What it's worth being frugal about?

Teddi · 27 March 2016 at 2:00AM

Its worth being frugal about anything if I didn't have a plan for that time already.

For instance if there is a load of leftover corporate food when I walk into the kitchen at work to put my glass in the dishwasher then it will only take me 5 mins to take it, I walk quicker to the station and stand on the platform for 2 minutes left. I wouldn't however wait an extra 10+ mins for a meeting to finish to take the food because although it would save me cooking that night it cuts into my time with my wife.

Mr_Singleton · 27 March 2016 at 9:52AM

Blue_Choo_Choo wrote: »

I collected every carrier bag since 1996. People thought I was crazy collecting all these bags. Soon as the 5p a bag was introduced I stood outside local supermarkets selling them for 4p. My current net profit is £172.26.

Having a wander around cyberspace on this Easter Sunday morning and came across the above. Have to admit I laughed out loud.

As BBC Radio 4's More or Less programme would have done lets look at the numbers behind Blue Choo Choo extremely far fetched claim.

If you're selling bags at 4 pence each and you've made £172.26 that means you've sold.... wait for it.... 4307 bags.

The bag charge has been in place for about 6 months which means that you've been selling bags at a rate of 25 every single day since the bag charge was introduced.

The free bags you used to get were so thin they in my experience disintegrated into un-usability in around 6 months would be interesting to know how you got them to last..... 10 years!

I could go on but do I need to?

Towser · 8 October 2016 at 6:42PM

I am having charity shop withdrawal symptoms. It's gnawing at me that I have chores to do instead of idling time away in these interesting places. I don't just look at the things but also the people.

Anyway I am down to my last comfortable £200 so I thought I would give up charity shop shopping for a while instead for chores until funds are even more comfortable.

However, I have ebayed and wait to sell something so that I can choose something again. Most likely Christmas gifts for the children.

I have also weighed in some old clothing which goes towards my freecycling petrol money.

I have been to CEX with the stuff the kids don't use and traded for a couple of games and DVD. This gives some satiety to my shopping addiction.

I would carboot but it is the wrong time of year.

What else is there especially for recycling the stuff around the house? Please come up with some good suggestions.

Rosemary7391 · 8 October 2016 at 9:10PM

I know I missed the pumpkin things last year, but it's almost time for them to be relevant again!

kboss2010 wrote: »

Just a note to people to check that their carving pumpkin is also suitable for eating as some area grown with chemicals not suitable for human consumption. It should say on the label.

Why on earth would someone go to all the effort of growing food you can't eat :shocked:

tuskel wrote: »

I wanted to use the leftover pumpkin for food this year, but didn't get round to it, sadly. How do you do it? I'd love to make pumpkin cake or sth... How do you start cooking it? (I've done seeds before, but the flesh? Roast in the oven, then puree?)

It's a bit of a pain - last time I did one I chopped it into chunks, steamed it skin side down, peeled and mashed. It can be quite liquid so roasting probably works well to avoid that. You can now buy canned pumpkin this side of the atlantic, which I use more frequently, but even fresh it's worth the effort - pumpkin pie is delicious

Gwendolyn · 8 October 2016 at 9:35PM

armyknife wrote: »

Your own time.

To me this is a huge thing. I have very little spare time in between a demanding job, running the house solo as my OH works away a lot, looking after 3 children and ferrying them to a host of activities and trying to do some things for myself - like being a member of a choir.
Financially, I was brought up to be frugal where I can but I do have my limits, which are mostly time imposed.
I have learnt to cook and will batch cook - saving both time and money. In terms of clothes and books and other such shopping, I buy the vast bulk from charity shops and ebay. We have a lot of second hand in this house.

I would imagine we all have different time and financial pressures in our lives and we all have a different balance to strike. What works for one person won't work for another.
If I had more time, I could certainly save a lot more cost but some of the choices I make are based on convenience as opposed to purely frugality. We make do and mend wherever possible but sometimes we spend money to get to the same result.
For example, when a job needs doing at home we tend to do it ourselves if it's doable in holidays and at weekends like painting the windows. But there are times when we get trades in when given sufficient time we might be able to do it ourselves.

moneyistooshorttomention · 9 October 2016 at 8:49AM

It's certainly a time v. money trade-off sometimes.

Now I'm retired then I think it's worth it for me to make the effort to grow what food I can/make things from scratch. Sometimes things don't work out. For instance I tried to make my own rice milk the other day and ended up chucking it - as I didnt like "my" version:(. But, if it had worked, then it would have ended up saving me money on buying the shop-bought version. By and large though - it works out worthwhile to do these things. I often make my own pesto - and that's a lot cheaper than the one I would otherwise buy. I usually make my own bread - and that's a LOT cheaper than what I would otherwise buy and so on.

