2018 Frugal Living Challenge
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Evening all, congrats to all those Fruggies who came in under budget ! Getting chillier here so wood burner on all day ( using it to heat water as having a combo seems to mean we have to run litres of water to get hot !! - huge expense on gas and water !).
Spend today but what a bargain : 2 jus-rol pizzas kits, packet of spreadable butter, 2kg of sainsburys soft spread .... All for £1 !! Having to make the butter last (luxury from bf - before frugal !!) so thought I'd use the marg for cakes - try and get back to baking to save on snacks - however cheap they are they push the budget up !
March for me will be a declutter , meal costing (challenge of £1 pp per day is sooo hard I need to think about every meal and make sure I am aware of the cost of everything), and keeping a record of utility costs.
Going to update signature....... Gotta bite the bulletJourney on the Frugal Wagon to Self Reliance.
Making money work for me, not the other way round0 -
Spudsmum - Can I ask what app/ website you use for wombling to get money back? I use Shoppix but they only give me points, not vouchers.
Indigowarrior- best wishes to you and your family. xxxCC2-Total paid in March £1560.12/ Max credit card amount £6747.03/ £5098 to go!0 -
Welcome back slowlyfading! !!!128512;!!!128587;
Abudabi the only way you are going to sort out your water bill is by getting it corrected and that, to me, means contacting the company and letting them know your partner is there. I don't know how bills are assessed. Here in Scotland it is a set amount dependent on size of house/council tax valuation. Good luck.
CW18 OUCH! I hope your finger heals quickly. Cats have claws like razors!
I did leaflet distribution some years ago, I also did pools coupons and phone directories. Leaflets paid per 100 or per 1000 and time taken was up to you. I think the only rules given were not to get attacked by pets and we couldn't allow a child to go and post anything through the letterboxes.
Very cold here, this is day 2 of no water and I have a student staying, so she is learning quickly why the H2O combination is so important and should never be taken for granted.
Temps are getting down to minus double digits but yesterday we made it all the way up to -2.5 degrees. Now the downpipes are frozen so we cant tip anything down sinks. Using grey water for loo and bottles being refilled wherever there is still water running. No spending and meals being based around whatever can be stir fried, oven baked or microwaved so i can save water. I reserve the right not to spend.
The less I spend, the more I can afford.
Frugal living challenge - living on £4000 in 20240 -
LittleGingerFox wrote: »Spudsmum - Can I ask what app/ website you use for wombling to get money back? I use Shoppix but they only give me points, not vouchers.
Indigowarrior- best wishes to you and your family. xxx
Hi Ginger - did you mean for the bread? I think that was shopmium - a few of the things on there are a bit meh but they have an offer on for kingsmill bread - £1 cash back on 3 loaves - we use 2-3 a week here anyway so was just what i would normally buy and was on offer for 50p at tesco.
Just photograph the receipt on your phone/tablet and the £1 was in my account almost instantly.
I know its only a quid but better in my pocket than mr T's
Total debts £21050! :eek: now £10941. 76. Total extra income made in Jan22 £109. 27 Feb 22 £45.25 Total extra income made in 2022 £154.52 Aiming for debt free at 45 - 41 months to go!0 -
The Beast From The East is bad here , We got up to no central heating ! Thank god OH is good at repairs , Weve taken every precaution , of lagging pipes , insulation etc etc , but the central heating pipes had frozen with this extreme weather , Our boiler is upstairs in a bedroom , and the pipes run outside down the wall , Weve lived here over 40 years , and NEVER had a frozen pipe before , just goes to show how cold it was last night , Well first stop was you tube ( Good old youtube ) so we sussed that the pressure had dropped and the pipe had frozen , Luckily we have a friend who is an heating expert , and he confirmed that's what it was ,The pipe runs all the way down the outside of the house , Top to bottom , so we wondered how we was going to unfreeze it , but our friend said it would only be the bottom of the pipe that was frozen , so we set to , with a heat gun , and kettles of hot water to thaw it out Youd never believe the lumps of ice that came out , took about an hour and a half , but we did it , Dread to think how much it would have cost call out fee if we'd had to get someone in , It was like Siberia while we was doing it too , No hot water in the tank , no heating anywhere in the house , and blowing a blizzard outside , we both looked like snowmen , makes you appreciate it when you get it back , I was boiling ketttles to wash pots ( with me big coat on ) like the old days , Savings this week has been nil ..........not a bean left , but ive stocked up on food , so im ok with that and ill plug away this week to put money in the holiday pot next week , DD did my hair the other day ( I knew putting her through hairdressing school would be good ) so I got it cut & dyed for just the price of materials and I look a lot less like a yetti now . stay warm everyone , especially you lot up in Scotland x x x x0
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Just catching up after a few days' hiatus so congrats for everyone who came under budget or put some hard earned money towards debt!
*indigowarrior* Sorry to hear about your grandfather, I hope he improves soon.
