Frugal February Challenge 2022 - Week 4

 Our Frugal February / Spending Freeze has come to an end and I think we have both been pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to limit unnecessary spending.  To be honest,  we just stayed away from the shops and kept ourselves busy at home.

Looking back over the last 4 weeks,  there was only the unplanned KFC lunch,  Valentines Day morning tea and the half price icecreams that could be considered unnecessary.  We did however decide to pay for these out of our pocket money and not general household funds.

Our savings has increased significantly which is fantastic considering Darren has had little work for the last 2 weeks.  Due to his unstable work and applying for another 2 jobs,  we have decided to continue the Spending Freeze for March.  Hopefully by then our income / work situation will have changed for the better.  This seems like the responsible thing to do. 

Here's how Week 4 looked -

Day 22 - $5.46 at Woolworths

Day 23 -  No Spending

Day 24 -  $24.16 on petrol 

Day 25 -  No Spending

Day 26 -  $3.79 at IGA

Day 27 -  $2.60 at Coles

Day 28 - No Spending

NOTES  -  

Day 22 I needed carrots and mushrooms for a beef casserole I was making.  Darren found sliced mushrooms on clearance and there was enough for the casserole ( 8 serves ) and another 2 meals.

Day 26 - The $3.79 was for a dozen eggs.  Our only laying chicken has not laid for the last 10 days or so.  I haven't bough eggs for such a long time I just grabbed the cheapest I could find.  I made lots of whole orange cakes and zucchini fritters with those eggs and had a few left over.

Day 28 -  The $2.60 was for milk.

We had 16 No Spend Days out of a total of 28 days for the month.  We got a lot more gardening,  baking and bulk cooking done during the month which has set us up for more savings to come.

How did you go with the  Frugal February / Spending Freeze ? 

Frugal February Challenge 2022 - Week 3

 Our Frugal February / Spending Freeze is going quite well.  Unfortunately life happens and sometimes money needs to be spent.  We are not perfect but we are trying really hard to limit our spending.  

It does feel good to stay out of the shops ( most of the time ) and our bank balance has reflected our hard work.  Darren is in the process of securing more work and until that happens we'll be continuing the Spending Freeze.  At this point it looks like the challenge will continue until at least the end of March.

Here's how the last 7 days looked - 

Day 15 - No Spending

Day 16 -  Monthly grocery shopping Aldi $1.80  Woolworths $56.65

Day 17 -  No Spending

Day 18 -  KFC $14.39,  Petrol - $92.90,  Chemist $7.50

Day 19 -  No Spending

Day 20 -  IGA $24.19

Day 21 -  No Spending

NOTES -

Day 16 grocery shopping was only buying essentials.  We are pretty much fully stocked up.  Every month I allocate $100 for groceries to feed the two of us and our cat.

Day 18 was lunch at KFC.  Unfortunately we had to go to the doctor for my infected eye and the appointment was over lunchtime after working all morning.  We tried to get a telephone consultation ( so I could eat at home ) but it was not possible.  Darren and I paid for lunch out of our pocket money,  not general household funds.

Day 20 was a slightly weak moment.  Our favourite icecreams were on a half price sale at IGA so we decided to stock up.  We did pay for it out of our pocket money.  I thought if we stock up now,  they might not come on sale during the coming cooler months.

How is your Frugal February / Spending Freeze going ?

Have you had any weak moments ?

Frugal February Challenge 2022 - Week 2

We've just finished week 2 of the Frugal February Challenge for 2022.  This week started off really well with no spending for 4 days.  

I've been dropping in the Savers op shop to donate unwanted goods and to have a quick look around.  I haven't found any knitting cotton yet but I've found cotton doona covers to make tea towels.  I've tried to stay focused when I'm in there and only look in sections where I can find things on my ' wanted ' list. 

