2020 Frugal Living Challenge

lilian1977

Hello everyone. A couple of frugal days for me - Food spend £4.20 but £3 of that will come back (Shopmium) and the rest was YS Jus Rol pastry for the freezer, I find it so useful when I have a few odds and ends to use up as can make pies or a tart. Made jerk tofu and jacket potatoes yesterday using some jerk seasoning that's been in the cupboard for years and some Cauldron tofu I got in Heron for 50p, enough left for another two meals as well. Tonight is artichoke risotto using some white wine that's been open since Christmas and some jarred artichokes that were bought for Christmas and not used.

Spends needed today, £12 (including tip) for my son's haircut, £3 for his basketball class and his tea in Wetherspoons in between (I will have the Gunna lemonade that is currently on CheckoutSmart and then have tea when I get home).

Hope everyone has great days!

Frugaldom

Hello frugalers, glad to see so many posting and that we are still getting some new arrivals - welcome to frugal living in 2020

I'm continuing with the no spend days, zero household spends this year to date. I see the mention of book suggesting £20 per week for meals but that it is for only one meal a day - how many people does that cover? If anyone is struggling on the grocery / meals front, I still try m y best to stick to £1 per person per day for all meals and this is still achievable. I no longer stick rigidly to this but have blogged / posted about it over the years, including recipes. I should also have Weazl's list somewhere from when she did her extreme 50p per day challenge plus the fundraising Ration Challenge averaged at less than £4 per week per person - the later is not recommended as a meal plan for any length of time but as a challenge in itself for a week every so often you can always supplement with extra protein, fresh produce and dairy, if permissible within your own dietary needs.

I'll need to work out the costs of things again so I can compare 2020 with previous years. If anyone is reading all the challenges, they should all be linked from page 1 and there are plenty of Frugaldom blog posts to be found. We have been here for quite a long time.

CW18, I'm impressed at your running, you've fair clocked up the miles over the past few years. Well done! Brenda (intheboro) the cycling frugaler is still cycling, too! She has clocked up thousands of miles ove the pas few yeas since we all got together in this challenge. I remember so many of our original challengers, fond memories and some sadness for those who have since passed away.

It's quite strange how many people have passed through this challenge over the past 20 years - I do hope those who have long left are living fulfilled, debt free, happy lifestyles doing whatever it was they set out to do. A handful remain friends to this day and we have had several meet-ups over the past few years. If anyone from the original chalenges is still here, let me know how you are doing and if you are where you planned on being.

Kerry_Woman

cw18 Yes, the 5k is a pink event. Always walk the course due to health reasons. Wishing you all the best in your challenges this year. Am impressed.

Have put my name down to volunteer at a further 3 events for a charity. Cheering points at certain races. They will let me know timings and locations nearer the time. The events are spread over the year and are at the weekend.

ancientmum

Mumtomany, glad to know that your DH is ok.
I went swimming earlier in the week and noticed that my costume at a few years old is getting baggy, so decided to splash out (sorry) on a new one. They have a couple of nice ones in the sale at the pool, but still expensive so I had a look round. Not many shops have them at this time of year but I popped into Bonnmarsh as I was passing. I don't usually go there but they had a few in the sale and I ended up with one for £15, reduced from £25. I got another 10% off by agreeing to have one of their cards.

Kerry_Woman

Frugaldom - I joined the challenge back in 2010. I became mortgage free in 2013 which I am very happy with. Have kept totals for each categories from each year. Circumstances sadly changed for me with my Mum sadly passing away in December 2017 and having a health scare last year. Both of which has thrown me somewhat. This year I am planning to be extra careful and making positive goals.

mumtoomany

I too joined back in 2010. Just been re-reading, so much has changed for us since then. We lived in the inner city then, all children still at home, all single, no grandchildren, DH working full time, me working 3 part-time jobs. Now live on a smallholding with 13 acres, 2 children married, 2 in long-term relationships. Four grandchildren. Both self-employed/semi-retired. And now much smaller income. Feeding, at least, eight still; some things never change.

Not done the budget yet. Back then it was £9000, to include a holiday!

Called in at a small localish supermarket on our way home this morning. Wanted some salad bits, thought it would be cheaper than traveling into town. Ended up with a lot of half price, yellow sticker, meat. So saved money, but spent more than intended.

Mumtoomany.

Betharooni

Hi all

Everyone seems to be doing amazing already this month.

I had to work between Xmas and new year so have got this week off instead. Have had a very frugal few days off so far-been using gym membership, catching up on sleep and had an extremely frugal evening out on Tuesday-went to watch the Martin Lewis Money Show Live in London, using my train season ticket to travel up so had a practically free day out watching the great man himself! Need to do some shopping before the end of the week, do some tidying up and get myself ready to go back.

lessonlearned

Well I've not managed to stick to my £21 challenge. I did a mini stock up yesterday and spent £25. So total spends so far £32. I don't mind. It's still substantially less than my normal spend.

I did treat myself to a bunch of flowers, but no books, no charity shop bargains. :rotfl: proud of myself.

This diary is definitely keeping me on the straight and narrow.

Car booked for MOT next Friday. Fingers crossed.

Jazee

While watching Martin's show the other night DH mentioned that we should get a water meter. Yes, that's what all the new pipe work is under the sink, love!

My personal spending has just taken a hit. Was on £4 so far but have just spent £20 getting my greenhouse cleaned.

A_Random_Man

Just a quick update guys still trying to cut down food budget but seem to be spending more and more, car is booked in for service on Monday so have to pay £10 to rent another car for day so will have to factor this into monthly budget, other than that everything is going okay