2019 Frugal Living Challenge

chocolatelover93

Hello everyone,

Stirtchly - sorry to hear your return to work didn't go as planned I hope you're feeling better now.

Hetty - thank you that sounds aaaamazing!! I will give that a go next time I have chicken I hate waste.

So a couple of days ago I realised how bad my spending has been and I almost bought a £400 TV just because I wanted a bigger one and put it on the @rgos card. I didn't instead I asked my parents for help as they did the same for my brother. So I have given them all my cards and once a week dad is giving me £80 for that week, this is for everything except bills which come out as DD in hope that I can get me debt down and live within my means.

C xx

earthgirl

I have just had a use up week and ate from the fridge/stores mainly - Spent about £6 on food. I'm about to shop around for car insurance and will do my May budget next week.

Dave_Saver

I've got to the point in the pay cycle were I've paid all my bills, payed the maximum I can afford on my debt and I've got just under 2 weeks until payday. I have to sit back and wait until payday so I can take the next leap towards my goal, For me this is the hard part as I need to have the will power to not spend. I've budgeted about £60 to last 2 weeks for food and daily living expenses and it's so hard to stay on the wagon. If I stick to my plan I will be debt free in 4 months and have £1000 in the bank as an Emergency fund and £4000 towards my deposit for a home by that time but my goal is so much bigger and the road so much longer, I want to save enough that I can pay a 50% deposit on a house and only require a 15 year Morgage to pay off the remains balance.

My goal is hard but I can achieve it if I remain focused.

Frugaldom

Davesaver, I managed to hone my numbers OCD during my first house-buying challenge. I set out all the associated costs right from expenses fr going viewing to conveyancing / legal fees, major repairs, moving costs, minor repairs, furnishings, decoration, etc., etc., etc. It worked well for me as I got to tick things off the list as I saved for them and I always rounded up to the nearest pound, then 5, then 10 then 50 then 100 then 1000... you can see how addictive it can become. I still class beans on toast as a meal as I am constant;y saving t make improvements to the properties we now own.

Good luck chocolatelover! Hope your new plan works. At least you have shown yourself how destructive instant gratification can be when you consider the aftermath of debt it can leave. Perhaps, once you are accustomed to your new spending regime, you can start trying to cut that to £70 a week / £10 per day and squirrel away the extra £10. It definitely becomes a habit quicker than you ever think possible then before you know it, you have a few hundred pounds extrathat you hadn't even missed spending

Rosst534

Any tips for financing a car on a low income would be appreciated

Thanks

R

stirchleygirl

tighteningthebelt
Thank you she is a real God send getting the right carer is vital and makes a humungous difference to your life (having p[reviously been with an agency for over a year with multiple carers coming and going with wildly fluctuating skill levels and some of them just downright un-caring you really appreciate the excellent ones. She'll be in again on Tuesday this week so I'll show her your comment.

stirchleygirl

little_green
You can do it - just focus on each day at a time rather than the 19 days.

stirchleygirl

FrankieM
Thanks for making me snort with laughter :-) with your comment:

'so I need to do a bit of a stirchley'

I'm afraid I've done an online order for delivery on Thursday as my brain suddenly realised that it is Easter next weekend (my brain struggles with making connections) and I wanted (not needed but wanted) to have something different for Easter and also taking into account that my PA wouldn't be working on Friday so I wanted to have a lot more cold snacks available to me as well as a nice veggie toad in hole and roast veg as a special Easter celebration meal. So I've made the order and used an £8.00 off voucher and mostly cheapest SM own items and offers where available so at least it was as MS as possible.

I haven't given up on using up my stocks as I've planned what my PA can make on Tuesday for the single work lunch needed for Wednesday (different on-site days this week) as I'll be working from home Mon, Tue & Thurs with Friday off - so left over cooked pasta with added frozen peas, frozen sweetcorn, frozen broad beans, cut up veggie cocktail sausages and some white looking salad dressing from bottle in the fridge that I can't remember the name of. I've got 2 satsumas left that I didn't eat last week and a single portion left of the fruit jelly. I'll get her to use the last of the frozen mango some of the frozen ginger and the last of the soya milk to make a smoothie. She won't be doing any batch cooking this week as she's doing the bare minimum for me (shower, wash hair, work lunch and her time sheets) as her 2 youngest a now both home from uni for Easter as she wants to spend as much time with them so I'm hoping we can do it in 1 1/2 - 2 hours on Tuesday rather than her normal 4 hour shift and as I'm only on-site 1 day this week instead of 2 she's only got my morning 45 mins wash & dress and then after work 30 mins undress and meal.

stirchleygirl

chocolatelover93
thanks I did a lot better last week and manged all my working from home hours and both my 2 days on-site.

Well done on recognising your spending 'pit falls' and doing something positive about - having to be 'accountable' to someone else can often help - I pray that you have success with changing your habits as being debt free is a huge burden lifted.

stirchleygirl

Well done earthgirl