2023 Frugal Living Challenge

tooldle

Might be worth your son exploring what the council have to offer. We have a scheme here called ‘Wheels to Work’. It’s a not for profit scheme, loaning mopeds to those who otherwise would struggle to get transport or would have to turn work down. 

spudsmum

sunnyflower said:

spudsmum said:

Well I made it to payday! Well strictly speaking husbands payday - His cost of living bonus came to £560 after tax etc which covered the car bill with a few pound leftover that’s gone into the emergency fund to start building that back up. 

Gas and electricity bill came in - £547 for the quarter which I don’t think was too bad considering it was for Oct/Nov/Dec. After the cost of living payments came off I had to pay £347 - I had plenty in the electricity pot to cover it with some left over so I’ll be ahead on the next bill (and hopefully milder weather should make it cheaper) 

That said I am doing whatever I can to save energy and nagging at the boys to turn of lights etc and not have loads of devices on that aren’t being used. Hopefully every little helps.

Other than an hour in the morning and sometimes an hour in the evening IF it’s cold we don’t have the heating on - when I’m working from home it’s never on. I have several layers on, a big cardigan etc. On the chilliest days I have rug over my legs and fingerless gloves - it sounds daft but a colleague recommended them and they make a huge difference.

Frugal things this week: 

Good haul from the eco pantry - a 2kg chicken, sausages, 4 steak pies, fruit, veg, cereal, butter etc. Enough for several meals and only cost £2. 

Shopping came to £45.46 - Happy with that - the first shop after payday is usually pricy as I replenish cleaning supplies, loo roll, wash powder etc for the whole month. Still well under my budget too. I usually Budget £75 due to there being 5 of us and youngest having dietary restrictions but usually come in under. Any left over at the end of the month goes to the debt.  

Got a pair of waterproof walking shoes from charity shop - £1.50 and they’re unworn. RRP £69.99 online. Also got my daughter 2 Disney t shirts, Disney pjs and 2 pairs of leggings £2 for the lot and they look brand new. 

£52.56 left in my budget to last until Friday which I’m super happy with - I need a few household bits but Sunday, Monday and Thursday should be NSD. 

What's an eco pantry? Never heard of it!

Ours is run by our local nursery school and the aim is to combat food waste - they get a delivery twice a week of surplus food that would be destined for landfill. Damaged packaging, short dates, shop overstock etc. 

We pay £2 per visit and for that you can choose 7 items - it could be anything from chickens to boxes of cornflakes. I often get some really good stuff.

spudsmum

It’s payyyyydayyyyy! 

Thank goodness - it’s been such a long month. 

My wage covers a lot of the incidental  spending, such as Christmas and birthdays, clothing, food, car expenses,  petrol, entertainment, insurances, emergency fund and debt payments (husbands covers essential bills) so I’ve started to refill all my pots again after being cleaned out by replacing my car. 

My weekly budgets reset tomorrow too so I’ll “pay” myself. I still have £26.57 left from last week - it’s such a good feeling to have money leftover at the end of the week again - I always did for ages but over time I seem to have fallen back a bit into bad habits and overspending in fact I had several months in a row of running out of money and having to use the overdraft or credit cards. Last month was the first month I didn’t. Just hope I can keep it up - it’s obviously early days and a while till payday again - but hopefully I’m in the right track. 

Frugal things: 

cashed out £23.55 from surveys which I paid straight to my debt.

Bought a few things for my mum on my computer (she’s not internet savvy) so was able to go via Quidco and get cash back on them which has tracked already. 

She said she doesn’t want it so that will be another little boost for my finances.  

School put a Facebook post up about a box of uniform they had, inviting people to come and take what they wanted for a donation. My youngest desperately needed school jumpers and pe kit and I was going to buy some at the weekend so it was very timely and I was able to save myself a lot of money. 

Think that’s it 

Treasurequeen

In my local area a few places are opening up to save against food waste. In three libraries we have community fridges filled with fresh produce, bakery items, a few dented tins, flowers bunched and plants for garden. You take your own bags and it’s free, anyone can go in. 

We also have a pantry in one of the local churches -basic food for free or for donation of £5 if you can afford)

you can choose 10 items a week including fresh, frozen, bakery, tins, fruit/veg. They also hold free cookery classes and a two course meal with drink for £5 three times a week. And have just started a crochet club with the older generation teaching the younger generation. 

