What it's worth being frugal about?

Ken68

Growing own food is my biggest saver .Next is filtered rainwater with a gain of £250 a year.

HappyMJ

Ken68 wrote: »

Growing own food is my biggest saver .Next is filtered rainwater with a gain of £250 a year.

What did that set up cost you?

I figured out I wouldn't save anything.

Towser

Winter checklist

1. Finish draughtproofing the wooden floorboards - a job for this wkend.

2. Check round the doors to find draughts when it's windy and replace the spongy stuff

3. Line curtain to downstairs living room French doors

4. See about getting a smart meter to keep an eye on energy usage

5. Maybe a big kitchen rug to cover stone floor

6. Big lined curtain for main front door.

7. water bottles x 3

8. Look into decent energy bulbs that put out a decent amount of light

9. Buy cheap winter clothing now

10......Will add to this as I go.. That's definitely worth it.

Mistral001

HappyMJ wrote: »

What did that set up cost you?

I figured out I wouldn't save anything.

I suppose it depends on what you use to filter the water.


I have a primitive form of solar heating which I made in about 15 minutes and out of old material I was not using. Even costing my time out at say £10 per hour, I would still have saved £17.50 in the first year.

Ken68

HappyMJ wrote: »

What did that set up cost you?

I figured out I wouldn't save anything.

It's a manual system Happy...not for everyone, maybe not for families, certainly not if you live in a flat. The rainwater comes from tanks that I've had for years. If starting from scratch, plastic tanks are about £40 plus delivery.
A neighbour with a young family are copying so some are interested.

Towser

For me, being frugal is about knowing where to shop and being flexible.

I am sticking to Aldi/Lidl/B&M

Charity shops, Carboot, Ebay,

Supermarket Diesal

This covers most things. Am I missing anything?

tuskel

A really good question... I think it is definitely worth being frugal about things you can do "on the go", for example, I work in a charity shop once a week and pick up a lot of stuff (apart from underwear, and shoes, all our clothes are from there,most of the books, new kitchenware and cleaning stuff, even make-up and smellies sets, still in their little gift boxes!). Also, on my way to the shop I pass an apple tree and this is the season to pick them! I save £££s (yes, three pounds! :P) while I spend about 5 minutes picking them. Also, I usually knit/crochet or repair something while watching telly in the evening.

In the end, I think this means I try and be frugal with my time

tuskel,
sincerely

Mistral001

tuskel wrote: »

A Also, on my way to the shop I pass an apple tree and this is the season to pick them! I save £££s (yes, three pounds! :P)

Can you disclose to the rest of us where this apple tree is so that we can all get free apples?

Towser

There are lots of apple trees up and down the country. Just go out and find one. If you don't ask you don't get.

I freecycled the rest of the apples I didn't want from my two trees to someone who was making their own cider. I didn't want all the apples rotting under the tree making a mess for mowing so was glad to get rid of them.

There is one road in my village where people put out all the produce they don't want exactly for passers by. Mostly apples and pears.

Before I had trees of my own I knocked on the door of one of my neighbours and asked if it was ok to take a few and of course the answer was yes.

I have been juicing my apples and have a store in the shed. They will last all winter if you look after them in the cold. So far I have made 5 apple cumbles this year too.

Happy scrumping.

Rainy-Days

My old Mum used to have some prett sage advice:-

"You spend a bit, you save a bit; you buy cheap and you buy twice, but at the end of it there's no point in being the richest one in the graveyard".

Wise words and very true!