2024 Frugal Living Challenge

Prudent

Welcome Shrewbie, I hope you can achieve your goal and enjoy the time travelling. That certainly looks a very healthy budget. It is interesting to hear about the house buying process in Madrid.

@Nelliegrace what is a Saturday fund? 

Well done @joedenise and @Katiehound and the use of free electricity. I have so far resisted a smart metre as I think watching it might make me anxious about baking/turning on the heating etc. I am in contract with British Gas until May so I will review it then. I did get my bedding washed and out on the line to dry as it is much warmer today thankfully. I have been out most of the day so I haven't managed to do much else. I got quite a bit done yesterday as I didn't even venture outside the door in the storm. In the evening we snuggled up under the heated throws and watched a wonderful documentary/ film called Billy and Molly about an otter in Shetland. It is one of the best programmes I have watched in years.

Katiehound

I had resisted a smart meter but one of the perks is the ability to sign up for free sessions.
 I could also sign up for free sessions from wind power because I am in a turbine area. I still haven't worked out if I am on the correct tariff to do that!

Nelliegrace

@Prudent In the 1870s the industrial workers in Birmingham were asked to work overtime on “Hospital Saturday” every year, and the money earned would build a Workers’ Ward and give them the right to be treated at Queen’s Hospital, (The Accident Hospital.) Later this was changed to a weekly subscription of a penny.  
“In addition to donations to the Queen's, General, Children's, Women's, Eye, and Dental hospitals, the fund implemented convalescent homes around Britain and an ambulance service. Today it continues as a national non-profit health insurance service.” Wikipedia.
I pay a small amount monthly and get refunds of part of our payments for glasses, dental fees, chiropractic, chiropody, and such. 

fionaandphil

I am most envious of you all managing to get some washing out in the wind.  Our storm brought with it snow, sleet, hale and torrential rain (and thankfully no floods) so we just hunkered down and got on with indoor jobs.  We haven't tried for a smart meter, our mobile signal rarely works in the house so I suspect it wouldn't connect.

Frugaldom

Hello to all and welcome to our newbies. 😊

First of all, I think I'm missing something with the 2 hours free electricity so if someone could elaborate, that would be great. There's a bit of confusion here over smart meters as we'd been told they operated via mobile phone signals so couldn't have one, but then I read that Scotland and northern parts of England are operating via radio signals. Is the free time simply because there's a smart meter installed?

Own up if you've just won the £177 million jackpot on euromillions. Wow! That is such a scary amount of money that the prospect of winning anything like that is enough to prevent me from ever buying a ticket. If I'm not in it, I can't win it.

Tonight, I have ticked one major item off my 'to do' list... I managed to apply online for my bus pass! Now I just need to wait up to 10 working days to see if the scans and photo uploaded will be accepted. 

Another thing I noticed is that the Asda site says the £1 soup meal deal for ages 60+ is continuing until the end of February so there is still time for a free day trip somewhere for a £1 lunch.

Olio app users, have you spotted the discounts section where your nearest Spar and others are listing their yellow sticker goods? We've also had a few really good 'rescues' from Bookers cash & carry via our Olio food hero. 

Frugaldom

@Shrewbie - Welcome on board and thank you for joining us in 2025. Wishing you every success with your savings plan for house buying. 

Dizzycap

Morning campers! Not been on the MSE forum for a number of days, so nice to catch up with everything going on.

I finished off loading all my clutter and was just congratulating myself with a totally clutter free house and no more inpost shopping trolly runs, when my mother turned up with 3 black bags full of her clothes and said, "I've given a few bags to the local charity shop but I wondered if you would be a darling and try and sell this lot online for me" : When it rains, it certainly pours 

otb666 said:

I have spent 165 on xmas presents this year I have noticed family wants money and household basic appliances like teaspoons and pyrex dish and useful socks and pants. You can certainly see how cost of living is having an effect on everyone.

It's shockingly incredible, isn't it? Only a couple of years ago those items would have been considered stocking fillers, at best. Now they are absolute necessities that people are struggling to buy and are requesting as gifts

Someone gave me a selection of Men's Size Small brand new packaged clothing items to pass on as needed - coat, wool polo shirts, thick socks, hat, glove & scarf, underpants etc. A neighbour was talking to me a couple of days ago and said her friend was struggling so much that she was unable to find the money to be able to buy the clothing items her husband so desperately needed. I asked her to find out what size he was and yes, you've guessed it, a size small Santa came early  What on earth have we come to? It's beginning to feel like a 3rd world country in the UK.

Heads up on the Lidl £1.50 Veggie Boxes! The manager was telling me this morning that stores been told not to put  more than 10 items / packs in each box. I got the best box of the lot early this morning and it had 9 items in, so enough for a week and not 2 as has been the case here for a number of weeks. Anyone else noticed a reduction in the number of items in their Lidl Box? Olio remains the same with a stuffed full bag of goodies when available, and boy they get snapped up fast!

Righty ho, it's late and I need some sleep. Toodle pip, take care, and bye for now xxxxx

Prudent

@Dizzycap thank you for the heads up about the Lidl boxes, that is not welcome news though. I was speaking to staff in my wee community shop yesterday as I noticed that their prices are now only marginally better than regular shops. They have been told to put them up as the surge in use is unsustainable. There doesn’t seem much on Olio here other than bread. We bought a bread maker earlier this year and now make our own. I am wondering what is involved in becoming a food hero. Has anyone done this role? If other sources are becoming more expensive I need to find a new way forward.

I would like to thank everyone who contributes to this thread. Although I have been on MSE since the early days, this is my first year of joining the thread. This week I picked up ten Christmas baubles for £1 in a charity shop as over the years my cats have destroyed so many baubles. We have a Christmas tradition that each year we buy a new decoration that represents something we have especially enjoyed that year. I realised that the bargain baubles would be a very apt representation of the pleasure I have found through joining this thread. It is has been so lovely to find like minded people and, being a pony person, Frugaldom’s mud monsters. 

Prudent

@Frugaldom well done on the bus pass. I hope you have success uploading your photos. The online system in Scotland is so glitchy. I tried five uploads the first time, each time I got a rejection email. This year I only gave it one chance before going to the council. The lady at the desk was lovely and said they get so many people coming in who have been repeatedly rejected.

kayannie

@Frugaldom Congratulations on applying for your bus pass, there are definitely advantages to turning 60! Here in north Wales, our bus pass can be used on the local train during winter months.

@Dizzycap I was lucky enough to get a brilliant £1.50 Lidl box this week. Grapes,pineapple,easy peelers,avocados,mushrooms, broccoli,cauli,little gem,lemon,fine beans, & potatoes. I've just reached the £50 spend for this month & qualify for free fruit so will collect that today. It's very much a case of pot luck, sometimes I can go weeks without getting a box, they're usually put out early & they get snapped up quickly.

I may have mentioned before that B&M have sugar on offer at 89p, I noticed this week it's still the same price.
KA