2022 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

balabooberlies said:

Spuds !

You've changed your signature and I think you've done really well.  I am at the beginning of dealing with a massive pile of debt.  So am on this journey with you.

Lockdowns/pandemic has caused all sorts of far reaching problems apart from health.  But 'knowing thyself' goes a long long way to changing what you need to change.  Am saying this to myself too.....

bala

x

Thanks Bala, 

Yes I changed the signature to give me a bit more accountability and encouragment - got my debt down to £9900 at one point so it's up a bit on that but hoping I can now stop the rot and get it back down again. 

We can do this! 

natnat13

Poppy_Golightly said:

My name is Poppy and I'm a Bookaholic. There I said it!

🤣🤣🤣 my partner calls me that. I'm determined not to buy any more until I've read what I have then use the library.

@spudsmum you've done really well! Look where you were to start off with. The pandemic and lockdowns were challenging, I got to know my A@@zon driver very well 🤦‍♀️ You can do this. 🙌

cw18

RateTartExtraodinaire said:

@cw18 I like the idea of freezer tetris I picked up a tip from another thread on MSE and froze my batch cook curry into a brick using a tuperware, then popping it out into a freezer bag . I'm hoping to save space and make it an easier shape to play tetris with!

Oh believe me, a lot of my freezer contents is brick shaped
I normally use old spread containers - having smashed a couple of expensive plastic ones by dropping them onto a ceramic tiled floor while getting them out of the freezer!!

babs_103

@Poppy_Golightly as you can tell from my signature, so am I, I have more books - paperback, on the kindle and kobo than I can ever read unless I live to be 500!

YORKSHIRELASS

Poppy_Golightly said:

My name is Poppy and I'm a Bookaholic. There I said it!

I love the library, I am like a kid in the sweetshop when I go in there, so perhaps I should join you!  I have read 213 pages of the library book that I started on Friday night (and I know that because I am about to close the laptop and read more).

I have done a huge supermarket shop, stocked up on washing powder, dog food, dw tablets, tins and cupboard stuff, all the things that are hard to buy locally, but that does mean that I have spent £110 out of my £250 monthly budget which is making me a bit anxious.  We will see how it goes.

Lovely but muddy walk across the fields with DH, washing over the airer with the dehumidifier on.  DS1 has come home for a few days so the electric use will have shot up this week, but never mind.  Nothing spent this weekend other than the supermarket shop so that's good.  Mealplan done for the week.

Going to do a free yoga session and get in my PJs then read my book.

elbree

Hello Frugal friends 👋
I've spent 2/3rds of my January grocery budget which is worrying BUT have meal planned for the month and should make it with a few little top ups. Cooked a roast today from stores/YS veg for 3 and rearranged the living room now the tree is down. It looks great but desperately trying to resist browsing furniture sites for the ideal item to fit in new gaps. RESIST!

spudsmum

So today has been a really productive day in the end.

I went through my food stash. I'm a bit of a compulsive buyer - particularly of food - I've always been like this. I can't resist a bargain or a yellow sticker and I feel a bit anxious when my stocks get low. 

I currently have: 3 freezers stuffed full. Two cupboards full of sweet stuff and biscuits, a big larder cupboard full of herbs, spices and baking ingredients and a huge stockpile of tins and dried goods in the garage. Even being quite conservative I reckon, other than fruit, veg and fridge stuff, I have enough food to last at least 3 months. I'm going to try to find ways to use a lot of this up rather than buying fresh. 


I needed to take my eldest to Rugby training so went to Lidl for the weekly shop - managed to more or less stick to my list and only needed some fruit, cheese and milk - £25.16 so well under budget.

I have other cupboards full of cleaning stuff, toiletries  etc but I'll go through those another day - the main thing is I've made a start. 

I have 2 and a bit weeks until payday and I have £100 left in my spends budget and £124.84 in my food budget. All bills have gone out but I will need some petrol. January is always a hard month due to being paid very early in December and having everyone off school and work but I'm hoping to make that money last me (it sounds a lot of money but I've gone way over budget every month for the last 9 months so....who knows but I'm going to try.) 

Total debt currently stands at £13420.02 over 2 credit cards. Slightly scary but on a positive note - a lot of it is on 0% apart from my recent spends. Also that is my only debt so no other loans, mortgage etc to worry about. 

Feel a lot better for sitting down and going through things - lots more to do but small steps and all that. 

balabooberlies

Thumbs up Spuds !

MazzieD

Took the curtains down yesterday to add another lining to all of them (was given several pairs of old curtains by a friend so no money spent, they are fine to use as linings).  There is a street light in close proximity to the front of the house and next door have one of those security systems where a really bright light comes on if there is the slightest movement in their back garden. Horrendous during storms or windy weather, on and off all night!  I sleep at the back of the house and all the existing curtains were just too thin to block out the light.  Hopefully it might help with keeping the house a bit warmer as well.

Got the heating on but on a timer and a low setting.  It's been quite cold so just enough to get me in and out of bed. I just wear lots of layers and try not to sit for too long when I'm working, that's when I really feel the cold!

MazzieD

In an early surprise move, the City Council have already announced that Council Tax here is being frozen for 2022/23.  Missed that one, must have been end of last week.  The majority seat political party running things changed for the first time in years at the last local election so that might be why (it normally goes up every year).