2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Had a good day on the food front. Used up a overripe banana by mashing it into our pancakes this morning, which i made with oat milk i got free from asda yesterday using the shopmium app. I made some apple and prune muffins for packing ups using the last wrinkly apple in the bowl. I also made some sausage rolls using some sausage meat and pastry from the freezer. Grocery spend for the month is currently £99.15 of the £200 target i set so really happy at the moment. My receipt from today has also finally given me enough points from my shoppix app to claim a £20 voucher. Feeling a little down today as DH has to work tomorrow. We've had a couple of weeks off recovering from covid and the time has really shown me how stressed I am every day with the usual day to day life. Don't want to have to go back to normal even though i know we have to 

CRANKY40

I suppose we've been lucky with the school stuff.  My ds hasn't actually been to school that often since last March due to lockdown and also aged 16 he hasn't had a recent growth spurt. Last years trousers still fit him, so do his shoes and they're not looking brand new but theyre OK to wear. We also saved on a school bag (so about £100 saved over three items) but he did need a new blazer. 

Eating from stock - my stockpiles are on the increase from September until mid December usually which is when I give up going to the supermarket as I don't like the Christmas shopping crowds. I just buy a few extra bits like pasta, cous cous, baked beans every week. For a normal year that doesn't have covid in it, stocks stay about the same level if I can manage it until the beginning of March when I reduce the amount of extra packs of things that are in the house. Last year there was all the covid stuff going on at the beginnng of March and I didn't go to the supermarket for about 5 weeks (I pass out if I have to stand still like in a queue for too long). Instead of running stocks down, once I could shop again I gradually built them back up to winter levels. 

It's hard to tell what this year will bring. I'm hoping that by the end of March this year I can go back to normal but I don't think that I'll run stocks down too low. I also grow things myself so home made jam was a thing this past year and it was gifted to quite a few friends (and some of their families who offered to pay ha ha). I always have plenty of baking ingredients too so as I suspect do many on the OS thread so there was a fair bit of home made cake and biscuits to supplement the no shopping weeks. 

@fiwen30 he's so cute and he looks lovely in his new coat!

roblou27

Mummy2cheekymonkeys said:

Had a good day on the food front. Used up a overripe banana by mashing it into our pancakes this morning, which i made with oat milk i got free from asda yesterday using the shopmium app. I made some apple and prune muffins for packing ups using the last wrinkly apple in the bowl. I also made some sausage rolls using some sausage meat and pastry from the freezer. Grocery spend for the month is currently £99.15 of the £200 target i set so really happy at the moment. My receipt from today has also finally given me enough points from my shoppix app to claim a £20 voucher. Feeling a little down today as DH has to work tomorrow. We've had a couple of weeks off recovering from covid and the time has really shown me how stressed I am every day with the usual day to day life. Don't want to have to go back to normal even though i know we have to 

Aww bless you. ((((Hugs))))

willow_loulou

I shop from home simply to prevent me buying anything else when going out for specifics. Making do prevents unplanned spends for me.

Very upset today as my usual electric top up place has stopped doing top ups for BG@s. They remain my cheapest option so I really don’t want to change, but now I’m having to change routines to include a different shop to top up, a round trip that I could easily include other things in is now much more complicated. It’s my own fault for not going out yesterday, but had I known they’d stopped ( ie put. Notice up) I wouldn’t have waited until today. 

I fear the time is coming where I will have to go DD but I’m so reluctant. I spend way less that even my partner in a 1 bed flat that makes me very wary of the invisible spends. I really don’t want to be stressing about unknown bills and increases. Does anyone here prepay but top up online? Do you have to have a new meter? 

zafiro1984

Couldsavemore:-   I'm one of those people who at the moment is living off stores.

Let me explain:- I probably was a shopaholic but just where groceries/food is concerned (I've heard of people who have the same shopaholic addition to buying shoes). 

Before retirement I worked anything between eight and sixteen hours a day, I always had to make sure I had something available for a quick lunch, or tea or someone arrived and needed feeding. Tea was frantic, not at all relaxed, it was a race to get tea made and eaten before the phone rang.  it was the sort of business where you had to finish the day's work as things couldn't be put off until tomorrow, Therefore shopping habits became bizarre and stockpiling became the norm.
Habits are hard to break but fifteen years after retiring I made a New Years resolution to try and be sensible. However, I have to be careful that cutting back too severely becomes an obsession. 

To give you an example of how much I've stored. I've just counted 23 tins of soup, four unopened packets of porridge. I have a complete shelf in the utility room (about 4-5' long) of Ecover goods (we don't have main drains here) and this morning I asked my DH what joint he would like for tea, choice of pork, gammon, lamb, venison, turkey, or duck and I actually apologised for not having beef    enough is enough - it has to stop.

