2022 Frugal Living Challenge

EskarinaWeatherwax

Sent too soon! I also collected some Xmas wrap and cards bought in the sales, and picked up a sprig of rosemary from a neighbour  so I can get more cuttings started for a hedge. 

Spent £50.60 on 8 birthday gifts for different people from the same place to save on postage. I’d budgeted £10 a head so saved £29.40. And that comes from a ‘gifts’ pot I save into monthly so is outside grocery spending for the month. 

cw18

EskarinaWeatherwax said:

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.

Chop them into smaller chunks and freeze them.   My OH does that when we buy wax coated truckles at food festivals - he's not supposed to eat more than 50g of cheese a week due to his high cholesterol, and he rarely eats it every week.

The only thing to be aware of is that (once defrosted) the more mature the cheese flavour is, the more it crumbles when you try to cut it.

marionmgcars

Hi, I'm looking forward to joining you all for a thrifty 2020.  I had a small overspend on my grocery budget for Christmas goodies to eat, but decided to take it out of January budget, rather than the savings.  Feel as though I'm starting on the back foot, but still am going to try and have a no spend month apart from essentials.  Just made a big pan of vegetable soup with vegs left in fridge, so that should last for two days.  good luck everyone.  xx

Mortgagefreetobe

Happy New Year everyone 😊 

I’ve just caught up on the feed and it’s lovely to see it so busy. I’m aiming for a no spend year and feel very positive about it. 

My meal planning is going well as well and I won’t need to go food shopping until the end of the week as I refuse to do too up shops any more. 

My food spends is the one area that will make a huge difference and I’ve already decided I will be using cash for groceries and will be leaving my purse at home when I take the kids out to their groups and meet ups. 

Anything left from my food shopping will be put to one side for extra savings or mortgage payoff.  

MazzieD

Looks like I lost a bit of my earlier post about cash envelopes, thanks to everyone who has replied.  I'm going to have a think about whether to try the cash envelope system.  I like the idea of jars for cash though and have a couple of spare ones lurking in a cupboard

I'm also in the fortunate position of having a full freezer and lots of food so should be minimal grocery spends this month as I don't need to buy much.  I never bother with the sales so January is usually a no spend month anyway.  Good for the budget and the shiny new spreadsheet.  

I'm not sure about goals for this year at the moment, my car is 13 years old and starting to develop faults so saving towards a new to me car for when it eventually needs replacing might be a good place to start.

EskarinaWeatherwax

Thanks @cw18 that’s a great tip! 

willow_loulou

I started my cash book and Diary today, I needed petrol and earned a little more on prolific so both have pages in my cash book. 

No spend other than the fuel which I need to reduce the use of. I’ve been invited out Wednesday, I’m a little daunted by infection rates but we will test before hand.  I have not budgeted for food out so will chose the cheapest option. I was going to say no tbh but I’ve missed my friends. 

Moll

Ive only just found this thread, so am busy catching up. Nice to be here though .   January  so far has been great i got large rolls of  wrapping paper reduced to 49p in the sales , enough to do Birthdays all year . Im a frugal person anyway ........always have been,  but we got stung with an unexpected £2,500  vets bill just before Christmas . ( Dog is old and no one would insure for a reasonable price, )  This is the first money hes cost us bless him , and glad hes recovered............But can anyone recommend a credit card that gives something back please?   Air miles is no use as we dont travel abroad,  but anything else???  Went to visit a friend today , and she gave me 2 jars of sauce ( Apple and Horseradish)  A full box of luxury mince pies   and a box of biscuits,  Said she didnt want them from Christmas???  and knew id use them . It amazes me how much people just chuck away ?  Dinner was using up veg, and a pack of sausages, , Invited Dad for dinner (used the sauces and mince pie with custard for puds) , Always make extra mash etc, and have enough dinner left, for DD and her two little ones for dinner tomorrow  too . so she'll be pleased,  Dont know if anyone used the Free Libraries ( In phone boxes)  We have quite a few around here, so this morning , the sun was shining , and seemed too nice to be in , so had a ride to a phone box and stocked up on books for everyone i know  . Had a big bag to put in too, what id saved from everyone .   Happy New Year everyone , and hope someone can give me advice on a good credit card , 

never_too_old

I am an Olio volunteer and collect from a supermarket once a week,used to do 3 but on some weeks i dont get 1 request for food.

Baxtersmum

We’ve had a nice chilled out day, napping and just eating from stores, the little ones have just eaten the slightly overripe oranges for desert and we had a nut roast from Christmas for dinner which didn’t reheat well from frozen but the chocolate and cherry bread & butter pudding frozen at the same time was delicious.
I froze some batches of 4 eggs and some left over milk just before Xmas so they are out defrosting for tomorrow’s lunch & breakfast.
I love having a no spend day, it needs to happen more often. 
Hope you have a lovely evening, we have the blankets out and are watching an oldie ‘Little Rascals’ with the grandchildren 📺