2018 Frugal Living Challenge

nannygladys · 20 December 2017 at 2:34PM

Hi everyone, found new diary that I thought I'd lost and also a couple of unused notebooks that I can use for budgets and shopping so sorted without buying any. I can only play with it until January 1st as I have my dd and family staying with me until then but I have been cutting down buying Xmas food etc so hopefully not too many leftovers and food to throw away!
Nannyg

Frugaldom · 20 December 2017 at 5:23PM

Hi fruguys and gals, glad to see everyone getting prepared for the new challenge, whether it's with spending diaries, spreadsheets or old school notebooks.

There's a link in post one where you can download the original spreadsheet, for anyone looking, otherwise message Cheryl (CW18) for a more detailed one.

All the new names will be added to the challenger list tonight, just let me know if I accidentally miss your name.

cw18 · 20 December 2017 at 6:46PM

Mooloo wrote: »

I haven’t been using my credit cards as well as I should have, and have ended up with some debts being on 18% Apr so my aim in January is to target the smallest debt first and then snowball for the rest of the year.

Is the smallest debt the one on the highest interest rate?

gien · 20 December 2017 at 7:13PM

I’d like to sign up please - I did follow the thread last year but didn’t post very much. We were all very chaotic last year and I’m hoping that this year will be better in that repspect. I start a new job in January which is good, it’s not shifts but my husband has yet to find his new position sp we need to be a bit careful.
We still have one daughter at homein high school and two older boys who are in University. We support them financially for this so that’s another reason to watch the pennies. Although I want to cut down financially I also have another aim to buy a lot fo my stuff from local shops and suppliers - this means it won’t be as cheap as goign to The hard discounters but I really want to support my community.
I’ll try and sort out a budget in the new year after christmas is done and dusted....

Frugaldom · 20 December 2017 at 7:34PM

Does everyone use Topcashback? If so, they have been offering extra bonus payments and there's another gone on for today - if you buy a topgiftcard before midnight, there's an extra £2.50 cashback - ideal if you are planning on spending cash in any of the listed outlets as you're saving more than you would be leaving the cash in the bank for next to no interest.

Saver-upper · 20 December 2017 at 11:59PM

Oh my!
I have been following this thread for a couple of days,and I am well-jealous of being able to live on £4000 a year.That would be fantastic.:j.I am not even sure how I could adapt this challenge to suit our family (of 6,with 4 children age 8-15.).
I will spend time looking through past threads,but has anyone adapted this challenge to suit their family better (eg,aim to live on £8000/year-I guess that sounds like alot on a £4000p/a thread,but at the moment I estimate my share of our living costs are about £1110/month )?
Well done to you all-I am very impressed.:A

cw18 · 21 December 2017 at 12:16AM

I've regularly had a budget of £10k-£12k (excluding any rent/mortgage, but including council tax), and I live alone.

The main criteria is that your budgetted outgoings are less than you expect to get coming in. That leaves money to clear debts quicker or build up a savings pot for emergencies.

[Deleted User] · 21 December 2017 at 8:35AM

Happy Solstice!! :beer:

Busy day yesterday...finished all the shopping for the year and precooked most of tonight's dinner

we're having black bean spaghetti with a porcini cream sauce and pomegranate, pecan, date and maple salad for starters; chickpea, sage and vegan chorizo tarfillette with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for main and a chocolate orange cake for dessert. On Saturday, I'll cook again for our weekend celebration and then we'll have a few days of leftovers ahead!!

Tomorrow is the real beginning of this challenge for me so I have cleared the cc this morning and I'm putting it into hibernation!!

I've have no reason to spend anything at all for the next 10 days at least so that's my first mini-challenge....spend free till 2018!

I need to look at my broadband supplier over the holidays...the company I was with sold out and the new company are just not cheap so I'm hoping to save a little bit more there

budgets will be done on Monday so will post them once the have been done.

Happy frugalling

Savvy_sewing · 21 December 2017 at 8:46AM

cw18 wrote: »

Is the smallest debt the one on the highest interest rate?

Yes it is. It’s with Santander.
So I am aiming to clear that one first. But even if it wasn’t I find clearing off the smallest debt and then transferring the payment on to the next one etc helps me psychologically. It also gives me a quick win, which makes me feel better.

debtaghh · 21 December 2017 at 4:03PM

Hi,

I would like to join but am just wondering a few things. My dh uses the car to travel the work so am I right I’m assuming I won’t include fuel? I pay about £900 in minimums in debt so assume I won’t include this? Can I only include the following or is that cheating:

Gas/electricity
Mobiles
Tv licence, Internet, Sky , phone
Groceries
Clothes
School trips/books
Entertainment
Other

I won’t include presents as I’m a family of 5 so think will be even harder if I have to include this.

What if you have a problem with your car or you need to replace a household item?

I see someone else has mentioned can we increase it to more than £4K? I need to be frugal due to increases in our outgoings but £4K won’t work for our size family

Sorry for all the questions.

2018 Frugal Living Challenge

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