2022 Frugal Living Challenge

vishal_dutta

RateTartExtraodinaire said:

Hi All, 
Just catching up with all the tips and interesting discussions.

The water meter is one I had been considering but I think my bill is fairly low @ £24.06 over 10 months. Though it'll probably go up in April. We are two people living in a 2 bed house, so we might gain if you use the bedroom to people ratio as a judge. I did enquire about it once but no one every came back to me and I forgot to pursue it. Interested to hear that the charge for drainage and sewage makes up the majority of the billed amount. 

Frugal things done in the last couple of weeks have been batch cooking and using OLIO. I agree about the reheated batch cook. I don't have a microwave so have to reheat in a pan. It just doesn't taste as good as freshly done but not so bad that I would stop doing it. I love that it is so quick on the nights I don't have to cook it.
From OLIO I look out for fruit and vegetables, so far I've had some nectarines, tangerines, parsnips and an aubergine. From the 6 parsnips I made a parsnip and carrot soup which lasted a couple of lunches and a parsnip and sweet potato bake with cheese. I was surprised how nice they both were as I was never a parsnip fan before. Now I know how tasty they are mixed with other veg I will definitely be buying them more. The aubergine was past it so I made babaganoush, my first attempt wasn't too bad and did for a spread on toast.

I also saved money by physically going to the supermarket with a list (I was ruthless) and then replacing items from my list with those with a yellow sticker on. 

Also I'm considering a bank switch this month which would get me £130 cashback. I'm such a ratetart that there are hardly any banks I've not been with! So I was pleased to see there was one I qualified for

I've been selling lots online. I make about £30 a month selling books and gadgets that I don't use anymore. I've not had much luck selling clothes. I donate a lot of clothes earlier in the year and I try to buy good quality bits only or use charity shops.

Work has been a bit hit and miss. Some gains and some losses which I hope will balance out over the month. 

Unfrugal things done...I booked a holiday! October 5 days in Iceland...I was tempted by the January discount they were offering and some travel buddies that persuaded me to live a little.

I've paid the deposit for the holiday and I will need to budget for the final payment in July. I will definitely be using the tip of daily amounts in envelopes for spending money as it is quite pricey in Iceland! 

I think there is a way to make your unfrugal holiday 1% more frugal. I signed up to Curve Card which is a Mastercard debit card you can link to existing (non Amex) debit or credit cards. It then acts as a 'front', passing on the transaction to  your linked card as a purchase. In the first 30 days you get 1% cashback on all transactions made by using your Curve card. There are some articles from MSK about Curve so do a little search and check it out.

I am about to pay the remaining balance on my holiday through my Curve card. Be careful though.. if it's a package holiday with a reputable company it probably makes no odds how you pay it. If its a DIY job maybe you proceed differently because Curve card doesn't have the Section 75 credit card protection.

I strongly advise you to do some research before you sign up as this might not work for you.

Rianam

Very disappointed with to good to go from Starbucks! Paid £5 to receive a panini with tuna, a toastie and a pain o chocolate….
wont do that again🥲

joedenise

Rianam said:

Very disappointed with to good to go from Starbucks! Paid £5 to receive a panini with tuna, a toastie and a pain o chocolate….
wont do that again🥲

Complain!  I did about one of the Morrisons bags I got as some of the stuff was rotten and well out of date.  Got my money back.

[Deleted User]

Hello All, I haven't been posting much but I am trying to keep up with the thread.  It's lovely to see it so busy and to see lots of new faces joining the thread.

I have been restocking the pantry recently - the idea being that if I buy now I can insulate us a little bit from future price rises.  So far we have tea, coffee, various pasta shapes, rice, loo roll, laundry detergent and fabric softener, dish washer tabs, condiments like ketchup, brown sauce, soy sauce etc, pasata, tomato puree, tuna.  We still want to stock up on a few other bits but that's it so far.

My February focus was to not eat out at all during February and have no take-aways.  I have failed so far as we have had a few take-aways.  We are planning a family get together this weekend and we will probably share a takeaway then as well.  

There are a few unavoidable spends coming up that I need to set money aside for:
1.  We are still trying to buy the interlinked smoke/heat alarms that are now compulsory in Scotland.  OH and I tried our local srewfix today and they are still out of stock.  Once they are available this will cost us about £250 - £300 to buy so I'm going to set the cash aside for this now.
2.  We need a new cooker - the current one now has no working grill and the fan oven is making a funny noise.  Cost of repair isn't cost effective so we need to order a new one.

cw18

I finished work before the community pantry (or whatever you call the places) closed today, so I called in to see if I can join.

