2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Van_Girl

Frugaldom said:

willow_loulou said:

How will you diversify @Frugaldom? Most of us here are trying some sort of self sufficient lifestyle, a sea side town like ours is already high in deprivation so it takes little for many of us to struggle 

I have been basing everything on frugaldom (frugal living / debt freedom) for over 20 years - the longterm plan was to have somewhere that like-minded others could visit and experience the reality of the lifestyle, but that reality is being imposed on people now by the Government so there is no longer a need to 'try before you buy' into this frugal lifestyle. My thinking cap is on. Frugaldom will always be there, I hope, as it's my life's work so far, but I'm seriously doubting many will need or want to learn about frugal living after lockdown. I worried about how to keep up on here but you can see for yourself that the vast majority simply vanished. I'm a bit dumbfounded by that, as it's the very opposite of what I would have expected. Perhaps the frugal living challenge has run its course.

Hello, just thought I would pop in and say hi. I am a lurker, rather than a contributor, but find this thread so interesting and motivational. If anything, I feel/hope that there will be a lot more people interested in living more frugally after all this has ended. Maybe because they need to, or because they've had a scare and want to future proof themselves. I don;t know, maybe I'm dreaming.

Could lack of current contribution be that people are distracted by the enormity of the situation at the moment? 

The main thing holding me back is that DH is just not interested  He grew up on a self-sufficient small holding and he has no plans to go back sadly... not that I'm going to stop working on him  

willow_loulou

Hello to all the lurkers! 

Got DD student finance through, they’ve granted her application even though they’re still waiting on all my info - which should’ve arrived today. So that’s good, she can at least go! She has really grasped the idea of frugal having seen the numbers I put in she admitted she was shocked we lived so well on what I get. I’m teaching her some more cooking skills and she’s been sewing bits to improve her repair skills. Wondering what food she can grow in pots at uni. Herbs and salad at least. Any suggestions ? 

DawnW

Just popping in to say hi. I don't post often but read every day. @willow_loulou most herbs are fine in windowsill pots, although some get too big after a while. Salad leaves grow well in those cheap plastic troughs, which have the advantage of fitting onto most windowsills, and you can get 'saucers' to stand them in to avoid making a mess when you water. I use these outside for salad leaves despite having garden beds, as they are safer from slugs etc. A few cut and come again lettuce plants will give you leaves for weeks. I grow radishes in these too, to avoid damage by slugs and flea beetles.

I have been lucky enough to get compost delivered. Although garden centres were only allowed to open from yesterday, some local ones have been offering a delivery service, with contactless payment made in advance.

Frugaldom

Thank you for delurking to announce yourselves, that was brave and appreciated  

I remember the elderly couple on Esther Rantzen That's Life programme! I also remember the Jobsworth award. Best of all, I liked watching The Good Life. I have that as a box set so watched it again recenelty, thinking what a great serIes to rerun on TV. Has anyone taken a look back at it? How times and opinions have changed!

I had to have 2 new tyres on the car today - the guy at the garage thought it was rather funny when I asked to have my old tyres back to repurpose them but it also saved me the scrappage charge that usually gets added onto the bill. Seriously - every penny counts and as per my signature, it's all about how we choose to spend our money after paying the necessary bills.

Off back out to do the second shift; I'm determined to get the composting project perfected this year. If anyone has no garden, never be afraid to ask locally if you can share someone else's. Likewise with many other things. (Keep it sensible and legal )

sashacat

I have been following you for years but do not post very often.
but please don’t give up. You are inspirational

sashacat

I am naturally frugal. 
I grow nearly all of my own veggies and I don’t eat meat. 
I keep bees and I wondered if that was something you could do on Frugaldom.
it takes times in the summer of course but you do get a lot of honey in a good year and the bees would love the orchard and you would get better and more fruit. 
Many beekeepers I know make and sell candles, cosmetics and wax wraps. 
Eventually you could run introductory courses in beekeeping.
there is a thriving beekeeping community in Scotland. 
I also hate shopping so avoid it whenever possible. 

CraftyLittleLisa

I just want to say that I find this thread very helpful.  I have been part of this forum for about 18 months now and even though I thought I was pretty frugal beforehand I have learned a lot.  I have managed to bring my food budget down by about £75 to £100 every month and reduced costs generally on other things so much so that I managed to save up and pay for a one week caravan holiday in August (if it actually happens this year) which has not happened before.

