2021 Frugal Living Challenge

roblou27

pregnancy_parking said:

With our various Christmas cheeses we made a big cheese sauce and baked loads of veg in it, mainly cabbage, topped with breadcrumbs . Called it vegetable gratin, it froze well and did us quite a few side dishes.

Sounds like a great idea pp thank you.

roblou27

I don’t eat white bread very often but I have just been sent a PDF of IBS and E. coli diet foods
and it’s all white with no fresh fruit or raw veg 😳

I’ve got tummy cramps just thinking about it 😩

I suffer with IBS and have to be really careful with the amount of fruit and veg I eat, it’s a careful balance I find. When I have really bad episodes my tummy responds best to about 3 days of white bread, mash and Farley Rusks! Bland but have found over the years what works for me.

Bluegreen143

You’ve all been busy and lots of great frugal tips on here, loving the cheese ideas.

Got that job 🙂 start date TBC but ASAP really as soon as all the HR/IT is sorted out. Luckily my husband has now been furloughed, every second week he’s to do emergency on call (so gets full pay + on call bonus those weeks which cancels out the furlough pay the other weeks). But he rarely gets called out. This should mean my childcare is totally sorted for the first few weeks which is good as here in Scotland nurseries are closed.

Longer term I obviously hope the big one’s nursery will reopen before Red goes back to work and they’ve agreed they can increase his hours to cover my working hours (8.30-3pm four days a week). I’m hoping I can drop his fifth day where he goes just til 12, they are a nursery school (rather than a childcare focused nursery) and like the children to attend daily even if just for the morning so they don’t miss any of the curriculum but if I drop that then his hours fit nicely into the 30 free hours so I won’t need to pay anything 😆 and I need to sort out a childminder for the 2yo for three days as MIL has agreed to watch her on Mondays. Have planned to remain frugal, still live mainly off one salary and save most of my income (except for putting some in a holiday pot).

roblou27

Good morning all. Up with the lark. Still dark here and cold. Haven’t put the heating on but sitting in my cosy dressing gown and thermal socks, now there’s a look😲! I did my freezer inventory yesterday and have done a rough meal plan up until next pay day 5th Feb. We have plenty of meat, fish and  frozen veg. It will just be top ups of fresh and perhaps the odd tin of something. We have plenty of pasta and rice as we buy the large bags and with the large bag of potatoes plus UHT milk which I use for sauces, custards or if we run out of fresh there is plenty. I don’t think it is supposed to rain today so may get a few bits on the line 🤞. Have a good day all.

tryingtodobetter

Good afternoon frugal friends. Paid work is done for the week, thank goodness as things have been manic, stressful and upsetting. I'm looking forward to a stress free weekend just need to get homeschooling out the way first!

@Bluegreen143 Great news about the job. I hope it all works out for you 

Frugal Goals Achieved So Far This Week
4 x NSD this week (DS2 had his birthday so sent him some money)
£9.03 cashed out from Prolific
Listed 3 items on FB Marketplace & Gumtree
Only used car for work journeys

willow_loulou

Afternoon, sleep evaded me once again so I am a walking zombie today. Just what I need when on work calls. Sigh. So I started the day with some planting and turned a critter terrarium into a real plant one. I need gravel for it really but it made me feel better doing it. Frugal and mindful.
my fig seeds seem to be separating from the flesh already, hopefully some will be viable. 

I also took a cutting from an indoor ivy and shoved it in the terrarium soil, it may grow lol trial and error with everything for me.  

Back to work! 

BelleBaluu

Evening all. Had a fairly good week, considering juggling work, home schooling and managed to get out to ride my horse a couple of times, despite the freezing weather! 

Bit deflated today though, as I rang my mortgage company to see how I go about paying extra into my mortgage as and when I can. Only to be told that such payments can’t be used to reduce the term, only my monthly payments. If I want it to reduce the capital, I need to make regular overpayments!? Or ask for my mortgage to be recalculated each time! Anyone else come across this? I was contemplating phoning back at a later time to see if I got someone else on the other end next time 🙈😩

cw18

Mine allows overpayments, but I seem to recall they only adjust the monthly payment at the annual review unless I pay at least a certain amount (which I've never done).   So if overpaid by a couple of hundred early in a year, I'd effectively be overpaying by a tiny amount every months as my direct debit wouldn't have been altered.   I did make some small overpayments for a while - but I then used that to cover mortgage payments for a few months when we were struggling financially (something I hadn't realised we could do until I phoned to discuss out situation).

sashacat

Evening everyone. 
I am really pleased because I still have only spent £1.20 on bread and nothing else. I won’t need to shop until February. 
Am burning free pallets. Hope everyone is staying safe.

Landgirlinthelittlecity

Hello, is it possible for me to join? I feel like I lost my way before last year happened and well that just made it even worse. I need to stop my spending and living a more simple life