2021 Frugal Living Challenge

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,
@wishus Deepest sympathy

The digital envelopes work for me too, been doing this many years whilst climbing my way out of debt too. As I have 3 banks accounts I use each one a bit differently nowadays. I still love my little
H@lifax account for this, (I manage my sons RBS - same group - so little hassle for me.) I started out with a basic account, my choice, to  make sure I was not able to go overdrawn was the first step. The banks dont like people using these accounts if they can get away with it, especially if we have income. The "new" current accounts also have the facility of not being to go overdrawn if that is a way of keeping you moving forward. This bank will let you move 0.01 to any saver account (digital envelope). It takes a bit of time setting yourself up but it worth it. I still get satisfaction at the balances growing and seeing or adding the total amount (it is not for spending remember that). It is easy to manage on the app too and I am a technophobe!
I have now ventured onto grocery spending in cash due to a couple of places I use still only do cash. There is a purse that holds this money we both have access to.  Did really well in January as staying on £200 budget. Am hoping to do as well in Feb if not my have to fall back on my nectar points
stay safe Frugalers
2Scratters x

willow_loulou

ldee2111 said:

Question for my fellow frugalers

I got a good 0lio pick up last night with some croissants, a soda bread, 6 rolls, and mushrooms.

I’d like to make mushroom soup but haven’t done it before. I’ve found a recipe on the BBC website which calls for single cream. Anyone know if it would work well with whole milk as I don’t have cream?

Wild mushroom soup on Antonio 
carluccio foundation . org doesn’t require any cream - I do this with any old mushrooms too. 

It’s not quite as nice as the one they have in the restaurant but I add much less salt so prefer it overall. Also amazing with rosemary roasted new potatoes as a side 

willow_loulou

I’ve looked at February budget, I have absolutely no wriggle room 🙄 if I’m to pay the extras off and add to emergency fund. Luckily I’ve plenty of food so going to check my inventory and try and only do one shopping delivery this month. I’ve one booked for Tuesday evening so will take the time over the weekend to really organise the kitchen. 

roblou27

ldee2111 said:

OLaney said:

 
@ldee2111 Now this is very interesting! I have wondered if I could do this in the past... have multiple accounts...do all banks do this? Can I set them up online do you think? And you have separate instant access accounts for each one? I truly love this idea and think this will help me enormously as I will be able to see exactly what I have each time in each account. 
Thankyou so much for telling me about this!! I am going to go online now and see if I can do it through my bank.
I will let you know how I got on x 

I don’t know if all banks do it - definitely worth checking with your current bank. 
 Yes, I’ve got separate accounts for all the categories. I can open an instant access savings account with £1 via their app and it takes about 24 hours to appear. 👍🏻 But I need to rename the accounts on their actual website.
The digital envelope system really works for me and one of my close friends, who regularly used her cc to get through the month, started doing it about a year ago after I told her how I manage our budget. She’s not had to use her cc to get her to the end of the month since. 
The other thing I like about it is that I can see exactly what’s left in each category at the end of the month. I save any leftover money either into emergency or as an OP on our mortgage - no matter how little it is. I do not carry money over to the next month because my goal is to live within the budget I’ve set and using the extra from the previous month feels like I’m cheating the budget. 😂

Idee2111 this is what we do to, sounds like we have the same bank. We have the old reward account 
, then two current accounts and a couple of saving accounts. We renamed them to our requirements. Hubs pay goes into the reward then we divvy it all up straight away into those other accounts . We also don’t carry over, anything left over gets transferred into the EF and off credit card and then start afresh with the same budget from next pay day. I find it very satisfying seeing these little pots grow and love it when I have it sat ready when needed. 

ancientmum

Phew! just caught up after a few days away from the threads. 
 I'm within my target for groceries this month by £17.70  so this will go into my cash jar for topping up other months if I run short.   I'm also well within my "fun and home grown" spend allowance so that money will go straight into the cash jar, after buying seed compost.
I have a bagful of toilet roll inners and fruit punnets to start off seeds for the allotment, but am limited to what I can germinate on windowsills until it is warm enough to start hardening off the seedlings.  Going to look through the seeds from last year and make a list for each month.
Thinking of the £200 odd council tax I will not have to pay out in Feb and March, I may buy Premium Bonds instead of  putting it into a savings account.   

Shopaholic_no_more

@joedenise ....this is interesting to know...Thankyou!

@MandM90 Thankyou for the information and I will check out the YT videos as well. I had no idea it was such a big thing! 

@StrawberrySuze I have been doing the same with my spider plants! I was given one by my sister and it is now doing better than her original one....amazingly I’m doing something right...I’m not usually very successful with indoor plants haha! Nextdoor sounds interesting ...will check this out too thanks.

@MazzieD I think we are all slaves to our animals 😂

@Hughesfamily hope your headache goes quickly 🤞. Love your salad tips...I am going to try this this year as hate buying salad in plastic bags.

@fiwen30 Crikey, I hope pup improves soon and doesn’t dent your bank balance too much 😳. Vet bills are excruciating at the best of times ....insurances can be a bit vague as to what they will pay out for sometimes as well I believe? Good luck 🤞 

@ldee2111 I have looked at both my banks online to see if I can do anything like this and there is nothing forthcoming that I can see sadly. I am going to send them a secure message and ask the question because I think this will be so helpful for me. If I have no luck, I will try the YNAB route although I really don’t want to be having to pay for this type of service but, at the end of the day, if it gets me out debt then I guess it will be worth it. This is what attracts me to it...being able to see exactly what you have left each month. And using any leftover to overpay things sounds very wise! 

 @roblou27 I need to find out which bank you guys are using! 

roblou27

OLaney said:

 @roblou27 I need to find out which bank you guys are using! 

We use the H@lifa# OLaney...not sure if we are allowed to give the exact name so hope you can decipher. 😀

Viking_mfw

Made fried rice for tea which is one of our most frugal use-up-anything-looking-a-bit-sad suppers. Tonight's included the remains of two half eaten apples which DS1 had declined to finish and stacked on the mantelpiece over the last couple of days!

Shopaholic_no_more

@roblou27 thankyou 😊 (I have sent you message as well 👍🏻)

Beebearandme

Hiya folks, just caught up on the thread. You guys are an inspiring bunch. I hope it’s ok to join. Just a little about me. Suffered with mental health illness in the last few years. Literally came out of nowhere. Now diagnosed and getting help so that’s great. Meanwhile the budget took a hit, my wage was guaranteed but cut to 66% for which I am forever grateful. The whole situation has prompted us to reevaluate our situation and our dream is a small holding with fruit, veg, chickens, bees and eventually a few goats. I have many ideas of other things as well but trying to pace myself. Had a silver lining out of a terrible event (car accident - car written off) which made it possible to clear a few things and managed without a car so far, not ideal. 

Budgeting has become key. Every penny is a prisoner!!