2022 Frugal Living Challenge

ZsaZsa

CraftyLittleLisa said:

Hello all.  I had a bit of a frugal win this last week.  I realised that I got free anti-virus software with my broadband and as my current separate subscription was coming up for renewal I downloaded the free one and cancelled the old one.  That is about £50 saved I think.

This month has been a relatively cheap month as instead of going out and buying stuff I told myself I had to deep clean and declutter before I bought anything new.  I have finished this weekend and it is such a nice feeling now its done.  I took a load of stuff to the tip last weekend and I have been taking various boxes to the charity shops whenever I have gone into town.  I have also put some fabric and other bits and pieces up on line to try and sell them.   I haven't put them up for a lot of money but if I get something that's a bonus.

With all the frugalling I have done over the last year I managed to save up enough to finally get a new carpet for my lounge.  It desperately needs it and its just so nice to be able to say "because I was frugal I can now buy this".  It makes it feel more of an achievement.

The other thing that I need to be aware of is my energy company is just in the process of changing over (my old one went bust).  It has taken a while to get sorted but I have finally got notification that they will be taking a payment in February.  With my old company I was paying £71 per month but I have got £195 in credit at the moment.  I am being really careful with energy usage at the moment but even so the new company is recommending I may want to put my payment up to £80 a month.  I should be able to afford that but I worry that it may start going up a little on a number of occasions.  I was contemplating changing all my low energy bulbs to LED bulbs, however, when I looked at the energy efficiency on the packets of the LED bulbs it said their energy efficiency is F when my current ones are A.  Does anyone know why these ratings differ so much?  Especially as LEDs are supposed to better!

Energy efficiency ratings have been updated over the past couple of years so that’s probably why. I can’t remember the exact reasoning,  but I think because appliances have become more efficient over time, it was getting complicated with ratings of A+, A++, A+++ etc so they’ve all had an overhaul. Hopefully a quick google will tell you what a new “F” is the equivalent of 🙂

Kerry_Woman

Went through what I spend in each category.  It has been an very expensive month, but at least I saved some money in a couple of the purchases and they were needed. The food for the month was under budget.  I booked a coach day trip for later on in the year.  Also I made a list of what films that I would like to see until about June.  Got 2 free events that I will be attending and managed to get free ticket for another event that I would normally would have to pay for. I will only have to pay for travel on trains and I will be bringing my own lunch and flask of tea from home. I need things to look forward to, as last year I just concentrated on getting bank shifts at work and a couple of the events I would normally go to were cancelled.  I made a note to myself about 2 other purchases that I need to make in March or April that is going cost quite a bit.  I went to see a film at the cinema at the yesterday, but I brought my own refreshments and brought ticket online so saved £1 on ticket price.  I am also doing a charity 5K walk in July, which I usually do every year.  Also put my name down to volunteer at a charity event, just waiting to hear further information about it.

skint_chick

Have done quite well this month selling bits on Facebook and Vinted and made over £150! Still have quite a bit to sell in the next couple of weeks. The house has been decluttered from top to bottom with just the shed to go when the weather's a bit warmer! Several bags were dropped at the charity shop on Friday and I found my bike helmet so I'm planning to get back to cycling this week. We're lucky enough to have a long cycle path beside the sea and it only takes about 15mins to cycle there from our house with the bonus that it's all flat so isn't too taxing!

Have decided February and March will be no buy months for anything other than groceries and a small present for OH's birthday. Going to visit my dad in a few weeks so that's £100 or so of travel expenses, so I need to keep all my other spends at a minimum. 

We've spent £50 this month on electricity, which seems a lot when we previously spent £25-30. Maybe it's because we've had the heating on more, and I've been at home more than usual but will be trying to reduce that to £40 next month. We're still fine on £20 a week gas, but usually we stop buying gas in March and then don't have to buy any more through the summer - I suspect this year we won't have as much credit built up and will have to keep putting £20 a week on until Easter. 

cw18

My Mother put some money into my bank account last night (showed up this morning) with apologies it's a week late for my birthday (totally forgiven).

So when I nipped to A1di ealier (needed bread rolls for packed lunches this week) I picked up a heated throw as part of my present   I've had a 'play' with it this afternoon/evening.  Not convinced it's heating up everywhere it should, but I've been nice and cosy using it for only a few short bursts on one of the lower settings - and I'd turned my central heating down by 1 degree from a setting that I sometimes have to boost upwards because I feel chilled (baby steps and all that).  I'm hoping that using this will mean I can leave my heating off until later each evening, and even then run it lower than I have been doing.    At the moment my system is set to come on at 6pm (it's rare for me to not be home from work by then), but if I get home ealier (it can be any time from 2:45pm if we have an easier day and I don't need to shop on the way back) I've been kicking it in as much as 90 minutes early!!   Because I'm on the move all day I always feel cold as soon as I stop and sit down, so I already have a pair of jog pants and a sweatshirt or dressing gown I can throw on as an extra layer as soon as I get in to try and delay turning anything on.

