2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugalistamama

Hi all, just caught up on all the messages i missed. There have been lots going on! Glad to see everyone has started using olio. I've been using it for over a year and it's really helpful when you are having a tight month but also for frugalling.  
Still frugalling but i must admit that the worry of no deal brexit and getting a few £10 off lidl vouchers have made me stock up again! Need to get this stockpile down in January so hoping to start off the new year with minimal grocery spend. Been fairly frugal in my xmas spend, i got most stuff in the sale reduced and kept within my budget so I'm very pleased about that. 
I'm pleased as this month there is no water bill or council tax bill so i can put that on a credit card I've been working on and finally pay it off! Shifted most of the debt off a credit card where the 0% was expiring. There's about £200 left which is being charged at full interests so i need to get that paid asap.
Take care everyone xx

Bluegreen143

Haha @Viking_mfw, love it!

@willow_loulou I know, my house I got for £155k five years ago and it’s literally 15 minutes down the road by car. However it’s in a very deprived/poor school area unlike my friend’s and is admittedly smaller. 

I like to look on the positives though - my friend’s house is lovely but I don’t think she gets FOUR TIMES as much happiness from living there as I do here for her 4x price tag. Yes, our local school is terrible, but that meant I had an open mind when my friend mentioned she was sending her kids to the excellent Gaelic medium primary nearby - now Monkey’s name is down for it and we are embarked on an exciting journey of all learning Gaelic (even the two year old can now say “oidhche mhath” for goodnight and we sing Gaelic songs together every day 😁). 

Equally, our house isn’t big, but that means it’s cosy, quick to clean, discourages building up clutter and also that we spend most of our time together rather than in separate rooms, or out in the garden/the park playing. And most importantly, unlike all my friends who live in big houses in that “good” part of town, I get to stay at home rather than working for now! 😁

Bluegreen143

@joedenise what lovely memories you have of your childhood and thank you for sharing. I hope my children have the same one day. 

mumtoomany

Still here, just reading rather than posting. Have re-housed the chickens into the poly tunnel. They had to be under cover from the 14th, to keep them away from wild birds. There is a problem with bird flu at the moment. Last time it was about we shut them in a small run, but after they were able to come out again the cockerel became very aggressive and attacked DGS and a neighbours child, before he went in the freezer. Didn't want that problem again. We thought about netting the entire chicken area, but it would have cost a fortune. So, as the only thing growing at the moment, in there, is people sprouting broccoli and a few cabbage, we went for the free option. They seem very happy in there and I'm sure the fertiliser will do the soil good. Hopefully they'll eat any pests in there too. Keeping all other costs as low as possible. Hope you are all well and that you will all have a good Christmas, mumtoomany.

Bluegreen143

@mumtoomany we were pleased that our chicken run is fully roofed (with hard plastic sheeting like the walls of a greenhouse) and then we’ve netted the sides all really thoroughly with the small gauge of netting after we had rats a couple of years back. So I think that’s ok and counts as having them under cover so not much change for them except not getting out to free range (but we don’t do that daily anyway, only under supervision to protect the garden!). Their run is massive for just three birds, about 6/7m x 3m, so hopefully they will be happy enough. I’m now so glad that DH insisted on roofing the run when we built it - at the time I thought it was an unnecessary expense (he insisted because it’s at a swampy bit of the garden and the roof saves it turning into a pit of mud every time it rains). Your polytunnel solution sounds great - we would have moved ours into our greenhouse if necessary but it’s rather small...

willow_loulou

Ahh yes the swamp that is an uncovered chicken run! When we eventually have them again they will have a fully roofed run. If nothing else to keep me on my feet when egg collecting 😂 

Frugaldom

On the chicken topic, our chickens and ducks are now confined to their runs but after the last lockdown, the runs were extended using the frames from the old portable poly-tunnels and then covered over the tops with tarpaulins. I've no birds at Frugaldom now as we were struggling to keep the mink away from them. Those things are evil - cute as they may look in their winter coats. They have no fear of humans and were coming into the yard and barn while we were working there, then attacking the birds in the middle of the day,

My summer crop of blackcurrants have now all been turned into cordial and bottled up awaiting jelly-making. There should be enough to last us through to next year, plus I've still a few mixed berries left in the freezer. My Olio weekends have been very helpful, which is jus as well, as I haven't been able to get any delivery slots for supermarket orders. Friends are in town at the weekend so I've asked them to get me some milk from Farmf00ds. I'm so grateful for helpful people around me. Without them, things would be so much worse during winter when I don't have enough daylight hours to get everything done.

A fortnight tomorrow is Hogmanay - I can hardly believe that! 2020 has just evaporated! More importantly for me, it's only 5 more days until winter solstice, then we can start looking forwards to gaining a few minutes more daylight each day. I just wish we could get a little less rain during the day!

Frugalistamama

Had a no spend day today, picked up some Thorntons square shortcakes from olio (love them so a real treat).

Tomorrow I'm having a good frugalling day. I'm picking up a load of croissants (expecting about 12) from olio in the morning ( kids can get through those like nobody's business!) I'm then going to lidl with my £10 off a £40 shop voucher and will get the last Christmas food in. Lidl are also doing Christmas veg for 15p a bag!! Thats crazy cheap. How do the farmers make any money? But if it's on offer I'm going to pick up a couple of bags of each item. I've got a waterproof box which i have lined with odd bits of clothes destined for the charity shop for insulation and will store the veg in there in the garden.

 That's my frugal plan. I'm pretty much stocked up other than the veg and a want to buy a duck, so I'm planning to spend just over £30. After this spend I'm going to attempt a low spend month ( just been paid) and work my way through the stockpile. Over xmas i plan to keep checking olio for food rescue as well although i don't think i can get to much as freezer is full!

Is anyone planning to get the reduced food on xmas Eve? I don't usually bother but i heard you can grab some crazy bargins. 
Xx

nannygladys

Hi everyone, Xmas all done and only a small food shop to do now, just been paid so it will have to last me through to the middle of January, but as Im at youngest dd for Xmas dinner (bubble) and then just at home I should be OK. Planning for next year and going to be more organised to be able to fit more into my days. I have been making my own Xmas cards (painting)and really enjoyed it (I only send to family and we are a very small family so it wasn't many) so I would like to have a go at some more, by the way Im terrible at drawing but found Im not too bad at 'dotting'. Anyway, we will see. Still cooking simply from scratch but I must admit I have bought and eaten my Xmas biscuits a few times over!!!! 
Take care
Nannyg

cw18

Frugalistamama said:

Is anyone planning to get the reduced food on xmas Eve? I don't usually bother but i heard you can grab some crazy bargins. 
Xx

I have done in the past, but it's not as easy when you're working that day (my official finish time will be 3pm, but when I'll actually get done is anyone's guess!)     I need to make sure I have any 'needs' by at least the previous day, but if my local A!di is still open as I come home (haven't checked hours yet) then I'll nip in to see what litle there is left.

My best year was one of the years I worked in a supermarket.   We weren't allowed to shop in our paid breaks, so I arranged for DS2 (who still lived with me then) to come into store when I normally took mine.   We then walked around the markdown sections together, and I told him what to put into his basket.  I'd already given him my staff discount card (an additional 10% off) and more than enough cash for what I thought we might get, and told him to bring backpack and strong bags.   I got major earache when I got home that night because of how much he'd had to carry home, but we had a wonderfully full freezer - and a good selection of treats for the next couple of days which he didn't moan about