2023 Frugal Living Challenge

AnimalTribe

Today I’ve checked direct debit and standing order payments to make sure there are none that I don’t need anymore. There was one still on the bank’s list that shouldn’t have been there so I’ve removed it. It was a service plan, for a car which has now been sold.  The direct debit was cancelled with the service company and isn’t being taken from the bank any longer, but best to take it off the bank’s list as well to save any future mistakes.

I love books, and my house is full of them. I find it difficult to let books go, but today I’ve sorted out one of the bookshelves in the living room and put aside a science fantasy series to give to my brother, and two carrier bags of books to go the charity shop. I’ve read them all, and won’t read them again. As I also have so many unread books I’m limiting my book buying next year. I have a £50 book token and I’m not going to spend any ‘real money’ on books.  Keeping to this will probably be the biggest challenge I have next year.

AnimalTribe

The thread is so quiet I guess everybody is working hard in the run up to Christmas.

I’ve got a budget for next year together and I’ve asked DH to have a look and make sure I haven’t missed anything.

Re tidying/de-cluttering I’ve gone through the birthday card/occasions cards and I have enough for TWO years – so not as bad as the Xmas cards. I’m not sure I like some of the cards so they will go to the charity shop along with the books.

Auti

I am still using up the Christmas cards that I made during lockdown (needed to keep myself busy). I was using stuff out of my stash so quite frugal. I think I will need to start making a few more for next year but have plenty of time to do that .

I am starting to look at what I have got generally and what we need - I tend to future get and am now using items I got a couple of years ago as if I have the money (and they are not date sensitive) I will get them as cannot rely on having the money when we need them. At the moment there is nothing that we need that I can think of which is good as everything seems to have got rather expensive at the moment.

Frugaldom

Welcome to the virtual world of Frugaldom, @AnimalTribe, I hope you enjoy being part of the frugal living challenge. I work 7 days a week so don't get the chance to post much but am trying to make the time. I've several other pages and groups to keep up to date so I'm afraid MSE often has to take a back seat. 

@mama67 Wood prices for everything have gone up so much since COVID and like you say, quality dry firewood is at a premium. I don't get kiln dried as nobody nearby does that, I get barn dried and it's helped along by seller running his business on a pellet wood boiler, so the excess warm air is being channelled through the woodpiles. We are splitting logs almost daily through winter. 

Had another bit clear out and split some scrap wood into kindling sticks. Logburner is lit do I'm warming up water for hot water bottles after warming dish water for washing up. We got some Olio at the weekend so meals were as interesting as ever - spinach & ricotta tortelinni along with mini fish cakes, followed by chocolate mousse. I've yoghurt, stir fry & egg noodles to use up so that should keep us going for a couple of days then I'll look at putting in a home delivery order if I find a £1 (,or even £2) delivery slot.

Got handed in a big bag of salad and some cucumbers so they will be shared with the goat and ponies. 

Frugaldom

@Glittering_M Wow! That's a hugely tough decision to make on the house front. I've taken on some very, what shall we say "quirky" projects in the past but never ventured into demolition and rebuild. It sounds challenging and exciting at the same time. Will you have alternative accommodation during the work?  Good luck with whichever decision you make and I hope whatever family issues arise from it can soon be resolved.

[Deleted User]

AnimalTribe said:

I love books, and my house is full of them. I find it difficult to let books go, but today I’ve sorted out one of the bookshelves in the living room and put aside a science fantasy series to give to my brother, and two carrier bags of books to go the charity shop. I’ve read them all, and won’t read them again. As I also have so many unread books I’m limiting my book buying next year. I have a £50 book token and I’m not going to spend any ‘real money’ on books.  Keeping to this will probably be the biggest challenge I have next year.

Welcome to the thread.

