2022 Frugal Living Challenge

joedenise

AnimalTribe said:

joedenise said:

@AnimalTribe - is it this thread you mean:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4798135/eating-out-of-the-freezer-and-cupboards-challenge-part-two#latest

Thank you this is exactly the one I have been looking for. I'm off to subscribe but I'll be back to try and catch up on the rest of this thread. It moves so quickly and I only come on the internet every couple of days.

That thread has come to an end now and a new thread has been started:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6323783/the-all-new-using-what-you-have-from-your-freezer-cupboard-or-shed-barn#latest

Of course the first thread is still available to read.

nannygladys

never_to_old - the 'hub' is a small place where the Rotary club have set up a 'free to everybody' food shop, you don't need referring or vouchers and the food is mainly veggies and fruit, I find it very useful as I only receive the state pension but don't get any help from anyone, but I only use it when I really need it. 

Frugal things:
Walked into local town, but didn't open purse! 
Cooked lunch and tea for me and DVD, with food from stores.
Nannyg

Numbercruncher_mfw

Hi everyone, 

Joining the challenge this year to try and keep my frugality on track. Aim is to pay 10k off my mortgage balance (including my regular monthly payments) and to add to my emergency fund and investments. I'll aim to post weekly updates on my progress. Some aims:

- Not spend impulsively on takeaways/restaurant  - we can spend £40 quite easily on meal out - and cook yummy meals at home. 
- Not spend on extra trips to the shop. 

  

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

DH had lamb kebabs for tea that have been in the freezer since we had a BBQ in the summer, we are trying to get some things used up.  Heating had to go on quite a bit today, its been bitterly cold here.  Fire lit now and we are hunkered down in the living room.

Nothing spent today, worked from home, car hasnt moved so thats good. Planning another NSD tomorrow.

balabooberlies

Batch cooked a large bolognese sauce 4 days ago.  It never gets to the freezer as OH wants it every night !  

Oh well, I try.............

Saved £15.00 today with a phone call.  Unexpected but very welcome.

bala

spudsmum

Hi all, I'm a bit late to the party but hoping to join you if that's OK?

I used to be regular here a, few years ago and managed to halve my debt from £21k to just under £10k which was a great feeling. 

Unfortunately I fell off the wagon a little - I didn't even notice it happening but now realise its got to the stage where I constantly seem to spend all my income and never have anything left to pay down debts or save by the end of the month. 

I plodded along quite oblivious until few unexpected expenses cropped up. Husband's car needed to be replaced unexpectedly and I didn't have enough in my car "pot" and then 2 weeks later my car broke down needing a £950 repair.

This means that my debt has now crept back up to about £13.5k. I need to get back into frugal habits and get it back down before I end up exactly back where I started.

So I'm hoping to start again with my no spend days - only spent money one day so far this year - £3.50 on Crisps (DS5 has autism and a very limited diet so I need to make sure he always has supplies or he won't eat) Also want to save on my food bill - currently it's about £75 a week for 5 of us which isn't completely horrendous but I'm sure I can cut back. 

Also hoping to make money where I can either by surveys or selling stuff. 

Over the weekend I intend to do a massive stock-take of everything I have. I'm a bit of a hoarder so I have cupboards stuffed with all sorts that I'm sure will come in handy. 

I'm excited and dreading it in equal measure. Wish me luck. 

Frugaldom

kimwp said:

Think I'm going to pop off this thread, it's a lovely community, but I was hoping for ideas on how to save money rather than chat about people's days and it's a lot of emails. You all seem lovely, all the best with your frugalling!

Sorry to see you are leaving. I can't keep up with the chat but if you have a look through the old challenges, you may find what you are looking for - or else just ask or message me and I'll maybe be able to point you in the right direction. The actual challenge runs elsewhere as well as here.

2022 is another year of £1 per person per day for all meals. Outside slices of bread got diced and baked with salt & pepper to make croutons. They keep really well in the sealed jars. The ones I made before Christmas are still fresh and crunchy. Thanks to the Olio app, I've saved a fortune on food but I've been spending elsewhere in preparation for my off-grid challenge. (It's being posted in my frugaldom forums, sorry, not in here) 

There are still rosehips to be picked if anyone goes foraging. I made rosehip honey and will be using this to substitute for real honey. A kilo of sugar makes a couple of jars so it definitely works out cheaper. I'm also going to try Rosebay Willowherb 'honey' in summer as we have plenty of that. All fruit that's past best is turned into jams, jellies, sauces and marmalade here, with the leftovers composted. The only thing that doesn't keep well is apple sauce so I'm going to have to make apple sponge several times over the coming week or two to use it all up. I want to get all the cupboards cleaned out and the freezer defrosted. Usually, by this time of year the temps have dropped below zero, meaning I can store everything in a box outside while doing the fridge and freezer. That's been impossible so far. Yesterday I was mucking out pony shelter in my jeans & teeshirt! I guess it saved on washing! Today, the water butts are definitely full. I added pots of sphagnum moss to the tops of all the tanks to filter out the debris that can run off the roofs.

cw18

shala_moo said:

HI all, would love to join you here if that's ok. 

Things to do for the rest of the week :
- look into smart meters - do people recommend them?

Welcome aboard.

Smart meters are (in my opinion) only worth having if you fall into one of two categories.

1. Can you read your meters yourself, and do you do so on a regular basis.   If so you gain nothing in terms of them submitting readings for you.

2. Do you know which appliances are energy hungry, or do you think you'll benefit from help in finding out?   If you think the help would be useful, then smart meters MIGHT be a good idea.   But you need to make sure you get the gadget you can plug in indoors - and accept that you'll be using a small amount of extra electricity to run it.    And then you need to watch it like a hawk, and react to any sudden increases in usage it shows.

EskarinaWeatherwax

Evening all

Happy to report a NSD here and a few frugals wins too!

Collected a load of big bubble wrap, the air pocket stuff, that a shop was getting rid of, to insulate my seedlings and cuttings in the cold frame. 

Pulled out my regular winter favourite wrist warmers - old knee high Wonder Woman socks that went past the point of repair. So I cut the feet off and cut a thumb hole, and now have lovely warm sleeves! 

I have to say, the energy prices are worrying me. My combined bill has gone from £84 a few months ago to £132 now. I’m not sure what I can cut.

I’m pretty frugal with the heating. I’ve been working from home since 2017and the idea of having the heating on during the day when it’s cold has never appealed to me. I just put loads of clothes on!

But even with just having the heating on for a 30 mins in the morning and hour in the evening and then 15 minutes before going to bed, there seems to be very little I can do to keep the bills down. I’ve got loads of things on timers so they’re only on when I need them and I can’t forget to turn them off, most of my lightbulbs are LED, I barely use the oven and I only boil the water I need. I can’t think what else to do.

I’m under a cat and a blanket now as I am most evenings. If anybody’s got any other ideas on saving energy I’d be really interested.

islandhoppa

Experimenting this week washing clothes on quick wash (45 minutes instead of 1 hour 55!) working fine so far for dark clothes but unsure about whites and haven’t tried yet - any advice on what I can add that’s frugal and effective to brighten / remove stains rather than just grabbing the expensive stuff?