2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Sweetlittledaydreams

Feel a bit rejuvenated today, drinking a glass of homemade wine in bed and I'm nice and warm - had the heating on for half an hour and think that has lifted my mood, I think I was being a bit too stubborn trying not to put the heat on but it was 1degree outside when i came home and was only 11 degrees inside the house - insulation isn't good and it was a bit too chilly for me. Have fed the sourdough starter so will bake some treats tomorrow, and got the food shop for just under £11, and this should last me until next weekend. Olio still doesn't have anything near by but I will keep checking. 
I'm planning to make a poster showing how much I need to save each month to reach my target, something visual to help maintain my motivation and keep me on track. Then keep it somewhere I'll see it often and hopefully it'll make me think twice before spending. Then the less fun job of making a monthly spreadsheet of income and outgoings, I've been putting off doing this but need to get it done.
Feel very happy for the people on here who have chickens, that is something I'd like to possibly have in the future, and maybe some ducks. 
Sweet dreams everyone.

willow_loulou

I had a very restless night after looking at my finances. But then I looked at my loan and realised that I had in fact reached my target of over paying and it is now half what it was and I have over paid enough to reduce payments so I have half what I should have left! I didn’t think I’d do that AND a month earlier than I had planned! This means I can relax my over payments for a couple of months and stop worrying about the unexpected spending from last month! Yay! What a lovely surprise that was this morning! 

Thank you @Frugaldom and everyone else for helping me keep on track. 😀 

Frugaldom

Well done, @willow_loulou!  Don't take your eye off the ball, just switch between hard ball and soft to take a breather now and again. You're getting there, definitely on the right track. Debt freedom is do worth it in the end. I speak from experience.

summertime_2

There was a housewife called Shirley Goode who 1989 who wrote some budget cookbooks (lv got them all ) . The books were based on her experience of having to find/make frugal recipes when her husband was in the UK miners strike . She wrote a newspaper article on how to stay motivated to save money and she said the best way  was to 'see' the money 'grow' . So she got a large glass jar, kept it on the kitchen counter and wrote a label on it for whatever she was saving for.  Every time she made a saving from anything she bought ,she put the amount that was saved into the jar, every single time.
 ie if she saved £1 on a pack of mince on sale because she shopped at a different store, (where it was on sale,) she would then put the £1 into the jar. She said it was her way of 'paying' herself for the hard work she put into shopping around for the best deals. She said she was motivated every time she saw the jar ' growing' with the money she saved. l did this when we were saving for our retirement cottage. l had fun doing it as it was a challenge, and l love a challenge. l have'nt done this for a few years but as lm extremely frugal everyday. l must save a lot all the time .l v got out of the habit of doing what she said, as we did  indeed save and buy our cottage.
 But i'm going to start again ,as  we want to save for a new shower wet room next year. And iv got the perfect jar.. an old massive sweet jar l got from a car boot.

willow_loulou

Frugaldom said:

Well done, @willow_loulou!  Don't take your eye off the ball, just switch between hard ball and soft to take a breather now and again. You're getting there, definitely on the right track. Debt freedom is do worth it in the end. I speak from experience.

Thank you. I don’t think I would have managed without your inspiration. I should clear my loan by this time next year which will be 2 years early! So my eye is definitely staying on the ball, I can just breathe a bit better. Home owning expenses never cease to amaze me. As soon as my loan is done I’m putting the same amount a month into my savings bonds to give me peace of mind. 🥰 
debt free and with savings. Oh the joy that will bring! X

willow_loulou

I’m so trying the saving jar tip! That’s a fab idea. 

Sweetlittledaydreams

Congratulations @willow_loulou that's such a good achievement, I bet it feels like a weight off already. The saving jar tip sounds good too.
The knot of anxiety is back in my stomach again, the rejuvenated positive feeling didn't last too long. I'm hoping next year will be better, both personally and financially, for me and for you all. A simple and straightforward life is what I'm striving for.
Watching and reading about old style living, it reminds me of my gran which is nice and nostalgic but also goes to show there's lots of frugal things I already do but more I could be doing - all should help my aim off saving 50% of my salary over the next 12 months, I just need to remind myself to keep going it'll be worth it!
Hope everyone is OK, and sorry my posts are long I'm a rambler!

willow_loulou

Don’t worry about rambling, you’re not really and writing it all out really helps focus. 

I’d love to save half my wages, thats really impressive! Where will you save it? I’m staying with premium bonds purely because I save so little the not getting interest doesn’t worry me. If I win £25 at any point that’s a huge bonus.

Just had another frugal win, I needed another baking tray or something similar for small cooking. We’re only 2 in the house now. I was given a load of stuff for works Christmas fayre, I had to sort through as some stuff was not appropriate and there was a Pyrex lid with no dish. So that’s now mine as it wouldn’t sell. Perfect! Saved from landfill and saved me pennies. 

Marghirl

Since my dad died in May, I have really tried to cut my energy consumption. My dad was 90 and naturally he felt the cold easily and needed the heating on. We were £410 in the red for out energy. I have now brought that down to £160 in the red and they have cut my direct debit by £30 a month. Compared to Aug- Nov last year, I am using 1100 kw less of gas and 300kw less of electricity. I hope I can keep that up. I have put the heating down from 21 to 19 and I no longer use the tumble drier unless absolutely needed. 

summertime_2

Marghirl.. so sorry to hear about your dad..must still be very difficult time on top of all the money worries. make sure you ( or anyone else on here) on claiming everything that may be possible to claim. l used to work for CAB and people just didnt know what they could claim. Im afraid its a matter of doing all ones own research as info is just  given out untill you ring around.