2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Moll · 1 February 2018 at 1:49AM

Ive been ill for a couple of days , not full blown flu ,but enough to keep me on the sofa day & night ( And that's not me , ) but im back ,,,,sort of , and in a way its helped me as I had got 2 meals out this week with friends, which I had to cancel , so I didn't have to spend , ( They'll re arrange another day ) Plus its been a bit hit and miss with food , DH doesn't cook .....not much , picture an 8 year old ,,,,,,hes got about the same capabilities in the kitchen , but he tries,,,,,,,,,,,,,, so he went to the shop and bought us both a frozen microwave meal , for the grand total of £1 each , and weve had quite a few of them , Still he's kept me fed & watered in a fashion , and I haven't actually paid for anything , We don't have a huge household income , but we seem to do ok , I feel sorry for all the people with car trouble , wish I could help , as DH is a car mechanic , and he repairs everyones cars around here cheap , and keeps my car going , Saying that , I mark on the calendar when everything is due , and see my car insurance is due in Feb , .......The money I got from scrapping my old car. ive decided to put away towards my holiday spending money . As you know ive used the £70 a week food budget , PLUS whatever I can sell on the bidding site added to it ,,,,,,, being frugal , any leftover at the end of the week goes in the holiday pot , This week with being ill to be honest , I myself havn't spent much . plus family members have sent food ( They know about DH cooking ) so this month will probably be my best, but ive saved a massive £202.81. This morning my hairdryer gave up ,,,,,,,,,but I have an old ( VERY OLD , from the ark , Not brill but working ) one that hopefully will manage , till I get another , Its my bd in March , I can ask for one then if I can go till then ,
Everyone is doing so well , and this has made us all really take stock of what we are doing , Im proud of everyone , and thanks for keeping me so motivated ,

Kerry Woman my thoughts are with you , Stay strong x x x x

FrankieM · 1 February 2018 at 7:59AM

Morning

Just a quick one before work...

I love people's monthly roundups and the counting of no spend days..and the jouranalling. I'd love to get into this but no idea where to start, so ideas gratefully appreciated.

I need to head to the shops today to pick up the odds and sods I need to see my meal plan through the weekend but nothing else to spend.

Still doing veggie meals this week. I'm quite enjoying them though DD seems to prefer to give them a miss. Her choice. She's 19 and quite capable of putting a meal together for herself!

Right, off to work...have a good day

debtaghh · 1 February 2018 at 11:13AM

Morning,

My January spends for the items included in the challenge ( my personal one) is £442.60, this includes food, presents , two haircuts and other bits like one stamp, top etc. I’m quite pleased with that.

Have a frugal day everyone.

evuka · 1 February 2018 at 2:58PM

cw18 wrote: »

((hugs)) for Kerry Woman

Sounds to me like the only reason to stay where you are would be if you have a fantastic network of friends and family there - but it does't sound like you have time to interact with any such group, making it unlikely. As such I reckon moving closer to work sounds a fantastic idea.

cw18, you are right, I don't have much time (and even less energy) to socialise... no family here as everyone lives back home. I relocated to Scotland with my former company for a job they offered me. There was a whole bunch of us, co-workers (some of them very close friends) who relocated but they didn't like the weather/life here so pretty much everyone left, either to back home or to London or other countries.

I have some "friends" here in Glasgow but they are mostly on a very superficial social level, not real friends.

FrankieM, I know technology can be a hassle for parents, I hope you find some solution!

On a frugal note, I updated my spreadsheet until the end of Jan and my summary is:

groceries: 87.92/120 - rest has to see me going until 20/02 (payday) but I think it's manageable. I'm off sick now and ordered another pizza the other day because I was too weak to cook, that fed me for two days.
cooking/meal planning: still have the carcass to cook and have a couple of meal ideas that could be stretched without buying anything for them. I reckon main thing to spend on is bread, fruit and veggies and catfood.
unplanned expense: An evening with an astronaut. I came across this event at Glasgow uni with Michael Foale, a British astronaut who spent more than a year altogether in space. I thought for £15 it is not too expensive and tickets were going fast (bought mine yesterday and it is now sold out). Will come off of Feb's outing category.
fuel: the weather is now better so I have the heating on for the night and a few hours during the day but thinking of switching that off, too. Just switched supplier from SG to Flow and need to submit my first meter reading for DD to be accurate. Also, need to cash a cheque I got from SG as a refund, that is another £11 in my pocket.
numbers: my annual budget (excluding rent and council tax) is £8,965.88 out of which public transport is a whopping £4,416 :eek::huh: I don!t even want to look at that number. _pale_ Excluding this expense, my budget comes to £4,549.88 which includes pretty much everything such as hairdresser, hobbies, window cleaning, etc. which can be cut back or eliminated if necessary.
decluttering: I have this ongoing, like many others, need to figure out how to know when ebay has free listings days for some larger items. Also using gumtree and shpock.

