2021 Frugal Living Challenge

marionmgcars

thanks to everyone for posting.  I love to read the posts every day, as it motivates me to be thrifty, not spend unnecessarily, and to reduce our waste by recycling anything I can.  Keep them coming, thanks. 

balabooberlies

Hello. Am just a reader and a learner at the moment.
You are all so inspiring.

Kay, your contentment shines through and has made my day.   There will be no private pension here either and it is something I have worried about but your managing so successfully without it has made my day.  And you are going to live by the sea !

Many a persons' dream.  Good luck with the move when it happens.

Hugs to all

bala

5yearsfree

What good spirits everyone is in today, long may it continue, weather been lovely sun is shining I walked to town daydreaming as I was passing the rows of terrace cottages, sounds very romantic, but reality is they are pavement fronted no parking, I can't wait picked up a four pack of reduced jacket spuds for 39p, I have a lot of cupboard and freezer stuff for us to use up so a fair while before I have to do a proper shop, husband isn't one for cooking so I will get the best use out of that, I've given myself £100 a month for food and clothing and bits, drawn in cash, I've plenty of clothes and bathroom bits to use up ,will top it back to £100 on payday anything saved straight to my saver,

RainbowHippie

Wow this thread moves so fast! I've been away for 3 days and there are 7 new pages! Lovely reading everyone's frugal tips and successes. Not fully caught up yet but posting while i have a minute.

@Bluegreen143 your new desk is beautiful, kudos to Red for his fine handiwork

@Frugaldom that's a shame about Olio no longer being available for you

@Craftylittlelisa i use miso and tahini in homemade hummus (the miso instead of adding salt), if you have chickpeas, oil, lemon and garlic. i've also found it works well with other types of beans instead of chickpeas if you don't have chickpeas in! If you don't completely drain the beans/chickpeas and use some of their liquid it cuts down the amount of oil needed. Cumin makes it tastier but not essential.

@YORKSHIRELASS @Frugaldom @willow_loulou thank you for your tips and suggestions for smoothing out a variable income. Yorkshirelass, you're right, it must be much easier to deal with if you have a known monthly amount to work from, so that needs to be my first step. Nice to have defined indivudla spends as well, i think that will be important for us too. Frugaldom i like your plan of basing your budget on the absolute minimum income you'll receive, it seems like the most sensible and safe way of doing it. willow_loulou i think you are right about ensuring we have some sort of buffer in our 'living expenses' account, maybe if we allow anything not spent in cheaper months to build up until we have enough to cover the extra for a couple of expensive months.

I am hoping to combine suggestions from all three to give me some peace of mind! We each get paid into our current accounts so I think a joint account for 'household' spending will work for us, and if we base the amount we each add on our likely minimum income (we can look at monthly average over the last couple of years) while making sure it covers at least our likely average spend (based on the last year or so) - but also make sure we have a buffer of some sort, so maybe we need to add slightly more for the first few months and we can leave any underspend in there up to an agreed amount.

I have agreed with DOH that we'll have a 'finance day' this week and sit down together to agree a monthly amount and hopefully get an account set up to start asap. One of the issues for me at the moment is that we're still in the habit of me covering most of our joint costs, from a period of a few years where he had no/very little income, but now he's earning again we need to agree what's a fair amount for us both to contribute. It will be nice to sit down and define what we can both expect to put in, and hopefully that will give me some instant peace of mind!

Have a lovely evening folks x

BarbCh

Hi, I'd like to join in this challenge and share my tips and experiences.
I grew up in a single parent family in the 1960's and being frugal has been bred into me, but theres always more room for improvement! 
My own current position is that after been in a fairly affluent situation... all has changed and I am in the process of divorce and finding myself economising out of necessity.
I am making a 'game' out if it ( for motivation and self encouragement)..... 
Every little bit counts... but not sure how I am going to quantify the savings!
 I will try and post a few tips as I  go along! 
1..... I use quite a few tea lights each night
It saves on electric lighting, and creates an ambiance that makes me have that 'rich' feeling! 
I keep them in the fridge as they take longer to burn. I light about 5 each night at approx 6pm....they last for 3 hours. It not only gives me enough light with the aid of light from the TV screen, but also help to heat the room. 
I have a small living room so it's enough to turn the heating off earlier, saving on gas.
2. I'm also working on using solar garden lights! I've just got the decide how best to stand them etc. I have the type with spikes for the ground. 
Does anyone have an idea of how much this might save me in electric (assuming I don't use electric lighting for 4 hours per night).
** I  bought 100 tea lights for £2.00 ( 2p each and burn 5 per night =10p ) 
The solar lights were bought last year for £1 each I have 4..... they cost nothing to recharge, I just need to remember to put them outside in the daylight each day! 

flow2

I would like to join in the chat, I am always trying to be frugal, and save money on everything I do, I love reading all the tips, you all give and try and put them in practise.
I also love the thread, reverse meal planning, as I am always, using food up, nothing goes in the bin, and I try to save the juices, off cooking the potatoes, or the juice, from stewed fruit, etc. 

