One of the blogs I read (frugalwoods.com) is doing an Uber Frugal Month challenge. I'm going to to make a valiant effort at doing the challenge, but there are several obstacles.
First, the challenges:
1) DH's birthday - DH's birthday is the 2nd. He already usually gets shafted, so I try to make it a big deal. I've discussed it with him, and have it limited to 3 things: an experience (there's an indoor speedway at a nearby mall that he's been dying to try - 3 14-lap races will be $40 each), dinner (we're eating out with his family, so I'm not sure yet if this cost will fall to me), and a physical gift (DH works outside. With the cold weather, I want to invest in a good insulated thermos/food container, so I can give him soups and such to warm him up).
2) Our housewarming - We moved in last November. Given the holidays, we decided to host a housewarming in January. The date had already been set and invites sent when I signed on for the challenge. I'm going to give myself a $200 budget for party things including beer, wine, and 4 appetizers, plus a veggie snack tray. I'm going to do my best to get it under that, but that's a realistic number given the area I live in.
3) Eating out - DH and I tend to just give up and eat out when life gets overwhelming. I'm doing my best to combat this by having meals on hand that require little effort to get to the table.
4) House Stuff - Other than the hot tub, we're going to try and make do with the things we have. Given that we live next to Wal-Mart and 5 minutes from Home Depot, we've gotten into a bit of a habit of just going out and buying it when we find we need something.
In order to tackle the month as best as I can, I've done some prep. DH and I discussed some things we'd like to attempt to be more frugal in. At the end of the month, we'll go back to the things we've missed and nix the rest. The prep work:
1) Cancel Netflix and Hulu. We have Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and Sling TV to cover the shows we're not willing to give up. I'm going to put Netflix and Hulu on hold for the month to see how we make do.
2) Food - we're going to stick to a $50/wk food budget. This should more than cover sandwiches, fruit, and basic ingredients for things like soup and rice and chicken.
3) Water Use - We typically take 15 minute plus showers. We've agreed to limit it to 5 minutes. We'll set a timer to keep us to it.
4) Minimum Payments - I usually pay 5-10 over all the minimum payments, but I think it's hurting rather than helping. I'm going to pay the bare minimum on everything (except the Target card which I'll pay in full) and see what that leaves us with. Based on estimates, we should have anywhere from $30-50 extra to throw at one debt.
5) Eating Out - I bought 2 gift cards for food in December. We have a $25 card to both Firehouse and Papa John's in case the urge strikes, but we're going to do our best to not eat out at all. My boss also gave us a $50 gift card, so that's a future date night at some point.
6) Temperature - We've kept the house at 65 which is much lower than I'd normally prefer. It hasn't been terrible, and this winter's been mild, so we're going to try taking it down to 60.
7) Pets - We've lowered the dogs' food back to their normal levels, so that should help with food cost. We're also pretty well stocked on treats. I was going to get them groomed prior to the party since they smell pretty bad, but we're going to take that on ourselves. Total savings - $110.
Uber Frugal Month Prep and Challenges
December 30th, 2016 at 01:34 pm
December 30th, 2016 at 01:38 pm 1483105134
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December 30th, 2016 at 01:52 pm 1483105941
https://frugalqueen.co.uk/2013/02/20/frugal-buffet-for-twenty-people/
December 30th, 2016 at 02:03 pm 1483106606
December 30th, 2016 at 02:50 pm 1483109413
December 30th, 2016 at 04:09 pm 1483114167
December 30th, 2016 at 05:02 pm 1483117354
Will family be invited to your housewarming? Could a Birthday banner plus toasts be directed to DH to celebrate birthday to cut the cost of dinner out? What are the alcohol habits of your guests? How many drink beer? How many glasses of wine does a box provide? Surely the group could be satisfied with wonderful hot chocolate after all the holiday imbibing. What does Ms Frugalwoods set for eat-out opportunities and resultant budget? I suspect cable would be cancelled for the uber frugal duration, substituted by free, nearly free activities.
December 30th, 2016 at 06:08 pm 1483121318
The vast majority of the 30 or so that have RSVPed so far are our age: mid-20s-early-30s. While no one is certainly going ham at the party, I do think we would be considered bad hosts if we did not have sufficient alcohol. We did eliminate hard alcohol from the mix, and I am not even going to buy more bottled water. I think Mrs. Frugalwoods actually uses boxed wine. It's 20 for the box which contains the equivalent of 4 bottles. I do have half a box of red left from Christmas, so I'll just get a box of white. That combined with 12 bottles we have coming as part of our Christmas gift should be plenty.
She doesn't eat out and that is something we constantly struggle with. We usually only eat out/order in 4-5 times a month, but that is still more than I'd like. We will actually try not to do it at all, but the cards are there as a 'break glass in case of emergency' thing.
We don't have cable, but we are cancelling Netflix and Hulu. Prime and Sling TV are already prepaid, so cancelling them wouldn't save us anything in January. As it is, the Netflix and Hulu cancellations won't take effect until mid-late month, but I did commit to cancelling them, so I did it.
If we find that the changes aren't so bad, I think we're going to continue the challenge into February when we don't have anything planned. Valentine's Day is less sentimental to us, and we don't have any get-togethers planned, so it'd be a lot easier to really commit to the idea of the challenge. For me, this is just a push to start thinking more frugally and challenging myself.
December 31st, 2016 at 05:09 am 1483160970
I wonder if you would consider reviewing all those $$ cut backs we regularly offer on SA Forum. I can attest to the value of paying cash, it feels like 'real' money; once gone spending in that category stops until the next pay cycle. In case of emergency keep one card in the trunk, awkward to get under the spare tire.
Assign months to note every dollar spent on your cell phone. It's annoying and also identifies leakage.
Meal plans that are your & DH favourites, you're more likely to want to eat at home. If you've made an effort to partially prepare the next dinner, it's an additional motivator..
December 31st, 2016 at 01:45 pm 1483191931
You inspired me to do the challenge as well! And just like every other financial challenge/blog I've read, my view is that you have to make it work for YOU. I think proper financial management is about aligning your spending/budgeting with your priorities. If showing DH some birthday love is a priority, there will be ways to make that work. It's when we start spending will-nilly without intention that it gets out of hand. Same with the party. The point is to spend time with friends and share a new part of your life with them. It sounds like you have a good handle on how to make it less expensive and still enjoy it for what it is. It seems like you've identified your other problem areas and have a plan for addressing them.
It may be an unpopular opinion (and perhaps I'm not the most qualified person to dish out financial advice), but you can't take it with you... It's about finding balance and spending intentionally. You got this.
January 1st, 2017 at 03:54 pm 1483286050