2022 Frugal Living Challenge

weenancyinAmerica

I can highly recommend the "Is your heating On or Off?" as a place to find ways to save on energy costs. I have actually read through the whole site and have pages of ideas from it.

Ellie79

Hello all, hope you are all warm and well! I'm currently drinking some of the annual bottle of Baileys having undertaken a little bit of crochet and some time with the family. 

I'm pleased to say I tested negative day 7 so have been out and about! I had to go replace the items that didn't turn up on my food order. Feeling much better and have a lovely weekend planned. Mostly topping up fresh veg and dairy on the shopping. I have two turkeys in the freezer, so will be using these up this month. I've also got quite a lot of meat in the freezer so won't need too much shopping wise. Need to shrink our budgets a lot!

spudsmum

Low spend day today - it was my afternoon off so I went to the local community pantry. It's £2 but you can choose 7 items plus any freebies they have going so it's usually good value. I got:

A huge birthday cake 
2 bags of premium chocolates 
A large box of rice krispies
6 pint milk
Wraps
A massive piece of pork which I hope will feed us for the most of the week. 
A big bag of fruit and veg (which counts as one item) - potatoes, peppers, leeks, plums, Cauli, sweetcorn, carrots, melon. 
Vegan cheese (free) 

Frugal things today: 

Used the crusts of the bread for lunch instead of throwing them away like I'd normally do. 

Went through fridge and did a shopping list for tomorrow as I'll be passing Lidl. Hardly need anything though only about 10 items so should come in well under budget ifi can resist the temptation to buy extras I don't need. 

Boiled only the water I needed - I'm terrible for filling the kettle to the top which obviously is a waste of energy. 

Small things but hoping it's a start I can build on. 

Tomorrow will be high spend day as I have to go into the nearest city to look at buying a disability buggy for my son, so at the very least there will be parking and the kids will probably need feeding - sigh! 

Hey ho - small steps and all that! 

Hooe everyone has a lovely weekend

MazzieD

Think the new price caps for gas and electricity will be announced in early February (that's for prices from April) and then another one in October or around that time so a couple of months to adjust budgets if you can.  It's going to affect almost everyone at some point this year whatever your financial circumstances. 

The other one I'm not looking forward to is Council Tax increases.  My Council don't normally announce until March, hopefully they might do it earlier as it's not much time to juggle the spreadsheet!.

Up early doing batch cooking today in the oven and slow cooker, made some room in the freezer as all the meat etc was already in there so all defrosted yesterday and using  what I've already got.  It's already pouring with rain and forecast is rain and heavy rain so a good day to get on with it.  Lovely smell coming from the kitchen.  Think I'll be using the oven even less now, will see what the smart meter says when I've finished.

Did my first grocery shop of the year yesterday, mainly fresh veg, eggs etc so more of a small top up.  Haven't managed to get a F&V box at L*dl for ages.  Getting there at the right time when they actually have them has been really difficult in recent months.

joedenise

@MazzieD you could just add 5% to what you're currently paying for Council Tax as that's the max they are allowed to increase it without being penalised by central Government.  It would at least give you a rough idea of how much it's likely to be.

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

We cant have a smart meter because it wont fit in the kitchen cupboard where the meter is.  I suspect that in the long term this is going to be a problem for us but for now I take a meter reading every week and have a spreadsheet going back years that I monitor our electric use with.  We have a very old oil central heating system and we have worked out that the electric pumps and ignition system use a lot of electric, which is why our usage is so high.  We use electric heaters sparingly with our open fire to keep costs down.

Yesterday I attempted bread rolls in my mini-oven, which seem to have been a success.  We have a supermarket delivery coming tomorrow so need to do a full inventory to work out exactly what we need.  I did a load of washing on a quick wash yesterday and put it over the airer with the dehumidifier on so that can go away.  Not sure what is planned for today, we have some jobs to do outside and the car needs washing but its wet and cold at the moment.

EskarinaWeatherwax

@spudsmum I’m training myself out of being slapdash with the kettle - I’ve started filling the mug / teapot / pan I need the water for and then pouring that into the kettle, rather than filling the kettle direct. I’d recommend doing this over the sink 💦😂 but it’s been an easy win for me 

the_cross_rabbit

Spudsmum have you spoke to your son’s OT about the disability buggy also there is a charity called newlife that you might be able to get help from.
CRx

Floss

I've already done my April budget with 5% added to CT, and 10% on water & rent (shared ownership with a HA), and also roughly worked out the impact of the new NI on my income. Now I've reached the top of my NHS band any salary increases are at the mercy of the Government so fingers crossed they keep us up with inflation!

spudsmum

the_cross_rabbit said:

Spudsmum have you spoke to your son’s OT about the disability buggy also there is a charity called newlife that you might be able to get help from.
CRx

Hi and thanks.

My son doesn't have an OT currently as according to them his physical  problems are "manageable" .

I've spoken to his HV and his paediatrician and been told that although they would refer to wheelchair service to be assessed for one its cyrrently a very long process and no guarantee of success at the end. I know lots of people who have been turned down. 

The major stumbling block is that physically, apart from the odd fall, he can walk fine (and sometimes will do if he is in the right mood) unfortunately he often refuses and drops to the floor and this can be anywhere even the middle of the road etc . He's a big boy and impossible to lift without hurting myself.

It just makes daily life totally stressful and it's started to impact on what we can do with the other kids so we've decided not to wait and bite the bullet and pay out.

I'd rather not but I don't see any reasonable alternative. I will definitely look at the charity you mentioned  though as theres a real possibility he'll need other stuff going forward.

Thanks again.