2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Primrose

I think buying Christmas presents for elderly relatives is always a problem as their houses are usually full of unwanted " stuff" already.. For my parents I used to make up a big hamper of useful grocery foods like tinned steak, tinned salmon, soups, a couple of those round tinned steak pies , tin of milk powder, etc. which made getting a meal easily. They lived in a hilly area  which sometimes got cut off by snow or ice in winter and it was a relief for me to know they had these extra emergency items in stock instead of boxes of chocolates etc.   

Bluegreen143

I get my papa (85) a printed calendar of photos of my children each year for Christmas and usually a book on a topic he loves (history) for birthday. He is very well off and in 85 years has quite understandably collected almost everything he could possibly want! (Eg he likes a certain style of cashmere sweater - he was telling me he has 27 of them in different colours! - so I certainly won’t be buying him a cashmere sweater!). 

I think he does really like the photo calendar and seeing pics of them collected the year before. And it’s not too expensive to get things like this printed. 

If he was struggling for money I’d get him practical food things, but he isn’t - in fact rather the opposite, he brings me down a care package of washing powder, washing up liquid, dishwasher tabs, toilet roll, shampoo/conditioner and certain food things from Costco every time I see him just to help me out with the children’s costs, bless him ❤️ 

cuddlymarm

In the early eighties as we lived in a seaside town in winter there was very little work, so many of us were on the dole. We took turns “visiting” with OHs brother and his wife. It meant that we were only using one lot of heat and electric at a time, stretching what little money we had a bit further. 

Floss

-taff said:

...The problem is that if the price of enegy rockets to an average of 4 to a potential 8 grand a year, there are sections of society who are on benefits, who are in low paid jobs, who are in debt already who will simply not be able to afford to pay their bills. Tightening your belt in those circucmstances is going to be a complete non starter...

To be honest, I'm in a relatively well paid job in the NHS but as a single household £6k for my energy would be unaffordable for me, never mind anyone in worse financial positions.

Suffolksue

I think the families with huge mortgages will be v hard hit .
I am a ( comparatively) well off pensioner and since my husband died last year ,my careful energy usage is below average 
if my costs double to £3k/ year, I will technically be in fuel poverty ,but with no mortgage and relatively low outgoings I will survive .
my remaining life won’t be how I planned it though !
but better off than families with children and my DGD who I support through university 

cw18

Floss said:

-taff said:

...The problem is that if the price of enegy rockets to an average of 4 to a potential 8 grand a year, there are sections of society who are on benefits, who are in low paid jobs, who are in debt already who will simply not be able to afford to pay their bills. Tightening your belt in those circucmstances is going to be a complete non starter...

To be honest, I'm in a relatively well paid job in the NHS but as a single household £6k for my energy would be unaffordable for me, never mind anyone in worse financial positions.

I'm a singleton running what was the family home, and it's not been easy - especially not this last few months.

My water is well below average for a 1 person household (because I'm a miser with it according to my kids ), and actually went down by a few £s (and I do mean few - I think I calculated it at less than £5 in total) for this year.

My electricity sits a bit below the average range for a 1 bedroomed home (well there's only 1 of me using things and I'm out at work a lot, so I'd expect that to be the one I compare to rather than my size of property - I'm on 40% compared to that), and my gas is just below average for a 1 bedroomed home (about 45% compared to my property size - that one surprises me a bit as I have the larger home to heat, but I only heat my water tank for an hour or two a week and I don't run my heating at the high temperatures or for the long periods many people seem to).

At 80% extra it means my payments for gas & electric will have to go up to around the £170 mark so as to not have a shortfall at the end of the year - but as I've been paying £100 it does mean that the money from the government will cover the bulk of the increase (at least until January) and my current credit balance should easily cover the rest      I'm still debating increasing it slightly (to £110 or £120) so that I shouldn't see a big jump in January and/or can hold onto a credit balance ready for when the monthly grant ends.

I've been OK at the £1,200/year, but finding an extra £1k would be tough.  I'm thankful it's delayed due to the £400 grant, and I still have the £150 CT rebate to soften the blow - I've been holding onto it in case I think of something I could purchase that would actually reduce my usage, but haven't yet come up with anything.    If it goes up again in January (I've heard suggestions of 20%, which would be another £36 a month) I can possibly manage that while the grant is still paying out.   But if we get another increase in April as we lose the monthly assistance (meaning I have to find £66 PLUS the new increase) I'm going to be scuppered.   Even if it were 'only' another 10% at that point I'd be looking at monthly payments of just under £240/month - and this time last year I only needed to be paying £46 on my fix    (I was actually paying £55 to build up some credit in case of an emergency situation.)