marionmgcars

I love to read to posts, and try and be more frugal.  I am planning to retire early, two yeas before I get my state pension, and decided that its better to be "time rich and money poor", rather than "money rich and time poor".  Years ago I had to take a job that barely paid my mortgage and bills, but found it was such a rewarding time, actually appreciating what I had rather than working all the hours in the day, and not having time to enjoy what I had.  

zafiro1984

In an effort to save on the cost of fuel I emptied the covered trailer of wood today, it's all dry and small enough to fit the woodburner. It went into a container near the door to the kitchen. I estimate I'll have enough for about five weeks. I have an odd way of calculating how much I use. Three to four bags a day, the bags being sains.. large bags with the elephant on the side. I find it doesn't make too much mess doing it that way. However that took a couple of hours this afternoon and I'm tired
Now I have an empty covered trailer to fill, so I'll be busy for the next few days, log-splitter on the back of the tractor and chainsaw. Mr Z doesn't like me using the chainsaw so maybe I can get him to help!!!.
 

Frugaldom

Good grief, what a chatty lot you all are!  I've finally caught up again - welcome to our latest arrivals and newcomers!

@BarbCh your idea of the solar lights for indoors, assuming you can get enough sunshine to charge them up enough for indoor use, could be adapted to a mobile lighting unit if you have a sturdy box that's light enough to lift out and indoors day and night. Just make holes and slot the spikes through them, or even pop them into something like milk cartons. 

My little fridge freezer is emptying so I've had more space to fill. 2 more cartons of mash now in there and the potatoes that are slightly past their best have been set to chit sprout) in a cardboard box and egg carton. It's still far too cold/wet/frosty to sow anything here and wit no help to move heavy stuff, I haven't been able to clear out the potting shed. (It's been used as a dumping ground to store stuff for future camping-type projects). However, after 14 months of having no help in this department, I'm now planning on just emptying the place, cleaning it all out and starting again. There are 3 foutons to be moved so I'll need help with those!  I want the food growing to take priority this year so I don't need to go shopping!

Grocery budget - as posted previously, I spent less than £15 throughout January and that was only because I needed milk, butter and cheese. Olio was fab while it lasted those past few months (Nov-Jan) but like all good things, it came to an end. I am glad that I was able to make the most of it. Some food stuffs last much longer than what's stated on labels and anything that could be preserved got frozen, dehydrated or made into something that would last longer, eg tomatoes into sauce. Making the most of everything and adapting the diet to fit in with whatever is available is the biggest moneysaving tip I can offer. If it's something you don't like, adapt it into something you do like.

AskYouWillGet

Hi everyone, just had a catch up on posts after a few days off reading them. Such a good read hearing everyone's achievements. Inspired me to tot-up last months spends but really need to think about itemising further to get a true idea where my cash goes! I only buy bargains and are buying bits for DS2&3 for when they move out! 
Household of 4 adults, 2 WFH, 1 older cat (wasteful & faddy, seen a thread similar!). DS2 buys own food. We hae two freezers that are full and cupboards full, so hoping to save this month. 
Jan 2021 
*Shopping includes mix of food for 2 vegetarians, non edibles like household cleaning & sundries, books, clothes, etc. Total £291.86
Cat £28 (Bulk buy Pouches/Biscuits) 
Petrol £45 
Gifts x 2 = £18
Improvements & plans
1.Going to keep track from now on & itemise all spends on food, cleaning products, books etc. for more accurate bookkeeping. 
2. Chitting potatoes instead of throwing in compost @Frugaldom thank you for that idea, also would like tips on making this a success as was going to order seed potatoes, is this a viable money saver planting shop bought spuds tat sprout? Vivaldi potatoes are quite pricey in MrS the only shop that I can buy them from. 
3. Sell books on WeBuyBooks as earnt £15 on four last time and easy to do. *To achieve point 5*
4.Seeds are being sown, got a Grow Your Own subscription offer delivered each month which includes loads of free seeds. Am fully stocked on all of the main vegs, herbs and salad. Look out for these offers instead of buying seeds or magazines at full price of about £6.
Also, 1save seeds from shop bought veg, my shop cherry tomato seeds are the first to sprout compared to packet seeds. 
Also, thought would share this as a good thing to try... Grow your own fruit trees! I saved the pips from fruits that fell from the plum trees in my garden last autumn. Had to research online to learn how to do it.and it worked for 4 of them! 

5.Buy mini greenhouses for sowing seeds. Have found the ultimate bargain at !Kea & delivery is only £15. 
6. Do more surveys on iSay IpSos-i cashed in my points earnt over a year for £20 Amzn Vouchers (can choose from many retailers too)... Also, have signed up for Prolific - thanks for others who mentioned as not heard of it prior. 
Have a happy Frugel February  everyone. 😁🌈