I suspect that people may just be occupied with the big Coronavirus issue which may be why people haven't been posting.  I believe that people are going to want to be more frugal when all this is over as priorities will change.  I hope and believe that people will consider sustainability a bigger priority when this is over and there will be more money spent on experiences and learning new skills rather than on stuff which is a very good thing in my view.  I really hope that this challenge can continue, I would be very sad to lose contact with a community like this.

I have a few recent frugal points to mention, that probably would not have happened before I joined this forum:

- In the month of April I had 15 no spend days (partly helped by the lockdown as I can't go to my usual dance/exercise classes).

- In the month of April I also kept within my food budget for that month.

- I decided to reduce my weekly veg box delivery to the small box as I was struggling to use it up in time (as I live on my own).

- Had a go at making crisps to use up some of the large stock of potatoes that I have.

- Made some bread instead of buying it as I have some yeast to use up.

- I needed some curtain track but instead of trying to buy some I asked around and was able to get some for free from my sister who didn't need it.

- I got given some kilner storage jars by my Mum as she didn't need them anymore and I was in need of some storage jars.

- To use up some left over veg I did a big pot of veg stew which made two meals and then the rest I blitzed into 8 portions of soup.

This forum has helped me just be more mindful of where my money goes.  It is a very valuable resource that helps a lot of people.

Another plus this week in particular is that I finally got my £93 refund for the yoga course I cancelled back in March.

Even though I managed to keep within budget in April I have overspent a little in May.  The main reason for this is I needed to order some things from a local craft store but you had to spend over £50 to not pay delivery so I went through all the projects that I had outstanding that I wanted to do over the next few weeks and got all the bits I needed in one order.  I also ordered some bits for my Mum.  This has meant that money I would have spent over the course of a couple of months has been spent in one month instead but hopefully it will all balance out in the next few weeks.  I now shouldn't need to spend any more money until at least my next pay day.  I also had to do the same for some kitchen bits.  I have re-decorated my kitchen and I needed a better bin than I had (a smaller one that can hang over a cupboard door so it doesn't get in the way).  The other one I had was too large for the amount of rubbish I create and I had to keep moving it out of the way when I was working in the kitchen.  As again delivery was only free if you spent over £50.00 I had a proper look at other stuff I needed and I realised I needed a proper stockpot as I find my biggest saucepan isn't really big enough to make big batches of food for the freezer so I bought one with the bin which was then delivered for free.  Not a frugal May in respect of those issues but at least I have bought things I need and it should all balance out over the next few weeks.

Anyway I better leave you lovely people to get on with your lives.  Happy frugalling and stay safe.

Frugaldom

@sashacat I have had several people in the past approach me about having space for keeping bees but none ever came back, Guessing it is because we are a bit out of the way. It isn't something that I would do as I'm terrified of them swarming, plus I don't have any spare time with 10 ponies and the hens & ducks to look after, as well as everything else that needs to be done every day.  The space we had allocated for the bees, originally, has now been turned into a paddock. 
Tonight we built a composting corner as compost is one of the things we really need. I also set up the wormery bu still need to dig for worms. Hopefully we'll find plenty when digging out more manure for composting.

shish100

Morning!
I am bit of a lurker.  Every Saturday morning whilst my OH is still a sleep, I get my brew and catch-up on the posts.  It is motivating to hear about everyone's effort and does inspire to make some changes and different choices.

I have a few bits of veg growing in the garden borders, and a couple of herbs on the windowsill.  I am going to raid my box of seeds and try and get a few more planted this weekend.  It is hit and miss with my gardening skills, but I enjoy it and it gives me fresh air and exercise.   I have got a few stalks of rhubarb ready to pull, so it will be rhubarb crumble tonight!

As the working from looks like it is going to be in place for quite a while, we have raided the garage for unused wallpaper, paint, wood off-cuts etc. We are going to  make our office spaces more permanent, instead of being cobbled together. So a couple of the rooms are being re-decorated and furniture shuffled. Two of the rooms have not been decorated since we moved in, and have been a guest room and a room that keeps changing purpose but mainly used as a junk room!  So I am going to have a clear out, OH hoards boxes, so they can go to recycling, and now the local online market place is open with social distancing a few things will be listed on there too.  Hopefully I may also be able to find the few things we need to complete the rooms on there too!

Stay safe everyone.

sashacat

Frugaldom, I agree about the importance of compost. I have 3 compost bins and a separate container for leaf mould. I am obsessed with making compost because you can never have enough. It has been especially useful this year.