. We did it several years ago when we were focussed on getting out of debt and really enjoyed it. We are lucky that there are lost of beautiful places to visit for free or to go walking in near our local area in central Scotland.

Maisie_M

I am all set for 1 January and the start of my journey. I have made a 'guesstimate' of my expenses for the year as I have never kept track of anything before except the odd grocery budget, so it is all new to me. I think it could be a bit of an eye opener!!!


I havent included any of the things that I cant control in my budget such as bills but I am hoping to come in under £7000 for the four of us, this does include holidays and days out. I am so looking forward to seeing where my expenses go.

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
Happy New Year
I’m starting as I mean to go on today.
I ordered my shopping online to arrive Thursday and before then I need to rotate my cupboards. I have a shelf to use straight away, then three shelves that I move stuff before each shop, so no short dates.
In the freezer I move upwards and new stuff goes in the bottom drawer ( though over Xmas it’s just been a matter of finding space)
My decorations are coming down today. Tidy(ish) start to a new year.
Anyway I’d better get on
See you next year
Cuddles

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone

I would like to join too. I recently retired and receive a small occupational pension but will not receive my state pensions until another 3 years. MY OH receives both an occupational and state pension. Whilst we are not struggling, we could certainly do a lot better. I want to spend less on food, shop around a lot more, cook from scratch etc. and be more frugal to build up savings. My personal challenge will be to stop buying clothes for a year. I have enough and certainly do not need any more. I would like to try and save £1000 by June to boost our emergency fund. I can, and will, do it . . .:j

spudsmum

[Deleted User] wrote:

Spudsmum well done!! Having an emergency savings pot and other expenses pots is a great way to work. I agree, I feels great not putting expenses on credit cards. Fantastic to see people making progress like this.

Thanks Allie,

It seems to make sense to me rather than paying down the cards and having to spend on them again if something comes up I know I would get discouraged if I had to do that - I have loads of savings pots for things like insurance and car repairs - so nice to know that money is there if I need it.

Thanks to everyone else for the good wishes - I feel like I'm starting this new year on a positive and I'm excited about the possibilities. Hoping to challenge myself to beat last years figures.

Been through my freezers - I didn't need my shoppping budget this week (only needed milk and bananas) so used the money and took full advantage of my local supermarket selling off their excess meat from Xmas so I currently have

2 full legs of lamb
4 large Joints of pork
2lb of mince
2lb of pork steak
3lb of chicken breasts
6 joints of beef (was 3 massive ones but sliced them in half)
Two packs of good sausage
Two packs of bacon
2lb of white fish fillets
Plus 4 packs each of cooked beef, turkey and gammon left over from the joints my mum gave us for Boxing Day dinner. Each pack is enough for a meal for the 5 of us.

We do eat a lot of meat and it's a significant amount of my weekly shopping budget so this will keep us going for several weeks. If I'm being careful I do try to bulk it out with veg, pulses etc so one joint can easily last a week in various dishes. I also have a massive stockpile of tins and dried goods in my garage so if I'm sensible we'll be set for a while - is it really sad that I'm excited about finding ways to make this last as long as possible??

Just want to get kids back to school/nursery now I love them dearly and love spending time with them but I'm ready to get back into my routine

Kerry_Woman

Wishing everyone a Happy and frugal 2019.

lantanna

Bought a hot water bottle today. Bought oil before Xmas and want to make that last TIL end of March