2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

sashacat said:

Good afternoon and Happy New Year. 
Thank you Frugaldom for restarting this challenge. 
I hope to get my spending to £4000 or maybe just a touch higher. I use Olio and grow most of my veggies and fruit like gooseberries. I don’t eat meat and don’t drink so that is a less expensive lifestyle. 
In late summer and autumn I batch cooked soups and other meals that I froze. I reckon I have enough different soups to provide lunch every day for January at least. 
Trouble is my boiler is broken and has been on and off over Christmas. Luckily I have a wood burning stove and, like Sparkly, I use scrap wood. In the nearly 5 years I’ve had the fire I have never bought wood but I spend a lot of time sawing it up. Friends and neighbours give me all their old and scrap wood and pallets.
I am hoping to have a decent holiday next year and to go up to see my friends in Scotland, get my boiler sorted and get paving laid around the house. So, frugal living is essential.

I hope you'll be able to make your trip to Scotland and maybe even fit in a visit to Frugaldom, if you are anywhere near us during your holiday. If you're camping, we've plenty of space for fellow frugalers

StrawberrySuze

Happy New Year all 😊

I am on the relatively frugal bandwagon! I am mostly frugal; I get some food from Olio and do a lot of batch cooking but I also have the odd treat. I had rump steak yesterday (from Lidls) and a bottle of cava today so overall I call it 'relatively frugal'!

I usually spend £60-70 a month on food, it's me and 3 small doggies. I have cut my alcohol consumption quite a bit, I love red wine but have decided I feel much better and sleep much better when I don't drink it! 

I never buy take-aways, haven't bought any clothes for at least 2 years, well apart from pants! don't go out much and have only had 2 weekends away in the last 5 years.

I have a bit more debt to pay off and then I will pay for house renovations and other large expenses bit by bit instead of borrowing lots of money up front.

The fixed rate on my mortgage ends in September and then I will renew with my current provider; one of my bank accounts is used for matched betting so won't look good in the eyes of building societies! I am hoping my current provider won't check. If they do it looks like I will be paying over 5% so not great but I only have about £29000 left to pay, can't wait until it's gone 😄

welshspendthrift

Had 7 boxes of Nespresso capsules on Olio today 😀 that will last ages for us as it tends to be weekend only for real coffee, decaff instant in the week. My first save from Olio so it’s worth keep checking! Also too good to go magic bag from Sainsbury’s to go for £4 value on ys was £18 so pleased with that, all things we will eat , some gone in freezer for another day as fridge food leftovers needs eating first! All in one trip out too and got fuel at same time 😀 will be looking at this months budget tomorrow, can’t cope with annual budget yet, maybe in time. Happy new year everyone 

Frugaldom

willow_loulou said:

Oh I’ve also ordered a hand washing machine, it’s a crank handle thing. For smalls, masks socks etc. This is mainly to see if it would be useful long term and maybe for dd to take to uni. It’s like a large salad spinner. I had a refund on eBay so with that and prolific it’s cost £8 from this month’s money. Fingers crossed it’s usable 

I have the foot-pedal washer!   We had to use it for quite some time when we had no washing machine and then it got sat away until just a couple of months ago, when the washing machine had to be replaced. It's a handy gadget to have, although not so great during wet weather if you need to rely on hanging washing out on a line

Speaking of washing - this is the link to the homemade laundry liquid 'recipe', as making our own can save quite a few pounds over a year. I've been making it for quite some time and have probably saved hundreds of pounds over the years.

nannygladys

Happy new year everyone
Today, I haven't been out anywhere (for exercise) as the snow is on the ground still and its icy - I don't want to fall over, so I did a Joe Wicks senior workout!!!! and Ive eaten out of freezer and fridge - leftovers. I haven't been shopping since 19/12 but there is only me and I went to my dds for Xmas dinner and now we cant meet anybody. (well I have my bubble but dd lives 15/16 miles away so its not something I will do that often at the moment) so that's a positive start to 2021 for me. Im not planning on going to the shops until the middle of next week but if I do it will probably be for some milk. For frugal entertainment its the TV for the time being, reading and knitting!!

Nannyg

Couldsavemore

willow_loulou said:

Oh I’ve also ordered a hand washing machine, it’s a crank handle thing. For smalls, masks socks etc. This is mainly to see if it would be useful long term and maybe for dd to take to uni. It’s like a large salad spinner. I had a refund on eBay so with that and prolific it’s cost £8 from this month’s money. Fingers crossed it’s usable 

Ohh please let us know how it works..
I've been looking at the caravan twin tubs, for my long summer trips.. As I live in hope.
Also for in house house as I often don't need to do a full load.

Jazee

Good morning Frugalers.  I'll be joining in again this year.  We're down to one part time wage in our house which covers our main bills but only leaves £50 per month for food etc. DH is intending to get another job but is currently not well enough.  We are fortunate to have some savings to fall back on but don't want to use anymore than is absolutely necessary.

We have a meal plan for a month and are intending to do a supermarket shop only once a month.  We will shop local for any extra milk, bread and veg we need.  I've not found Olio useful but too good to go is looking more promising.

 I was frugal with my nail polish remover yesterday.  I poured some into the lid, dipped each finger in for a few seconds, then wiped off the polish with toilet roll, then poured what was left back into the bottle.

shabbychic12

Can l join too this year. Need to pull back the excessive life style l seem to hv fallen into last year. Needs not wants will be my mantra x

Bluegreen143

Started off 2021 with a NSD yesterday. Got to give my son his pocket money today and I think I’ll take him to Tesco in case he wants to use it for any little bits, I need to get filo pastry and food bags too as couldn’t get in Lidl. Aiming for 21 NSDs a month though I’m not including when DDs come out as breaking a NSD. Hoping to spend almost nothing in January on non essentials.   

[Deleted User]

Hello frugal friends,
This is the first chance I have had to come on here for a few days, it's lovely to read all the posts and positivity. @Frugaldom thank you for this thread. For those new to the party, I joined this gang mid way through last year and my lifestyle and finances have totally transformed as a result. The following are the changes that have ensued:

🤩I am debt free (save for the mortgage)
🤩 I no longer run a car
🤩 I now rely on free wood and my muscles to chop it to heat my home (woodburner) rather than whacking the heating up all the time
🤩 the WM goes on three times a week, DW every third day. Hugely reduced electricity consumption as a result. 

🤩 I visit our local food waste share groups twice a week and most of our food comes from there
🤩we eat veggie at least three times a week
🤩 8 hens are arriving next week 🐔 🥚 

My aim is to save as much as possible - every pound is quite literally a prisoner - so I can cut my hours and have more time to pursue my frugal, sustainable lifestyle. Work is wonderful but exhausting, and means that I have far less in the tank to give to my lifestyle choices. 

My budget for the three of us is £5,000 per annum (exc. mortgage and CT). From that £5k, after my direct debits go out I have £2,354.50 left, which is £45.27 per week. This is to cover food, clothes, school trips, gifts and anything else life pings at me. DS still gets free school meals as KS1, DD takes packed lunches. DS does have milk at school each day which I pay for, around 20p per day. 

I will report in as regularly as I can. My goal is that by December 2021, my mortgage will be down to £25,000. A huge target, but doable if I put my mind to it. The freedom from not spending, and making do with what we have in/'shopping from home' is so much more fun and rewarding than traipsing round the shops! Take care all xx