I've also discovered this week that putting a partially filled hot water bottle across the tops of my feet while I'm sitting on the couch helps me feel much warmer (my feet turn to ice blocks before any other part of me feels especially cold).   So that's something else I plan to continue with.

nannygladys

Another one whose fixed g&e is coming to an end. The new fixed amounts are just ridiculous so I'm just going on the variable for the meantime and I'll keep a look out each week to see what's happening on the different tariffs.  I don't think I've ever been this badly off in my life, some days I don't have the heating on at all, and when I do its either when people visit or I'm going to have a shower, it worries me that there's a lot of people in worse positions than me, goodness knows what's going to happen, there's only so much you can cut down on. Hey ho it's no good worrying too much yet I suppose.

I haven't really done much today, used the last of my mushrooms on toast for breakfast, had some of the celery soup I made yesterday for lunch and then finally had the last of the lentil shepherd's pie for tea, whatever I have tomorrow will include kale that I have left in the fridge and cabbage!!! All green stuff I have lots of cheese left that I had free from the community shop I went to the other day, so I may make a lasagne type dish with some. 

I also mended a pair of socks today (not hand knitted ones) so will have to see if they rub or not when I wear them next.
Right off to fill the hot water bottles up (we won't be able to afford the elect to heat the water up for them soon!!!!).
Nannyg

MazzieD

I'm more worried about the October energy price cap.  At least by April spring should be on it's way and hopefully we can all reduce costs with lighter evenings and no heating if you use gas or electricity - the only positive I can think of when people are already struggling and worrying about paying their bills..

Sound advice @cw18 I always read Martin's MSE newsletter, he regularly updates about the current energy situation.  It really is worth a look, if you don't want to subscribe to the weekly e mail you can read it on the MSE site.

No Council Tax for February and March if you pay by 10 monthly instalments so potentially a bit of breathing space for your finances.  Have to admit I'm thinking about changing to 12 instalments to spread it out a bit in the hope that prices will settle down at some point.  I always try to be positive but think that might be some way off!.  

wort

@Frugalista I buy a brand at the moment called Durham animal feed .DAF is sold as dog food but as long as you buy a meat that is 80%meat 10% bone 10% organ meat without veg , as for some reason if it’s sold as cat food it costs more!! . That is classed as a complete food for cats as obligate carnivores that’s all they should be eating. I buy in bulk locally online and keep in the freezer. Delivery is about £5 but I get enough for 2 to 3 months at a time. I avoid the tripe ones as I don’t like the smell !! 

Frugalista

wort said:

@Frugalista I buy a brand at the moment called Durham animal feed .DAF is sold as dog food but as long as you buy a meat that is 80%meat 10% bone 10% organ meat without veg , as for some reason if it’s sold as cat food it costs more!! . That is classed as a complete food for cats as obligate carnivores that’s all they should be eating. I buy in bulk locally online and keep in the freezer. Delivery is about £5 but I get enough for 2 to 3 months at a time. I avoid the tripe ones as I don’t like the smell !! 

Thanks for that.  As well as one elderly Siamese I also have 5 large hairy dogs - so am off to investigate further.

nannygladys

Sil bought me some hm curry this am, so I've had that for my lunch, and I'll have some of the soup I made for tea. I've found another pair of socks to mend, so that's two pairs in a week!! 
Not much else to report, tomorrow I'm on grandma duties so out all day.
Nannyg

EskarinaWeatherwax

Wrapping up my January challenges - It’s been such a useful exercise to be here and to be thinking about this in such great detail

I’m still not quite clear about how I’m going to set my budget. I know where every single penny goes but can’t quite work out how to list it out here in the way I’ve seen other people do. I’ve realised the part of the problem I have is that my personal credit card pays for a few bits and pieces for my work (I run my own business) which I then claim back. It’s confusing trying to separate them out so one of my jobs for February will be to move those spend to the business bank account and away from my own personal credit card.

However - of the £500 I allow each month for all ‘not bills’ spending, I spent just £339 in Jan! Dry January will certainly have had an impact on that. I have two birthday meals in Feb and one pub night with a friend so we shall see what happens