The main objective of the Frugal February Challenge for Darren and I is to only buy essential items using our general household bank account  / debit card.  At the end of the month we are hoping to transfer a large amount into our  savings account.  We still get our monthly pocket money and can use this as we see fit.  The gift fund is fully saved for for 2022 so if I see something on special then I can buy it.   At the same time I'm trying to be really wise about what I'm buying and making sure it's the best price possible. 

Here's how our week looked -

Day 8 -  No spending 

Day 9 -  No spending

Day 10 - No spending

Day 11 - No spending

Day12 -  Spent $12  in Savers on a doona cover

Day 13 -  Spent $4 on Cruskits biscuits on sale for $1 a box. 

Day 14 -  Spent $12.20 on a Valentine's Day morning tea.

                Spent $16.20 in Big W on beach towels

                Spent $6.99 in Coles on salad ingredients

NOTES -    

*  The doona cover was paid for out of the gift fund.  I'll be cutting the doona cover up and making tea towels for presents.

*  The Cruskits are an essential grocery item.  Darren eats them often for his lunch and they were a bargain sale price.

*  The Valentine's morning tea was paid for out of our pocket money.

*  The beach towels were on clearance and paid for out of the gift fund.  They will be made into hooded beach towels for presents and to sell.

*  The salad ingredients will be used for at least 3 dinners.  

How is your Frugal Challenge going ?

Are you finding it easy to halt the spending ?

Getting Your Year Into Gear - Emergency Budget

Life can throw unexpected challenges our way.  Being prepared as much as possible is the key to surviving those challenges.

Darren and I have lived with varying work hours our entire married life ( 23 + years ).  We've always had a baseline budget to work with and any extra hours has always been a bonus.

At the start of the year when I was doing all the budgets,  I thought it would be a good idea to write out an emergency budget just in case we are faced with the unexpected like job loss or illness.  When the unexpected  happened in the past,  we've  scrambled as soon a possible to cut our expenses.  Having the emergency budget written out has given us peace of mind.  We feel prepared for anything now.

The emergency budget is a bare bones budget that only includes the day to day expenses like food,  petrol,  chemist, and  haircuts etc etc.

A starting point was to look at our usual budget that includes the above items as well as direct debits for our new car,  Cook Island holiday and  local holidays   As I went through each item / category,  I either cut it out of the budget or cut the alloted amount down to the bare minimum we could survive on.

Of course our holiday and car direct debits could be cut it we need to.  There will always be another chance to go on a holiday.  My new car is not needed for a few years so we'll have the time to save.

The emergency budget included a heavily slashed present / gift budget.  If times were tough,  I'd bake biscuits for presents,  make items from my material stash or make boxed sets of greeting cards from my paper stash.  I've always had an overflowing gift cupboard that could supply presents for a year.  Of course there is my jars of jam and bars of soap I could give.  This is an area I feel in control of.

Our wardrobes have plenty of clean, well looked after clothes and shoes with new socks and  under things bought on sale and stored away.  We could easily go a year without needing new clothes.  If the emergency budget had to be put into action,  clothing would not be included.

Our food budget at the moment is about $120 a month for the three of us.  It sounds impossible,  but if we needed to we could cut it down to $100 a month and grow more food and eat really basic meals and snacks.

Thankfully we are pretty healthy and rarely need to buy anything from the chemist.  Sometimes we have too much money put away for chemist expenses.  So if needed this area could be cut down.

We'd cut pocket money right down to the bare bones.  In other words,  just enough to buy one morning tea per month.

Once I'd written out the emergency budget I'd slashed over $1100 for our monthly budget with a possible extra $200 slashed if it meant the difference between sinking or swimming.

Do you have an emergency budget you can fall back on in hard times ?

Will you consider writing out an emergency budget in the near future ?

November 2018 ' Use It Up ' Challenge Update

With November coming to an end last week,  so too did our ' Use It Up ' challenge.  I don't think I used up everything on my original post at the start of November but I'm pretty pleased with my effort.   Here's my list of achievements -

*  Used scraps of material to decorated jars of jam I sell or give as presents.  I also cut out extra circles ready for my next batch of jam making.

