2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

@skogar we have had some fab offers over the past few weeks - it was almost 2 years of being a member before anything became available and then within about 2 months of it getting here then instantly stopped when a charity from elsewhere applied for everything. Not sure of the ins and outs of it but it was fantastic while it lasted as Frugaldom was the nominated voluntary organisation for the Olio food waste hero leftovers - fruit n veg for ponies, poultry and wildlife, anything else added into the composting project.

Tonight, I used up the 29p pack of salted peanuts that I'd had from before Christmas and turned them into peanut butter. Pal gave me a stick blender so I used that to blitz the pack of peanuts with a dash of sunflower oil and a tiny drop of honey. It made me a little sad thinking of all the smartprice-basics- saver items that are no longer available. It's quite a worrying thought when considering those who are struggling with mounting debts and/or on miniscule food budgets for whatever reason will now need to take a step up as there's no place left to go once the cheap products end. Definitely time to think about the source of our food so I'm going to try my best to grow more of my own food and buy fewer imported goods. Shame we can't grow thinks like oranges and bananas in our gardens. 

Frugaldom

I can't find the post that lists the supermarket times for final reductions - can someone point me in the right direction, please?   

Well done @CraftyLittleLisa, that's impressive for first month of the year. Our Olio has stopped because Tesco has stopped giving to the 'rep' so perhaps yours is the same. f a charity comes along, they seem to get priority.

ldee2111

Impressed by the desk @Bluegreen143

frostie101

January 2021 Household expenses were £38.48 underbudget. Helped by the fact no one in the house including the dog got their hair cut! 

Hughesfamily

Morning all, the remainder of my DD's have come out today and so I've checked this morning, currently £50 under the budget I have set myself. Still have the headache - covid test was negative, but feel achy and cannot shift the headache - I am in the Midlands and I know a couple of people having the same issue, so it's probably viral.
Spent the weekend cleaning the house, as I spent so long doing it (ashamed to say it needed it), we were naughty and had a fish and chip dinner, then yesterday on the way back from the shops we had a M*D's - both meals together came in under £20 and I took it from the fuel money I haven't used so it didn't feel like actual spending. I'm still on course to have 20 NSD - my budget runs 25th - 24th in line with my pay date. 
Just a thought @fiwen30, can you source a single electric blanket from free cycle for the pooch? 
Going to have a use it up type day for meals - fridge gravel will be turned into "hash" as the Americans call it, topped with a fried egg - one of my favourite meals. DD will have her favourite - noodles, 20p a packet and not that nutritious but she loves them. Dinner is homemade potato wedges - my spuds are sprouty so best used up soon, I'll have some YS salmon and DD will have chicken fillets and we'll use up the veg in order of what will go wrinkly soon. We used up the last of the Christmas chocolate and made some nest cakes to snack on this week rather than buying anything. No spending planned now until Friday - I've allowed a budget of £10 for fresh veg and milk, I bought 6 cartons of the A!pro oat milk at 39p from home bar%a!ns so I'm sorted - will just be for DD. I might even set myself the challenge of not  buying anything and using my frozen veg stash and the longlife milk.

Viking_mfw

@Frugaldom I am in awe of your food stretching. A shame you are losing Olio. 

Shopping today and we need quite a lot of essentials/ basics. However, I am intent on continuing to use up some of the cupboard contents. We have a lot of homemade jam, for example. While some of it will be eaten on toast by DS1 I'm going to need to be a bit more creative for some of the flavours. I'm thinking the pork steaks in the freezer will go reasonably well with apple and ginger jam... hope so anyway!

Tanya12345

Morning Fruggies, 
Hoping I can join the party ! Spent January  making lists and logging every spend... Now have a budget that I think is achievable ! On a limited income but am lucky enough live on a 4acre plot and are working on  getting a Homestead working..... Love reading every ones post's and find this whole thread an inspiration. xx

5yearsfree

Hope you mind if I join in, Ive just split with my husband ,so far its amicable Ive left but not left as financially it benefits no one as we are tied into our mortgage for another two years and currently I wouldn't come out with enough to buy my own home on my wages and his attitude to money make him a probable unsafe bet, I have no debt and as off this morning neither does he, but that wont last. I have a full-time minimum wage job, im uneducated and 46 so that's pretty much as good as its gets.
Im starting from scratch again moneywise, I have a plan but need to save 8K a year to make this happen, if we can live live together for the next two years I would have enough to buy a park home or small flat and suffer the ongoing cost associated with that, if we can make it to five I could manage a small 2up2down freehold which is the preference.Sorry.that ive dumped my baggage I have no one in RL to talk this over, its a long haul and I need to keep focused and keep life positive.
Thank you  

Shopaholic_no_more

@Bluegreen143 love the desk!! 
@Frugaldom you are such an inspiration!! Sorry to hear about  your Olio situation.🙁
@Couldsavemore  @Mummy2cheekymonkeys  well done!! Love reading people’s achievements 😊
@5yearsfree Welcome...reading your story I feel your pain...I am divorced and for me sadly it wasn’t amicable ....ex tried to force me out of our house with his new lady...it all got very messy and I was in a bad place for a while....however, I refused to be pushed around and managed to get it remortgaged (our mortgage was paid off at that time) and so I too was starting from scratch. I wish you every luck that you achieve your goals....you will find lots of help on this thread...everyone is lovely 😊. I wish I knew about this thread when I was in that situation.
I wish you well and look forward to hearing how your journey is going.
Take care

Somebody (sorry cannot find who it was) said about Budget Mom ....I have signed up to her free email and have downloaded all her free resources from her website. She is very easy to follow and I’m going through all her YT at the moment. Thanks for mentioning her!! 

Was having a good weekend....got a load of stuff on oBoy and sold 4 things already!! 
However, this morning I discovered the clutch has gone on my car...I’ve come to the conclusion cars are not my friend 😭.
Hope everyone is ok. Keep safe and take care x 

Nonnadiluca

5yearsfree, you might find it helpful to read Frugaldom's back catalogue of threads, if only for inspiration, it certainly helped me to realise that money going out, or preferably not going out, is equally, if not more, important than money coming in. Good luck for the future x