2021 Frugal Living Challenge

girlybags

MazzieD said:

Had to laugh at your post @willow_loulou, I have a strimmer lurking in my shed...  My awful neighbours are now avoiding me and not speaking so I'm actually quite pleased.  Wonder if they have used the brain cell they share and realised that their behaviour is totally out of order and might actually be worried about what they've done and more importantly what I'm going to do about it.  I find controlled anger is a very effective tool, I never react straight away or say anything but think carefully about how to deal with the problem.

I wish my anger was as controlled as yours, I tend to fly off the handle instantly and then regret it later on. I've got slightly better as I get older but still got a ways to go!

Sallyp2

Beebearandme said:

@fiwen30 you have my sympathies. I have a cat with heart disease and she occasionally likes an emergency visit out of hours to our local animal hospital. She won’t get out of her heated bed for less than a £1k. For a change it’s one of the rabbits this week and he has blown ££570 all in for visits, teeth op and x-ray. I know you said you are staying with your preferred vet but the Rspca and PDSA are there for emergency situations and may be able to offer some assistance. 

We’ve had in total 5 bunnies over the years, have 3 of the 5 lounging in kitchen, and have always found rabbit pet insurance to be money well spent. It’s saved us literally thousands and has always meant we could put the bunny needs before money worries x

Frugaldom

Frugalistamama said:

Hi All,

I've not posted in a while but have been reading along. Such a busy thread I never get to the end so decided to update anyway. 
I...have...finally....paid....off....my... credit...cards!! 🎉🎉 After years and years of trying (approx 10!). That's one of the reasons I've not been posting I got myself a second job, and paid them off within about 4/5 months. I was single minded, didn't spend any money I didn't have to. For most weeks all the pay from the second job went straight onto the credit card.  It was about 5 months of practical no spend.  And my gawd what a relief!! But I'm really tired but good tired.  

WELL DONE - CONGRATULATIONS!

Frugaldom

Welcome onboard, @bargainhunterss

I'm just slowly catching up with all the posts again and still need to do an end of month spot check of the finances. After inadvertently losing my spreadsheet, I've had to go back through everything to the start of the year and restart but I know I'm within budget as the 'leftovers' get transferred into my frugaldom savings pot for the cabin. (Still no planning permission passed yet.) I had another lucky break with Olio so the regular weekly savings are mounting up. The trouble is weight gain! I'm loath to throw out any food at all so am eating more than ever while sharing as much as possible with the 2 recently rescued goats. 

Just did a grocery tally for year to date and it's £248.72  year to date, which is below budget but very heavily subsidised by near weekly Olio and swaps/trades for hen and duck eggs. Long may this continue and here's hoping we get some fruit & veg from the garden.

[Deleted User]

Struggling to sleep tonight so thought I'd pop in with an update. 

Frugalling continues to go very well here. We are making around £14 per week from egg sales, which doesn't sound much but covers nice treats some weeks and the food shopping bill other weeks. 

My June goal is to leave what remains in my current account (most of it is transferred straight to savings on payday) where it is, and use egg sales money only for anything we need. I get paid in a fortnight, at which stage it will again mainly go to savings. My small collection of direct debits go out on the 1st of the month, I have just checked and all done & dusted there. I will also be going to both food waste share groups this week, which will help me with my second June goal 😉.

Here are my frugal June pledges:

1. Use egg sales cash only, no debit card, for NEEDS only
2. Keep food budget for the month to £45 (this will include a bag of chicken feed) 

I'll keep bobbing in to report my progress. Take care all 🤩

Tightpants24

Long overdue grooming for our 2dogs cost £65!    Good job I have been frugal elsewhere.  To be fair they both looked appalling beforehand because they hadn't been for 10 months.  They look like new dogs now 

MazzieD

Been taking it easy this morning, had my 2nd Covid Vax on time at 08.05.  Only side effect so far was slight pins and needles in my lower arm and hand when I left the vaccination centre.  No soreness in upper arm yet but I'm being really careful not to lift anything or overdo things for the next day or so.  

Had a chat with the nurses, it seems to be the case that if you get bad side effects from the first dose it's more likely that you will have similar from the second dose.  From your posts this seems to be the case.   So that's it for me unless a booster is required at some point.  Just got to wait for it to work it's magic and get protection up to whatever maximum percentage it should be. 

No plans to change my behaviour or routine anytime soon apart from seeing friends outside and unavoidable work commitments I'll just carry on as I have been until I'm convinced it's safe to do otherwise which doesn't necessarily coincide with Govt guidance!.  

MazzieD

girlybags said:

MazzieD said:

Had to laugh at your post @willow_loulou, I have a strimmer lurking in my shed...  My awful neighbours are now avoiding me and not speaking so I'm actually quite pleased.  Wonder if they have used the brain cell they share and realised that their behaviour is totally out of order and might actually be worried about what they've done and more importantly what I'm going to do about it.  I find controlled anger is a very effective tool, I never react straight away or say anything but think carefully about how to deal with the problem.

I wish my anger was as controlled as yours, I tend to fly off the handle instantly and then regret it later on. I've got slightly better as I get older but still got a ways to go

This is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life.  I don't get angry often and used to erupt like a volcano!.  In my case it's always neighbours who judge and cause problems, this lot are the worst I've ever encountered.  I'm very lucky with my friends, they accept me as I am.

annieb64

I had side effects with my first jab-the AZ - but was fine with the second. DD has had both doses of the Pfizer jab and was fine after the first but had a headache  after the second. 

Living_proof

Looking back over the past month I have been very lucky with F & V Lidl boxes and lots of lovely Olio requests. We had masses of fresh veg over the long weekend and had to buy very little to augment some very impressive meals. I have to confess to freezing a lot of items which strictly speaking shouldn't be frozen, but so far so good. Auditing the freezers should be fun! I am aware that I may have some expenses coming up - my cordless strimmer seems to have given up the ghost and my combi oven/grill/mirco doesn't keep its temperature so well these days. I've decided to curtail purchase of wine this month which should save quite a bit and use quite a lot of food out of the freezer so that I have room to move items around and create a sense of order. Now the weather is so improved, I hope to be able to treat my garden to a bit of a makeover and get some synthetic decking to replace the rotten original.