Resolution Thrifty

I remember listening to a talk about waking up early and having a routine. My reaction to early mornings was pretty much summed up by this emoji 😱. However, although I am still not exactly a super happy early riser I do like the concept of having a morning routine to follow and since the end of Summer, I have been doing my best to implement one. And of course it helps to have children who need to get up and go to school. So far this is what it looks like: Wake up about 6.30am Get dressed into work out clothes. Wake up kids. Use bathroom. Put on exercise routine - I go on YouTube and use one of these Walk a mile videos that average only about 15 minutes. Its easy to do and quite fun. 2-3 minutes of weights. Followed with about 10 minutes of stretching and Yoga exercises. This appeals to my frugal nature as it costs me far less than paying for a class and Make sure kids eat and send them off to school. Check the meal planner and make a shopping list. Shower and change into ...

The BBC iplayer has been showing old episodes of Horizon and I watched the one on fasting presented by the very amiable Michael Moseley. This is of course where the 5-2 diet first became infamous. I was impressed with the effect the diet has on things like diabetes, blood pressure and of course weight so have decided to give it go. Apparently fasting is also good for the brain cells which is even better as I feel like I have been suffering with 'foggy brain' recently. I also like the simplicity of the diet, basically for two days of the week with at least a day in between, you fast and only eat 500 calories for a woman or 600 for a man, if you are hardcore you can eat nothing at all. You can drink as much zero calorie drinks as you like so lots of water and herbal tea for me. The other five days there are no restrictions, I just eat normally, I do not attempt to diet on those days but at the same time I don't eat six eclairs, one is just fine or two! I started at the begin...

I haven't posted on this thread for quite a while and I have no reason to justify this, I guess I just kept procrastinating until I simply forgot about it. I would like to say that I have used the last year well and achieved a lot but I think it has been a bit of a write off and I achieved little that could be called productive. Instead I fell into a bit of a limbo feeling sad about the state of the world and a little lost about what to do with myself. I wouldn't say I was depressed, more just a complete loss of focus so I threw myself into concentrating on the lives of my family and friends. I peaked in the summer and perhaps the heat wave we 'enjoyed' finally sweat out this apathy with my own life as with the return of grey clouds and a chill in the air I am beginning to feel myself again. With regards to frugality, I am still plugging away at it and to rejuvenate my commitment, I am returning to the basics: turn off lights and plugs when not in use; put on a cardig...

For the last two years I have been very interested in the whole Financial independence and extreme early retirement movement. With a mixture of frugality, minimalism and income generation, I hope to be able to generate enough to passive income for myself and my other half to no longer have to worry about working for money in the traditional sense. Instead we would have more time to explore other interests, hobbies and skills, and discover what is important to us! Of course we may find that we hate having more time with each other and have nothing interesting to fill it with and instead should return to a more 'normal lifestyle'. But if we don't try we won't know and I really think it is something worth aiming for!  I have been saving into an ISA stocks and shares account for many years but have never really tracked how much income it produces. I think partly this is because it has largely been reinvested so I never really noticed it. However, as I have been trackin...

I have a cat who I've had now for about 3 years, my children love him, I love him and my husband despite loving cats only puts up with him. He isn't a very nice cat. He doesn't like sitting on laps or being picked up. In fact most of the time I wonder why we keep him. If he was a friend I would stop replying to his texts and ignore his posts. But he isn't, he's a white and ginger ball of fur who often wears a face that is either plain stupid or is in a constant state of disbelief that we are crazy enough to put up with his shenanigans - its hard to be sure which it is. He is incredibly fussy about his food and I have wasted tonnes of money pandering to his tastes which are of course expensive so he certainly does not do thrifty. What do you with a problem like Merlin? Nothing as when his highness does come close for a tickle and a lick, all is forgiven. I am pathetic and he knows it! Damn cat!

I guess its a bit of a cliche that you hit midlife and start reevaluating your life. I am sitting here by my dining table surrounded by lots and lots of clutter that over the years I have accumulated. Although I am not unhappy with life, I also don't think I am particularly happy with it. I am basically in a rut. Since the start of 2016 I have embarked on a mission to become more frugal and make money online with some modest success. However, I still feel slightly adrift and know that I need to reset or recharge my inner self. I recently watched a documentary about minimalism and I believe there is something of value in what they were saying. The mountains of stuff that sits on tables, in drawers and wardrobes is mind boggling but also feels like a burden. Most of it doesn't particularly bring any joy or even utility into my life, and maybe it is time to get rid of all this stuff and lead a simpler life. I don't think I am ready to only own enough possessions to fit into tw...

My transition towards a more frugal life is going well and so far much easier than I thought it would be. Sky TV has now gone and we are enjoying a free trial of Netflix and using our Amazon Prime membership more than we did before. So far the withdrawal symptoms are manageable especially for me as I am a bit of a podcast addict which doesn't cost me a thing. However, the new and final series of Game of Thrones is yet to be aired and that may prove to be much more painful for the household! I now cook most of my meals from scratch. I already cooked probably about 65% but now its up to about 90%. This means no more weekly take out meals which is a saving about £50 a week. Added to this I have been reading a lot about sugar and decided that as a family we really need to cut back on it, realistically this means buying no biscuits or other snacks as frankly if its in the cupboard we will eat it! Doesn't save us much money but our health will thank us. There will still be ice crea...

