2021 Frugal Living Challenge

zafiro1984

Phew, got to the end of the first month. I'm nowhere as accomplished as many of you on here but in my own way I'm trying to cut down on unnecessary spends, so, I'm looking back over Jan to see what I've achieved and what could be done better.
On the up side:- I've not been grocery shopping at all this month, in fact the last time I bought any food was 23/12/20.
I've used the wood burner and it's associated oven as much as possible, the wood is free as part of our land is woodland.
If I fancy anything I wait a few days before buying and ask myself " Do I really need it" 9 times out of 10 the answer is no.
On the "Could do better" I need to look carefully at the washing/drying side of things, I'm sure I could make some inroads there. 
I need to make more effort at growing veg and fruit, I have a good setup  - 2 large polytunnels with raised beds, 12 x outside raised beds (each 12' x 4') and a fruit cage, plus a large greenhouse. I used to be almost self sufficient in fruit and veg but then health issues and life got in the way........ no excuse this year so I'll try again.

My spread sheet, with the items I am responsible for, came in under budget so I'm looking to contribute to one of the larger bills, maybe the water bill or council tax which is currently DH's responsibility. But I'll wait until the end of Feb before suggesting it to him!!!!

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

A good month, out of our £3572 income we spent £1251 on necessary direct debits, £375 on food, £54 on diesel, £144 miscellaneous (including books, medicines, and a birthday takeaway).  This left £1748, £1530 has been paid off the debts and the rest is carried forward.  DH's work is seasonal and February is a bit of an unknown so I just want to hold on to a little and see how the next few weeks go.

DH has managed to re-contract all our mobile phones which will save us a bit from next month.  Happy with how January went, but there is always room for improvement, especially with our food spend.  Pleased that I have resisted temptation to buy any clothes or anything new for the house, online shopping has been an issue for me in the past.

StrawberrySuze

wort said:

Strawberry Suze,  I feed my cat raw, 80 20 20. I'm quite squeamish so buy it in blocks , from a local raw pet food place they deliver. Before I found them online I used a larger warehouse place but delivery was more. They 500 gram blocks I buy are a £1. Each. They also do precut chunks of meat ,  bones etc.

Thanks @wort I am going to keep looking at all the options and might end up going down the premade route but I am hoping to use ys items and will see what the local butcher and fishmonger have to offer first, I would like to buy locally if possible. There is a frozen supplier in the same county as me who deliver and have looked at that, it might be that I will do half and half 🙂

StrawberrySuze

Beebearandme said:

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!!  

Hi @Beebearandme
Budgeting is certainly the key although my budget is very flexible, it means that I pay less or more of the debt off each month!

Bees are a great idea and can be a real money spinner, I watched the Sarah Beeny program where they set up a hive. It doesn't seem to cost a lot and there are locals here that are selling it for £5-6 a jar, even more if the comb is included!

I love goats 😊

StrawberrySuze

fiwen30 said:

We booked him in for the TTA surgery on Tuesday morning, which will go ahead unless we hear otherwise. It’s a long, gruelling 12 week+ recovery and rehab period post-op. It’s going to need to be a very frugal first month, whilst I kit the living room out into a hospital ward. Thankfully(?) I’ll likely be so preoccupied with his post-op care that it’ll likely be a no spend few months - at least in things which aren’t for the dog. All of the few packages we’ve received recently have been for him!

Good luck with the surgery, they are a worry aren't they 😐 worth it though 😊🐕

StrawberrySuze

zafiro1984 said:

I've used the wood burner and it's associated oven as much as possible, the wood is free as part of our land is woodland.
If I fancy anything I wait a few days before buying and ask myself " Do I really need it" 9 times out of 10 the answer is no.
On the "Could do better" I need to look carefully at the washing/drying side of things, I'm sure I could make some inroads there. 

I am hoping to get a woodburner fitted this year, will need to be when my cc debt is gone though, I used to love the one I fitted in my old house, it was my main form of heating! I've got a load of wood from the bushes and tree I had to chop down here when I moved in four years ago! It must be great to have an actual woodland 🙂

I use a dehumidifier to dry the washing, it's much cheaper than a tumble dryer 😊

willow_loulou

@Frugaldom 6000 trees! Wow! 

