2020 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

Elisheba wrote: »

2) I've watered down the milk and can't really notice the difference. That'll save me a good chunk in my grocery bill from now on. My brother thinks this is hilarious and doesn't believe its drinkable. More fool him, eh?

Reminds me of a Care Home fairly near to us that hit the headlines in the local paper because they'd been caught out watering down the milk that they gave to their residents. Apparently no one had ever complained about the taste though, not even visitors who were given tea there. A whistle-blower on the staff reported it amongst a list of other penny-pinching methods which she felt unfair on the residents. I'm not sure if the Home was given a fine but their reputation for trust suffered :eek:

Kitchenbunny

Just wrote a big post but there was something that glitched and lost my post. Ah well. I had only wanted to say that savings are on track and that I’m keeping a daily wins diary to show savings from coupons used, yellow stickers, etc. Also that I have the car’s MOT coming up and I’m a little stressed about that. Seem to be stressed about everything but could be approaching time of life,lol.

Groceries look set to cost half of what DH thinks we should probably spend which I’m happy about. Plus am thinking of setting up a small online shop for selling little sewn toys or crochet bits and I want to have a go at making undies to make the most of my sewing machine.

Hope everyone is well.

Muggle1000

Been living off leftovers this week. It was my goal this week to not buy any food for me and use up bits in the freezer. This hasn't happened as there have been ample leftovers. Think there's even more leftovers than I can actually eat. I'm meal planning but as I am doing a new meal for every day I am not getting the chance to use leftovers up. I need to address this. Also found £9 Tosco shopping vouchers. Very pleased with that.

little_green

Muggle1000 wrote: »

Been living off leftovers this week. It was my goal this week to not buy any food for me and use up bits in the freezer. This hasn't happened as there have been ample leftovers. Think there's even more leftovers than I can actually eat. I'm meal planning but as I am doing a new meal for every day I am not getting the chance to use leftovers up. I need to address this. Also found £9 Tosco shopping vouchers. Very pleased with that.

I too meal plan but like you it tends to be a new meal daily. What i find frustrating is buying a pack of lettuce & then only using couple of handfuls say to go along with a burger & not needing it for anything else (not a big fan of lettuce) & then it goes brown & watery in the fridge!
....

lilian1977

little_green wrote: »

I too meal plan but like you it tends to be a new meal daily. What i find frustrating is buying a pack of lettuce & then only using couple of handfuls say to go along with a burger & not needing it for anything else (not a big fan of lettuce) & then it goes brown & watery in the fridge!
....

I made this the other day, absolutely delicious and used up the ends of my lettuce. https://www.surreyep.org.uk/reduce-reuse-recycle/food/recipes/lettuce-and-potato-soup/

[Deleted User]

My no-spending intentions have hit the buffers already:o. My stick blender which didn't cost much at the time and has done absolutely sterling service finally died yesterday:mad:. It kept tripping the house fuse s whenever I switched it on and DH said it definitely wasn't repairable. Ordered an identical one at Argos today and will collect when I'm in town tomorrow. Not too much harm done financially as I have just redeemed almost the equivalent amount in cashback from Quidco. Just means my small savings pot won't get anything added:(

I make all my own soup, no veg ever gets wasted in this house:j, and although we love chunky soups I make a lot of smoother ones like leek, carrot, tomato etc too. I'm lost without my trusty stick blender:o

lilian1977

Hi everyone - I haven't updated for a while but I've been frugalling away quietly, here are a few things I've done:

I've been on sick leave since Christmas so haven't been paying to get to work, I worked out how much I would need to spend on travel when I go back and transferred the excess to my savings.

Strict meal planning, which has involved some lovely cheap meals:

• YS Ginsters pasties with Try Me Free chips and Tesco beans - 23.5p per portion
• Tofu and chickpea stew with jacket potatoes - got the tofu for 50p and it did for two more meals for DH at work as well
• Veggie quiche with Try Me Free chips and YS veg - got a pack of Jus Rol shortcrust pastry for 40p and using up just out of date eggs and some aquafaba to bulk them out
• We ate out on Monday for our son's 9th birthday but he chose the local carvery so it was only £15, we just had mains then went home for birthday cake

I've been trying to keep the heating and lights off as much as possible, although it's not that easy when you work from home! However, I submitted our meter readings last week and have had an adjustment to my direct debit, down by £34! Hoping to keep this up, as if we save that £34 a month between now and Christmas it just about pays for our Christmas 2020 weekend away. :T

However, bad news is that our car won't start - this has happened a few times in the last few months so I think we need a new battery, but I am charging the jump start machine currently in the hope that it will at least see us through the next few days! We budget for emergency costs like this but it's still frustrating.

Hope everyone is looking forward to the weeekend x

[Deleted User]

lilian1977 wrote: »

I made this the other day, absolutely delicious and used up the ends of my lettuce. https://www.surreyep.org.uk/reduce-reuse-recycle/food/recipes/lettuce-and-potato-soup/

Sounds delicious, I'll definitely be trying that one. Thanks for the recipe:T:beer:

We grow most of our own fruit and veg and are over-run by lettuce in the summer:rotfl:. I never know what to do with it all and even on hot days we still enjoy our lunchtime bowl of HM soup. I think I've tossed most types of veg into my soups but never lettuce before. We live and learn;)

[Deleted User]

lilian1977 wrote: »

I've been trying to keep the heating and lights off as much as possible, although it's not that easy when you work from home! However, I submitted our meter readings last week and have had an adjustment to my direct debit, down by £34! Hoping to keep this up, as if we save that £34 a month between now and Christmas it just about pays for our Christmas 2020 weekend away. :T

Wow, did I read that correctly? £34 a month less???:eek:. That's an amazing saving:j:beer:. Mine's gone down by £7 a month and I thought that was good:rotfl:

PipneyJane

HoneyIShrunktheDebt wrote: »

I'm in a different situation - I have been lurking on these boards for a while. Recently I have moved from UK to a country where living costs are very high due to hubby's job.
He did get a substantial pay rise, but I'm struggling to find work due to work permits etc - I don't live in Europe. All goods are imported and there are no discount grocery stores. Very little fresh local (cheap) produce is available. I'm looking for motivation to live as frugally as possible in the circumstances as our spending started to get out of control and we have got into a lot of debt very quickly. We are trying to reign spending in before it gets out of hand. I'm looking forward to reading ideas and then adapting them to the reality of where I am living!

I haven't time to write a detailed response but I would recommend NOT translating everything back into your home currency in your mind.

Cost of living can have a devastating effect on your budget. I'm an Australian and have lived in the UK for over 30 years. One of the first things I learned in 1989 was that £1 bought considerably less than $1 had at home, while my wages were effectively halved because of the cost of living in the UK.

As someone else said: talk to the locals and adapt your lifestyle to theirs. Chat up the butcher, the shopkeeper, your neighbours, and figure out how to live like they do.

- Pip