Take care all of you who are struggling with cold, flu et al. Make sure to get enough rest and keep your heating on all day (on low settings if you can tolerate it) in this weather to avoid further complications!
*abudabi* When you moved, did you update the council/water company with both of your details? I think if you haven't, they have no way of knowing that your partner moved with you. Not sure how the water bill is calculated if you are not on meters as I'm in Scotland but I think it's better to avoid the problem of getting a much higher bill later if they figure out you are living there the two of you.
*Spudsmum* Can I ask what survey site(s) you use?
I'm at home today, couldn't get to work as no bus service and around noon my manager texted me to say I should stay at home. I'm going to update my figures and make a list for my March challenge.6mo EF: £ /£
Frugal Living Challenge 2024 £ /£
NSD: Jan /
Sell 100 items /1000 -
The Beast From The East is bad here , We got up to no central heating ! Thank god OH is good at repairs , Weve taken every precaution , of lagging pipes , insulation etc etc , but the central heating pipes had frozen with this extreme weather , Our boiler is upstairs in a bedroom , and the pipes run outside down the wall , Weve lived here over 40 years , and NEVER had a frozen pipe before , just goes to show how cold it was last night , Well first stop was you tube ( Good old youtube ) so we sussed that the pressure had dropped and the pipe had frozen , Luckily we have a friend who is an heating expert , and he confirmed that's what it was ,The pipe runs all the way down the outside of the house , Top to bottom , so we wondered how we was going to unfreeze it , but our friend said it would only be the bottom of the pipe that was frozen , so we set to , with a heat gun , and kettles of hot water to thaw it out Youd never believe the lumps of ice that came out , took about an hour and a half , but we did it , Dread to think how much it would have cost call out fee if we'd had to get someone in , It was like Siberia while we was doing it too , No hot water in the tank , no heating anywhere in the house , and blowing a blizzard outside , we both looked like snowmen , makes you appreciate it when you get it back , I was boiling ketttles to wash pots ( with me big coat on ) like the old days , Savings this week has been nil ..........not a bean left , but ive stocked up on food , so im ok with that and ill plug away this week to put money in the holiday pot next week , DD did my hair the other day ( I knew putting her through hairdressing school would be good ) so I got it cut & dyed for just the price of materials and I look a lot less like a yetti now . stay warm everyone , especially you lot up in Scotland x x x x
ooh take care with no heat. My inlaws are currently without heat. Both in their 70's and full of cold at present and boiler packed up on Saturday. BG came out to look, they agreed a price to install a new one and it was supposed to come yesterday. Turned up late, then the BG engineer couldn't get it to work and left, saying he would come back today! Just about to ring them and see if they are ok and finally got it sorted. All they had for the last few days has been oil filled electric heaters that are very small and no way big enough for a big 3 bedroom detached house.
Think we will all be glad when this cold weather is gone.0 -
Without knowing which water company supplies you, it's not possible to say whether changing from single occupancy will cause an increase in your bill or not. But if it would cause an increase and you don't tell them you're leaving yourself open to being in a lot of trouble.hi not sure how to start new post but i have a water bill saying im single occupancy but its wrong i live with my partner?
i moved from 2 bed flat to a 1 bed bungalow they knew i was living with partner before? i applied for water meter here but they said they cant do it so im assessed but as i said on the letter it says single occupier? i dont want to get in touch as am worried they will increase it? if i was dyslexic then i wouldnt even know?
The best general information I can find is on pages 15 & 16 of this Ofwat document
https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/prs_lft_101117meters.pdfCheryl0 -
Thanks spudmum- I use shopmium to but I don't see much on there that is free. I don't buy brands as I can happily substitute everything I use checkout smart as well and Olio for free food
Although its cold and the heating has constantly been on, I have not spent anything today and I have put so much on ebay which is good. Side hustles aren't working at all at the mo so I need to step up looking for an evening job that is local and pref cash in hand. Do jobs like that still exist???CC2-Total paid in March £1560.12/ Max credit card amount £6747.03/ £5098 to go!0 -
Morning Everyone
Hope you're all keeping warm and those of you with frozen pipes and things have been able to get them sorted and it's not been too expensive.
I've had the heating on constant here, which is not part of Minimalist Match Challenge but needs must. It's cold and I don't want anything freezing, including myself.
It's been no spend days since I ordered my shopping on Tuesday, but tonight is 'Friday Night Wine Night' and so a bottle of red will be purchased for the occasion.
It was just me eating here last night so it was JP, beans, cheese and salad and a lonely sausage. It will be the same tonight with the other half of the beans, but some fried onion and mushroom instead of the sausage.
Other than that, I'm making my way into work. Will see how the roads are, as while we haven't had any more snow, what we have is blowing all over the place and the roads were worse yesterday on the way home than the way in.
Stay safe everyone..it's times I this that I'm especially envious of those of you with open fires and wood burners.0
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