2021 Frugal Living Challenge

[Deleted User]

Morning all, day 6 of 17 is upon us. When I went downstairs at 6am the fire was still smouldering with warmth, so I've added some newspaper, quickly chopped up some wood we foraged yesterday and now the fire is roaring again. What a treat for 6.45! Will report back later x

MazzieD

Wednesday is always my favourite day of the week.  I've been reading the MSE weekly newsletter for years and continue to do so, it's not always easy to keep up with every moneysaving tip so it's good to get an overview.

Bitterly cold, no snow just thick frost and an arctic wind.  Really surprised yesterday, needed a couple of salad items and there was an abundance of green sticker items in L*dl, usually the trays are empty.  Came away with a F&V box and quite a haul, managed to jam it into the freezer and fridge.  Huge help to the grocery budget, should only need a couple of F&V boxes and eggs for rest of April.

willow_loulou

Lovely to see you @Frugaldom x im
 missing you on here but have you on Twitter and FB so loving the pony posts.
For any lurkers I’ll just add my motivation as it’s back in the beginning pages and last year

 I’ve been on this thread for a year now and thanks to the inspiration I have paid off a loan 7 months early (by July so in 4 months £900) and the store credit I had(£300) . I consolidated the credit card in January this year and have knocked off 3 months of repayments since January. 

I have also saved enough money to purchase various items to make my life easier as I am disabled  - this week was a work top dishwasher! 

In recent months I started doing my kitchen up a bit, I bought a new unit that’s steel and easy clean and a new worktop oven. 

There is absolutely no way I could’ve done this previously. The amazing thing is I started the journey because I was losing the child benefit and tax credit with my daughter finishing college. This reduced my income quite a bit and yet I’m now able to manage my money so much better! 

My next to do it get the garden up to scratch. I’ve ordered 3 builders tonne bags to put the rubbish in as I couldn’t source any free. This means I can stack them at the bottom of the garden until I can afford a skip. I need fencing and some kind of dog friendly, environment friendly no mow ground covering. I’m thinking clover, gravel and bark. I already have clover seeds. 

It’s exciting being able to pay for these things or find things free and it’s just by a change in mindset and a bit of determination. I’m never going back to my old ways, I treat myself occasionally and it feels even more of a treat when I do. 

Chessbear

I read this thread daily but dont often post. I find it keeps me focused on money saving. I picked up a breadmaker on  olio as I wanted to try it out but didn't want to buy one.  Well worth watching out for, they do go quickly.  Just noticed on MSE that royal mail have waived the 72p charge for picking a parcel to end of may. Might be helpful for anyone doing Ebay selling but nervous of the post office.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

I read along everyday but dont always get time to post. The last week has been manic with half term and trying to entertain 2 little ones. The charity walk went really well. We managed the 7 miles in just over 2 hours. It was a glorious day and I actually got a little sunburnt. 
For easter we had the turkey joint that we bought for christmas. I put it into the freezer when we fell ill with covid. It was a nearly 3kg. I managed to get 4 dinners out of it before putting the rest in the freezer which will easily do another 5. 
I'm really happy to be able to see our progress with overpaying the mortgage. I just checked yesterday and on our 20 year mortgage we if we had just made the normal payments we should have 13 years and 2 months left but we currently have 8 years exactly left! 

willow_loulou

Amazing mortgage over paying mummy2cheekymonkeys! Well done! 

My new dishwasher just finished it’s first cycle. My cups were so clean I practically cried. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to have things that clean! 

Bluegreen143

Love reading this thread but I know I’ve not been posting as often.

In my case probably slight guilt as I’ve not been as frugal of late 😮

I’ve been keeping within budget but the budget is bigger now I’m working so it’s allowing for a bit more spending. Eg I decided to keep the child benefit aside purely for kids’ stuff, hoping it will build up over time to help pay for extra curriculars and school trips when they are older. 

But because I’ve budgeted it aside for the kids I did spend most of this month’s - partly on clothes, which they did need (just from Tesco so not expensive) and partly I bought some bath toys and books from Amazon for them. 

I definitely found it easier to be frugal when I wasn’t working in terms of the cooking etc. I don’t want to fritter away the extra salary so I am recommitting to the frugal lifestyle today! I really want to get to the stage I can significantly overpay my mortgage.

We got a £2.2k windfall from an old child savings account DH didn’t know he had, so that was lovely. Divided as follows:

- £1k in the emergency fund (which now totals £1,640)
- £500 aside for necessary electrical work to the outhouse
- £250 into the conservatory fund 
- £150 on a new wood & ceramic wedding ring for DH as his doesn’t fit now (he’s not put on weight - his fingers are calloused from manual work)
- £100 on a living room rug
- rest (£200 or so) DH kept and got a takeaway, some whisky for him and a bottle of wine for me and hopefully still has the rest! 

Today I’m doing the shopping at Lidl so that should help with costs this week 🤞🏼

Living_proof

@Frugaldom your life sounds really harsh at the moment but I am guessing you find it all rewarding and worthwhile. I hope you manage to get your volunteers this spring to make your life a little easier.

Here I decided to summarise my savings and very modest investments yesterday as it was the start of the new tax year. After an initial panic that I seemed to have less than I thought, I found the relevant notebook and was presently surprised that I am on paper better off, 

This morning I visited Lidl just to get some cashback really but managed to get a rather mediocre F & V box and also several 20p items which are already in the freezer. I never if I can help it pay more than 20p for a bag of salad, and they easily last two or three days past their best by dates. I am weighing up whether to make some sort of vegan bubble and squeak patties, maybe with some curry paste and coriander to add interest. I have a lot of mixed green veg left over from Monday's roast meal and can't get myself to throw them out but wonder whether this is a false economy! I had a dozen really large potatoes in my box today, most of which I will give away.

All this sunny and cold weather is paying dividends with my solar panels and some really decent kWh figures are being produced. As my electricity is free whilst it's being generated I always try and do as much as possible whilst the sun shines!

zafiro1984

In  my quest to reduce electric bills. This morning I've made leek and potato soup on the Esse Ironheart, I lit it early morning, bacon bits are in its oven to go on top of soup. Kettle on top, it whistles deafeningly when ready so no matter where I am, I hear it.  Rolls ready to be warmed.
Tonight were having leftover pie made with yesterdays pheasant casserole, also to be done in the Esse Ironheart and veggies on the top hobs, steamed pudding also to go on the top hobs.
So by the end of today I wont have used the electric kettle or the electric cooker and tonight I'll bring my airier into the kitchen and dry some clothes over night as the heat subsides. 
This for me is a newish way of looking at things.

Just going outside to collect yet more logs (for the ironheart) my DH chain sawed yesterday, they need to go under cover to dry out but should be ready for the winter as they are softwood/pine 

MazzieD

@Frugaldom Thanks for picking up on my post, this is and always will be your thread and most of us never forget that, it's what keeps me posting which might sound strange but we all know you have a lot on your plate and can't always keep up or be here.


@zafiro1984 just out of interest, are you on a standard electric tariff?.  You mentioned the heating was on at 4.30am,  if that's a regular timing would it be worth considering Economy 7?.  Doesn't suit a lot of people as it's more expensive during the day.  My house used to have night storage heaters, the previous owners installed gas central heating but left the Economy 7 meter.  Took a bit of getting used to but it can be changed.