2020 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

I just edited my signature, I’m stunned by how much I’ve paid back simply by being frugal! I didn’t think I was that extravagant 😁 thanks guys xx 

Muggle1000

Hello everyone, struggling with the budget over the last couple of weeks due to empty shelves.  Having to buy more expensive brands.  Paid £5 for a pack of loo roll today.  I may need therapy to get over that.  Does that class as an emergency that I can did into my emergency fund for? 
My frugal thing this week was to re-home our last few fish in the big tank we have.  So now we can sell the fish tank and save money on electric, food and filters. 

Frugaldom

willow_loulou said:

I just edited my signature, I’m stunned by how much I’ve paid back simply by being frugal! I didn’t think I was that extravagant 😁 thanks guys xx 

You are doing realy well I opted to clear everything then continued to use my cards, paying the balance in full each month so it accrues some cashback. Long gone are the days of 5% cashback, though, as I think it is now down to 0.5%  No doubt it will drop again or vanish soon, whatwith the Bank of England dropping the interest rate to 0.25%

Frugaldom

Muggle1000 said:

Hello everyone, struggling with the budget over the last couple of weeks due to empty shelves.  Having to buy more expensive brands.  Paid £5 for a pack of loo roll today.  I may need therapy to get over that.  Does that class as an emergency that I can did into my emergency fund for? 
My frugal thing this week was to re-home our last few fish in the big tank we have.  So now we can sell the fish tank and save money on electric, food and filters. 

Muggle, I was doing my supermarket order and was quite shocked at how many items were out of stock. So many of the basics were gone that I began wondering if they simply were not restocking on items with next to no profit margins attached to them. Loss leaders have virtually vanished, forcing everyone to step up a brand or 2 and, in some case, spend doub;e what they would normally pay. In the past, we have dbated this very subject - what to do in the case of the cheap brands vanishing if that's all a household budget can afford. I's very much a case of keep on looking. Things I noticed missing were spaghetti, pasta, porridge oats,tinned tomatoes, baked beans, UHT milk... all the things that we frugalers usually buy every other month. A search for alternatives did reap some benefits and, in some cases, cheaper options! Hard to believe but 4 tins of beans for £1 simply because they are reduced salt & sugar is fine by me. All the shortages seen in the towns don't seem to be filtering down to local village stores just yet but I topped up on milk powder, flour, sugar, coffee and tea just in case. It really puts things into perspective when thinking about how many people consider frugalers extreme.
 Stay safe and stay healthy, folks, and support one another wherever possible. 

willow_loulou

Frugaldom said:

willow_loulou said:

I just edited my signature, I’m stunned by how much I’ve paid back simply by being frugal! I didn’t think I was that extravagant 😁 thanks guys xx 

You are doing realy well I opted to clear everything then continued to use my cards, paying the balance in full each month so it accrues some cashback. Long gone are the days of 5% cashback, though, as I think it is now down to 0.5%  No doubt it will drop again or vanish soon, whatwith the Bank of England dropping the interest rate to 0.25%

I did consider that, I was collecting Tesco points with my cc. I might do that but will look around to see best offers. It’s the temptation when things go wrong to buy things in it that’s got me in this situation. Plus a little retail therapy 🙄 it would be okay if I could get £500 limit but no one wants to do that anymore. 

stirchleygirl

willow_loulou wooooooo hoooooo! congrats that's a huge achievement  
BelleBaluu that's so brilliant to get a 'double whammy' 
Frugaldom youre so right you really have to check the price per gram to see what gets you the best value in the bigger v multiple smaller packs 
ancientmum well done what a bargain
willow_loulou well done on the paper at work thing I rip up mail letters that I don't need into 4 and have it bundled together in a clip and use the plain backs to write notes and menus on for my PAs I bet your mum is well pleased
2Scratters I so miss being able to go around charity shops I used to love browsing in all of them along the local 'high streets' when I was still able to 'go' shopping you've definitely beat me on your soap stash as I only had 14 when I decided to re-gift some (the really posh ones) which got me down to 9 im now down to 7 as ive been using them up the last couple of years and also told family/friends to not buy me any soap until further notice
willow_loulou id put your savings to pay off the cc as you are paying way way more in interest on the cc than the interest you are getting on your savings and will also clear the cc faster thereby saving even more interest which can then go to pay off your next debt or if all debts cleared then put it into savings 
Muggle1000 yeah id class having to buy more expensive products due to the empty shelves caused by panic buying as emergency spending well done with giving up your fish that couldn't have been an easy decision  hopefully at some point in the future when all your debts are cleared and you can afford it again youll be able to get some more

stirchleygirl

thank you all so much for your support prayers and well wishes for my PIP tribunal

ive finally recovered from my 'outing' (PIP tribunal) on Wednesday it was physically mentally and emotionally exhorsting but they gave me half of the decision after they finished with introducing themselves and said that from all the info submitted it was very clear to them that I needed the help that I said I needed and that they had given me enough extra points to get to higher level of benefit for the Personal Care side of PIP as I had been given the higher level at my previous tribunal 3 years ago but PIP bumped me down to the lower lever in jan 2019. so the panel only asked me questions about my ability to walk (which I wasn't disputing) but from their questioning it became clear to me that they had realised that although I knew how much I could in minutes and how long a rest I needed and how many times I could do that etc etc that I had massively over estimated the distances in metres so I got 4 points for that and they gave me 10 points for being unable to do unfamiliar journeys alone - I had previously never had enough points to get any money from this side of PIP but should of always got money as im unable to do any journeys alone even familiar ones however I accepted the 10 points as it turns out that the ruling is that taxi drivers don't count when travelling as it is classed as an unaccompanied journey so rules are rules and I accept that but over joyed that I got over the 12 points tio get the higher level benefit and so with both sides of PIP this means I will be getting an extra £90.00 per week of PIP which will be back dated to jan 2019 and the ruling lasts until jan 2025 so big relief for me and I cried after they gave me the ruling (it has been 18 months of hell dealing with this) it coluldnt have come at a better time tho as ive been on half pay since towards the end of jan as I get 6 months at full pay and then 6 months at half pay sick level. also as im still off work (since last august) and still no guarantee that ill be able to return to work (waiting for occ health) or that if im allowed to that my brain will still be capable of doing my job as my brain has picked up new things that it is no longer capable of doing during this relapse so with an uncertain future having this extra money stops the financial worries for now

hope everyone has a frugalling good week and isn't too ambushed by expensive products in these scary times

cw18

stirchleygirl  It's nice to hear that these things DO actually work out for some people

Herbyme

Stirchleygirl well done to you for your persistence and for coping with all that.  It seems so ironic that someone who’s  already facing challenges should have to face that one as well. The whole system seems to me completely bonkers

lcc86

A busy week at work but it has really helped keep costs down as I've not had time to spend. All spends have  been planned for too. Sorted out mother's day gift and card and took that to my mum this weekend. Also ordered some vitamins that were running low.

Noticed my online shopping delivery has loads of items unavailable - all the same stuff everyone has mentioned already plus a few other bits. I didn't need much this week anyway so it's not the end of the world, hope it doesn't go on for too long. 

My main spendy news was having to book a private MRI. Can't get one on the nhs despite having chronic pain for several years and spending a fortune on physio, chiro, PT, you name it. Had an appointment this week and basically got told where to go. Haven't paid for it yet but it'll cost £200. Luckily I get paid before I go for the appointment so I can use next month's wages as used most of my savings on this course I did last week. I have got some savings left but that's my car fund and don't want to touch it.