2022 Frugal Living Challenge

balabooberlies

cw18

I think the reasons you have given, debts, boiler etc are grounds for using a food hub.  In anyone's book.

bala

x

Sweetlittledaydreams

Sorry to hear about the car troubles, and hope the accident wasn't too bad. I agree don't accept the first offer, my last car was written off and in the end I got more from the payout than I had originally paid for it about 3 or 4 years earlier. I then didn't make a sensible decision and ended up replacing it with something more expensive than I should have done. 
Great deal on a meal out today £3.99 for a hot meal and a drink -paid for by surveys I've done over the last few nights, and a good catch up with friends. Another survey site I use has stopped sending me surveys, very annoying because I'm about 3 surveys away from reaching the £50 cash out target.
Have broken my no buy challenge, bought a watch for £7.80 for my new job, starts on Monday, hopefully it'll be good and if not well it's only a 12 month contract so not forever.
Exhausted so off to bed soon. Really hoping I'm in less pain when I wake up tomorrow.

spudsmum

CW18 - I think those are excellent reasons. 

Busy day today - went back into town to have a second go at looking at a disability buggy for my son. They had none in stock so it would need to be ordered but that's OK because I can have a look online to see if it'd any cheaper - the main thing is that they had a "tester" model there to try and son sat in it no problem which is what I was concerned about as he can be unpredictable.

They did have some great stuff in the shop so I picked up a few bits, some pencil grips to help with his writing, something to help us brush his teeth and a spare radar key to save me giving my mum mine whenever she picks the kids up from school. I spent about £20 but I'm calling those essentials as I think they'll really help us and him. 

Of course we had to have lunch as the kids were "starving" but we managed to avoid any other shops (I'm terrible for nipping in Primark and spending £50 on tat on impulse)

Went to lidl on way home and got my weekly shop £25.01 but then had to nip to asda and get a few bits (stuff for my eldest son who is vegetarian)

It wasn't too cheap but I did get some multibuy offers which will last him about 3 weeks so hopefully won't have to venture back into Asda for a while. Came to £13. So full weeks food shop came to £38.01. £36.99 under budget.

Currently have £26 left in spends budget and £85 in my food budget and husband gets paid on Friday - pretty pleased with that considering I've gone way over budget every month for several months. 

MazzieD

Thanks for all the kind wishes.  The police are prosecuting the other driver who hit me.  They have the power to revoke driving licences as well so hopefully that's going to happen to him/her.  Really dangerous driving over the speed limit, there were several witnesses which helped.  I feel lucky to be alive.  Back to bed now to try and get some sleep.

Shopaholic_no_more

@RateTartExtraodinaire yes I too was like…do I want to be paying for this kind of thing?…



After the 34 day free trial (which to be honest could/should be longer because some people need longer to get their heads round how it works) I signed up for a year….and gave myself that year as a benchmark to see how it went. After a few stop/starts and getting my head round how it works best for me I am now coming up to that first year and my relationship with money has changed enormously.

 YNAB might be a paid prescription but you get so much help along the way and encouragement {which I needed) that, personally, I think the charge is worth it. My self discipline with money was shocking but YNAB have helped me change that. It doesn’t work in the same way as other budgeting apps so you need a different mindset for it BUT once you understand the way it works it is massive. I, personally, cannot recommend it enough but I appreciate that it is not for everyone.

Maybe check out a few YNAB pages on Facebook and see how it has helped people clear their debt? I’m hoping to be one of those people who post such things in the coming future 🙌 . 

Had it not been for this app I would not have had the money set aside for some of the garage repair bills I’ve got coming ….I know that much….and for that I am very grateful.

Planning on a NSD day today and sort out my meal plan for next week.

Happy Sunday 😊

natnat13

@MazzieD I hope that you are ok and not too achy today, rest up. I had the same experience as sweetlittledaydreams and got more than I had paid for my car when I claimed on my car insurance a few years ago after driving through floods. You can also negotiate, it will help if you have comparables. 

Went shopping yesterday and only bought what we needed -  £57, that would have been £100 before Christmas and I thought I was only buying what I needed then! No Saturday takeaway again, we had a fresh paella from Aldi as a treat and minimal cooking required. No spends today, we're in doing housework and pottering around. 

shala_moo

@MazzieD - hope you're recovering well. I hope they do take his licence, i get so angry at people who think they can drive recklessly without a care in the world for who they hurt/kill!