Nonnadiluca

What a great community, this is how the world should be!

Madbat60

Afternoon all

What a long month it's been. DP had a fabulous birthday from Saturday onwards. You're not 60 every day. Now, to really tighten my belt. I seem to be winning the war on my food shop at the moment. It's terrible when your car goes wrong. We will eventually go down to one car when our camper van is irreparable.  

spudsmum

Happy Friday everyone. 

Bit of a spendy today as it was my early finish day and I popped into town but no frivolous spending I don’t think.

First stop was the charity shop - picked up two jackets - a next denim jacket that was immaculate and a waterproof kagool type that will fold up very small so ideal for leaving in the back of the car or chucking in my bag. Excellent timing as I only have one coat currently and, as I found when I got caught in a downpour recently, - it’s lost its waterproofing! 

I also picked up a gorgeous grey next jumper which is super soft and a pair of jeggings. £9 for the lot which is a bargain.

Also £12.56 spent on various household bits that we needed. 

Ok haul at the pantry - no fresh meat sadly but lots of fruit and veg, some steak pies, chicken pies, yoghurts, a huge catering bag of custard powder, some sponge puddings. Also got some wash powder which will really save us money. They were also giving away mince pies and frontage frais free as they had too many. 

Food shop tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes - Tesco is getting really expensive but hopefully I won’t need much again! I really need to get back into the habit of meal planning and shopping to a list.  

Cas

Hello everyone!  It’s been a bit of a quiet but expensive week for us …

Wins this week

• Made lamb jalfrezi and Thai yellow chicken curries using meat and veg from the freezer.  Will have a go at using up some Italian sausages tomorrow along with some tinned tomatoes and some of the frozen veg to make a pasta sauce.  It was definitely worth listing what we had in the freezer and cupboards!
• Repurposed an old unit to organise our understairs cupboard as it's a bit of a dumping ground.  Had a bit of a clear out of all the stuff that had accumulated in there and whilst there was nothing worth donating or selling it felt soooo satisfying as we can now get our coats and shoes plus the vacuum cleaner into the cupboard instead of cluttering up our tiny hall.

 The not so good

• DH needed some dental work involving a ceramic crown which cost £399!  Ouch in more ways than one!  He needs more work done which will cost another £400 and if he needs root canal treatment the bill will rise to £600. He has dental insurance through his work so fingers crossed the underwriters settle part of the costs.  
• My washer dryer no longer dries clothes so my handyman Dad is on the case.  The w/d is between 10 and 15 years old so hopefully it’s fixable.  Although I don't use it much these days it's handy for those days when you need something washed and dried in a hurry. 

SecondStar

Does anyone here live without a tv? Not necessarily without some sort of device to watch streaming services, but without an actual tv?

I’m realising that I’ll be living without my ex and his 2 enormous tvs - the newest was 70 inches, I think? It was 1.8m long, I know that much.

Since staying with my friend I’ve been using her Netflix to watch my shows, but I’ve only used her tv downstairs when I’ve wanted a change of scenery from my bedroom - the rest of the time I’ve watched on my iPad.

As I don’t actually own a tv, I’m wondering ‘why start now?’.

I’ll (hopefully) be moving to a much smaller home, if all goes to plan, and I’m only just waking up to thinking maybe I don’t need to arrange floorplans based on ‘where will the tv go, and which way will the seating point?’.

I’ve owned a little 32 inch tv in the past, and used it for streaming. I’ve never thought about not owning a tv, except I now find myself in the position of not actually owning a tv, and wondering if I should bother or not?

So does anyone else live without a big screen in the house? How do you find it if so?

cw18

SecondStar said:

So does anyone else live without a big screen in the house? How do you find it if so?

I couldn't do without one I don't think, as I struggle to watch on smaller screens.   I had a week away (a few years back) when I watched DVDs on a laptop, and it drove me nuts.

That said, my TV isn't huge.  I only have a 32" despite my son (who doesn't live with me) saying I need something bigger for my living room.  He has a much larger set in a smaller space and I find it overwhelming!   My 32" suits me well enough, but to go without completely?   Not me.