2022 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

babs_103 said:

Good morning all, and a belated Happy New  Year to you all.  I have been a  lurker for quite  a  while now and have got quite a few good ideas from you all.
However I have a problem that has stumped me for years with regard to doing  a budget. I get paid from various sources at different times of the month, weekly fortnightly and every 28 days, and for the  life of me I cannot figure out when my 'end of month' is. I have DDs due both monthly and every 28 days as well as 'normal' bills.  Can anyone help me please? or am I forever to be chasing my tail  so to speak!  Thank you for any help I may get.

For a time I was getting child benefit weekly, salary every 2 weeks, widows pension (from a workplace pension) monthly, and widowed parents allowance and tax credits somewhere in the mix (can't recall how often those were paid).

I had everything go into one bank account, and then moved amounts by standing order into a second account.   All my direct debits were set up on the second account, so I just had to keep an eye on the balance to be sure there was enough.  (Seem to recall I always moved the monthly pension, and then half of each of the others - apart from child benefit which I kept for top-up grocery shops).   I tried to put in more than needed for a month, so that it also had enough for annual bills such as Road Tax and MOT.    I then worked on a calendar monthly basis as the regular payments all went OUT once a month.    What was left in my first account was available for everything else that wasn't paid by Direct Debit (groceries, clothes, petrol, presents etc.).

ancientmum

Happy New Year!
 I spent a lovely day with youngest and his girlfriend, they did a meal and we played board games,  They live an hour from me and I decided to go on the train rather than drive as there are roadworks with a diversion on my route and no parking at their place.  I usually book trains on line to save money but this time was amazed by the difference between the cost of buying in advance and travelling at different times or buying at the station. My fare was £8.80 return instead of over £30.  It does help that I have a railcard, but I think that if national rail can provide this amount of discount, they are profiteering from people who have no choice about when they travel, or no access to online booking.

Re: the money envelopes, I am going to try something different this year.  I'm going to take out the cash for my personal and grocery spends each month, and put aside any amount I spend on a credit card.  This way I can see the cash going down but still have the benefit of earning clubcard points.  I will pay off the card at the end of the month and any spare (hopefully) cash gets carried over into the next one.  Well, that's the plan.  I'm not sure if I can stay focussed enough to stick with it all year.  We'll see!

mandy47

angela110660 said

I use an Oxo Good Grips can opener - it has chunky, sturdy handles and is brilliant . For smaller twist off tops  I use a pair of nutcrackers to grip. 

Thank you, will take a look.

AnimalTribe

Can anyone give me the link to eating out of the cupboard and freezer challenge please?

willow_loulou

cw18 said:

babs_103 said:

Good morning all, and a belated Happy New  Year to you all.  I have been a  lurker for quite  a  while now and have got quite a few good ideas from you all.
However I have a problem that has stumped me for years with regard to doing  a budget. I get paid from various sources at different times of the month, weekly fortnightly and every 28 days, and for the  life of me I cannot figure out when my 'end of month' is. I have DDs due both monthly and every 28 days as well as 'normal' bills.  Can anyone help me please? or am I forever to be chasing my tail  so to speak!  Thank you for any help I may get.

For a time I was getting child benefit weekly, salary every 2 weeks, widows pension (from a workplace pension) monthly, and widowed parents allowance and tax credits somewhere in the mix (can't recall how often those were paid).

I had everything go into one bank account, and then moved amounts by standing order into a second account.   All my direct debits were set up on the second account, so I just had to keep an eye on the balance to be sure there was enough.  (Seem to recall I always moved the monthly pension, and then half of each of the others - apart from child benefit which I kept for top-up grocery shops).   I tried to put in more than needed for a month, so that it also had enough for annual bills such as Road Tax and MOT.    I then worked on a calendar monthly basis as the regular payments all went OUT once a month.    What was left in my first account was available for everything else that wasn't paid by Direct Debit (groceries, clothes, petrol, presents etc.).

I do similar - I have 3 income streams which all go into my main account that has the dd attached to it. As the majority gets paid every 2 weeks I see what my monthly dd are and transfer the rest minus the cash I draw out into my savings. 

There I can accrue the money for car etc and my over payments of loan and council
tax. 

The cash goes in jars for food, petrol and my coffee dates with bestie. I keep the relevant loyalty card in the same jar so I take the cash with it to remind me to use it. 

Because I have online banking I can manage this very easily and adjust as needed. 

babs_103

Thank you @cw18 and @willow_loulou . I only use one bank but have a savings account attached to it that I never use, I will try this method and see how I get on. Many thanks again for your help.

I don't need envelopes as such as I don't spend cash, shopping I have to do online as I am nowhere near any shops apart from Sainsbobs and I find it too expensive, not sure if this is because it is the only supermarket within miles or not. My freezer and store cupboard are full but I am not 100% sure what is in there, I will get it a bit emptier then do a list and meal plan, at the moment I just pull something out of it the night before and we have that but it is mainly chicken and mince which can get boring. Also I don't much like the texture of meat so I tend to eat more vegi meals.

Off to sort out my bank now and maybe some ironing (or not!)

Stay safe everyone x

balabooberlies

Well I think tackling spreadsheets is a job/target for the year, so back to paper and pencil.

I will check with Experian on the first of each month to make sure my debt is going in a downwards direction.  I am doing the same with my weight but on the decluttering thread.

Had a good meat haul today.  I didn't try to take advantage of xmas reductions on xmas eve because just have little energy at the moment.  Decided today to just have a look and spent approx 9 pounds on a 29 pound full price.  A saving of 20 pounds !

I am getting good at this........

Olio hasn't worked out for me yet but with the reduced cost meat we can afford veg at full price.  I feel so blessed today because I also understand the concept of abundance and knowing when enough is enough.

Happy frugaling to all

bala

x

fionaandphil

@AnimalTribe there is a reverse meal planning which uses what you have in https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/78865816#Comment_78865816

EskarinaWeatherwax

@balabooberlies Olio isn’t always great for me either, as I travel on my legs and so have a limited catchment area. This will increase when I can cycle again (injured) but I did pick up some flavoured teas today while out for a walk. 

My fridge and freezer and stuffed and so I’m going to be eating from stores for January and possibly February! I’ve meal planned for the next week using what I have and then have a delivery arranged for Saturday which should take me up to the 19th between fresh and frozen/tinned fruit and veg. 

I was sent a cheese box as a Xmas gift. Fortunately some are wax wrapped and long lasting - there were six cheeses inside! I live alone and want to lose weight so am going to eke them out as long as I can. I don’t eat meat or fish, and big little dairy, so a cheese gift feels like a real treat and a change to the norm.

RateTartExtraordinaire

I'm in for 2022 Frugal Living Challenge!

I love this thread. I'm hoping to pick up some tips and share my experience and give support I can along the way.

My aim is to live on less so I can work less and spend more time with family. My frugal living started back when I went part time a few years ago to try to move out of a stressful work situation. I quit completely in 2021, I took on a temporary contract and started to do some private self employed work which has worked well so far. My e-fund is ready but I haven't needed to dip into it yet! 

Frugal Challenge 2022
I know that my electric and gas are going to go up and want to get smart meters installed to help me track my usage better.
Aim to reduce my groceries spend this year to £1000 by better planning meals and doing batch cooking where I can which should also help my energy usage.

Since 21 December, I've paid car and home insurance up front for 2022 so I took advantage of cashback site and rewards. Plus using comparison sites I've got a year of 2 for 1 cinema tickets from Compare the Market and a Halford gift card of £20 from confused which I plan to spend on replacement window screen wipers for the car Win Win!

Happy New Frugal Year!