I tend to view it that I need some hobbies - so I might as well have a couple of useful ones.

I think it might be helping - at last - on the food cost fronts (though, goodness knows, the start-up costs were high!). I've started to keep records again of spending and the last couple of weeks has seen me spending an average of £20 per week on food. I don't think that's bad - as the average British person spends £35 a week on food. All the more so considering I have real coffee/buy everything possible organic/am single - so that's three ways my food is due to be dearer than average otherwise.

flubberyzing · 9 October 2016 at 4:34PM

I hate Halloween... I grew up in the 90s and where we lived seemed to attract a lot of trick and treaters. I was never allowed/or wanted to do it myself, and just couldn't understand the appeal of knocking on strangers doors at night to beg sweets... I used to find it a bit scary when people knocked on ours! We always just ignored them, but one year our front door got egg'd. It was horrible watching my poor mum shivering on her knees on the front step with the washing up bowl trying to get the egg off... Little sods.

Christmas is usually a quiet affair. I'm a school teacher, so get 2 weeks off. We usually break up around the 21st, and I go straight off to Mum and Dads the other side of the country. I'm usually with them until around the 28th, then back home to my own flat. I live alone but always decorate for Christmas. I put the fake tree up and other Christmasy bits up. Usually the Sunday closest to the start of December. Love Xmas decs, so like to make the most of them!

This Christmas looks much the same, but potentially quieter. Dad has been quite ill for a few months now, so I'm not sure he'll be up for much, and Mum is exhausted from looking after him. I plan to offer to cook the xmas food this year so that the two of them can have a proper relaxing day.

janb5 · 9 October 2016 at 5:14PM

I hope this helps someone!

My son is notorious for leaving something..somewhere! Being jammy, he always gets it back! To date he has lost travel bags, his wallet and my Ebay parcels...all came back!

He is currently staying with me part of the week so I typed his contact numbers on a piece of paper which feeds neatly in the small plastics given when you buy repeat lottery tickets. Each little plastic is in the zipped compartment of his bag. Not address- just telephone numbers for mobile, work and home.

Towser · 10 October 2016 at 11:43AM

Budget Shopping List - Can you show me a more frugal way?

Fresh, frozen & chilled
Chicken breast pieces
White fish fillets
Bacon
Chicken wings/thighs/legs (depending on preference and price)
625g cheddar cheese
2 x 1% fat/semi skimmed milk 4pts
8 Pork sausages
Sunflower spread
2 x 6 pack fromage frais
Vanilla ice cream
Frozen mixed veg
Coleslaw

Dried goods
1 kg rice
Pizza base mix
Cornflakes
Porridge oats
Variety pack biscuits (remove from list and bake your own if you have biscuit ingredients at home)
12 pack crisps
Jelly

Tins, cartons & bottles
500g dried pasta
Tin of sweetcorn
Creamed tomatoes/passata
Tomato puree
Tin of red kidney beans
Tin of green lentils
2 x tins of baked beans
Tin of haricot beans
2 x tins chopped tomatoes
2 x bottles high juice squash
4 x 1 litre cartons pure fruit juice
1 tin tuna

Bakery
1 large baguette
2 x 8 pack crumpets
3 x sliced wholemeal/white loaves
2 x 6 pack pitta bread
12 pack scones (remove from list and bake your own if you have scone ingredients at home)

Fresh Fruit & Vegetables
Bag of of mixed peppers
Bag of onions
Bag potatoes
Broccoli (for fish pie)
2 leeks
Bag of carrots
Garlic
Bag of apples
Basics bananas
Basics pears
Mushrooms
2 x lemons

DigForVictory · 10 October 2016 at 12:55PM

It's worth being frugal on foodstuff where the family do not realise - the downshifting on spaghetti alone has saved me £50 this year & that's a terms Scout subs. I now buy washing up liquid in industrial tanks from the Chinese supermarket. Refilling Aldi bottles!

(It's getting rid of the looroll the chaps refuse to use that's proving trickier, but I gather the local primary has a use for it mopping up after messy play.)

Growing your own is a real swings & roundabouts thing - the fresh air, exercise, community, green gym, farm to fork palaver versus three kilos of carrots yellow stickered to 12 pence. I try to do a bit of both as I love time in the garden but there are only 24 hours total in the day & increasingly fewer with daylight.

It's worth making every car journey count. I commute, but deliver things to the courier drop point by my office coming in, and pick up the shopping going back. We go over to see Mother-in-law & take her shopping - her favourite supermarket has different things to ours, so we stock on the "odd stuff". We go to a museum, & riffle through the surround charity shops before we check out the chippy. (Teenage boys - keeping them fuelled is a combination of frugal & desperately pragmatic.)

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What it's worth being frugal about?

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