Books are my 'one weakness' as well.  A few years ago I decided to stop buying them as I was really overdoing it.  I use the local library and am quite happy with this.  I can reserve new books online and get a friendly phone call to say they are waiting for me.  Every so often though I have treated myself to some books from Amazon and it can become a habit again.  My plan for 2024 is zero money on books.  I do have a book token to use up that I got as a birthday gift but, like you, no real money.

[Deleted User]

It's been freezing (or below freezing) here all weekend.  I have had the heating on quite a bit as I've been doing development work for school and that involves sitting at a computer for ages and I get quite cold.  If usage continues like this I'll need a mortgage for my next bill!  I need to come up with a better strategy.  Maybe a hot water bottle or similar.

My budget for next year has been looked at but not set.  After looking at the spending for this year I was unpleasantly surprised.  A chat with DH and we have agreed to cut back on some items:

Food Budget reduced.  We do this monthly and have reduced this to £180 for us both.  This includes cleaning products as well.

Personal Spending including clothes - we have reduced this by £50 each.  I may reduce mine further.  I have a bit of a luxury skincare habit.  I'm a sucker for a 'healthy glow'.  I am going to take some time next week to inventory what I have.  I suspect I really don't need to buy anything for at least the next 6 months, possibly even a year.  This might be a mini challenge to set myself.

New Month - DH and I treat ourselves to a takeaway at the start of the new month.  Reduced this to max £30.  May reduce further.

Gym Membership - DH wants to hang onto this. We pay annually so we will review again at next renewal which is next summer.

Gift Budget - No figure in mind but looking to reduce this through shopping sales, maintaining a gift cupboard again, re-gifting etc

Holidays - reduced drastically from this year.  Max spend planned £500 for a 'days out' style holiday from home.

I'll have a look at setting my annual budget proper next weekend.  

Asparklierblonde

Morning frugal friends

I have just checked my budget post from December last year, and it is interesting to see how things will change in this years budget. The figure will be around the same (£8,900 per annum), but the amount spent in each category will be shifting around drastically. For example I now work from home, so my fuel bill will be cut by 2/3. The children take packed lunches now so that figure will go completely. 

We have also tamed the number of animals, particularly hens, due to feed costs.

What will increase is the amount spent of electricity and coal. It’s really interesting (well,
for me anyway!) and I am looking forward to drafting 2024’s budget and aims this week. 

AnimalTribe

Auti it’s so much easier having cards to hand isn’t it.

Thanks Nyk I’ve been around on the threads before but not posted much. I’m determined to post more though to keep me motivated.

Allie23 I think my main problem is that if I read a book I enjoy, I then want to binge read the rest of the series, and some series can run into the 20s. Unfortunately, my local village library is a 30 mile round trip, and has a very limited stock. There are plenty of free books online of course, but I think I’ll try to read through my stash first (it’ll only take me a couple of years).

I’m busy today so I will have to do something small - a list of the loyalty points I have which shouldn’t take too long and I’ll mark all the birthdays on a kitchen calendar 10 days in advance to make sure I can send them 2nd class. I got a free 2024 calendar from my heating oil supplier, so I might as well put it to use.

Frugaldom

Gosh, @AnimalTribe, it's been such a long time since I was addressed as NYK, that takes me back. 😁 My memory is atrocious so I have difficulties remembering usernames, apologies for mistaking you for a newbie. 

No budget sorted here yet as I'm so far behind on the finances. I did manage to reduce the landline and broadband monthly, plus a little off my mobile charges but the 3G signal gets switched off my current handset will soon be near extinct. 

I'll commit myself to sorting out my budget this week, no matter what, and see what I can come up with. It's a bit complicated as work is 7 days a week unpaid, running Frugaldom, which also means trying to raise donations to help cover sanctuary costs. Fitting in paid work around that is complicated but living as frugally as I do means no entitlement to benefits of any description. Frugal living is definitely about juggling finances to ensure your frugal lifestyle gives you freedom from debt and a safety net so we are very organised as far as no rent, no mortgages, no debts to factor into the equation. The past 20+ years of updates on here and elsewhere covers most of that journey. 😊