2020 Frugal Living Challenge

cw18

I spent last week Rainbow Running.    It's a challenge that's started to appear in a number of FB running communities I'm in, but you don't have to run every day - you can do any any exercise you like.   The idea is to wear something red on Monday, orange on Tuesday etc..    The rules allow 'dark blue' for Indigo, and 'purple' for Violet.    And it can be something as simple as the elastic you put in your hair, or a brooch or a pair of ear-rings.    Because I have shoes in an array of colours that I've bought tops to match I managed to do it with normal gear, and I ran every day.  The yellow top was part of the goody bag from a free 5k I took part in about 18 months ago, and I normally only use it for cycling.   The green one was bought to go with my hill walking gear.   And I normally wear my purple & orange shoes with the orange top.   The dark blue top and shoes normally get 'diva pink' socks to match the trim on the shoes, but I felt the black worked better for this challenge.   Monday through Thursday were my commute to work, Friday was a loop from home (bank holiday), Saturday was commute to work, and yesterday was the loop from home again.    I even pulled out my old (retired) running shoes (3 identical pairs) in order to get a better match on some of the days, and they're still OK for the short trot to work though I wouldn't want to wear them for a longer or distance or put them back into use for too long.  But having them back for now is actually something I plan to keep to, as my newer ones are just about ready to be replaced - and I don't know when that will be possible as I need to go into a store to try them on

Siebrie

Lovely, cw18!

We are still living frugally, I have no need to go shopping, and was never one for recreational shopping or eating out. I never had the funds (budgeted) to do the first, and have been disappointed too many times for the second.

I have been weeding the flowerbeds in the backyard, and planning on which veg could go where. Rumours have it that there are not enough people to plant the seeds, not enough people to maintain, and not enough people to harvest this summer. On top of that: factories are closing, transport is difficult. It's very dry where we are, not enough rain is falling (no rain for the last 3 weeks), which may influence the harvest. I know that my rhubarb is slow to grow; the stalks are ripe, but short and stout. Anyway, I'm not fearmongering, just trying to grasp the reality and taking steps to protect ourselves.

I am very glad that I have enough clothes for my dds (8 and 11) in my attic until they are about 16, enough toys, enough craft supplies, proper internet (although today it's wobbly), a job where I can work from home, husband has same, enough basic cookery books, enough basic ingredients, a home with a south-west facing garden that I insisted on we buy, easy to clean interior, 2 bottles of inherited wodka I found for cleaning purposes, that we have no addictions we need to wean ourselves off of under pressure.

Frugalistamama

I don't know if this has been mentioned but Jack Monroe's 'Tin Can Cook' book is currently on amazon kindle for 99p. I ordered it and its got some great frugal cooking ideas. 
I also joined the grocery challenge to try to manage my spending. 

Frugaldom

If it helps, we have had countless recipes, hints, tips, suggestions and ideas posted or linked in here over the past 13 years so there is a huge amount of free reading listed on page one within either post 1 or 2 for anyone looking for free reading material. 

Our household is lving life as usual, trying not to spend unneccessarily, making do with whatever is immediately available to us, preparing for veg growing and keeping ourselves to ourselves. A slight change of tack on the income generation front had to be implemented but that resolved some of the initial losses. I can't accept holiday bookings so that aspect of income needs to be written off for now. I operate as a not-for-profit social enterprise project with just a handful of members so I am exceedingly grateful that all are in a situation to continue, albeit most doing so remotely. Also, being part of such a tiny community means we share whatever we can, but this is the norm here, so other than no holidaymakers around, it's life as usual for us and our farming neighbours.

Lack of rain is beginning to prove to be a bit of a problem here, too, Siebrie. And this morning was cold enough for pipes to freeze.

Frugalistamama

Success finally!P day today and I found I had enough left over from last month to pay off my smallest credit card of £187 due to being frugal since joining this thread! Yay 🎉

Siebrie

Congratulations!!!

mumtoomany

Well done Frugalistamama, one gone and only £100 on one of the others. Keep up the good work. 
Manic week here again. Chicks all doing well, starting to feather up. Gutters fixed in the barn. New fence and gate post in, well not really new more repurposed. Padlock nearly sorted for piglets next month, hopefully. Two new lambs just arrived. Jumpers knitted for DGC, now need to sew them up. All this work and watching the grandchildren stops me spending any money, very frugal. Hope you are all well and safe, mumtoomany.

Frugaldom

Excellent news, Frugalistamama!
Been busy here building new raised beds for a herb project and I still have a few little crab apple trees to plant along a foraging hedgerow. My seeds are slowly germinating but we've had frost on a few mornings so I'm not sowing too much to soon. It's going to take quite some time to dig out all the composted manure but it;s being used as quickly as it's being dug. 
Mumtoomany, can you share a photo of your chicks?

Another 3 weeks added on to lockdown for now - I hope it's not dragging out too much for anyone. Seems like it;s made everyone busier with no time to post or read. I haven't been near a supermarket in many months and haven't had any orders delivered since my January/February order but there is still plenty of food and the local village store has most other things. A friend got me oats and sultanas while she was in town so they were left sitting in a box by my door this afternoon and I've lleft her out some duck eggs for tomorrow. I must get around to making the washing liquid before running out but have been saying that for weeks and still haven;t got around to it.

Herbyme

CW18, well done on your rainbow run! Did you run on work days?! I don't know how you do that. I was a Saturday postie for a while and was doing about 30,000+ steps a day, I was certainly not up for a run afterwards! (I do run every other day usually). I have thought of asking if they might want me to go back and do some walking rounds near the DO so I don't have to get in a van with anyone but I don't know if they'd want me just temporarily. 
I'm now feeding 4 adults who are all at home all the time and it's not helping with frugality. We run out of bread, fruit and veg all the time, and they all want to eat much 'better' food (ie posher meals - not as in haute cuisine but not scratch or freezer surpise either) than I'd eat if it was just me. I'm so pleased they've all gone veggie with me that I'm trying to keep them fairly happy so they don't want to go back to eating meat. I thought I'd have more time now I'm in lockdown, so I can meal plan better and more efficiently, but it's not working out like that (I do a lot of work from home anyway, and I had a long-distance family bereavement and a funeral to plan, so it's been quite busy.) But I keep on trying!
Which is all we can do. And we are still fairly sane which is a blessing! 

cw18

carolinerunner said:

CW18, well done on your rainbow run! Did you run on work days?! I don't know how you do that. I was a Saturday postie for a while and was doing about 30,000+ steps a day, I was certainly not up for a run afterwards!

I generally run before work.

I do the commute on foot anyway, so I sometimes run instead of walk.   The most direct route is 1.63 miles, but I have a 5k (3.1 mile) route I can use as well.    I generally get 23-25k steps a day including my commutes (when I use the shortest route both ways).