2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Viking_mfw

Well I had to go buy milk this morning and also picked up a reduced gf tiger loaf, which is still excruciatingly expensive. Otherwise I need to buy moist toilet roll for the potty training toddler (essential, unfortunately) and I am going to pick up my sale Christmas fabric which I shall be making present bags out of for next year. I'm also dropping by the garden centre armed with my Christmas voucher to get some sterile seed compost, some ericaceous compost and a packet of jalapeno seeds, as per my husband's request. Should be able to get all that between my voucher and my loyalty points. After that it's no buy for as long as possible. 

lobb4

Hi All,

I have decided to join this forum as I need to get my finances in order before retirement.

Need to do the buget, check all my direct debits ect. Eat through the mountain of food in my freezer,and clear through my attic

Phew sounds a lot! but I can do it

But being a newbie I don't understand some of the abreviasions can anyone help?

Viking_mfw

Which in particular @lobb4?

Bluegreen143

@Viking_mfw do you need the moist toilet paper? I must admit I’ve never bought it for either of mine (my 2yo was just recently potty trained). I just use normal toilet roll or (only if particularly messy) I use a baby wipe and bin it as I did when changing nappies. Just saves a bit of £££. 

KatyLovesCats

Frugaldom said:

KatyLovesCats said:

Sorry for the ramble, I just needed to get it all down. My calculations are as follows:

Incomings (as it stands) - £8088.72
Outgoings (as it stands) - £8665.72
Which equates to a deficit of £577.00
It's terrifying to look at (and think about) but I will work my behind off to get through it and hopefully very soon I'll be strong enough to come off ESA and earn more money to help me through this financial hell pit.

You just made the biggest leap of faith into what we all hope will bring about the changes you need to help balance your budget. It is a brave step to take but you have confronted the problem and can now get to work turning those numbers around to become financially self-sustainable. We've probably all been in similar situations (I know I have) so you aren't alone. First things first, though - Happy New Yea and very best of luck with your challenge.   Have you listed all your essential spending so you can see how possible it is to shave a little off it, even if only a few pounds each month off the food budget? Or the other way to look at it is you only need to raise an extra £577 (average just over £11 per week). What have you included in your outgoings?  (I usually cut the shopping budget to enable some extra saving and am still focussing on £1 per person per day for all meals). Hopefully, your DD understands the situation and is fully onboard to help support your money-saving endeavours. There's always someone about here on the forum to offer moral support. Good luck and try to enjoy your new, frugal lifestyle.

Thanks so much Frugal, Happy New Year to you too. I have made several lists of things, outgoings, incomings, where I can cut down, how I can create extra funds. I'm pretty sure I can do it, it's just that the majority of my income will be gone come June and that's where I need have something in place to earn. It's a pain being on ESA and it not really being enough to live on at the moment but if I come off ESA and work full time and then relapse then I'm screwed, so I'm starting off slowly. DD is very much on board and has always been aware that we've never had much money. Her dad has a good job so she doesn't miss out on things but there's always been that guilt there you know. Spends include food, clothing, contributions to car (I sold mine and now share with my mum to save money), household stuff. I can certainly cut down here, I don't need anything else. It's going to be a bit of a dry year but needs must.

willow_loulou

@KatyLovesCats I’m disabled and on ESA as well as working part time. You can do permissible work if its only a few hours per week. Eg. £20 a week and you can do that indefinitely without loss to your income. It’s up to I think £100 a week ish but that amount you can only do for a year. It’s designed to give you a break whilst trying to get back into more hours. Chat to your advisor, if they don’t know as for one that deals with disability. You may not class yourself as disabled but you’re certainly less able if you’re on ESA and need to do what’s best for you. Also consider applying for pip if you’ve not already and look for warm home grants from your utilities supplier. I get £140 from BGas as I’m in fuel poverty. 

Do PM me (and tag me in here if you do) if you need any help x 

Frugaldom

Welcome to more newcomers! It's great to see so much enthusiasm and positivity for the start of a new year if challenges.
I think there is a page on the forums that explains the abbreviations - I recall having to search for it as I hadn't a clue what many of them were, either. DH, DP, DD, DS are all dear husband, partner, daughter and son. WM is washing machine, DW dish washer, NSD is a no spend day. Hope this helps.

Couldsavemore

Well, am feeling rather deflated! Had booked to pick some bread up on olio but we now have 3 inches of snow. I've been out with the dog and the minor roads are icy! But am not risking crashing my car for a loaf. Still feel bad though!

Viking_mfw

Bluegreen143 said:

@Viking_mfw do you need the moist toilet paper? I must admit I’ve never bought it for either of mine (my 2yo was just recently potty trained). I just use normal toilet roll or (only if particularly messy) I use a baby wipe and bin it as I did when changing nappies. Just saves a bit of £££. 

Without going into unnecessary detail, yes! 
All shopping completed and I didn't even have to break into the garden centre token as my loyalty points covered the shop. 

mumtoomany

Morning all. As many of you are new I to will introduce myself. Having been on these forums for many years and joined the frugal threads many times, I now spend very little, mostly because we have very little to spend. We DH and I moved to South Wales from an North West inner city seven years ago. DD3 came with us. We bought the house with DD1 and her DH, they have since had three children. We have 13 acres, few neighbours, sheep, chickens and in the summer pigs. We have no mortgage and survive on three very small pensions, working tax credit and the little we get from selling lambs, eggs, vegetables and the child care money we get from DD1//. DD1 pays half of all bills and £120 per month towards the food. They are building an extension which will be their four bedroom house, when they can get builders and find funds. 

This year I am aiming to cut our budget even lower. DH can draw his state pension in three years. We will be better off then. If however we are put onto universal credit before then, we will be very short of money, we don't earn enough to get UC! 

Frugal wise, yesterday for lunch I made pea and ham soup with tinned mushy peas, onion, left over mashed potato, cream that was reduced to 8p and the bacon that I covered the turkey with, diced. Very nice too. We had roast gammon for tea, with lots of veg, left overs in the fridge. Grandchildren spent the morning making models with the eco friendly packaging I had collected up before Christmas, looks like Wotsits but without colour or flavour. Just wet the pieces with a sponge and they stick together. Free fun.

Will update later with December spends, only November in my signature. (I am running my year from 1st November 2020) Mumtoomany.