2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

@willow_loulou Congratulations on clearing that debt early!
@Pixiehouse55 I have been posting about frugal living since the 1990's so a quick search for 'Frugaldom' should bring up a few bits and pieces and frugaldom.com is the latest free website, although I struggle to keep anything up to date. Likewise with social media, my username is Frugaldom.
Good luck @Jazee
On the self-sufficiency topic, I believe it is impossible to be fully self sufficient so we aim to be as self-sustainable (or self-reliant) as possible, which means relying on our own steam to generate any cash we need for essential and unavoidable bills and the freedom to choose how, where and when I earn and spend my own money. I like to think that progress has been made that enables us all to live better lives with more time to enjoy other things. I tend to spend every available penny on developing the Frugaldom project and hope, one day, to be able to offer like0minded others the chance to experience the lifestyle by way of the off-grid cabins. (Frugaldom has developed over the years into a 'not-for-profit' social enterprise so this is not in any way an advert.)

My lettuce, peas and potatoes are doing well but my radishes have shot - they look lovely as flowers in the container kitchen garden on the caravan decking. I'm really impressed by how well the fennel is doing so will need to read up on that to see what best to do with it and if I can keep it going for longer - off hand, does anyone know if it can be treated as a perrenial?
EDITED IN: "Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves..."
Excellent news, as I would love to see this growing in my new herb garden that we are in the process of building behind my cabin plot

nananibbles

Hi there,
I'm fairly new to this site and have only just found this thread. I'd like to join the challenge for the last 6 months of this year.  Things have been pretty tight for the last few months. I lost my income for a couple of months and my savings, which I use to supplement my part time income  (tied up in investments) have taken a massive tumble. I have been staying with DD, her partner and 15 month DGD to help support them practically and financially. I've also been paying for my DS's food shop. He was in his final year at uni and has been isolating at his dad's empty house with little prospect of finding a job. I have gone from shopping for one to five  with the additional cost of paying inflated prices from local shops and garages for the first month at least as well as buying more expensive brands when this was the only. Needles to say my last 3 months' budget has been way over so I'd like to come on board to get back on track. There are lots of things I need to work through budget wise over the next few months and I'm hoping this will be a good starting point to help me work out the best way of going about things and keeping myself accountable to stay on track.
NN

Frugaldom

Welcome to our challenge, @nananibbles. I think many of us long term frugalers will also be analysing spending and budgets again after the coronavirus pandemic eventualy dies out. Things are changing all around us, prices, availability, income, situations... we all need to keep tabs on our spending to avoid falling off the frugal wagon. It's always good to have some newcomers climb on board

nananibbles

Thank you Frugaldom I am looking forward to the challenge.
The last 18 months have brought many life changes to me including an extremely expensive (and on-going) divorce (worth every penny!), empty nesting, moving away, becoming a grandmother and a reduction in income. I have always been fairly good with money but I now need to really tighten the belt and create a plan for how I spend over the next few years. 
 What I would really like to do is financially help my children (2) now when they need it most  as they move into adulthood rather  than them waiting for any inheritance  of which there may be none and by which time I'm hoping they will be financially secure. My DS has just finished uni having studied music and the likelihood of him getting a job anytime soon is unlikely and as there is no longer a family home for him to come back to he needs to find somewhere to rent. My DD fell pregnant whilst doing her A levels and now has her own place living with her partner. There are many costs for her to deal with on top of which she is about to start uni in September and is faced with outrageously high childcare costs for the next 3 years as well as the cost of uni itself.
Having stripped down my budget I now have £8k allocated to my own costs for the next 6 months which has been done on a pro-rata basis of my re-calculated annual budget so it may be a little more or less depending on when my annual costs come out such as Christmas, car insurance etc (£6k plus £2k for any financial commitments I have for the remainder of this year - ie solicitors fees and some maintenance work that needs doing on my flat). My individual costs are paid for by my savings which are currently invested but due to the current financial climate have pretty much dive bombed. I spent many years of frugal living  and saving hard to build up this fund so that I could live a  simple life living more and working less so I don't have a problem with frugality. In addition I have an income of around £500 a month working one day a week plus a bit of house sitting for a friend. This money is now being allocated to some of the costs I am paying for that are associated with my children  such as food, mobiles wifi and helping out with the costs of a home where there is always something that needs fixing. I also plan on looking after dgd one day a week to reduce the cost when dd is at uni, and a day batch cooking for them. 
So that is my plan but the last few months have taken my budget way over where I need it to be so I am now in uber frugal mode to try and claw back what I can and get on track over the next 6 months.

