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2020 Frugal Living Challenge

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  • mumtoomany
    mumtoomany Posts: 1,526 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm back to try again for another year. Not worked out the budgets yet, but they will all be pretty low!

    A little about us. We are myself, OH and DD3. DD3 is at college but still living at home, however as she is now 20 we get no child tax credits or child benefit for her. We are also funding her driving lessons. We share a house (big house) with DD1 her OH and there three little ones. DD1 contributes £120 per month towards groceries. I cook for all eight of us, when DD1 and S-I-L1 are not working away. We carry out all the child care, and are paid for it; we also sell vegetables, lambs and eggs, to make a few pounds. All other bills are split 50/50.

    I may not post often, as our internet is BAD, especially if it rains and as we live in Wales, that is most days.

    Started well. Having used up or frozen all of the Christmas leftovers, DS2 and his partner arrived with a huge bagfull of new year left overs. That will feed the hoards for a day or two.

    Good luck everyone, mumtoomany.
    Frugal Living Challenge 2025.

    Grocery challenge, £1300 food plus £200 cleaning materials etc, for the year.
  • Dizzy_Imp
    Dizzy_Imp Posts: 2,782 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    NSD number 2 for me. Went to a friend's house for a cuppa rather than meet in a cafe, so saved a few pennies there! Another friend brought a box of Christmas biscuits with her, so we all enjoyed those :eek:

    Been filling holes in the plaster in our dining room today with a bendy ruler as I can't find my putty knife (it's in the garage somewhere!) and wasn't about to spend out on another one. Worked pretty well actually, so I might stash it in my decorating box for further use.

    I also melted some beeswax into little blocks for hubby to use on his dry-suit zips, which can get jammed easily. The wax helps the connector go over the teeth so its easy to pull up zips at the back of the suit. Wifey brownie points earned there :D
  • lykkelig
    lykkelig Posts: 37 Forumite
    New Year wishes to you all. I would like to share my frugal journey with you and take an interest in how you all live yours.

    For starters today is the day I dig out the soup I made just before Christmas using the very low priced vegetables available from Lidl.

    I melted saved up bits of soap over a bain marie, poured it into a mould and will turn out a new bar of soap later.

    My goal is to continue to live a minimal life,staying connected to what is important and be inspired by people who think I'm a similar way.
    2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge 4/66 coupons spent
    2020 Frugal Living Challenge
  • Broke my streak after 3 no spend days by having lunch and coffee out today - but returned some clothes I got in the sales, so still came out ahead.

    Tes*o delivery this morning for £40 - hoping to try and stick to this as my weekly food budget. Although there are only three of us, I often have extra mouths to feed at lunch and/or dinner.

    Tea tonight was cooked from scratch and used up some fresh bits in the fridge and cupboard.

    Another bid on eB*y item.
  • 1LuckyLady
    1LuckyLady Posts: 1,206 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    2nd day at home making use of food we already have in and watching dvds, playing games and listening to music that we already own.
    We don't get back to normality til work/school resumes next week.
    Sticking with the "Small things" thread to keep up us on the straight and narrow.
  • An unexpected guest turned up and ate the leftovers I'd planned to take for lunch tomorrow so after the toddler was asleep I set to, to make soup out of leftover boiled carrots from our big NYD meal. Casting about desperately for something to make it slightly more interesting I added the equally leftover horseradish cream and have invented a truly delicious soup!
  • Viking_mfw wrote: »
    An unexpected guest turned up and ate the leftovers I'd planned to take for lunch tomorrow so after the toddler was asleep I set to, to make soup out of leftover boiled carrots from our big NYD meal. Casting about desperately for something to make it slightly more interesting I added the equally leftover horseradish cream and have invented a truly delicious soup!

    That's really impressive :)
  • Inspired reading everyone's posts ! Slipped today and spent £7 in Sains, needed fruit ........ Still back to lists and spreadsheets to prune more from each budget. ! Reading this reminds me that I stashed some Morrisons vouchers - saved for my frugal year - so I'm going to to hunt those out and save the cash from this months grocery budget. Cash been withdrawn and pots and purses filled......
    Out walking tomorrow so hoping rain will stop.
    Xx
    Journey on the Frugal Wagon to Self Reliance.
    Making money work for me, not the other way round
  • A_Random_Man
    A_Random_Man Posts: 1,167 Forumite
    Seventh Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Just a quick update for myself had a small spending day spent £2.40 on food on way back from work which I have updated my spreadsheets accordingly. Also booked my car in for a service for 13th January, I pay monthly for a service plan with Evans halshaw so it is something that is budgeted for already.

    Also I use Monzo for my groceries and they have a save the change function so 60p of the food transaction went into savings. I typically save around £15-£20 per month by doing this which goes straight into savings.

    I am feeling pretty tired now so will call it an early night. Goodnight everyone

    Mortgage Amount Outstanding £116,682.20
    2025 Mortgage-Free Wannabes #49 £1401.29/£1,250 (104.74%/100.00%)
  • Does anyone use Receipt Hog? Is it safe? X
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