2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Couldsavemore

I've been frugal-ing today..
Made another soup today. So after a game of 3-D tetris I've put enough soup for tea each work night next week in tge freezer and enough in the fridge for this week.
Also as me and my son need to loose a few... I'm cooking 2 half pizza's and put the other halves in the freezer...
Love reading everyones posts... I think your all going to save me a small fortune as you help sort out my food shopping budget... so a big thank you.

CRANKY40

Things to do for free - jigsawplanet.com has a range from puzzles that children can do up to 300 pieces. Now 300 pieces may sound easy but.....they're all timed as well so seeing how quickly you can do them is also fun (with the added advantage of nobody whingng about your puzzle pieces being in the way). 

Foofoopuppy

So this week has had a couple of large unexpected spends - apparently my eyesight has deteriorated so I needed new glasses, but since my old glasses frame were still fine, I opted for new lenses rather than a whole new set.
Kitty also needed some teeth taking out and had to go under with anaesthetic she is fine now, and hopefully will be happier without sore gums and teeth... But it was an expensive bill of £433! She's worth it, but ouch. 
Finally, today we had to go and do a proper shop that wasn't just top up of veg. We probably could have gone a little longer, but we do still want to have some stocks for if we self isolate, or to push us through the next time before we need to go shopping again.
Hopefully there will be no more expenses, and we will see how long we can last before the next shop.

ancientmum

I'm using a spare calendar to track my spends. As state pension is paid 4 weekly I've been able to put the 13th payment straight into savings.  Like you  roblou27, I have an account specially for annual bills divided by 12.  I've got 3 current accounts  so I know what money is going where.  All these used to pay interest on part of the balance but sadly no longer. Thinking of stashing the cash under the mattress.

cw18

I end the year with a month of bill money 'floating' in various accounts.   I get paid weekly, so I work on having to move across enough money over 4 weeks to cover the monthly bills.   That means there are 4 months in the year with a 5th week where I could put a hold on the transfer of funds - but I don't.    Then in the run-up to Christmas I normally pool all the 'spare' money from my various weekly fed accounts, and use that as my savings to fund presents I don't already have in hand.

I finally got around to scraping all my accounts at the start of this last week (didn't need it for Christmas), and used some of it to buy myself an instrument of torture!    It's a leg massager, made up of inflating air bags that wrap around my feet, calves and thighs.  I then set it all going, and try and concentrate on something I'm streaming to the TV whilst it does its worst (a cycle is apparently around 20 minutes).   I'm still getting used to the pressure it applies, but it does seem to be reducing the recovery time of my muscles after long walks - especially in my right thigh which is suffering from sciatica (and has been since last May!), so I'm hoping this may allow me to reduce my intake of the meds I've been using to take the edge off the pain.  Mine also has sections that wrap over the knees which warm up - recommended for arthritis which I was told within the last 12-14 months had appeared in my left knee, and I'm now having problems with the right as well (which the physio isn't linking to my sciatica because of how and when it manifests).

It will be interesting to see if it continues to help after I return to work tomorrow (this was my rest week), as I've been struggling there for months - and a new-to-us manager has started to give me a hard time about how long it takes me to do my round   I don't think he's ever tried climbing the stairs in 21 blocks of flats whilst suffering from leg & buttock pain (which I was doing for 3 weeks last month) - and, whilst I wouldn't wish it on anyone, I do kind of wish he could experience it for a couple of days!   He has at least accepted that there is one street on one round where the coming back up the hill combined with all the drives on slopes is too much for me.   I did it once since my flare up, and was in agony for a couple of days.   Since then, if he puts me on that duty he gets someone else to cover that small section of it.

Thrifty_Taylor

Pleased with how the start of the month has gone so far, had to buy diesel, renew breakdown cover, kids haircuts & my monthly shop, but managed not to spend anything  6 days. I've dropped a box off for charity, sold a small item on bay of e, started to transfer my phone over to a cheaper sim card & today I've compared energy providers (cheaper to stay where we are). Our islands are in tier 3, so I've been back at work looking after keyworkers children, & completed a couple of sewing jobs for people. Nearly finished knitting a hot water bottle cover for mum's birthday, so can start thinking of my next project. Feeling quite positive & enjoying reading how everyone else is doing too. Keep up the good work! 

Frugaldom

roblou27 said:

Frugaldom said:

roblou27 said:

Oh my I seem to have taken up the whole blinkin page😱 sorry.

  Welcome to the challenge. I had to laugh at this comment as I'd easily fill up page after page if I typed the way I talk! Once I get started, I don't know when to stop because I can always think of other things! 

I am not by nature chatty really Frugaldom but like my sister, why use one word when ten will do! 😀😲😲Hubs says why your whole life story? My argument is everything needs context. 😂 Economy of words is not my strong point. 😂🤣

Isn't it great that words come for free? I'm definitely far from frugal with those, usually to my own detriment as I tend to be a chatterbox at every opportunity. I think it comes from spending a lot of time working on my own so I make up for it whenever I can. 

Just been and collected the Olio stuff for myself and 3 others who will collect from our gate. Unbelievable how much stuff was listed tonight - I went OTT and requested 10 items, including cake, trifle, fruit, veg, bread, sliced meats and pasta meal. I seriously have enough free food this weekend to last the full week. I feel like I'm becoming freegan! Week 2 of my grocery challenge and I've already saved another £30 into the tiny house fund and have enough vitamin-enriched fresh treats for the ponies to keep them going for as long as the cucumbers and carrots last.

willow_loulou

So, I have to go out Tuesday and Friday. Will olio but have booked another Asda order. Ds birthday so I needed a few token gifts, I’ve ordered him a dinosaur plate 😂 he will love that, some sweets and some jack daniels tins. Oh and a Dino biscuit mix for dd to make for him from her, it comes with a cutter so worth the £1 as I can pass it on to my friend to use. 

House_Elf_2

Good Morning Fugalers!

I requested a bottle of wine from Olio! I thought it would be nice for DD who has been working hard all week. Unfortunately, the person donating the wine was not very good at replying, and when we eventually went to pick it up they did not answer the door 🙄. I messaged to say 'offer it to someone else'. ......Sometimes it just is not worth the effort!

On a more positive note.....we had a very nice roast dinner including Olio veg. The EBay HQ will be established today, (DS2 has returned to base 😞, so using his room), and mended 4 of DH jumpers last night 🙂.  Cranky 👋 I have done a jigsaw on Jigsaw Planet 🙂

Have a lovely day 🙂

Viking_mfw

My son is currently eating his breakfast of Olio pineapple and Olio hot cross bun. The FWH had 80 (EIGHTY!!!) packs of hot cross buns to get shot of. Why on earth would Mr T be producing so many of the things 10 days into Jan? This is half the problem. We have 3 packs in our freezer now, along with a pack of mini naans and some green beans in the fridge. My DH has suddenly seen the freegan possibilities!