2020 Frugal Living Challenge

mumtoomany

Morning all, lovely to see so many new names, and old names returning in a new guise.
 Still busy here. Lambing finished, worming and shearing this week. Lots more seeds, seedlings planted. Almost as many eaten by the mice, slugs, birds, etc! 
Still not spending much, Wales is still in lockdown, so nowhere to spend.
Invented a frugal biscuit recipe this week. Take seven packets of instant porridge, (that son-in-law was going to throw away, he buys them for work but they were very out of date,) two mushy bananas, (left from a box of 15 for £1), and half a tub of chocolate chips, reduced to 10p a tub at B&M, our of date. Mush bananas, mix all together, make into biscuit shapes, cook alongside tea in oven, to save on electric. Total cost around 20p made 15 biscuits. 
Keep safe, and keep frugaling, mumtoomany.

willow_loulou

Biscuits inventions excellent 😂 dd wants to do similar with Easter left overs 😁
I’ve finally got a desk in my room for study, I’ve just removed some ‘stuff’ to get rid of so I can move the game cases of my sons and repurpose the small bookcase they were on. It will be good to have everything I need together. I checked amazon and think I’ve saved £70 by repurposing furniture. I do need a desk chair as the one I’m using hurts my back. 

Shopaholic_no_more

Hi All
So, back to posting regularly on here. Doing shifts I seem to have more time in the mornings when I’m doing a late one, possibly because it’s only me in the house, so no distractions! 
I am truly on my way to changing my lifestyle to be more sustainable and frugal. It gives me a great amount of pleasure...I only wish I had started this years ago as I would probably not be in the debt position I am in now (apart from my mortgage) but, hey, hindsight is a wonderful thing...

This lockdown has really opened my eyes as to what I can live without ( consumerism wise) and believe me it is a lot. I am pleased that the shops are going to be allowed to reopen in the UK soon for all those concerned business owners out there but I have to say I am not going to be rushing back anytime soon. For me, it is all about shopping wisely and locally from now on and eventually being more self sufficient. It is not about being “tight” with your money as some people have said to me in the past :0 but about being sustainable and economically wise. We waste far too many resources on this planet as it is and I would rather not be a contributor to this any longer.

i have managed to get some of my debt moved to 2 credit cards that offered me 0% interest until June 2021 which I took up and have worked out exactly what I need to pay each month to pay it off in this time and have set up direct debits accordingly. It is going to be tight but I am DETERMINED to do it. Sadly, in the past I have tried this but my will was weak....NO MORE!
Luckily, I still have my job for which I am truly grateful as I know many others are unsure of their futures right now.

i have joined a local sustainable steps group on FB to get loads of ideas on how to reuse things ...some are shockingly simple I’m embarrassed to say!

Have a good day everyone...onwards and upwards

sashacat

Blimey Frugaldom, do you have 100 tyres?
One thing for sure is that you will be able to collect lots of leaves and make good leaf mould. 
How far are you from the sea because seaweed makes an excellent mulch.

Nonnadiluca

First new potatoes dug up this afternoon, yay!!! All fruit and vegetables are growing well, but there's been loads of watering to do - our allotments have water troughs, no such luxury as a hosepipe, so many, many, many watering cans and buckets have been carried! No sign of rain here in the deep south for ages, but hopefully the effort will pay off. Hope everyone keeping safe and well. 

Nataliemumof6

Olio is fantastic. We havent needed potatoes in 6 weeks (and thats for 8 of us!) Plus we have a huge lamb joint, 2kg chicken breast, 3kg bag pasta and so much bread/rolls/bagels plus ready meals and processed foods galore. The 13 yr old dd is veggie and i havent needed to buy her any protein source in around 5 weeks. She has had quorn 'buckets' and pasties and all sorts of meals. 

Got our asda order yesterday and musclefoods due 1st june (we order for 2 months then have a month off to use up) - we have 2 freezers and a third to collect next week being gifted. We also have a wholefoods order due as we eat a lot of beans and rices and i love buying in  bulk. We have raising, sundried tomatoes and all sorts of goodies coming

I have a bean curry in the slow cooker (4 portions) and i made low calorie healthier pizzas from self raising flour and fat free greek yoghurt (bases calculated at 6p) which i had with salad. Im currently still shifting  baby weight as youngest is almost 10mths. With breastfeeding i do get quite a high cal allowance and we do daily 1.5hr walks too. Just a couple stone left to shift  

sashacat

Natalie that bean curry sounds delicious. Please could you post the recipe.
I have a lot of dried beans that I grew last year and then dried and I love curry. 

[Deleted User]

We're trying more bean based meals as well but not bean curry but chickpea curry.

Hello like minded people. 

The one thing about having an OH that like hoarding unused DIY materials is that I can always rely on something to do a project. This week I have my sights on some shabby chic-ing of the mahogany stained meter cupboard. Oh has repurposed a pallet for a coat rack with shelves for winter accessories. All for free so far but I am going to need some wax for the chalk paint.

nannygladys

Hi everyone, the last few days have  been quiet for me, I did my shopping Tuesday very late (so I wouldn't meet anyone) and managed to get everything off my list, the only thing I noticed an empty shelf of was any sort of flour, so I asked the cashier and she said  the store hasn't had any delivered for weeks so it wasn't shoppers snaffling it all. (Im OK at the moment)

Today I have been busy doing the usual cleaning, washing etc as the weather is nice I tend to go mad and wash everything, throws, coats etc. and I have worked in the garden and finished off by starting to paint an outside wall. None of it has cost me money at the moment as the paint was bought last year, but it was so wet I didn't bother doing it. Food has been off my menu plan and my treat has been an ice cream (bought some this week!)

Anyway, off to cook my tea and have a sit down.
Nannyg

Nataliemumof6

sashacat said:

Natalie that bean curry sounds delicious. Please could you post the recipe.
I have a lot of dried beans that I grew last year and then dried and I love curry. 

Its just a tin of tomatoes, a container of passatta, plenty of curry powder, some carrots and some already cooked butter beans (i soak them overnight and cook in water for 8hrs on low in slowcooker then add the tomatoes/passatta/raw carrots and curry powder and cook for 4hrs in high) i had it with actifry potatoes for dinner tonight. I made 4 portions so will eat the rest over the week