2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugalistamama

So here I am for my weekly check in. You might know that I've been terribly overspending up until a few weeks ago when I joined this thread.  I managed to now put a halt on that spending and getting back to my frugal roots. It's so weird how you can suddenly start spending and not able to stop, like an addiction. I got into major overdraft and although I have been paid I am finding I have only £8 in my account left for food for the next three weeks for family of 4 or I'll be straight back into overdraft! I do have a lot of food in ( due to overspending) and have spent  the last two weeks trying to work a bit of a hole in my freezer so I can batch cook. Now have 13 family meals in there. I also decided this week that I would meal plan a week's breakfast and packed lunch for the kids which repeats again the following week. So I went out and bought the extra items I need and portioned, froze and hid items so they don't go missing and I won't have to buy again for another two weeks. I spent £50 on this and a few dinner and fridge items but I won't need to even worry about it now for two weeks! Feels liberating! For dinners I will meal plan once a week and try to use what I have. A family member also dropped by some yellow sticker chicken and mince and dented tins and cupboard stuff, although I don't have much room it'll help with the not spending mission! Feeling so much more in control. In the last 3 weeks I've spent about £130 on shopping which has reduced by £170 on my normal- ish spend plus some of its is for the weeks ahead. I doubt I'll manage to stay out of overdraft as things always come up for the kids and I'll need to top up on fresh stuff but it won't be half as bad. Thanks very much for the support xxx 💓

Herbyme

Muggle1000, and everyone who's making changes, bravo! You deserve a huge pat on the back, I hope you are giving that to yourself! It takes a while to change a habit and persistence is the key. Well done for sticking with it

willow_loulou

I had to buy a loaf yesterday, and I’ll need to shop tomorrow as the food seems to have vanished! Son is on long shifts 
with very short breaks as it’s half term so I guess he’s starving after work. I forgot it was half term when I shopped so - never mind. I’ve money in the kitty and I’ll make a load of pancakes and probably a cake tomorrow afternoon. Trying to plan the food to last until next week but I think as I’ll be away next week I had better shop Saturday as well. Pasta for dinner tomorrow as dd is cooking. I’ll get her to make extra for Tuesday lunch for me. 

df-MRes_student

willow_loulou said:

I had to buy a loaf yesterday, and I’ll need to shop tomorrow as the food seems to have vanished! Son is on long shifts 
with very short breaks as it’s half term so I guess he’s starving after work. I forgot it was half term when I shopped so - never mind. I’ve money in the kitty and I’ll make a load of pancakes and probably a cake tomorrow afternoon. Trying to plan the food to last until next week but I think as I’ll be away next week I had better shop Saturday as well. Pasta for dinner tomorrow as dd is cooking. I’ll get her to make extra for Tuesday lunch for me. 

Pancakes sound like a nice idea, willow_loulou!

nat21luv

Small planned spending today, £40 on food shop (probably spend £30 and £10 rolls over into Xmas food shop) and £20 on fuel. 

I’ve been aggressively overpaying my last debt, I planned to make one overpayment per month of £180 but this month I’ve managed to overpay by £2300! I’ve taken 14 months off the term, that’s incredible! I’ve given myself until July to have it cleared, I have £4077 to go but I have £1300 in an account that I’m not using so I’ll withdraw and use it towards that too. I’ve been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsay and it’s really been helping with my focus.

CraftyLittleLisa

I was doing rather well at the beginning of the month but then I fell a little off the frugal wagon once half term started.  It isn't usually a problem for me as I don't have children but to help my sister out I had one nephew stay with me the first weekend and the other one was supposed to say with me the second weekend (although he didn't stay the whole weekend in the end).  I realised I had to get different food in for them to eat which made the food bill increase considerably as I was buying milk, meat (I don't normally eat meat), bread and puddings as well as a few little treats.  I did also buy some fish for myself and one nephew as I do eat fish and he really likes it and its healthy.  I also paid for each of them to go to a place to do a crafting activity.  It wasn't expensive but it was still extra.  I worked out my money yesterday which I was expecting to be rather a shock but the only shock there was that I had only overspent by about £20.00.

I am now back on the wagon and after reading the "Lots of Sneaky Ways To Save" thread as well as decluttering paperwork and sorting out finances etc I am now determined to make further progress.  I get paid on Wednesday, however, I am going to put off spending any money until 1st just to make sure I eke out as much as I can of the supplies I have.

This month I also did the following things (which I consider to be frugal):

- Got some vouchers through for Waitrose which I can use for my grocery bill.