When a member of staff was free I just said I wasn't totally sure how it worked, but friends who are members of similar places said I should check it out

She explained how they colour code for prices (red sticker = £1, yellow sticker = 50p, green sticker = 25p), how the fruit and veg is a (small) brown paper bag with any selection you like for 25p, the loaves are free (1 per member per visit), and one fridge unit is also free - as were large (and I do mean LARGE) bags of prepared carrots or potatoes.

The lady who took the application form off me was clearly the lady who runs the place, and she didn't even read it to check my status/reasons for wanting to join.   Coughed up membership fee for the next year (£2) and did some shopping.

1 loaf (thick white H0vis for toast), 1 large bag of shredded lettuce (500g), and a 500g tub of 'pico de gallo' (mix of chopped tomatoes, red onions, coriander and red chilli - a mexican salsa) all for free, then 1kg of organic red rice (£1), pack of 12 burger buns (50p), 400g bag of frozen cheap free-flow mince (£1), 1 pack of Asd@ extra special Cumberland sausages (£1), and a (25p) brown paper bag with 2 small green peppers, 2 limes, and 5 large mushrooms (weigh in at 260g).

Total spend £5.75 - including the membership fee.    I had planned to call into A!di on the way home for a loaf and a pack of 12 rolls (which would have cost me a total of £1.26) and a pepper (more than the 25p I paid for the brown bag!), so some of the spend was totally planned.  

When I can get there depends on workload, but my official finish times mean that Tuesday and Saturday should be possible.   If the workload in the summer is as light as it was pre-Covid, then I might also scrape in on Monday and even Friday.

I was planning on shoving the makings of a chilli into a slow cooker before work tomorrow, using some yellow-stickered mince that's already defrosted in the fridge - but it's a smaller pack than I often use, so I'm going to add in the cheap mince from today (I only use that kind for bolognese or chilli) and the green peppers (chopped).  Then instead of serving with rice I'm going to use some wraps I already have in that are overdue using, and stuff with the chilli, some of the salsa and lots of the shredded lettuce.    I'll probably have one of the later portions with some of the red rice to try that - I've never had before, so could be interesting.   I was told they had black a couple of months ago, and that was apparently slightly nutty.

Tonight I'm going to have half the pack of sausages with some chips that need using up, and saute the mushrooms to go along with it (I love, love, love mushrooms, and seriously debated filling a second bag with nothing BUT mushrooms!).

I'll have to see how the bread rolls do for lunch time butties, but they can't be any worse than the ones I've been using!!    I used to get 6 packs (were 45p, think they went up to 49p) but they changed the recipe and they now fall apart while I'm trying to eat them - not good when you have to eat while walking!   So I've been buying a bag of 12 (90p), but they're often stodgy and don't seem to be cooked as well as I'd like.

As for the limes, well I've been slicing lemons to add to cold water as a different drink and the limes will be going the same way.  I'd debated getting some from A!di to try doing this with them, but the price put me off.   At 'brown bag' price it becomes a very affordable option when they're available.

Debsnewbudget

cw18 said:

I finished work before the community pantry (or whatever you call the places) closed today, so I called in to see if I can join.

When a member of staff was free I just said I wasn't totally sure how it worked, but friends who are members of similar places said I should check it out

She explained how they colour code for prices (red sticker = £1, yellow sticker = 50p, green sticker = 25p), how the fruit and veg is a (small) brown paper bag with any selection you like for 25p, the loaves are free (1 per member per visit), and one fridge unit is also free - as were large (and I do mean LARGE) bags of prepared carrots or potatoes.

The lady who took the application form off me was clearly the lady who runs the place, and she didn't even read it to check my status/reasons for wanting to join.   Coughed up membership fee for the next year (£2) and did some shopping.

1 loaf (thick white H0vis for toast), 1 large bag of shredded lettuce (500g), and a 500g tub of 'pico de gallo' (mix of chopped tomatoes, red onions, coriander and red chilli - a mexican salsa) all for free, then 1kg of organic red rice (£1), pack of 12 burger buns (50p), 400g bag of frozen cheap free-flow mince (£1), 1 pack of Asd@ extra special Cumberland sausages (£1), and a (25p) brown paper bag with 2 small green peppers, 2 limes, and 5 large mushrooms (weigh in at 260g).

Total spend £5.75 - including the membership fee.    I had planned to call into A!di on the way home for a loaf and a pack of 12 rolls (which would have cost me a total of £1.26) and a pepper (more than the 25p I paid for the brown bag!), so some of the spend was totally planned.  

When I can get there depends on workload, but my official finish times mean that Tuesday and Saturday should be possible.   If the workload in the summer is as light as it was pre-Covid, then I might also scrape in on Monday and even Friday.

