2020 Frugal Living Challenge

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.

willow_loulou

Nonnadiluca said:

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.

Same. I can see the Isle of Wight on a good day 🤪 there are berries here but all so near roads I’m reluctant to try. 

I finally have a red tomato! After 3 lots of plants thanks to the winds in the spring. I have peas close to ready too. But very few per plant. Dreadful year for everything except herbs and the clover I grow for bees. Will have to seriously rethink for next year. 

The only decent crop was potatoes but they had to be dug early due to fly. I’m thinking I need big cloches and eventually a green house as my bottle one was just to wind fragile. 

Nargleblast

Sashacat, some folks make elderberry wine. I do elderberry brandy, which is elderberries layered in a big jar(or two) with a little sugar and covered with brandy. Leave for about six weeks, double strain and bottle. It is like a really nice port and makes a lovely present. It works well with vodka, too.
One very important thing I do with elderberries is make a syrup for use during winter. It is full of antioxidants and some research has shown it can be effective against colds and flu symptoms. Put elderberries in a huge pan or two, or preserving pan if you have one, Add a few cloves, a couple of cinnamon sticks, perhaps a bit of chopped ginger. Bring to the boil then simmer about 20 minutes. Leave to cool then strain it into a clean pan. Add sugar or honey to sweeten then bring to the boil and simmer till reduced by a third, it will be more syrupy in consistency. Bottle in sterilised bottles. Keep in a cool place. When you open a bottle, keep that one in the fridge. As soon as you get into mid to late autumn, take a teaspoonful of this stuff every day - it tastes nice so even children will take it. If colds or flu strike, take it four times a day and use it in hot drinks and toddies. Make loads of it, it won't go to waste.

[Deleted User]

@Nargleblast THANK YOU for the above. We passed lots of elderberries on our walk (I must confess I had to google what they looked like); now I know what to do with some. Working in a huge high school (& having two primary age children), I'm always susceptible to multiple colds, so I will definitely be making this. Can I ask how many elderberries you would use for the remedy? Thanks again xx

Nargleblast

Enough to almost fill your biggest saucepans, or a jam preserving pan! I suppose a couple of carrier bags full. A tip for you - stick the elderberries in their bunches in carrier bags in the freezer. When you get them out you will find the berries fall off the stalks much more easily. Incidentally, they are a bit tart when raw, and whilst sampling one or two won't hurt you, any more than that will probably give you a bellyache.

Nicki_Sue

I haven't posted in ages! Hi all.
I've just been catching up on posts. Re the prescriptions, the husband has an annual pass and pays £10.40 ever month for 10 months and it covers him for 12 months. I know it depends on how many items you need per month but if you do get 2 or more it is worth it. Mine are free these days, the one and only perk of diabetes, which is just as well considering how much I pick up every month!   

[Deleted User]

As I may have mentioned, I am running my financial year from 1st September, it makes more sense for me doing it this way. I am posting my SOA below - if anyone has any comments or suggestions please do say: 

Household income (including child benefit) £1,250. I may be entitled to some UC, but to be honest after a saga years ago with tax credits and them claiming they had overpaid me and demanding it back etc I'm reluctant to.

Monthly Outgoings:
Mortgage - £340.46
Council Tax - £187 😳😳😳😳😳 (and this is over 12 months; bane of my life but nothing I can do about it!)
Gas & electricity - £71. NPower keep trying to up my payment but I'm in credit, which is remarkable given the house has been occupied all day every day since we went into lockdown! I use a woodburner for heat in winter and have lots of free wood.
Water - £34. We are on a meter. Had it not been for lockdown this would probably have reduced. I am guilty of running the DW and WM with half loads, this has now stopped. 

B&C insurance - £21
TV Licence - £15
Internet - £24
Sky TV - £29. This is my luxury. I don't go out much at all, we don't go to the cinema so we enjoy having the movie package and doing movie nights at home. I watch a film every day.
Netflix - £5.99. Again, I watch a fair bit on here and the kids watch it a lot too.
Boiler insurance - £11.90. This includes the cost of the annual service which is £75 in itself, and gives me peace of mind if anything happens it's all covered cost wise.
Homeserve insurance (for water and electrics) - £4. I don't know if this is actually necessary but as it's so cheap I keep it...
Mobile phone - £8 

Total for direct debits - £751.35. 😉

I no longer run a car, don't buy new clothes (only from charity shops if needed). The children's swimming lessons are paid for by grandparents (they live abroad and don't see them much, so paying for things here and there is their way of helping out). They also tend to buy the bigger things such as new coats and footwear for the children. I am very lucky in this regard. 😊😊

From 1st September I will be sticking to £150 for food, and will use a cash envelope system for this. I know many could do it cheaper, but I like to have some wine on a weekend and I also use SodaStream canisters rather than buying bottles of fizzy water (I drink around 2 litres of it a day). This is my little way of helping the planet 🌍. Our milk and butter are delivered by the milkman - we pay slightly more for glass bottles - again, a small thing I can do. The canisters are £16 each (when you return an empty at the same time), and I use one per month, and our milkman bill is around £28.

So there we have it, I think I'm fairly careful in living on a reasonable budget ☺️

cw18

Deleted_User said:

Sky TV - £29. This is my luxury. I don't go out much at all, we don't go to the cinema so we enjoy having the movie package and doing movie nights at home. I watch a film every day.

Have you considered switching to N0w TV?   I assume you're on the basics plus cinema package for that cost?  My fella used to have the whole package including sports (cost him over £100/month including landline and internet connection as best my memory serves), and I kept telling him he was paying way over the odds.   He how has landline and internet (superfast fibre) with them, subscribes directly to the service provided by his favourite football team (the only sports he ever watched) for a fraction of the cost of doing so via Sky, and has N0w TV Entertainment and Cinema.  Monthly subscriptions to that should cost £22 (after the increase to Entertainment from next Tuesday), but there are ways of bringing this down.   He changed around Black Friday (end Nov), and ended up with a year of both for £100.   (If you need the kids channels that's an additional £3.99/month).  You can watch this anywhere you can access their app (limit of two active users at a time), so you're not restricted to one room and can also use on holiday (we use a Roku box when we go and stay in the Lakes).   He kept his old Sky box attached to his old dish so that he still has Freesat to access to all the 'normal' channels.    Since he made the move they keep inviting him back for a 'special price' of £24/month, which gives him access to the same shows as he has through N0w TV but only away from home via an app on his phone or tablet.   His response is always to laugh at the offer

Viking_mfw

Re blackberries - had a look round us yesterday on a short walk and snaffled a couple to eat there and then but in general they are either shrivelled beyond redemption by the heat or not yet ready to pick. Bit disappointing this year. 

sashacat

Nargleblast, thanks so much for the elderflower recipe. I will definitely make that syrup as we have a lot of elderberries here. 
My blackberries are finished and I have lots frozen. I think I will try and make hedgerow jelly....Frugaldom, is it equal amounts of all those fruits or will any mixture do?