- I have realised that I shall probably be frequenting a local coffee shop more regularly to meet up with friends as we can no longer meet up at the gym where we got to know each other so I picked up a loyalty card.  After so many drinks you get a free one.  Its something.

- My friend buys a discount at the local theatre where a group of us go a lot.  She worked out the saving over the last year for me for two shows was £14.00.  My contribution to the discount was £4.00 so I saved £10.00.  I didn't think that was bad at all considering it is a little theatre that does amateur shows mostly and the tickets aren't expensive.

- I have diluted washing up liquid, fabric softener etc to see how that works (one tip I picked up from "Sneaky Ways" thread).

- I'm still sticking to meal planning which I really thought I would struggle to do.

- Made some soap from a kit I was given for Christmas so I don't need to buy any more for at least 3 months.

I'm feeling quite chuffed with that despite ending up over-spending by £20.00.

Frugaldom

df-MRes_student said:

Frugaldom said:

Siebrie, I would store the cookies in an airtight container ...

That's what Tupperware is, Frugaldom! Tupperware parties were quite common thirty-something years ago. Congrats on the bartering/exchange of groceries btw. You did very well there! 

Yes, I do know what T*pperware is, I remember the parties well, just that I don't like usng trade names on here in case I get reported.

Frugaldom

The end of February is already in sight but don't forget about that extra day if your budget is on a per day basis for the likes of food, fuel or utilities. 
I swapped more eggs for a share in one of those £1.50 supermarket veg boxes so now have enough apples and pears to make a huge fruit crumble (or several smaller ones) plus plenty of potatoes, lettice, an avocado, a small melon and a lemon. I gave neighbour one of the letuces and I'll share the others with the hens, plus have some with the avocado served with tuna & homemade salad dressing (ketchup/salad cream/paprika/lemon juice). The rest of the lemon will go on pancakes. One giant cooking apple is the biggest I have ever seen and will probably make enough for a full pie on its own, with plenty more that I can share with the ponies. They also share any wrinkly carrots with the rabbit.
I think supermarets are beginning to push their luck with what goes into these 'cheap' fruit & veg boxes as the amount of plastic packaging can be ridiculous. I've put the box at the door for sitting my wet wellies into when I come in from the yard and think I will save any others to use for storing odds & ends and for making up gift hampers. 
Off to stew the apples, make crumble and bake some biscuits now, as there are none to have with a cuppa. The oven being on will help keep the place warm.

df-MRes_student

Frugaldom said:

df-MRes_student said:

Frugaldom said:

Siebrie, I would store the cookies in an airtight container ...

That's what Tupperware is, Frugaldom! Tupperware parties were quite common thirty-something years ago. Congrats on the bartering/exchange of groceries btw. You did very well there! 

Yes, I do know what T*pperware is, I remember the parties well, just that I don't like usng trade names on here in case I get reported.

Oh, my comment "That's what Tupperware is, Frugaldom!" wasn't meant as sarcasm, it was merely to inform. I don't know where in the world you live, Frugaldom. You may not have heard of it if it wasn't a worldwide brand. I didn't realise mentioning brand names was a problem unless one was trying to publicise one's own business and keep adding links to websites/spam to the site! I used it as an all-inclusive name for 'airtight containers' which is what people generally refer to airtight containers as in the UK nowadays. I don't even know if the company is still trading...

Frugaldom

df-MRes_student said:

Frugaldom said:

df-MRes_student said:

Frugaldom said:

Siebrie, I would store the cookies in an airtight container ...

That's what Tupperware is, Frugaldom! Tupperware parties were quite common thirty-something years ago. Congrats on the bartering/exchange of groceries btw. You did very well there! 

Yes, I do know what T*pperware is, I remember the parties well, just that I don't like usng trade names on here in case I get reported.

Oh, my comment "That's what Tupperware is, Frugaldom!" wasn't meant as sarcasm, it was merely to inform. I don't know where in the world you live, Frugaldom. You may not have heard of it if it wasn't a worldwide brand. I didn't realise mentioning brand names was a problem unless one was trying to publicise one's own business and keep adding links to websites/spam to the site! I used it as an all-inclusive name for 'airtight containers' which is what people generally refer to airtight containers as in the UK nowadays. I don't even know if the company is still trading...

No worries, I never saw it as sarcasm I've been on here for so long that I tend to wrongly assume everyone knows I'm running the challenge from UK. Absolutely no offence meant in my response; I actually have to admit to laughing at your original possibility of my never having heard of T*pperware. It's of American origin and still a global brand leader.   I'm getting on a bit now, it's been over 20 years since I published my first moneysaving / frugal living challenge. #goldenoldies