2018 Frugal Living Challenge

Tanya12345 · 29 January 2018 at 8:22PM

Amen Frugaldom ! Normal should encompass everyone, tis only an abstract concept anyway !!
Tip toeing towards Feb now..... Avoiding moneypits ( shops) and I keep stealing furtive glances into my grocery and personal purse - there is stuff lurking in there but I don't want to let the light into it as I am determined to feed my emergency pot with it !! Keeping busy with the knitting and cooking. Rescued 3 butternut squashes ( from the lottie last year, they were massive but for some reason had gone mouldy at the top) so can feed the freezer today ! Got to do menus now, .....
Real frugal moment yesterday when I salvaged a small packet of tissues that had got soaked in my pocket - separated them, dried on radiator, mended torn packet and replaced them, viola a whole 'new' packet of tissues ! My family may smirk but I'm growing a tougher skin now ! Baby steps are the beginning of every great journey. Have a lovely evening y'all. X

spudsmum · 29 January 2018 at 10:31PM

Great post frugaldom.

Good habits take time to get into - hopefully if i keep plugging away at it then frugality will become just normal life.

I've had a rubbish, rubbish day today - however i take positive from that because for the first time ever i did not cheer myself up by trying to spend my way out of misery - yay me!

MSE things that have happened today:

:)Saved £3.70 on my petrol with the tesco coupon from my weekly shop
:)Sold one of my son's old dress up costumes online for £5
:)Cooked a massive chicken which will do us for at least two (probably three) evening meals
:)Made use of the oven being on for 2 hours (see chicken above) and filled the oven.
:)Made roasted swede, brocolli cheese, hm pizza for the kids tea and a banana loaf which should cover meals and snacks for next 2 days.
:)In doing the above used 4 manky bananas, a very sad looking brocolli, and some cheese that was in danger of turning a little green. All of these things would normally have been binned.
:)Used some leftover lemon cake that had gone dry (again would have been binned) and a jelly I found languishing in the back of the cupboard to make a trifle for the kids to have through the week.

None MSE things that have happened today

:(My car is making a loud and expensive sounding noise - booked into the garage tomorrow - cant leave it as i think it's the steering and wont take the risk when i drive the kids around - finding the money to pay for it is another matter - just when i felt like i was getting somewhere

Bebelles_2 · 29 January 2018 at 10:34PM

Thanks for the pep talk Frugaldom.
I’m still here expensive month as predicted - new car(well New to me!) , tax, insurance, parking permit etc.
New job starts in two weeks hopefully by the end of March I will know my expenditure for petrol and extras so will be able to do a budget inclusive of that.
Having read the posts I like you’re idea of putting money away a month so when this time next year rolls round I’ve got a car safety net to pay for these things.
Hope everyone is well x

Bebelles_2 · 29 January 2018 at 10:36PM

Also what’s in the homemade cleanser and does it work on mascara/eyeliner?! Thanks

Moll · 29 January 2018 at 11:01PM

Well said Frugaldom I agree with all you said .
This group of lovely people from ALL walks of life keeps us all going ,with help and ideas, I feel sorry for those who don't ( Or won't ) economise , as im sure theyd have a better lifestyle if they watched the pennies more.
Went to Tesco today as got a £6 voucher off a £40 spend , DH always buys the dogs stuff , so I gave it him , and he doubled up on dog food and a few other bits to use the voucher , So the dog is good for AGES, we didn't actually save , as DD phoned while we was in there and said her dog had run out of food and could we pick her a bag of dry food up.......so that was the end of the saving , you know how it is , even with big kids , they need a helping hand too .
All the people have been and collected and payed for the stuff I put on the bidding page, so that can go in the holiday pot , and im already de cluttering to find the next lot to put on this week , ( I find it fun to do too ) . plus I seem to have made a new friend from it , A woman who keeps buying the health & fitness mags I put on for sale ) weve become quite pally ,

Rosesandrainbows · 30 January 2018 at 8:15AM

Morning everyone, Im still here despite not posting in a couple of weeks. I've just caught up with the thread and it looks like everyone is doing really well .

The spending (or lack of it) and saving have been going well and we go into February with a tidy sum still in the bank. My downfall has been treating myself to food whilst out and about so my main goal for Feb is to try and knock this on the head.

February is also a month for lots of birthday so lets see how I can do this on a budget.

Wishing everyone there best for a frugal Feb

patentgirl · 30 January 2018 at 9:43AM

Can a late comer join in please have done the challenge few years back and normally start so well but by April tend to slide backwards slightly been reading all month and reading Frugaldoms last post yesterday felt inspired to join again. Had good January squirrelled away as much as I could into our retirement pot had 15 NSDs tried to shop wisely with no wastage cooked everything from scratch talked DH out of 2 takeaways turned down 3 invitations to drinks/food out which is amazing for me to say no to someone both DH have I agreed to cut back on going out with friends once a week spending money on rubbish food and too may drinks regretting waste of money as soon as we got home both said would rather go for a walk enjoy our own company only agreeing to once a month which we did in January so not only our bank account more healthy we are too.
So determined this year looking forward to Frugal February will sort out all bills etc food diesel onto spreadsheets later today.

Frugaldom · 30 January 2018 at 10:54AM

Welcome back to our frugal living challenge, patentgirl! I'll get your name into our challenger list on post 2 while you settle back in to frugal life here.

Kerry_Woman · 30 January 2018 at 7:38PM

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.
Only did a small bit of exercise and a small bit of decluttering.
Going to have a chilled out evening.

spudsmum · 31 January 2018 at 12:28AM

NSD here today. Thats my second one since I started - I'm very proud of myself (probably way more than it deserves.) I'm quite competative so i'm challenging myself to see how much money i can have left in my purse at the end of the week and to be honest its giving me quite a thrill - keep opening my purse and gazing at the money I've got left inside (very sad i know but have to take my pleasure where i can.) Sure the novelty of that will soon wear off but its keeping me motivated for now.

Going to try to factor in one NSD every week then work at upping it to two when the it's become more of a habit.

Frugality that happened today

Went to my mum's for tea with the kids - that means we can stretch out the chicken i cooked last night for another meal (so one less meal to buy next week
My mum gave me DS's pocket money that i forgot she owed me as I'd laid it out last week so thats another tenner to gaze upon in my purse :rotfl:
She also gave me a load of clothes she'd bought the kids from charity shop, some lovely stuff in the next size up which will save me a fair bit of cash.

Non frugality that happened today

Still no final verdict on the car - it had no power steering fluid so theyve refilled it which has fixed the noise (yay!) BUT - it was serviced only 5 months ago and they filled it then so theres a leak somewhere which they need to find. They said I could take it for a bit and bring it in next month but they couldnt 100% guarantee the power steering wouldnt suddenly fail. Thats not a risk i'm willing to take so theyve kept it. It's either a pipe (fairly cheap) or the pump (scarily expensive) knowing my luck recently I can guess which!

Three (yes THREE!!) people that arranged to buy things from me on the selling site failed to turn up or message me. Seriously, WHY do people do that?? If youve changed your mind just say! :mad::mad::mad: very disheartening as that would bave been another £17.50 for my pot.

I've got a day off work tomorrow as DS is at hospital - this will test my resolve on Frugality to the max and i can already hear the warning bells :rotfl: I've promised him lunch at a place of his choosing as a sweetner for being a brave boy as he's very worried but hoping i can manage not to spend much more.

2018 Frugal Living Challenge

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