2020 Frugal Living Challenge

sashacat

I also collect pallets or any other wood that comes my way and my friend with a chain saw comes and cuts it up for me.
I have yet to buy wood for my wood burner as there is so much free wood about. 

CraftyLittleLisa

Frugaldom said:

I'm a bit of an extreme frugaler so don't spend on luxuries as part of my budget, but I do record all and try to avoid spending 'real' cash. I don't 'do' the whole 'treat' thing, as I tend to feel that these things are very subjective and entirely dependent on the individual lifestyle. What one person may consider a treat may be an absolute essential for another and the actual concept of considering luxuries and treats can be detrimental to frugal lving. If you look at your personal reasons for frugal living and then determine your own stages of success along the way, it can become fun chasing the next goal. Achieving and maintaining debt freedom has always been my top priority, along with affording not to work in a job that I don't enjoy, so it was very much a case of not spending on anything extra until the above were fully achieved. Extreme, yes, but it worked for me and avoided the need to reward mysef on a regular basis. My ultimate reward was being able to buy property without worrying about mortgages or loans. I may still work if I reach my 70's but my idea of work may be different from others.   Have short-term goals so you know you are making progress, even if those goals seem like luxuries or treats to others. I'm working towards bulding a cabin now.   Number 1 rule - make it fun to be frugal

When I talk about luxuries or treats they are not ridiculous things but just something that might lift my spirits a bit such as meeting up with a friend for tea and cake (before lockdown anyway) or buying myself a plant for the garden.  I need something like this every month because I do work doing a job that I don't particularly enjoy (although I can cope with it better now I am working from home) but I do appreciate I am lucky to have it and am lucky that I have still had a guaranteed income over these recent months so I am quite prepared to stay with it.  I have had recent goals such as saving up to replace the fridge freezer and the cooker over the last couple of years and now my financial goal (or two actually) is to save up a bit of an emergency fund and keep a fund going for an annual holiday.  I agree with what has been said by you sashacat , that it is good to see the £s grow.

I think I am back on the frugal wagon now.  Yesterday I went to do my stint at the "wellbeing garden" that I look after and I was told to help myself to any ripe cooking apples on the tree they have.  I brought 10 away with me and have made an applecake (half in the freezer), made a batch of porridge and put some apple in it which will keep in the fridge for the week (according to the recipe I followed) and stewed some down and put into small pots to put in the freezer.  I was rather pleased with my domesticated actions.  I also got a plastic box to put in the freezer and have started to fill it with veg peelings so that when it is full I can make a veg peel stock.  My determination has resumed.

I am currently working on a Christmas present for my niece making clothes for her doll and this week I have found fabric to make a dressing gown and some pyjamas and last night I found some wool and am knitting a pair of slippers for her.  I'm so pleased with them I wish I could magic them to my size.

My main aim now is to get through the rest of the month (right up to 1st September) without spending any more money (other than the milk delivery next week).  I am really hoping I can achieve this because if I can it will give me the confidence to believe I can do frugalling properly.

Treasurequeen

Spent today checking my inventory of things i have food wise in my kitchen. fully stocked in tins and packets, managed to get some plain flour  in bulk for 30p in Tesco the other day split the packet with my mum as i wouldn't need it all. did the same with the self-raising flour. so I have also got baking things in as well. 

Its been an expensive August for me, my laptop died on me and i use it a lot so i had to get a new one, thankfully my emergency fund paid for it. i couldn't believe how expensive electronic things are now. My fans died too  in the middle of the heatwave so got some replacements my old ones did well they were 6 years old. 
i had a guardman garden table with a artwork design i got as a housewarming gift four years ago, the art work had faded. so i managed to scrub off layer of varnish and paint, i got some metallic acrylic paint reduced in hobbycraft which i got free as i had a £5 birthday voucher, I am going to repaint it but i have decided to change the artwork design slightly. Much better than throwing it away. 
Hope everyone is ok x 

[Deleted User]

Morning all,

Just a reminder (not that you frugallers need it of course!), that the blackberry bushes are now groaning with free produce again. We picked bags full on our walk yesterday and will be going back for more today. We have HM smoothies or compotes most days so these are a godsend for us.

Happy Monday all xx

Nargleblast

I have started picking a few blackberries every time I walk the dog, and I put them in the freezer in small boxes. I won't be making jam because we don't eat enough of it, but I will make a bottle of blackberry vinaigrette, a couple of 250ml bottles of blackberry whisky for Christmas presents, and the rest will go with apples in crumbles and fruit compotes. Just waiting for the elderberries to ripen now.

sashacat

The blackberries are over where I live but the elderberries are ready. 
Nargle, what do you do with the elderberries please? Do you just add them to the blackberries or do you make elderberry gin? 

Frugaldom

Deleted_User said:

Morning all,

Just a reminder (not that you frugallers need it of course!), that the blackberry bushes are now groaning with free produce again. We picked bags full on our walk yesterday and will be going back for more today. We have HM smoothies or compotes most days so these are a godsend for us.

Happy Monday all xx

Our blackberry bushes are still just flowering now and starting to form berries. I've seen a few rosehips beginning to come and the elderberries are beginning to grow but we are uite a bit off being able to harvest anything yet. You must be fairly far south or else everything here is late. I like hedgerow jelly, which I make with a mix of blackberries, elderberries, rowans, rosehips, haws and crab apples. My blueberries are just beginning to ripen but this has been a really bad year for fruit here. Nowhere near enough to last through winter and even the apple trees are quite bare.

Self-employed folks, don't forget to log into your HMRC accounts to apply for the second grant payment of the income support scheme (SEISS). These payments are being processed now.

[Deleted User]

@Frugaldom - we are in West Yorkshire so no, not particularly south at all! I have photos from this time last year when we were picking berries too, seems to be fairly consistent that we get them late August onwards 😊

Frugaldom

Ours are always later but it has also been a bad year for fruit of all descriptions here at Frugaldom. Possibly the weeks of drought through spring contributed, as we were unable to water anything owing to needing whatever water we had for the ponies. We did get plenty of blackcurrants and I've just finished making plum puree. It's still early days for our foraging walks as we are still planting the hedging for it.
Quite stormy here already so I'm off to get soaked/blown about before the weather gets any worse. Peas all picked but there are still carrots. I've transplanted my kale into a bigger rasied bed to try and keep it growing and my baby globe artichoke plants are looking too small to see out their first winter so I'll need to devise some storm protection for them. Herbs are so much more well behaved.

Nonnadiluca

We're as far south as you can get without going to the Isle of Wight and the blackberries by our allotments are still mostly small, hard and red: I definitely made bramble jelly last August , but nowhere near enough yet - it's been a strange year for weather though.