I have been listening and reading lots of material by personal finance and FIRE gurus to find ideas and inspiration on how to be more frugal and channel this extra money into investments and savings. I don't live in a rural area and have no plans to move to the countryside so living off the land and using firewood for heat will not work for me. Instead I think I will work on small steps which eventually will become ingrained habits. So here are some of my ideas: - Get rid of Sky! This should save about £40 a month although it is likely we will be subscribing to Netflix for £7.99. - Cook more meals from scratch and plan meals over the week. This will hopefully mean less waste and a lower grocery bill. - Go to Lidl to buy things like pasta, tins and biscuits. Again this should shave some money off the grocery bill. - Change mobile contracts. Saving will be about £20 a month - Stop mindless spending on things like clothes, shoes, snacks, drinks, books, magazines and other pointl...

I have been away from blogging of late as life just got in the way, sometimes positively and sometimes less so. Before I knew it, 2016 has been consigned to the pages of history and 2017 has arrived and is speeding away. Brexit, terrorism and the possibility of a second Scottish referendum are dominating the headlines. I am trying to ignore the newspapers and focus on my goals for this year. I am now in my 40s and frankly my thoughts have strayed to the fact I am not going to get younger and so need to actually take health more seriously, this in practical terms means I have to do some exercise and eat better. With frugality at the forefront of my mind, I am not wasting money on gyms or dance classes so I have taken up jogging, twice a week in the local park! I am not very good and my stamina is rubbish, the same guy laps me every week! However, after a month it is definitely improving, my aim is to be able to run for half an hour without stopping. I have to say that doing exercise doe...

Not long ago, I received a letter from my house insurance providers, I am normally the kinda gal who just gives in a cursory look and files it away. However, for whatever reason, I decided to compare the quote they gave me to last year's. I was pretty surprised at what I discovered, they had increased it by nearly £10 a month so well over a £100 for the year. I couldn't understand why they would do that as as we haven't claimed on our insurance ever! So I gave them a call and this is more or less how the conversation went: Them - How can I help you ths morning? Me - hi, I received my renewal quote today and you have increased my premium by over a £100 a year. Why is that? I've never claimed. Them - Lets take a look....we have reviewed all the postcodes and your postcode may have been reclassified as more risky. Me - In what way? Nothing has changed in my area. In fact when I look at quotes on the comparison sites, they offer much cheaper quotes then yours, why don...

I try (although don't always succeed) to view life as a glass half full so I am hopeful that I will be able to find another local part-time job but I am also realistic that this may take some time. So until then I decided to turn to the Internet for inspiration and ideas on how to make a bit of money. I typed a few choice words into the search engine and discovered the rather wonderful site called The Money Shed . "What's that?" I hear you ask. In the shed, a community of knowledgeable homeworkers generously share their ideas, stories of what has worked or failed for them, and tips on how to make money online. There is a real supportive feel to the forum and other users will happily help or give opinions if you ask. I never knew such a world existed but am very grateful to have found them. I am currently joining lots of different sites covering paid to click, micro tasks, surveys and everything in between. Most of these sites have already been tried and tested by th...

One of the best ways to save money when you are an avid reader like myself is to simply join your local library. Free books on any subject you can imagine, as an avid reader myself, I can't and don't want to shell out 20, 30, 40 pounds each month to maintain my reading habit, and yes e-books are cheaper but despite enjoying my kindle, it doesn't beat the feel of a real book. Also if you really wanted to save money then you could also give up your home internet connection and just use the free WiFi at your library. As an ex-library worker, I remember talking to one member who did this and also turned off her heating, spending hours every day in the library to save money. She loved it there so it made financial sense. Libraries are are going through an extremely rough time at the moment. With council budgets being slashed, libraries are an easy and convenient target for cuts. Book budgets have been slashed and staff laid off as well as many branches being completely closed....

Austerity has affected many and at the start of 2016, I found myself with no job yet still plenty of after school activities to fund along with a tea and chocolate habit. I had less money but a lot more time on my hands so I I decided that it would be fun to write a blog, practise my long forgotten touch typing skills and just have an outlet for all my thoughts. Being at home can be a lonely experience and keeping busy helps with that. So I did some research and then I stumbled upon  a blog called 'Resolution thrifty' written by me! I had started a blog back in 2012 and then completely forgotten about its existence when I returned to work. I don't know if its fate or just an example of a poor memory but I decided that it made sense to just carry on from where I left off with a tweak here and there. So this is my first post to my old blog and long may I remember I have one!

This challenge of spending only £5 a day has been much harder than I had anticipated. For instance, do I count buying after school snacks for the children within this budget, and what exactly is a necessity? The weather here is freezing and I would love go get some thermals but are they really necessary or would an extra t-shirt do instead? I also discover how easy it is to mindlessly spend, when I'm out and about I think 'oh must get a paper' and then I remember I can't or I'm peckish and start looking eagerly at the rows of snacks and again I have to literally hold myself back as it is so easy to think, it's only 60p! It's these 'onlys' that have resulted in a larger than desired credit card balance, a muffin top and a house full of clutter! So I simply choose not to buy, and soothe my rumbling tummy with the fact there are some uneaten biscuits at home. There have been many failures though, meeting friends and staying in budget has been almost imp...

Having read a book about a lady who lived for a year on a pound a day, I have been inspired to be more thrifty, to spend less yet still live well! A pound a day does seem a little extreme so am going to attempt it at the more reasonable £5 a day. This will exclude necessities & bills like food for family meals, mortgage and loo roll but will include anything for me that I don't actually need,e.g, magazines, newspapers, snacks, take away coffee. If I am going to go out for dinner, I'll have to save up the £5. I also plan to generally be more thrifty so less food waste and expensive brands are out whilst meal plans and own store brands are in. With the world economy looking a little ropey still, I think it is worth tightening belts and learning to reuse and recycle. If anyone has any tips, would love to hear them! My first gem is the rediscovery of the local library, I have always loved reading and spent a lot of my childhood in the library but in more recent years I have bro...