The above is the bad news - on the opposite side, this month because I've not done any grocery shopping, and just paid standing orders I've bought some new bedside lamps and topped up the heating oil. My aim this year is to be more sensible and make my money work for me, and yes, I will have to replace the stored items I have used but not to the same level as before.

Enough said

wishus

Splurge from 'fun' budget this weekend, as we had a 5-hour trip for a compassionate end of life visit for my dad in his care home, so we were shattered when we got back and ordered a takeaway. Not really fun... but had no energy to cook.
Also had the first of the cat's injections this week. We are joining a pet health club so the next one will be included, and there will be discounts on his neutering and microchip, plus flea and tick treatment is part of the package too, and it's only £15 per month, which is actually cheaper than the flea treatment alone.
Going to try to avoid going to the shops as much as poss this week.
Just did our energy supplier switch for the year - might save over £100 a year! plus the electricity is 100% green too.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

Interesting discussion about food stores.  I have always refused to keep lots of food in stock because to me it is wasted money, we do live rurally but the chance of us getting snowed in for more than a day or two is highly unlikely, and the shops always have something in, we are not going to starve.  I also dont really have anywhere to store lots of food.  Since Covid I have changed my thinking a bit because I now hate going to the supermarket and we are trying to get by on a fortnightly shopping delivery, so having some spare bits set aside is reassuring.

I was feeling really down this morning so DH and I took ourselves off for an eight mile walk, we took a flask and sandwiches and had an outdoor picnic in the snow!  We were out for a very happy 3 hours and not one penny spent.  

I am doing well with my budget this month but January is usually an easy month for me because we have food left from Christmas and even without Covid we are not too bothered about going far or doing much.

CraftyLittleLisa

Blimey, there has been a lot of chat on here again.  I have just about caught up with it all.  I love that dog coat and am very impressed that you managed to make that.  Well done.

With respect to "shopping from stores" I don't generally do this myself.  I have a small kitchen in a flat with not a lot of storage so I don't have the space to stockpile any goods.  I do, however, keep a stock of essentials and basically just buy replacements when I'm getting near to running out or finish an item.  Recently I have broken my little toe (or seriously hurt it) so cannot really stand to go shopping.  Since Covid 19, however, I find shopping a real chore so I only do it the maximum of once a week.  As I can't actually go shopping a friend up the road has been adding bits to her weekly on-line shop and then popping it to me.  I'm finding I am spending so much less because I only add what I know I need and there is no "I could do with one of them" or "I could try that".  So far it has only been £20 each time.  This Friday she also brought round some shower gel she can't use (she bought it to try but it triggers her migraines) and she also brought round some toilet rolls as she keeps forgetting to remove that from her regular list.  That has been a bit of a win for me this week.  I also get my veg delivered - one week from Oddbox and the next week from Riverford.  I have only just signed up to Oddbox but I am really impressed with what I have received so far.  I also get a delivery from the milkman once a week with juice and yogurt.  So far this month I am still within my monthly budget when usually I am starting to wonder if I can manage.  I hope I can keep this up this year.

I'm still making lots of meals from scratch.  I make soup every week for my lunches as well as make my own oatmilk for my morning cereal.

None of us can really go anywhere at the moment but due to my foot I cannot do my online dance or yoga classes so that is saving me some money.  I am finding things to do round the flat so I have just started reading a new book I got as a gift which is really enthralling - I have even allowed myself this weekend to sit and read it during the day rather than just at night.  A real treat for me.  I have finished sorting through my sewing magazines and taken out all the articles and projects I wanted and recycled the rest and am currently sewing and knitting a number of projects where I have all the bits for.  I have to say I am getting a little bored at times but I have managed to break the boredom a bit this weekend by having video chats with friends.

I have also this week changed my contents insurance provider and got a £5.00 reduction, have had confirmation that my energy provider switch is progressing and my brother has just message me to say he has a universal remote control I can have to replace the remote control that doesn't seem to be working particularly well on my TV.  I really don't want to be without a TV during lockdown - I really will go stir crazy.  The next thing I really need to do is replace my computer.  I will try and do that after my next pay day as I have most of the money saved plus vouchers but I want to do a click and collect and again I need my foot to heal so I can pick it up.  This one won't be wasted though as I will try and sort it out (with help from my brother) so that my sister can use if for her boys homeschooling as they have to use her phone at the moment.

Sorry about the ramble.  I think that is it for me for this week.  Take care all.

annieb64

I'm sorry to hear about your Dad, wishus. My Dad died in the November lockdown. We were allowed a compassionate visit by the hospital. It's  a difficult  time even in normal circumstances  but made more so by the current  restrictions. We were allowed to stay overnight  in hospital  accommodation.  There was a shared fridge and microwave and we ended up eating M&S ready meals  from the hospital  shop while sitting on our beds.

willow_loulou

Sorry for your loss wishus xx