We have the argument about cars in our house at the moment, we both have lease cars (from the times where i had a job) but the lease is up in November and it's done 5600 miles in 2.5 years which is ridiculous. I drive it 3 times a week to the local town but the bus stop is right outside the house and it's about 6 stops - too far and too dangerous a road to walk unfortunately. It would cost £520 a year for a bus ticket, whereas the car is costing £1800+petrol+insurance, it's a no-brainer to me but OH thinks I should keep the car. Our compromise is that he'll pay for it if he wants me to keep it but i'd feel to guilty for that!! The deciding factor will be whether or not I find a job between then and now and need it for that.

Had a no spend weekend here, and grocery shopping this week was offset by a refund from some items that got returned. Although the shopping was only £45 and it's usually £80+ so a double win, currently cooking a turkey joint from before Christmas for our lunch today which should also do a lot of lunches for the week too.  I will need to make some bread rolls for the week too.

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

[Deleted User]

Good Afternoon Frugal friends,

I struggle to keep up with the thread, but I hope you are all doing well and keeping focussed. A quick update from me – my 2022 budget commenced on 8th December 2021 and will run to 7th December 2022 (makes it easier for me for various reasons).

So, one month and one week in, here we are so far:

Budget for the year - £3,800

-        Internet – annual £542.88 – YTD £90.48

-        Netflix - £71.88 – YTD £5.99

-        Gas - £500 – YTD £347.22 (we have an LPG tank, this was the cost to fill it up)

-        Electricity - £600 – YTD £79.96

-        Logs - £300 – YTD £210

-        Food - £1,200 (this includes paying for school dinners for DD, she loves them and they are excellent quality so I am happy to pay this) – YTD £371.27

-        Clothing, included school uniforms - £200 – YTD £0

-        Gifts, travel, postage, trips out with the children - £250 – YTD £96.86

-        Leftover slush fund for the odd treat, boiler service, DIY items etc - £135.24 – YTD £108.74

YTD TOTAL 1 MONTH IN - £1,310.52 / £3,800

As you can see, in just over one month we have spent a third of our annual budget. However this was entirely expected, as we have made some major outlays that we won’t need to do again this year.

-        The gas tank won’t need filling again this year

-        The log store is full and we have plenty of pallets to chop

-        Our food cost included buying a whole pig and whole lamb, plus 40kg of potatoes. We eat meat so rarely that this will last us the whole year easily.

-        I was unwell before Christmas and had to pay for three prescriptions, which wasn’t expected

-        We have had the boiler serviced, again this won’t need doing again for another twelve months

I hope this is useful. I will repeat the same exercise in a month’s time, to see where we are at. Take care all, ASB xx

marionmgcars

nannygladys said:

MazzieD - I hope you're feeling OK and going to take it easy for a while. 

I bought a new car not long before I retired, paid cash as I had been saving for one and have it serviced etc every year. It's the last one I'll buy as I told dds that I would give up driving in my 70's, and I'm there this year - yikes!!!!  but I will carry on for few more years yet.

I would not think of giving up driving yet, even if it is to keep up your independence for local journeys, think of the days its raining and you don't want to be getting wet,  my friend drove until she was 90.  I know that is extreme, but it kept her independence

Ellie79

Wow what a lot has been happening for people. Car trauma and sorry to hear about your accident @MazzieD, I hope you are recovering. I can't add to the car conversation as we have a motability car due to OH being disabled. For years I had older cars and garage drama. I totally feel everyone's debates here. 

I've done something to my hip/back. Not been moving much, much to my annoyance but I am in a lot of pain. Honestly feels like one thing after another! Currently sat watching a chateau DIY type programme and dreaming of a much less stressful life. Poor OH is cooking dinner with shouted instructions from me. We are quite often a comedy couple (according to all our collective children). Lines such as 'no that is vodka not wine', 'that's not jam, it's cranberry sauce' and so on are regularly heard. Amusing but often frustrating (more so for OH, I rarely mind him bringing me vodka!). 

Back to my crochet. NSD day here! Yay!