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Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.2023 Frugal Living Challenge
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Yesterday i cut up the left over roast beef to freeze. It will feed 2 of us for 3 meals in a beef stew, freezer now jam packed full. The bags of sprouts that I bought for 19p each froze well (I have never done that before) so I am confident doing that now. Went to Aldi before tesco shop arrives so that I could buy what was cheaper there. Walked home from Aldi to save doing a round trip dropping DH off and picking him up again so that I could have car. (a little bit saved on petrol there). Resisted buying reduced items ready for christmas gifts next year. Not sure if this will turn out to be a good or bad thing long term but time will tell. Still hoping to make more gifts from my craft stash this year. I have been washing through sheets and towels from guests over new year. Some of it only needs a freshen up so being sparing with how much washing powder I use. Dissapointed that I have had to use tumble dryer a bit to get towels started but not giving them a full run. Cant complain as we had a lovely summer but the rain does not make it easy to get the washing dry. Still it is reasonably mild here for January so heating only needed for an hour or two in evening. My lovely neighbour bought me a teddy blanket from Dunhelm for christmas. It is just the warmest thing to snuggle under in the evening. First spend of the year is £13.97. Pleased with todays efforts.craft stash 2023 =161 items 2024 = £60.00 /£180. 00
54 made 2 mended
Decluttering challenge 26/150 🥇🥇🥇
GC 2022 = £3154.96 / £3,600
2023 = £3334. 84/£3200.
2024 =. £1076.90/£3200
Jan £147.95, Feb £180. 50 March £205.38, April £434.49 🤯
May £107. 57/£16011 -
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And me, my aim is to see the Northern lights5
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I'm from East Kent too.5
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Afternoon all, golly well, all our payments have now come out of the joint account and we've been left with £22 and some spare change for all our food till payday on the 25th.
Exciting times.
Very thankful for our store cupboard of items right about now, which probably means we wont need anything bar vegetables, which I am very much hoping to keep within the amount we have left. Just means there probably wont be any savings this month, sadly.
On a plus, our work had some left over cheese from the Christmas period so I've "acquired" that as no-one here really takes leftover food and it will make a macaroni cheese next week.Frugal Living Challenge 2023
Yearly Grocery Challenge : £17.89/£2100
Fashion on the Ration 2023 - 66 points17 -
Kent based frugalers, perhaps you could organise a frugal meet-up of your own once the better weather returns. There have been several over the years and many new RL friendships struck up along the way.
Cabin in the woods dreams - never give upon those as they are entirely possible. This is exactly what many imagine as their idyllic lifestyle of self-sustainability while surrounded by nature. As many of you know, this is almost what has been achieved here, although it's still more of shut in a field until the trees grow and more get planted. It's also not full-time home but I do spend a lot of time there. I also spend a lot of time chopping logs for the stove and drying wet clothing during winter months.
My annual £4,000 excludes council tax and cr costs, as they must get paid. Small savings can be made thereby comparing costs like insurance but on the whole, there aren't any corners that can be cut.
Spends to date from £4,000:
£59.10 electricity to 31/12/22
Balance £3,940.90I reserve the right not to spend.
The less I spend, the more I can afford.
Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 202411 -
Good Afternoon All,
I posted my 2023 budget towards the end of the 2022 thread, but have since reviewed and reduced. My new budget for the year, which took effect from 1/1/23, is as follows:
Electricity - £900
LPG Gas - £500
Logs and Coal - £400
Internet - £600
Home Insurance - £450
Car Insurance - £240
Car Tax - £280
Fuel - £1,000
Netflix - £160
Food - £1,500
Animal feed and farm supplies - £700
Clothing - £90
Gifts - £50
“Fun” money - £100
School dinners and trips - £500
Mobile phone - £30
Total: £7,500
I intend to update at the end of each month. Hopefully the January update will be short as I am aiming for a no spend month.
Best wishes to all
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Happy new year everyone.
I have done a budget for this year. We are a family of 5.. Im a cashstuffer now so every penny is allocated to either budgeted spends or my saving challenges.. My savings challenges this are to fully fund my 3 month emergency fund and to overpay the mortgage. I plan to do a low spend / no spend / no buy year. Depends what you class as what counts for each category to decide which catagory we fall in but basically im doing a frugal year. Spend as little as possible to save as much as possible.
Last year we became debt free apart from the mortgage. We made our last loan payment in july and in October our electricity and gas doubled. Im greatful we dont have debt otherwise we would be struggling to keep our heads above the water.
Our mortgage is fixed until march 2026 so we have 3 years 2 months and 27 days till then. So now seemed a good time to try and make some Overpayments and essentially get ahead incase rates are higher than the 2.19% we are currently paying.
Im logging my daily spending on my budgeting instagram page and youtube to keep me accountable.
We have about £200 left for the year after all expected bills and expenses and allowing some money in my dip in and out binder (things like dog food, family health days out etc) so we have alot of additional money to find to hit my goals. Coming in under budget each week helps to achieve the goals.
I aim to make £10 a day extra for all of 2023 to help us achieve our goals.
Im currently going through my pantry fridge and freezer to see what meals i can make with what i have in. Especially as the kids dont go back till monday so i dont need to worry about lunch box stuff.
I always shop from my kitchen and meal plan before i go shopping it definitely saves me money. And take a list and calculator when i go to the shop.
Happy new year everyone i hope its a good one i will try to read the posts so far later.June 17 £16,000 debt ~ nov 18 DEBT FREE •June 21 £16,308 debt / july 22 debt free •Original mortgage free date 01/06/2059 current mortgage free date 01/05/204617 -
Having been a lurker on the Frugal Living challenges, I'd like to officially join in please. A bit about me - I live with my OH, & we have been OAP's for many years. Luckily, we have always led a frugal lifestyle & I was brought up in a frugal household (this was by necessity & not by choice as my dad was very ill for most of my childhood). We have no mortgage & have never been in debt despite only ever having low paid jobs, & we now only have our state pensions. Despite this, we manage well on what we have - we grow some of our own food, & have been vegetarian for over 30 years. Our idea of a fun day is a long walk in the nearby hills or the beach which luckily is close to us. If we venture further afield, we take food from home unless we treat ourselves to fish & chips about once a month (we always share a portion as we can't eat as much these days!).
I have decided to try & do at least one thing every day to stretch our money that little bit further. I have made a start by downloading the L!DL app. Although I usually do most of my shopping in Ald! , I do go to L!DL to get a £1.50 fruit & veg box when available & pick up a few other things at the same time so it seemed a sensible thing to do. We have a 20 mile round trip to the nearest supermarket although there is a very expensive village shop in walking distance which I try to avoid.
KA
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Afternoon, first shops of the year and new budget have been done to a total of £32.59. It wasn’t too bad as we’ve got Savers in the High Street for the household bits and a quick search told me they were cheapest for what I needed. £3.25 there, and the rest at Mr M except for milk of which they had hardly any and none in the size I needed. I’m dairy free so we don’t get through masses.Annual grocery budget = £1896.12 - £32.59 is £1863.53 remaining. Now to come up with some lunches for the week 😊
Tis a wild evening in the East here. Stay as warm and safe as possible.Trying for daily wins, and a little security in an insecure world.7
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