2021 Frugal Living Challenge

StrawberrySuze

Hi all, hope everyone is keeping warm and dry 😊 

Very lazy day for me today, I have paid a bit more off my credit card bill, debt free day is getting nearer! I'm just up to another £50 on PopulusLive so should get that paid in the next few days, also done a few Prolific surveys and will cash out another £8ish on that. I changed one of my bank accounts a couple of months ago and have just received the £100 switching bonus so that went to the credit card, I did buy a pork joint, haven't had a proper joint for ages, cooked it in cider with veg, it was lovely, ate far too much of it and nearly all the crackling! My neighbour gave me two bottles of home made wine yesterday- a strawberry one and a sloe one. The strawberry went down very easily last night! 

Did some shopping at Lidls on Wednesday,  they had a veg box left but it didn't look very good, I think that's why it was left, this was about five o' clock.  Had a lovely walk with the dogs on the beach and collected some more plastic tubs on the way home.

Was out in the sunshine gardening all day Thursday, I don't usually grow fruit and veg apart from tomatoes and salad leaves occasionally but all the talk of it on here is making me want to grow some this year.  I am definitely going to try the lemon balm pesto and I'm going to grow some nasturtiums, I love the leaves and flowers in salad. I'm going to try some other things too but I'll put them randomly in my borders, I like that look. 

Does anyone grow any fruit or vegetables in ground that isn't very bright? My front gets sun all the time but my back garden is shaded a lot of the time. I could put another raised bed in the back, I have a spare pile of soil, but I'm not sure what I could grow in it.

sashacat

Good evening everyone. Grandkids gone back home so back to frugallling. 

Neighbour came round last night and asked if I'd like a pile of carrots and sprouts they didn't need. So 8 portions of carrot and squash (from garden and saved) soup in the freezer and sprouts for evening meal with homemade leek quiche from freezer. Hoping to have zero food spend this month.
and I am using my wood burner and free wood for heating. 

Horrified to find my electricity bill has gone from £27.15 to £36.67 per month but I have a heater on in the greenhouse for NDN's plants but they have given me £50 as that's ok. 

Total spending on everything was £813.99 but that included paying cc bill for December. I use it for points and cash back and pay it off every month. 

5yearsfree

Today been a hard one for me today, just not sure what to do with myself at weekends. This lockdown can't end soon enough. ive tidied up every cupboard twice now, have loads of jobs to be doing in the garden but the ground is too wet.I even rounded up the odd 87p from my account into my saver just to kill 10mins, its just sad I always moaned there isn't enough time in a day now im finding i've hours too many 

MazzieD

Think it's that time of year @sashacat, I received an e mail on Friday from my duel fuel supplier advising me my DD is going up by £11 from 21 Feb.  Bit of cold weather and they start increasing the DD!.  Sadly I don't have a wood burner or anywhere I could install one.

This prompted me to have my weekly look at budget.  All DD's accounted for including those that haven't been taken yet. this increase may have an impact but it depends on how much I spend on groceries which is about the only expense I can control this month.  Thank goodness there is no Council Tax at the moment, it will allow me to adjust a bit before that inevitably increases as well.

No sign of any snow yet, want to get out for a walk later.  Really windy in the night, suspect it's bitterly cold but haven't been outside yet.  

roblou27

I was off for a 20 mins run this morning down the lane as I have not been for a week but poked my head out and thought...no fear, freezing cold winds although dry. Any way I did 15 mins run indoors from front door to the kitchen sink...bit monotonous but got me moving. Have lit the wood burner so toasting up nicely now. Cooking chicken stew with leftover chicken and a few dumpies. Should get a couple of packups for hubs as well. He is off now for 5 days and I’m glad I don’t think he realised how the virus would affect him afterwards. He says the tiredness comes in waves. DF is also much better but has been left with a cough and fatigue, but any way we have been very lucky. Not much else on the agenda today. Although have got some make do and mending for us to look at. Firstly testing the glueing and waterproofing of my walking shoes. Going to try the candle tip from Frugal Jo channel on YT. We also have two drawers to mend in the bedroom and some sorting out to do in the bedroom cupboard to see if we can maximise space using stuff that we already have. 🤔

DawnW

@StrawberrySuze the following link gives quite a good list of crops that can be grown in shade. https://www.lovethegarden.com/uk-en/article/which-fruit-and-vegetables-can-i-grow-shade

tryingtodobetter

I haven't posted for a while, work has been horrendous and I just can't switch off from it.

Money wise things are looking good as I haven't had the chance to spend anything! First food shop of the month came in at £65 and this weeks is £39, so hopefully on target for under £200 for the month. It's DS3's birthday this month this will be £70 ish, however, he has no idea of anything that he would like.

Frugal Plans This Week
> Only use car for work journeys
> Surveys x 5 
> Packed lunches for all 3 of us
> Sort stuff to sell on eBay/Gumtree/Marketplace x 5 items

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

cuddlymarm

Cold and cloudy here today but not too windy which always drops the temperature.
I’m on annual leave until a week on Tuesday now so at least I won’t have to go out unless I want to. Where I work has to have the doors open and I was frozen yesterday. I feel the cold more now I’ve gone through the menopause, ( I had a couple of years of managing nicely in just t shirts in winter) 
I have decided that I don’t need a big shop this week, I’ve plenty in and time to work on the stretchy food menu this week. I’ll just buy milk and veg if I need it.
Unfortunately, that’s about all I’ve got planned. It’s probably going to be another week of tv, knitting and housework.

Shopaholic_no_more

Been busy today putting more stuff on eBay and sold two items straight away!! Result! 🙌.
 Tomorrow, after, they’ve been posted I shall transfer the money to pay a bit more off that dreaded cc debt.
Another piece of good news is that I had a small amount left to pay on a 0% cc and today that was paid off!! The £50 a month I was paying for this cc will now go towards the “big” one as I shall now call it.
So, chipping away and keeping that positive mindset is definitely helping. I’m sure I will hit a wall at some point in the future with it all but right now I am chuffed....Budgetmoms emails and blogs are what I keep reading over and over until it sits in this ol brain of mine and sticks haha.
I had ordered a budget book to keep me on track but it’s managed to get lost in the post 🤷‍♀️ So the company I got it from are trying to sort it out for me. Hopefully, soon 🤞. I can’t get on with spreadsheets....I have tried....I guess I like to do things the old fashioned way 😊.
 Very very cold today in the biting wind but no snow thankfully. 
Enjoy your Sunday evening everyone x 

CRANKY40

I've always written my budget by hand @OLaney. It's a process that hasn't let me down yet. I use a Collins Ideal double entry cash book. It's perfect for the way that  I work which lists the payment, the amount that it's for and the amount left once the payment has been made. I list them all at the start of the month then tick them off as they are paid from my bank account.