2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Primrose

Well done Never-too-old!   It always take courage to try something new out of one's comfort zone but if the last two Covid years have taught us anything, it's that more of us are have had to do this in all sorts of ways and it's rather uplifting afterwards to find we've survived the experience. 

Primrose

We,re currently still benefitting from our generous ewrly Covid stocked up  stores but as certain items now need replenishing we're really starting to feel the sting of increased energy cost refills.  At these prices many people will feel challenged to restock at the same levels as previously and we still have a couple of months at least of potential icy or snowy weather to face which will prevent more vulnerable people from wanting to venture out shopping.

shala_moo

HI all, hope you're all frugalling well

Grocery budget for us has stayed a lot smaller than before so that's amazing progress, I need to spend some time this week putting together a new meal plan for February so we can retain the momentum. We did spend a bit extra last week to stock up on a really good coffee bargain - OH loves a specific brand that's usually £5.50 but regularly on offer at half price, I had a voucher code to add too so got 6 for under £2 a jar! 

Popped out to the local town at the weekend and bought some walking boots, my trainers have no tread left on them, managed to get some decent-ish (for what I need them for) boots in a half price sale for £30. 

We have some decorating projects coming up, I've already bought some of the supplies years ago but not got round to physically getting it done, so hopefully refreshing some rooms will be £0. Yesterday I repainted the grout in the bathroom with a bunch of grout pens bought about 2 years ago luckily they hadn't dried up! Next is to paint the walls (paint already bought), it's a temporary fix as it needs ripping out and starting again but that's too overwhelming at the moment.

Off to start looking at cheap recipes for Feb! 

willow_loulou

never_too_old said:

Afternoon all
Just thought i would let you know how i got on at the food share.I arrived about 50 mins after it started.Friendly greeting upon arrival and one of the volunteers offered to sit with my Grandchild as he had spotted the toys.I collected a few carrots.mushrooms,herbs,oranges and a big catering bag of flaked parmesan cheese. Had the choice of rolls,potatoes and cakes etc but i only took what i would use(Im going to freeze cheese in portions)
To top it all off had a free cup of tea before leaving.... I must admit i felt nervous going in but glad i did 

So glad it was good! Gives me hope for other opportunities here x

i got a free lunch at work today, a hot meal at that! It’s going to happen on at least the next couple of my in work days so I’m super happy with that. I’m so worn out when I get home it’s nice to just pop a ready meal or pizza in for my son when he’s home and I can go straight to bed. 

I’m really not sure how I’m going to manage next months budget with the ridiculous increases. I’m genuinely worried about managing the council tax when that restarts. I earn so little I was exempt from paying until a few years ago. Since then my income has dropped and their bills just keep increasing ☹️😬

Primrose

Willow....  it may be worth writing to your Council Tax office and explaining your anxiety about being able to pay your Council Tax bills and asking if they have any deferred payment schemes.  It won,t exempt you from paying the amount due eventually  but many councils did introduce help of some kind during the height of the pandemic which may still be available.  Also they may be able to point you to other sources of potential support you may be unaware of. 

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Food prices are going up so much so quickly. My husband likes the jam doughnuts of the bakery counter in morrisons. He always argues that they are really good value for 50p a pack. We don't shop in their very often so when I do I get him some. When I went in just before christmas they had gone up to 55p. Not terrible. I went in on monday and they have jumped to 69p. I know a lot of people would argue its only a few pence but for me its the % of the increase thats more important. I know its a silly example and we can live without doughnuts but if that is happening with everything then we are in trouble. 
Spudsmum glad you liked the pushchair and it is helping you. 

Jellytotts

@willow_loulou have you done a check on the "entitled to" website to check you're getting everything you're entitled to?

cw18

I was off work last week, and spent some time costing up taking over my Dad's vehicle as I was nervous about putting mine through the MOT - and my son has been saying for a while it wouldn't pass.   Mine was registed on 1st Sept 2002, and has 92,000 miles on the clock, Dad's was registed in 2010, and has 38,000 on the clock - but it's a bigger vehicle with a much bigger engine (and diesel to boot!).