Increasing my payments when I don't HAVE to depends on what happens with our pay deal.   I lost a days pay today due to industrial action, and there are 3 more days within the next 14 for the &age increase side of it - and I'm expecting the same again before long over the terms and conditions of employment they want to change.   There's also no overtime going to be sanctioned during the strike period (over and beyond normal business demands), and I normally get 2.5-3 hours a week - so that's more money lost

I spent a good chunk of today sorting out a payment holiday (just means I don't receive contact lenses until 2 months later than I should - I'm hoping I have enough to scrape through until then!), reducing a payment (took my g&e down to the minimum the app will let me for the next month or two, so I won't be in as healthy a position as I'd wanted for the winter), and cancelling a subscription (on-line newspaper which I used a LOT during covid, but have rarely visited the last few months - I had somehow managed to keep a special deal price the whole time, but I can no longer justfy the £7/month I was paying).    Over two months these measures should cover 2 days lost salary.

I was hoping to reduce my water payment as well, but it's too close to payment date to change the September one - and as I'm only paying £15/month it won't make enough of a difference to justify cancelling it at the bank so that they just don't get paid .   I'm due my 6-monthly bill within the next couple of weeks so I'm going to take another look at this one then, and will probably then reduce it by a few quid for the rest of the financial year (I reckon I'm 5 months in credit!).

Frugaldom

Good evening from a very starry Frugaldom - tonight's dark sky is amazing and I can see the entire Milky Way overhead. This is our entertainment and it costs nothing to look upwards now and again. It's like looking forwards; it costs nothing to plan ahead to beyond the current troubles, whatever they may be. Yes, we are going to be spending more than before on some things, which may well mean spending less on others or even risking depleting what savings we may have but keeping things simple can help. As frugal living folks, we should be leading by example, demonstrating that tough times come and go. We aren't all in the same financial boat but we are all sailing on the same waves, if that makes sense. I know I've been absent here for quite some time but I'm almost living off grid and seeing people every week who are seeking a better way of life within their ever tightening budgets. Many are self employed with no opportunities for pay rises, myself included, so reassessing the budget is a constant challenge. Water, food, shelter, adequate clothing & footwear and attempting to preserve or maintain whatever level of health and mobility we have are the important things to remember. Despite all odds, this can be quite fun at times, especially if you enjoy a challenge. What's your biggest challenge? I think we should bring back Septimus Frugalis for next month and then be better prepared for the final quarter of 2022.

boxer234

-taff said:

I'm not sure the view of society as a bunch of wastrels is accurate these days. There are always sections here and there who waste, buy too much [ me included in that otherwise I wouldn't have had so much to declutter] etc just as there are sections who are frugal to super frugal.

The problem is that if the price of enegy rockets to an average of 4 to a potential 8 grand a year, there are sections of society who are on benefits, who are in low paid jobs, who are in debt already who will simply not be able to afford to pay their bills. Tightening your belt in those circucmstances is going to be a complete non starter. Yes, we will as a society probably get through it but there are going to be people who will slip through the cracks through debt, suicide, hypothermia, starvation etc.

I heard his interview when I was driving and good on him but he is just one person, and he may have a bit of clout, but even that clout is like weeing into the wind of the current government who are too busy thinking about who;s going to win the shiny new toy to concentrate on what actually matter to the society they govern.

I think another difference is that historically hopefully you could look forward and think it will get better.  Now I look into the future and think, ‘things are only going to get worse’ climate change being a big factor it all feels quite hopeless.  I’m grateful I don’t have children.  This is the first generation that will have it worse than their parents.  

Poppy_Golightly

I'm a single elderly pensioner and all I want for Christmas is a hug from my best friend who I cannot afford to travel to meet and vice versa

Primrose

Poppy_Golightly
THat   was such a wistful  post to read.

  As you obviously have access to the internet and email, , is there anybody who could help you set up FaceTime, Zoom or Skype video calls on whatever device you have and show you how to use it?  Neighbours' sons with computer knowledge perhaps if you have no relatives nearby?
 

At least then you could see each other's faces when you chat on the phone and enjoy a shared smile and laugh, even, if you can,t share a hug.

i liase with a much loved relative  in Canada this way and believe me, despite the distance which separates us, just sharing a view of each other's faces really helps to lift the mood on a grey day.