NN

Tanya12345

Morning All, NN you have found the best place for frugal support and inspiration. These Frugalers are wizards and can make funds stretch like rubber !! Looking forward to sharing your journey.
Willow Lou Lou ha ha, I'm the same - every pip, cutting and sapling is saved ( including those sent by  Frugaldom !!). Reckon all tree planting to be celebrated !
Also agree about self sufficiency, there is always a compromise somewhere along the line and that is different for everyone. My aim is like most on here, I want to have choice and for me growing my own, frugalling etc gives me the freedom to chose what I do with my time (lots thankfully)  and money ( not lots !!).
Yesterday was spent in the polytunnel as I'd taken my eye off it and it was truly a jungle - took ages to wash the green tomato stain off my hands ! Harvested peas, spinach, tomatoes, strawberries and potatoes - 2kg from the straw planting experiment !!
Back to the garden today - hugely windy but dry at the mo -  to tackle the weeds.........
 Have a good day everyone 
Txx

sashacat

Frugalling also gives me the ability to make choices. I get to spend what money I have on things that are important to me. 
At the moment I am having much needed work done on my house. I have afforded it by counting the pennies and then saving every last one. 
It is good to be back on here and nice to see some new people. 

nananibbles

Good morning all,
Not the most frugal start to my challenge. I took DS out for a bite to eat yesterday as we were having a mooch around the shops. In my defence I have been promising to take him out for some sushi for months now and it is sooo rare for me to eat out, no more than 3 or 4 times a year. Still a spend is a spend so I will see if I can re-coop it over the month. DD is going away for a week at the end of July with her partner's family so I will save on a weeks food shop for them so that will save me more than the cost of lunch.
I've been looking at my July budget and seeing what additional spends are due (aside from sushi!) I have 2 nephews birthdays (always give them money) and this will come from my 'celebrations pot'. I also need to buy some form of pigeon repellent. As I've been in lockdown for 3 months with my DD I've not been back home more than a couple of days so coming back this weekend I discovered I have a pigeon infestation on my balcony - which was covered in poop! I think I need to buy some plastic spikes to put along the balcony wall and some masonry glue to fix them down. I try to avoid using Am@son as I like to support local trade but doing a price comparison - they're about 3 times the price in my local hardware shop. I will do a little more research before I make my decision. I think I will be allocating around £50 to this as it is a large balcony that runs across 2 rooms. Other than that I shouldn't have any additional spends. I do need to re-stain the decking but as I won't be here for the rest of the month that will possibly be a job for August.
On a positive note I am house sitting for the lady I work for in July so my monthly income should double at least. She normally goes away several time a year but obviously with covid that hasn't happened so far. 
Have a great frugal day 
NN

Frugaldom

WHAT WILL YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR LIFESTYLE AFTER CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN ENDS?
Good morning frugal folks.   I was just wondering how Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns were affecting spending, plans and lifestyles. For me, nothing much has changed at all as I still need to work outdoors 7 days a week regardless of any situations and I don't really 'go shopping' or eat out. We are still only entering phase 2 to get us out of lockdown here in Scotland so social distancing rules etc are still all in place, as are some travel restrictions and a heap of other rules for the various service industries. From this week, face masks are compulsory when entering all shops, but how they'll deal with those who refuse to comply, I have no idea. Have you saved money while being on lockdown and has frugal living helped you through the pandemic so far? Other than having to do much more work 7 days a week while having no volunteers and no income from visitors, things here haven't really changed. 

WHAT WILL YOU CHANGE ABOUT YOUR LIFESTYLE AFTER CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN ENDS?

[Deleted User]

Hi Frugaldom, there won't be any big change for me when lockdown ends.  I am naturally anti-social anyhow!!  I have enjoyed being able to see family more over the last wee while and I will enjoy travelling a bit further than the 5 miles if me and OH fancy a day out - which usually involves a walk in the hills and a nice lunch somewhere - but we won't be rushing to do that soon.  I am a bit of a homebody I suppose and am happy pottering around in the house and in the garden. 

The weather has improved a bit today and I currently have the last of my washing out on the line.  OH and I have pottered in the garden today and picked some raspberries that will go towards making a crumble or raspberry jam.  We are just about to head our for a local walk on an old bing that has been landscaped and is well used by dog walkers.  While there we will see if there is any raspberries we can pick to add to the ones from our garden.  I have been getting our usual bits done to prepare for the winter.  We had our boiler serviced last week.  This week I need to find a chimney sweep and get booked in as my usual guys has stopped doing them.  

willow_loulou

For me lockdown gave me the opportunity to re evaluate my finances and time to garden/grow food in a more sustainable way. It’s also made me realise how dependent I am on other people in these situations. 

So after all this, from now on I will always have a rotating stock of cupboard food and other essentials. Enough to cover a few weeks of eating well that’s more than just pasta. I’ve tried different recipes so feel better about cooking in general. I hope I have time and energy to continue cooking better foods as I go back to work. 

I’m going to increase the foods I grow over the next year or two and hope to invest in garden buildings for growing Veg and birds at some point. 

I’m determined to maintain and increase a more frugal and sustainable lifestyle as time goes on. My main focus is pot and windowsill growing for now. Herbs, Salad leaves and peas as I would like to maintain a crop all year round. Fingers crossed!