Told my Mum towards the end of the week it was a non-starter.   My Dad's had flown through the MOT on Monday, but I discovered the Road Tax was £275 (against my £155), fuel is dearer partly for being diesel (about 3p extra each litre) but also because of a lower mpg (I can get 45mpg in mine, but I suspect I'd have been lucky to get 30 in his - the handbook quotes just over 32mpg and it's coming up on 12 years old!).  The final straw was insurance....   My renewal on 1st Aug was £393, so I looked at changing on 1st Feb which is exactly half way through the year.   My insurance company would have wanted an additional £385 for the 6 months, meaning the insurance is almost 3x what I've been paying

So mine went to the garage this morning.   I dropped it off just after 8am, and the chap had one in front of mine to be checked for MOT.   I got a call at 10am.   He asked if I was sitting down (no and couldn't), so I took a deep breath and asked for the damage.   Answer was the MOT charge.  She passed with no work required !!    There are some advisories, and I'd mentioned one of them when I booked her in so I asked him to prioritise that one.   But he couldn't do anything today as he'd not allocated her any workshop time - apparently he'd been convinced she'd fail with that many problems she'd be destined for scrap !!    The chap who does the tests for him is apparently one who will fail on any point that's border line - both he and my chap were shocked she passed......

I now have a week to pay my Road Tax, but I do have the money put to one side for that.

I spoke to my energy company last week, and increased my Direct Debit from next month.   Over the last year I've averaged at £43.50 of energy used each month, but been paying £55 (most months - they dropped it once, and I didn't immediately notice).   I now have a credit balance of over £100 which is nice    But my fixed tariff ends next week, and once I'm on the variable the same usage will come in at around £66.50.  I don't want to start eating into my credit balance just yet, so I tried to up my payments through the system - but because of my credit balance it said the highest I could set it to was £38 !!!   Made a phone call and explained I wanted to hold onto the credit until we see how the April rises impact us, and the lady happily increased it to the £70 I asked for.    I'd rather find an extra £15 now and have a smaller increase come April than have my payments double overnight later in the year.

I've been reading about escalating grocery prices in various places (in here, in other threads on this forum, and in several FB groups), but I have to confess I've noticed very few!   My bread has gone up (from 75p to 89p) and I use about 1.5 loaves a week.  I've tried dropping from the seeded or malted breads I like to a much cheaper wholemeal, but I end up hungry much sooner - and snacking on other things, which means it's cheaper to pay the increase on the bread.  I've also noticed an increase on some rolls I sometimes buy as a treat, but as I only buy them when they're price reduced they're not something I buy regularly (and if I get some at 75% off, then the increase isn't much in terms of actual cost - even though the %age is quite a hit).

Ellie79

Sitting resting my leg after getting in 5k steps at work today. I can't teach sitting down and that's a lot less than usual but still a lot more than I've been managing recently. Have to admit I was asleep within half an hour of coming home. Needed a power nap! 

I've got yesterday's mince and dumplings in a pie (minus the dumplings, they've gone to the smallest child as she adores them and doesn't love pie). So far so good in being really strict on the budget. Do need to get some fruit for packed lunches and breakfast and I'm trying to push my food shop back two days so need to stretch the shopping we do have in. That said I kind of need to start going to one of the German supermarkets over the orange expensive-Ness of my preferred. The cost is spiralling. I've noticed same spend but less food to show for it. I'm going to whip up some pasta for Lunches end of week with whatever I've got in freezer/fridge. I'll also have to make some snacks to fill the gaps!

weenancyinAmerica

It's not just in the UK - our prices have gone up the same way in the United States and many of the value items are out of stock. Makes me wonder if it is the companies making the product that are causing the problem. We have empty shelves in all of the stores I have been to (about 8) to check out what is available. The range of items is more limited. We used to be able to get caffeine-free colas, etc. And these are no longer available at all. Cat food is often missing from the shelves. We have trouble getting deliveries because everything is out of stock. Some of our stores are trying to switch to "healthier" products - just more expensive according to what I read on the labels. Even Aldi's has raised its prices on almost every item.