2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Scrimps

Hi all,  I hope everyone is well.  After a quite horrible midweek with the two kids at home we have had a lovely day pottering in the garden planting some more seedlings and lettuces.  I am hoping a lot of it will do me well for spring lettuce and save some money on food.  We havent used the greenhouse like this before so its a bit of a trial with what does and doesnt work but child 1 and I had a lovely time.  I think thats why midweek wasnt much fun, he just wanted to potter with some one and one attention - not be carted off to a nearby stay and play.
Thankfully we had some good weather so I have been able to avoid using the tumble dryer.  I have just claimed my £75 for switching to plusnet so hipefully will get that through and have emailed this diet/lifestyle plan company I was recommended to get my money back. It comes with a money back guarantee, its used by the NHS and basically offers online support but the materials came through and I thought it really is nothing I havent already read/done before, what I need more is some prgmatic/hands on support to help me cope with the two little ones so I can give myself some time to deal with healthy eating and stress relief.
Thank you to whoever suggested using Facebook, I do have a few things listed for sale on there already but this was smaller stuff that didnt sell on facebook and I can easily post.  I havent been getting much interest in either the facebook or the ebay sales which is dissapointing but ill just leave it up there.  The smaller things, if they dont sell I will move to the charity shop eventually.
Also in frugal news,  I have finally cycled to work this week.  Its been a long time coming and it took me a long time to get in.  I used to cycle a lot and it takes me 30 mins compared to the 15 mins from before I had children 24 months ago but Im getting there.  We will be going down to one car soon and this helps with that aim, we always wanted the back up but actually we live close to town and work so should be able to manage perfectly well without.  Since having children its not like we have anywhere exciting to go on our own anyway!!

BelleBaluu

Hi all, just a quick update on how my frugal living has been going. Been sticking to the want v need theory, which is really helping no end, being strict with my food shop/meal planning and being very careful over brands/pricing. This has seen me having money left at the end of both months this year so far and also my food budget has had money left over too. 

I’ve also started listing various bits and bobs on EBay so some extra cash coming in there too. It all helps. 

willow_loulou

Just bought some beauty stuff from £land. Spent £4 where I would’ve spent 30-40! Will report my findings!! 

lcc86

My weekly update, it has been a spendy week! I have had to pay out for a training course, but having done the course over the past few days it was definitely worth the expense, so I'm really pleased with that as I was worried about spending so much. I also bought travel insurance for the holidays I have planned as I'd been putting that off for ages. I had to bite the bullet and buy a new phone as mine gave up on me.... I found a decent contract though, I'll be paying £18 more than I was paying for sim only so of course it's an increase but my phones last me several years so once the contract is paid I'll go back to sim only.

So although it's been spendy I can say all spends have been planned and accounted for. I haven't bought anything unnecessary. I have meal planned and had my slow cooker on today as well. I've done a cupboard inventory and have enough food to last weeks (or at least until the panic buying dies down hopefully!). So all in all not too bad. 

stirchleygirl

thanks df-MRes_student for the link to the place where you get your inks from - it doesn't look like they do them for my printer as it is a few years old and has all the colours in one cartridge but i'll be having a look at other similar suppliers who do have my type and see how they compare.

stirchleygirl

wow mumtoomany that's a lot to have gotten done
thanks PipneyJane and df-MRes_student 
my occupational health appointment went ok (fiasco with getting a taxi home and consequence bad health) he is unable to make decision yet and needs to see me again after ive completed an activity diary for at least 2 weeks so he can see better how my disability affects me so im signed off work still ive got social worker doing a home visit today to see how im getting on 
Kerry_Woman well done for looking after your mental health (as a physically and cognitively disabled person looking after my mental health is as important as it it can be very easy to have depression dealing with everything) and for your money saving exploits
Scrimps well done on the money saving and the cycling
well done to everyone else in the exploits ive enjoyed reading them

stirchleygirl

so last Tuesday I had 2 food shop deliveries one from sainsb for the £100 with £15.00 off voucher and £50.00 from as da its a shame as da doesn't do vouchers as id have been happier doing the whole shop there as they were much cheaper than sainsb the reason for the as da shop was for things that were massively cheaper than at sainsb and I really could stand to pay the extra 
I realised that I probably could have managed another week without the delivery but it was getting a bit boring even by my standards (I generally love repeating meals and using up leftovers) so now we'll see how many weeks this will last 
so my lovely PA bunged the different frozen veg and a pack of 'soup broth mix' (pearl barley ect) in my slow cooker and mixed up a gravy using old forgotten stock cubes and finished off a tub of arrowroot that I got a few years ago - its amazing what you (my PAs) find when you make a concerted effort to use up what you already have - this made 8 portions which have gone in the freezer - I had one over the weekend and it was very nice
she also made up the 2 packets of wraps filled with the tins of spicy mixed beans and some were put in my upstairs fridge - all gone now and very yummy and the rest were put in my freezer to have when I want 
she also made some large square mince pies from a jar of mincemeat and some frozen sheets of pastry that I got in for xmas 2018 and didn't use cut into 4 and using 2 quarters per portion with some tinned custard made lovely puddings a few days last week and some still left in the freezer
im still using up the indian starters with salad and chutnies and i finally started on the tins of soup from this xmas with a bit of the slightly failed but still edible homemade bread put in the bottom of the bowl
as now restocked with eggs my PA made egg mayo with cress mixed in so had that along with some slices of 'tofurky' (that id never had before as I usually get the qu0rn slices versions ill have to compare price/quantity to see if it was better value or not but as I don't have a life I do try to explore the virtual food shelves and try new stuff) in sandwiches over the weekend
smoothies again (soya milk banana bit of oats sprinkle of cinamon and some frozen fruits) now that ive restocked on the frozen fruit (bigger bags so even more better value)
so porridge (oats and water with a dash of cinnamon) heated in the microwave for breakfast this morning 
hope you all have a wonderfully frugal week 

willow_loulou

Just needed to tell someone.., I just paid off my store card! £88:15! I’m so happy. 

I might have to dip into other money before Friday if something comes up but I’ve cleared it all before the statement date yay! So happy 😀 thank you all for keeping me frugal. On to the credit card now!! 

Scrimps

willow_loulou said:

Just needed to tell someone.., I just paid off my store card! £88:15! I’m so happy. 

I might have to dip into other money before Friday if something comes up but I’ve cleared it all before the statement date yay! So happy 😀 thank you all for keeping me frugal. On to the credit card now!! 

Fantastic news!  well done!

willow_loulou

Scrimps said:

willow_loulou said:

Just needed to tell someone.., I just paid off my store card! £88:15! I’m so happy. 

I might have to dip into other money before Friday if something comes up but I’ve cleared it all before the statement date yay! So happy 😀 thank you all for keeping me frugal. On to the credit card now!! 

Fantastic news!  well done!

Thank you! I’m so chuffed with myself. I was head in the sand last year - this thread in particular but the whole forum has made a huge difference - so grateful