Makes my 4 saplings and 1 potted 4 foot acer seem a little sparse 😂 though I’m growing from seed except for the fig my boy got us. I’ve gathered more seeds to try so fingers crossed! I’ll ask for a slightly more established tree for my birthday this year I think. I want to grow as many as I can in pots as my garden is small. Though I’m hopeful my apples take off and will be okay at the end. 

Frugaldom

@zafiro1984 have you ever considered what we know here as 'hutting' or maybe some 'wildish' campers staying on any little spare corner of your land or woodland in order to garner some work exchange or rental income? I'm not sure where you are based (we are in southwest Scotland) but I'm looking at offering various other opportunities post-Covid. In the past, we've had wild(ish) campers, campervanners and work exchangers staying with us to help with things like tree planting, fence painting, gardening, willow cutting and pony care. I've really missed the income from holidaymakers and missed our volunteers for the help over the past year, so I'm doing everything possible to  streamline things, reduce my own workload , maximise what little income there is a the moment and focus on getting through what looks like being another disruptive year. I'm currently working with less than minimum income (it has increased so much over the years that I have never caught up with it) and that's to cover the keep of all the ponies and site fees for the holiday caravan. We did get a miserably small discount off 2021 fees but no rebate for 2020. I'd to refund all but one of last year's holiday bookings.

I've used up the fridge 'dregs', which included some mushrooms, tiny tomatoes, a yellow pepper, kale, runner beans and 2 veggie burgers. I just cooked them all together with salt, pepper and a splash of Tobasco sauce then topped it with mashed potatoes and a sprinkle of grated cheese. It's made enough for about 6 servings.

No further spends to record, unless I had to count in pony hay, which does not form part of my household budget.

roblou27

Hubs back to work on Thursday and did O/T today so that will go into March payday. DF still poorly so cooked a chicken and made the same soup with bones and veg again and he has managed to eat that. We have some floppy mushrooms and peppers and a spicy chorizo in the fridge so will use those up with some of the cooked chicken and rice and some chilli sauce for tomorrow. If DF still not up to eat there is some soup left. On the last week before payday and I think I will be in budget. Extra household items and food has been covered by DF contribution so I think I will call it even on that. Looking forward  to a good Feb pay day as there are several extras going in. Some back pay and correction of underpay in Jan. so along with Feb council tax I should be able to put a nice lot into EF and towards an extra over payment on the CC. Going to call my NSD as done. I wanted 20 but got 25. 👏👏😀really happy with that. I am tempted to set Feb NSD target as higher but will go 20 and see what happens.
Just as an aside we are in East Anglia and relatively rural and had very few COVID cases last year . Just before Christmas that changed I think we were relatively lucky in the beginning but it really has caught up with us now. Stay safe everyone.

RainbowHippie

@Frugaldom i'm in awe of all your planting efforts, it sounds amazing.

Made a mish-mash spanakopita for tea, using up frozen spinach and pastry but also some sad salad leaves, the last of some vegan 'cream cheese', and some tomatoes that had frozen at the back of the fridge. We've scoffed about the third and the rest will go in tubs for easy food tomorrow.

Can i ask - do any of you have a variable income, and if so, how do you manage with budgeting and saving? I often don't have any income for 3-4 months at a time then get paid all at once. When i had a 'real job' with a predictable monthly income, i felt a lot more confident planning and budgeting, but i feel like i've gradually lost track since it became so unpredictable. I do have a separate savings account but most of the money in there is from a while ago, i currently struggle to convince myself to move money over there as i think i'll just have to move it back later. DOH gets paid in the same fairly unpredictable way and our living expenses are also really variable. I've never actually run out of money between invoices (yet), but i find it really unsettling when my account starts getting low. i would love to build up more savings and have the confidence that i can commit to saving a certain amount regularly.

I have been tracking my spending (and OH's for 'core' expenses) for a while, so i've been thinking the answer may be for us to have a joint account that expenses come out of and transfer an average amount in there every month or for say 3 months every time i get paid.... as if i am paying myself a regular monthly amount if that makes sense? I'd be really grateful for any ideas/experience - feel like lots of people must have an irregular income, so there might be some tricks i'm just missing?!

Have a lovely Sunday all x