2022 Frugal Living Challenge

balabooberlies

C_J said:

No @Beshki, don’t look at it that way. It’s not depressing because you have managed to pay it off. There may not be much left but it’s done! Well done you!

Ditto !

bala

x

WinterWarrior

Ellie79 said:

Gosh everyone has been doing well!

I managed to get a new kettle, and some reduced veg, so have a soup in the pressure cooker as we speak. Resisted the bakery aisle! Had a brief chat with OH about thinking we will just pop to the shop for extra and how we bring the shopping bill down. I've a feeling the way to manage it is for me to end up cooking and baking more. I work and OH doesn't (he is visually impaired and has very little sight, not that that 'should' be a barrier but don't start me on structural inequality!). So unfortunately his skills have never lain in the baking side and he is probably not going to suddenly learn now! What cheap sweet eats and savoury snacks do people whip up? I've a 10 year old who (my fault) likes her branded sweets and treats. She will happily bake with me so I'm hoping some idea will give her ownership and wean her off the brands. 

Flapjack is my go to cheap quick bake. You can add bits of choc, fruit, muesli or whatever to jazz it up a bit 😁

mumtoomany

Hi @Ellie79, try twinks hobnobs, recipe on the grocery challenge thread. Probably lots of other ideas on there too, first page has recipes.
Being very frugal, only spent £127.76 so far on groceries this year. Helps that we no longer have to go to town several times a week. Lots of food still here, will try for another low spend month for February. I'm going to have a cash only month, as much as possible. DD3 asked me to empty her money box and put the money into her savings, (attached to my account, to avoid temptation). An hour later, (a box that has no opening and didn't want to break it) after fiddling around with a knife and i have over £300 cash. Taking it to the bank would cost diesel, so just transferred from my account and will spend it.
The last of the tree has been cut by the "man with the big chainsaw" and moved to the barn. Cost £100, but needed cutting and will do several months when seasoned.
The tractor barn now has about two thirds of a roof. The tin sheeting came of during the storms. The beams/joists were rotted, and not well attached, so more wood was needed. Doing it ourselves as and when the weather allows.
Hope you are all well.Welcome to RebeccaPearson and welcome back to Bluegreen, Speak soon, mumtoomany.xx

RateTartExtraordinaire

Just a quick update on my signature for January.

Groceries and bills came in well this month. I've been much more mindful with my grocery shopping, looking to see if I've got enough to eek out for another week, using up left overs and batch cooking. I've signed up to TGTG and Olio but haven't used them so far. Maybe that will be February's challenge. 

I splashed out on clothes this month at M&S for bras! Hoping they will last. I've just thrown away my old ones and was shocked to see they were from BHS I'm not a big spender on clothes these days!

Sweetlittledaydreams

Well this is very annoying, I've done almost 2 weeks in my new job and they've not paid me, they owe me just over £1000! Luckily I've been paid by my old job for 2 weeks work plus an outstanding £400 which they owed me for annual leave I wasn't able to take, so I'm out of pocket a bit but ok for this month, but it's still very annoying not to have been given what is mine. 
Well done with the charity shop bargain, I love a good cosy cardigan. Blanket and hot waterbottle are out on the sofa but I'm still worried about the energy prices going up and it being so cold in the evenings, I think it's the cold that has been waking me up during the night.
I can't remember if I've got a day off next week but if I have I think I'll treat myself to a charity shop crawl, one of my friends likes to do jigsaws, she finds them relaxing so I might pick one up and give it a go. 

QueenJess

Last time I moved jobs, I wasn’t paid until the end of the first full month I worked. I received 6 weeks all at once. Then of course my tax code was ludicrous because the IR reasonably assumed that this was my usual monthly salary and I had to ring up to sort it out.

Keep an eye on your tax code if you are getting paid more than usual in the first period.

nannygladys

Visited a new to me community shop and cafe today. I only spent £1 and had some free cheese, butter and crackers, guess what I'll be having if I fancy a snack. The cheese is in small individual portions and ideal for me, good portion control! The cafe was cheap too and I will definitely go back to enjoy a slice of cake and a coffee for £1.50, the cakes looked lovely. The biggest problem is the distance so I won't be going very often.
I have enough teas made to last until Monday night and have bits and pieces for lunches, so I shouldn't need to do anymore shopping.
This week seems to be flying by and I feel as if I haven't done anything! So I must get many bum off the settee tomorrow and take library nooks back, start writing post Xmas letters and do some hovering!! 
Nannyg

EskarinaWeatherwax

So good to see all these wins and ideas! I’m hoping to go to the community pantry near me tomorrow and see how it works. It will depend on how my work goes as I have to finish early for physio.

Delighted to say I’ve managed to get all my OLIO stash into the freezer. I think I will be able to pretty much eat my way through it in February now which is fantastic.

@Primrose that’s a great idea! I’ll be designing a very big pink Post-it note this weekend! I have a cashflow spreadsheet that I update every single day - it’s got an actual cash flow but also various trackers so anything I spend goes into different places and I can keep track of it all I’ve got my mortgage end date on there and a few estimated shorter dates depending on how much I pay off. Right now I’m excited to see how much I can do and I’m trying not to think too hard about what happens if anything changes at work

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

I have too much money in my bank account.  Yes I know its a nice problem to have but I cant work it out and its making my brain hurt.  Worried that I have forgotten to pay something!

I have only spent £50 on diesel this month though which is really good.  Need to chase up a refund from M&S which I think I should have had by now.

Need to try and not spend anything over the weekend, might get a grocery shop delivered next week.  Busy week at the paid stuff so I am ready for a frugal weekend.  Might be a bit milder too which would be good.

Sweetlittledaydreams

Thank you @QueenJess, i thought that's what would happen that I would get paid next month and it would be like you say 6 weeks worth of money, that's why I found it odd today when I found my wage slip with January's pay typed in it when nothing had gone into my bank account! I'll chase it up tomorrow. I've had that in the past when I had 2 jobs while I was at uni and they stuck me on 40% tax which I didn't like especially when I was only on minimum wage. Hope everyone is keeping well.