2019 Frugal Living Challenge

The_Lady_Sarah · 11 January 2019 at 11:26PM

Well after stalking the forum for the past 10 days and reading the previous years thread I was feeling good about my two non spend days!
Having raised an extra £110 so far this month and only spending £20 on food was feeling virtuous... then BAM car won't start - RAC called - £140 for new Battery! Shame Wine is so expensive I'm limiting to just Saturdays and Tuesday....

nannygladys · 11 January 2019 at 11:52PM

Hi everyone

Just a quick one from me tonight.

Made soup and evening meal (I call it tea) from stores so haven't been out. I have started clearing my craft room of 'stuff' I know I wont use but its going to take me longer than the kitchen cupboards!
I rescued a cushion from dd3 the other day, for the inner pad, as I found a NT tea towel that I can make into a nice cushion cover for one of the lottie shed chairs, so my list of projects is slowly growing. I think I will have to make a physical list and put it on the wall in there so I can see it and start ticking things off as they get made/mended.

Nannyg

miss_empty_piggy · 12 January 2019 at 12:18AM

I logged on to Mr Ts club card account as haven't updated my details since we moved to the new house over 2 years ago. I have £36.00 in vouchers - I'm over the moon.

spudsmum · 12 January 2019 at 1:04AM

Hi all,

Just a quick one - came in £26.17 under budget this week - not bad considering I bought two pairs of shoes and a coat for my eldest and also the kids were off half the week which is always expensive.

Budgets reset today and i have done my weeks food shop - £21.34 due to still having a massive stock pile. Very pleased with that.

In other news I got a rebate for overpaid council tax - £48.21 she that has gone straight to debt repayment - that's nearly £75 of overpayments this year already!

We are away this weekend going to meet some friends - going to try to be really careful and keep a tight hold of the budgets - watch this space

miss_empty_piggy · 12 January 2019 at 9:28AM

We're going to our new allotment today. Flasks and sandwiches will be packed. Am mentally prepared for the inevitable tussle with DOH over all the new things we "must have". He's getting there bless him. I'm so looking forward but am expecting aching body tonight.

have a great day everyone.

well done on coming so far under budget Spudsmum, that's so good. xxx

*little.squirrel* · 12 January 2019 at 9:56AM

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

We're going to our new allotment today. Flasks and sandwiches will be packed. Am mentally prepared for the inevitable tussle with DOH over all the new things we "must have". He's getting there bless him. I'm so looking forward but am expecting aching body tonight.

We still have lots of work to do on our allotment that we took on last year. We absolutely love it, but yes, there's always temptation to buy things for it! We managed to build a compost bin using pallets that we got for free. That was a success! I'd love a greenhouse but that will have to be a long term plan I think

I got given a pressure king pro for Christmas and I've been trying to use it as often as I can. It does seem to use less energy than the stove and I managed to cook perfect brown rice in it, which is unusual for me! I'm trying to meal plan but haven't had time to sit down properly. I'm sure I'll manage it by Febuary! :rotfl:

Frugaldom, talking about eco-friendly, I like the idea that sometimes that choice is a luxury. You are right of course, but I do often feel guilt at not making the most eco friendly choices. That being said I am definitely careful with all purchases and do reuse/recycle/repair as much as possible so I'm probably being more eco friendly that I realised. After my last post where I mentioned beeswax wraps a friend actually gave me some that she doesn't use. I'm not entirely convinced by them so I'm glad I didn't spend ~£20 to find that out!

datlex · 12 January 2019 at 11:29AM

Jeffnandy wrote: »

I've been with bulb for a year now and they have been the best so far. I recently received an email from them saying they have credited £10 to my account because I had waited on the phone for 11 minutes to speak to someone 3 weeks earlier. This is how companies should behave, I thought. They will pay any exit fees when you leave your old supplier. They have consistently been the cheapest for me for the last year. You get monthly email reminders about your direct debit due. If your account is in credit by more than your monthly direct debit you can request a refund. They offer the warm home discount. They also operate a referral system where you and the one refer can get £50 each added to your account when you sign up. Because I've been with them a year if you sign up using the following link by 16th Jan 2019 they will credit your account with £100.

I had similar couple of months back from Northumbrian Water. I had emailed them and they hadn't replied to the email, probably because I subsquently spoke to them and the matter was dealt with. Their internal procedures say they have to reply even if it is to see that they see the matter has been dealt with. They sent me £25 to my account.

spudsmum wrote: »

Hi all,

Just a quick one - came in £26.17 under budget this week - not bad considering I bought two pairs of shoes and a coat for my eldest and also the kids were off half the week which is always expensive.

Budgets reset today and i have done my weeks food shop - £21.34 due to still having a massive stock pile. Very pleased with that.

In other news I got a rebate for overpaid council tax - £48.21 she that has gone straight to debt repayment - that's nearly £75 of overpayments this year already!

We are away this weekend going to meet some friends - going to try to be really careful and keep a tight hold of the budgets - watch this space

Well done on the over payments and spending below your budget. Hope you have a nice time seeing your friends.

Frugaldom · 12 January 2019 at 2:06PM

The_Lady_Sarah wrote: »

Well after stalking the forum for the past 10 days and reading the previous years thread I was feeling good about my two non spend days!
Having raised an extra £110 so far this month and only spending £20 on food was feeling virtuous... then BAM car won't start - RAC called - £140 for new Battery! Shame Wine is so expensive I'm limiting to just Saturdays and Tuesday....

How fortuitous is that? Your forward planning meant you already had £110 of the £140 needed to have the battery replaced without lumping it onto a credit card or running too short.

Well done with the extra cash / savings but sorry about car. Swings and roundabouts but frugal living definitely pays dividends in the long run. Stick with it, you'll love being a frugaler. Learn to make wine.

Frugaldom · 12 January 2019 at 2:11PM

Datex, perhaps best you edit your post to remove the referal link in the spammer's post. New user status and that's the only message being posted in several locations throughout MSE isn't the best start if the OP is joining our challenge. (Apologies to 'JeffnAndy' if you are genuine, please let us know you are here to join us.)

Frugaldom · 12 January 2019 at 2:14PM

miss_empty_piggy wrote: »

I logged on to Mr Ts club card account as haven't updated my details since we moved to the new house over 2 years ago. I have £36.00 in vouchers - I'm over the moon.

BRILLIANT! :j:T

2019 Frugal Living Challenge

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