2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Finstickle wrote: »

The balance between supporting local businesses and saving money is such a tricky one to navigate!!!

I completely agree! I learned a long time ago that keeping it local is a luxury we frugalers can seldom afford, especially in rural lications where we tend to have many lifestyle businesses offering 'artisan' goods and produce. Knowing the difference between needs and wants is paramount to success in frugal living if there are debts involved but nobody should ever be made to feel guilty about not affording the luxury of keeping it local. Been there, done that. I simply weigh up the differences in cost by incorporating delivery costs or fuel / travel. I don't mind paying £1.69 for a carton of milk from the village store but I wouldn't pay £4 for a jar of someone's homemade relish. ��

Frugaldom

Siebrie wrote: »

Has anyone tried soap nuts for laundry? I was thinking of trying them but not sure if they are any good or financially worthwhile?

I have used soapnuts and they work fine if you have soft water. I didn't and every so often had to wash with normal laundry soap to lift the greyness.

There should be a link to soapnuts on page 1. I still use some as emergency backup but many of us make our own laundry liquid to save even more. The soapnuts work fine for me, as does the homemade 'gloop'. Again, the link to that should be on page 1. If you can't find links, let me know and I will post them again. 😊 (Thanks for reminder, I need to make some laundry liquid soon!)

Frugaldom

Frugalistamama wrote: »

Oh my goodness, I need help or at least some accountability! I'm usually so frugal but since Christmas have been going on a spending rampage! Particularly going overboard...

Don't panic, you are not alone in this situation. Many people have discussed this with me in the past, worried about becoming obsessive hoarders instead of sensible stockpilers. There are a number of factors that trigger the spending response, some simple and others more complex. Frugal living should be a way of alleviating debt, overspending or lack of savings but deep-rooted fears of running out of food or losing control of situations keep people buying. Supermarkets created loss leaders (items sold at less than their real cost) to keep people buying more; 20p pasta and other similar products are probably good examples of this. Best way I can see of addressing any problematic buying is to look at actual food waste and storage... If you are throwing out any food, or having to store it in unusual places, then you may be better trying a month (or week or few days) checking dates to ensure stock rotation and then doing use-it-up meals for as long as you feel comfortable. Long shelf life foods are great but it's also good to leave space for getting creative in the kitchen and having space for storing leftovers and batch cooked meals. Hope this helps 😊 Getting the balance right takes time and practice.

Frugaldom

Plans for February here at Frugaldom include making laundry liquid, starting preparations for seed sowing and decluttering. I sometimes wonder if I'd be better living in a campervan or real tiny house so it was impossible to accumulate clutter. ��

Siebrie

Frugaldom wrote: »

Getting the balance right takes time and practice.

A couple of years ago, I kept track of what we used up during the month, and that would be the basis of my shopping list. So: if we used 2 jars of peanut butter per month, I would check how many we had left before I went on my fortnighly shopping; if there were less than 2 jars, I would put the missing jars on my list.

I have to re-do this exercise, because dds have grown and our diet has changed.

Frugalistamama

Well it's good to know I'm not alone. Honestly I can't walk into a supermarket without coming out with £40 worth of food just when I went in to get milk. Then I do the walk of shame to my car because I've done that three times this week already and I'm in major overdraft. I've even taken to sneaking in my purchases and putting them away quickly before anyone sees! :eek:

No I don't throw away lots of food I hate food waste but I don't have any room for batch cooking and storing which I know is now counter productive and losing me money. Plus unusal places.... That's me.

I think I am going to try to go for a week without spending anything at all to try to reset my brain starting today. Honestly I was so good before!

mumtoomany

Hi all.

Well January wasn't too bad, money wise. Only spent £8.08 on junk food, sweets etc. £5 on new crocs, should last a year or so. £29.95 on new frames for DH's glasses, (he broke them when he fell through the roof.) Normal household bills were paid.

Around £280 on groceries. This includes about £90 on store cupboard items from Tesco. Bought these as DD2 and her OH both get staff discount. They only visit a few times a year, so I make the most of it. These groceries are for 5 adults, 3 children and visitors.

The barn roof is now almost completed. I've spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks holding ladders and moving the scaffolding tower around. Bits for the barn this month were £180. Much less than in previous months. I hope we have everything we need for this now.

I've also been out cleaning the polytunnel ready for planting to start. Not easy as it's huge and I got very wet!

Still have some bits growing from last year. The last few beetroot, kale, sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and celery. The rhubarb is starting to appear, chives are back up and the asparagus is starting to poke it's head up. The hens, having been laying only one egg a day between them, have now started producing more. They waited until I bought a tray of 30 reduced to £1.50. Omelet for tea!

Hope you are all well, speak soon, mumtoomany.

jammy_dodger

Never made my own laundry gloop Frugaldom going to have a look into this i did read about folk making it from horse chestnuts but that was after the season for collecting conkers was past
using up left over veg today with a couple of rashers of chopped cooked bacon for bubble n squeak fine comfort food for a chilly day . shouldnt need to get groceries till wednesday Im making a list and have meal planned for the restof the week. continuing to keep track of spending and NSD are motivating JD x

lessonlearned

Frugaldom wrote: »

I completely agree! I learned a long time ago that keeping it local is a luxury we frugalers can seldom afford, especially in rural lications where we tend to have many lifestyle businesses offering 'artisan' goods and produce. Knowing the difference between needs and wants is paramount to success in frugal living if there are debts involved but nobody should ever be made to feel guilty about not affording the luxury of keeping it local. Been there, done that. I simply weigh up the differences in cost by incorporating delivery costs or fuel / travel. I don't mind paying £1.69 for a carton of milk from the village store but I wouldn't pay £4 for a jar of someone's homemade relish. ��

I'm sorry if my post gave offence. I was not trying to make anyone feeling guilty about not shopping locally.

I do it when I can, if the price of goods is about the same, otherwise just like everyone else then I have to shop on price. My go to supermarkets are Aldi and or Lidl.

Where I do try to "keep it local" is by using local trades people and craft people. For example I've just paid a local joiner to repair some kitchen cabinets.....rather than buy mass produced new ones.

Same when I had new windows fitted. Got quotes from the big chains and a local guy I had used before. The local guy was around £500 cheaper.

I also appreciate the transport issue. Fortunately my local farm shop is no further away than the supermarket. And even more fortunately the prices are about the same too.

I do appreciate that not everyone has access to local shops or businesses that can compete with the big players. I wasnt trying to be all Miss Goody Two Shoes or virtue signalling.

Anyway a good start so far......did a weekly shop and spent £35 so happy with that.

Frugalistamama

Well small victories, I had a no spend day today. I'm in for the evening so not going to spend anything. Feel really happy with that. I'm getting really inspired reading through the thread. Thank you!

I will keep reporting my progress, my goal is 7 days so 1/7 so far. Dinner tonight, a chicken in the slow cooker that was about to go bad with potatoes out of the potatoe mountain, left over sweet potatoes for me and some cabbage. Also made a veg leftovers soup for kids lunch tomorrow.