*  Use a shower moisturiser sample tube.  I even cut the tube in half to get another 4 portions out.  Darren used a travel sized conditioner and shower gel.

*  We ditched the foaming hand soap in the ensuite  ( for now )  and used up two bars of soap I had sitting in the cupboard.

*  Decorated a few more department store gift bags with scraps of decorated paper / cardstock.

*  This year I'm using 8 gift bags from my stash and lots of tissue paper for Christmas present giving.  I'll be on a mission next year to use more gift bags.   They seem to multiply faster than I can use them.

*  Used scraps of card making paper to make lots of gift tags for future use.

*  Made a conscious effort to use quite a few tea light candles and my soy melt burner to have a lovely fragrance in my home.  Just like the gift bags,  I'm sure the tea lights multiply in my home.  During November I used approximately 9 or 10 tea lights.

Pretty hats for the homemade jam.

How did you go with the ' Use It Up ' challenge ?

Did you achieve any of your goals ?

Charity Giving This Christmas

Here is a timely post I wrote on this blog two years ago and have shared with the Cheapskates Club for the last 5 - 6 years.  I hope you are inspired to help others have a great Christmas.

Many charities find it very hard to meet the needs of struggling people across the globe. Government funding can be scarce and many charities rely on the goodwill on companies and the everyday person like you and I.  Please take the time to read this post and help where you feel you can.

It's just over seven weeks to Christmas YAY !!! I love Christmas because it's the time of the year we celebrate the birth of Jesus - the greatest gift ever given. I also love to give to others especially those in need.

As you start to think about Christmas presents and food for your own celebrations, please take the time to plan how you'll help others. Here are some ideas that won't blow out your family budget -

* Clean out your pantry and donate excess tinned and dried foods to charities, churches and schools that are collecting.

* Each time you do your grocery shop add a couple of tins of spaghetti, baked beans, tinned fruit and vegetables. You could do this every time you are tempted buy a bottle of soft drink or a packet of chips as a part of your usual shop.

* Next time you feel like takeaway, put the money towards buying food for charity.

* Start looking for specials on boxed cereal, porridge, tinned hams and toiletries to donate.

*  Get together with a few friends,  pick a charity and plan to bless those in need.

*  Feel like a cuppa at the shops ?  Instead,  use your coffee money to buy a jar of pasta sauce and a couple of packets of pasta.

*  Buy a couple of toys for charity when you are Christmas shopping for your own family.  Charities are in real need of presents for children over the age of 10.  A tote bag,  skate board,  basket ball or Nerf gun make fabulous presents that won't break the family budget.

*  Ask your children to buy a present from their pocket money.  This is a great opportunity to teach them about budgeting and giving to others. 

With a little bit of planning ahead of time you'll be able to bless many in need.

Who's up for the challenge to start now ?
Have you already put items aside for charity ?

The ' Use It Up ' Challenge Update

For the month of March we've been trying to use up items from around our home.  This is a great way to save money,  declutter and to feel like we are not wasting goods.

During the challenge I used up -

*  One lipstick by digging down to the very bottom with a cotton stick.- Value $8

*  One bar of soap for hand washing instead of refilling the foaming hand soap pump - Value $2

*  Ate 8 single serves of leftovers from the freezer - Value $8

*  Used a few little shampoo and shower gel  bottles - Value $1

*  Decluttered the pantry and put aside items that need using up.  Darren is gradually making his way through the gnocchi,  nuts and rice cakes.  Value - $15

*  Used some guest soaps to add to  decorated hand towels.  This made  lovely packages to sell  at a  craft market a week or so ago.  From my understanding a couple of them sold to the value of about $14.

*  Reorganised the freezers to see what I have.  I wrote a menu plan to include a few bits and pieces - Value $10 in eaten items

Total value for the month $58

We've used a few

Egg custard to use up excess milk and eggs

Using up freezer meals

Did you use up anything from around your home ?