:question:

I have a sheepskin wintercoat - bought 6 years ago for £50. It can only be drycleaned which cost me £35 two years ago (didn't get it done last year...

because money was tight). Is it worth spending such amount of money on drycleaning or would it be better to buy another coat that I can clean at home?

DawnW · 1 February 2018 at 3:43PM

Depends really on whether you still like the coat, Evuka, and if it is a good state of repair. If you love it, and it is still almost as good as new, and comes up beautifully after it has been cleaned, I would say it is worth getting it done. If not, well, after 6 years, it probably doesn't owe you anything, does it

Frugaldom · 1 February 2018 at 4:25PM

Kerry_Woman wrote: »

Was a spend day. Had to go to the hospital where my Dad died to get the death certificate sorted out. Got 5 of the death certificate. Sent 2 off to my brother special delivery which should get to him tomorrow by 1pm so that he can start to sort things out. Also went to the Funeral Director to give them the necessary documents. Saved my brother travelling all the way from Somerset. My friend came with me to support me.

Sorry to hear of the death of your dad.

I hope everything is going smoothly for you during this time - funeral arranging is something that is unavoidable for most of us and yet we so seldom stop to think of the financial implications, complications and everything that comes with the passing of close family. Glad you have a supportive friend, those are the best kind.

elly68 wrote: »

... looking forward to challenge tumble dryer is broken might leave it like that ?????but we do live in Scotland lol

I gave up on the whole line drying thing, it is impossible for much of the year here. My honest opinion is that I can't really live without mine, especially during winter and the months & months of rain we seem to get here. I got mine for about £30 secondhand for my son using it, he gave me it back when he moved house so it is still going strong several years later.

WelshSaver wrote: »

Hi Frugaldom can I join the challenge please.

Hello and yes, of course you can

I'll go and add your name to the challenger list right away and welcome to the 2018 frugal living challenge. :beer:

Frugaldom · 1 February 2018 at 4:33PM

I almost fell for a bargain offer (vacuum reduced from £79.99 to £19.99 but was able to cancel my order after being assured that said vacuum was not going be suit the job I needed it do do. In otherwise, it's reduced to clear for good reason. Phew! Saved almost £20!

January wasn't too bad a month despite some hefty spends last week. Total household budget spend in January was £155.84 and £20.25 of thaa was on groceries while we pursue our start of year cupboard, fridge and freezer foraging. Hens are laying, so lunchtime now varies between soup or eggs and if I don't make eggs at lunchtime, they get incorporated into dinner.

Porridge is still the breakfas of choice, with dinner being made up of whatever gets pulled out the freezer.

February is my ftness month, so I plan on following that as normal, Now that all the christmas and festve fayre has been eaten, it helps having to be creative in the kitchen and there's no chocolate left, so that's a big help!

February has a family wedding involving a couple of nights away at a hotel but it's all budgeted for and already paid, so it shouldn't impact on the general household budget at all.

Nonnadiluca · 1 February 2018 at 5:49PM

Not a great start to February - forgot that DH had a dentist appointment today to fix a broken filling; day 1 and £56.30 gone from the non grocery budget, still they're the only teeth he's got so needs must!
On the upside, it's been a lovely day here and I've got two loads of washing mostly dry on the line.

Tanya12345 · 1 February 2018 at 8:22PM

Evening fellow Fruggies, Well done on getting to Feb !! Hugs for those that need them, congrats to all for keeping on keeping on ! For me a really good learning month , managed to harvest the excess from grocery and personal budget into emergency pot but a nasty surprise when I realised how much I spent on groceries during 2 weeks in Jan ! Even allowing for buying for farmers market and local milk (a choice I know I am blessed to be able to make) this seems excessive !! This month I am going to work out the clever do'hicky at the bottom of the post to keep a track and actually put numbers in ....
Carrying on with menu plans, buy nothing new, all the r's and generally being aware/mindful.
Thanks everyone for their inspiration and support in this fabulous network of like minded souls x

DawnW · 1 February 2018 at 9:14PM

I don't post often, but enjoy reading every day

We had an expensive, spendy January, and I am hoping that February will be easier. Due to a particular ongoing situation atm, it may not be

However, we will see.

I love hearing everyone's news, and am picking up loads of ideas, but the thing I am getting most from is Cheryl's spreadsheet, which is brilliant! Thanks Cheryl

2018 Frugal Living Challenge

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