I was planning on shoving the makings of a chilli into a slow cooker before work tomorrow, using some yellow-stickered mince that's already defrosted in the fridge - but it's a smaller pack than I often use, so I'm going to add in the cheap mince from today (I only use that kind for bolognese or chilli) and the green peppers (chopped).  Then instead of serving with rice I'm going to use some wraps I already have in that are overdue using, and stuff with the chilli, some of the salsa and lots of the shredded lettuce.    I'll probably have one of the later portions with some of the red rice to try that - I've never had before, so could be interesting.   I was told they had black a couple of months ago, and that was apparently slightly nutty.

Tonight I'm going to have half the pack of sausages with some chips that need using up, and saute the mushrooms to go along with it (I love, love, love mushrooms, and seriously debated filling a second bag with nothing BUT mushrooms!).

I'll have to see how the bread rolls do for lunch time butties, but they can't be any worse than the ones I've been using!!    I used to get 6 packs (were 45p, think they went up to 49p) but they changed the recipe and they now fall apart while I'm trying to eat them - not good when you have to eat while walking!   So I've been buying a bag of 12 (90p), but they're often stodgy and don't seem to be cooked as well as I'd like.

As for the limes, well I've been slicing lemons to add to cold water as a different drink and the limes will be going the same way.  I'd debated getting some from A!di to try doing this with them, but the price put me off.   At 'brown bag' price it becomes a very affordable option when they're available.

That sounds similar to the one I use to help stop food waste. If you are on Fac@bk and they are,  then its worth following them as thats how I managed to get the large chickens for £2 each, one of  which has already provided us with a roast dinner, risotto and tonights chicken salad as well as 2 lots of sandwiches this week.  

cw18

Debsnewbudget said:

That sounds similar to the one I use to help stop food waste. If you are on Fac@bk and they are,  then its worth following them as thats how I managed to get the large chickens for £2 each, one of  which has already provided us with a roast dinner, risotto and tonights chicken salad as well as 2 lots of sandwiches this week.  

Just been to look on FB, and found them.

They had extra large frozen chickens at £2 on 5th Feb !!



They apparently have free milk on a regular basis too, but had run out today.   Not something I'd take though as I only use tiny amounts in drinks, never use in cereal, and if I heat it to make a custard or white sauce it triggers my lactose intolerance    They do currently have long-life oat milk at 50p, but it's not something I need just now.

MazzieD

Well it's been an interesting start to my year so far.  Still off sick, waiting to see if i get the ok to go back to work in March.  Provisionally discussed with Occupational Health and my lovely boss, will be part time for a few weeks so probably not back full time until April at the earliest.  Can't really complain as will be on full pay throughout the whole time.

Not been doing much so from a frugal point of view have hardly spent anything since my on-line shop apart from salad and eggs.  I don't recommend chest injuries as a way of saving money unless you enjoy constant pain for 4 weeks.  Car has gone to  Salvage yard and all refunds have been received. 

No decision on replacement car yet, now think it's safer to wait until I get the all clear before driving again.  I actually forgot to ask about driving when I was in hospital but |I'm sure Insurance is invalidated if you drive when you are recovering from injuries and haven't had medical clearance.

mandy47

Not a very frugal day.
 I start an exercise program on Monday at my local hospital. All part of my long covid rehab. I needed appropriate clothing. I've been out of luck at the chazzas so finally bit the bullet and went shopping. Shocked at the prices in the sports shops. Even the so called cut price ones. I had a £2 voucher for M&S so I ventured in. I was pleasantly surprised at the price of their sports/leisure wear. Managed to get jogging bottoms (short length) a basic tee and a sports bra for £32.50. More than I wanted to pay out but good quality that I will wear again.
 I'm definitely out of practice with clothes shopping.  
Had a number of YS bargains over the last week so that helps even it out.

RateTartExtraordinaire

vishal_dutta said. 

I think there is a way to make your unfrugal holiday 1% more frugal. I signed up to Curve Card which is a Mastercard debit card you can link to existing (non Amex) debit or credit cards. It then acts as a 'front', passing on the transaction to  your linked card as a purchase. In the first 30 days you get 1% cashback on all transactions made by using your Curve card. There are some articles from MSK about Curve so do a little search and check it out.

I am about to pay the remaining balance on my holiday through my Curve card. Be careful though.. if it's a package holiday with a reputable company it probably makes no odds how you pay it. If its a DIY job maybe you proceed differently because Curve card doesn't have the Section 75 credit card protection.

I strongly advise you to do some research before you sign up as this might not work for you.

Thanks for the reply.
I'm always interested in learning about new cashback opportunities.
This one isn't for me as I'm already getting cashback on my Am x credit card