2021 Frugal Living Challenge

MazzieD

@Living_proof Have you had your Council Tax Bill already?.  Mine always seems to arrive late Feb or March.

We had snow overnight but not very thick and already melting, doesn't look like there is any ice so might venture out for a walk this morning.  Did my lists yesterday, think the outdoor jobs will have to wait.  Will have to see if I can motivate myself to start the indoor ones but feeling really tired probably because I'm on annual leave this week!.

Still, hoping for a nice frugal week, I'm quite enjoying munching my way through the spinach and broccoli from the freezer.  Trying to keep spending to just top up veg if needed for rest of month.

Tanya12345

Morning All,
No snow yet but tis powerful chilly !
Mumtoomany - the pigs are Pietrain X Saddleback, still very timid. A complete change from our previous lot of Cornish Lops ! I agree re the freezer as my contents seem to multiply but somehow never provide a complete meal,might change how and what I freeze.....
Living_proof - ha ha I feel the same about red wine !! As part of my drive for Self Reliance I'm going to try to make some this year !!
Cranky - I did laugh (in the end !!) and  my Hub and Son were really pleased as it's not their favourite !!
Need to get my self going as there's wood to chop and all the usual chores ! Including a new menu as I've trampled off piste again.

Stay warm and safe everyone, have a very Happy Tuesday

xx

Living_proof

@MazzieD I haven't had the bill but understand my local authority will levy the full 5% allowed with additional money for the police and fire service. My council tax bill is now more a month than my last mortgage was!
This snowy weather is very good for my debit card which is unlikely to get an outing this week!

DawnW

fionaandphil said:

StrawberrySuze said:

@DawnW Thank you, I'm going to try spinach, I eat loads of that and possibly broccoli and peas, I think rhubarb will be OK too and I love rhubarb crumble, I had that on Christmas Day 🤣

I find spinach quite often bolts but I have tried chard instead and this keeps going most of the year and self seeds. Purple sprouting broccoli is also good as it's ready from November to March and fills a nice gap in the year 

True spinach does bolt easily, but the perpetual type, which is more like chard, also keeps going  over winter and into the spring. I love things that self seed - lots of flowers in my garden do, poppies, antirrhynums (sp?) aquilegia, love in a mist, forget me nots etc, but not much luck in that respect with veg so far.

Couldsavemore

Can I ask a question
So last year I put my car tax on monthly dd as its over £300.
I was expecting a new tax demand in january but it seems that it'll run on monthly till I tell them otherwise.
Been better with my money so have saved the full amount for this years.
So do I...
a... cancel the dd and pay the year in full
b... whack £300 off the debts and leave it on dd for another year..

So a nice... what would you do?

Oh and I would like a tesla x so I can avoid road tax and still pull a caravan but am short of about 60000 for that!

Couldsavemore

On the frugal front...
my boss announced on monday I can't lateral flow test at work since track n trace got in touch with me so now am working from home..
Which means the petrol tank is staying full... good news for next months fuel budget

joedenise

Couldsavemore said:

Can I ask a question
So last year I put my car tax on monthly dd as its over £300.
I was expecting a new tax demand in january but it seems that it'll run on monthly till I tell them otherwise.
Been better with my money so have saved the full amount for this years.
So do I...
a... cancel the dd and pay the year in full
b... whack £300 off the debts and leave it on dd for another year..

So a nice... what would you do?

Oh and I would like a tesla x so I can avoid road tax and still pull a caravan but am short of about 60000 for that!

Well done on saving for the full tax.  How much extra does it cost paying monthly?  Is it lower interest than your debts?  If it is then I'd whack it off the debts, if not then cancel the DD and pay the tax in full.

Bluegreen143

I’d probably pay the car tax in full myself as if you go to DD again you’ll maybe not have the full £300 for next year then be stuck on DD.

Was slightly disappointed today as thought I’d get one month pay in my new job with no childcare costs (nurseries reopen in less than 2w but I’m getting paid for the full month on the 15th) so would have loads of spare cash but I didn’t realise I need to pay the (new) nursery in advance at the start of March so will need to take it from this pay after all. But still a great position to be in - I’m clearing £800 after nursery each month which is pretty exciting after 3y of being a stay at home mum. Might be a tiny bit less as the elder child is only using free nursery hours but may need holiday childcare. So far the new routine seems to be working well - I finish at 3 and am finding I still feel I get a decent amount of quality time with the kids and time to cook a proper dinner. And Fridays off which is nice - both kids will be off on Fridays with me at least til my eldest goes to school in August then it’ll be nice to have a day with the youngest.

I really wanted to put the £800 just to some for our holiday savings and the rest straight into the emergency fund but I’m going to pay more attention to bulking out sinking funds as well I think, as these have been neglected over the last 3y - I always save for annual bills and Christmas, but never had cash spare for other irregular costs. So we have a car repairs/replacement fund now and a home maintenance fund too. DH wants to save towards a future conservatory so I’ve agreed but said he needs to quit vaping and put the money saved in there too if he wants me to save towards it 😉

willow_loulou

@Couldsavemore it depends on how big your debt is but also how hard you’ll find having the direct debits compared to saving for it. If you get money irregularly then I’d pay it all now.  But if you’re used to it and would be tempted to spend what is saved then the dd is probably more sensible. 

I pay in one after doing 2 lots of 6 months to save up, but I’m finding it hard saving as much as I need every month so I may go back to 6 monthly which is slightly better value than monthly I think. 

I made a massive broccoli and cauliflower pasta n cheese bake for dinner, this veg box is definitely changing up our diet. The boy would like meat tomorrow so I’m thinking stew as I have some sliced beef, with dumplings.  Yum! 

Viking_mfw

I made chicken pie (sort of - we just cook the contents topped with cheese because gf pastry is a faff) for dinner for the third and final meal from our whole chicken on Sunday and on impulse mixed a spoonful of tikka paste into it. Was a bit worried but DH said it was just like a Gregg's pasty ... this was apparently a compliment?! The three year old also ate it so a win all round, I guess. It also included our second tin of Mr T's own sweetcorn instead of Green Giant and it's fine, so that's a permanent switch. Will get some from Mr A or Mr L and see if that is also acceptable. I found cheaper frozen corn was not good but tinned seems to be okay?