2020 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Good morning, frugalers. My salad leaves are now big enough for starting to cut and my pot of chives that I leave to go to seed every year is showing plenty signs of flowering. 
@sashacat I'm focussing most of my attention of the composting project as we have very little soil suitable for growing anything at our project. Most of the land sits on peat and the dry side forms part of an old quarry, so the stuff in there is sandy and rocky.. It's what's known as terminal moraine, which I think is brilliant to have, as it's a true reminder of how ancient the land around all of us really is.   

willow_loulou

Do you put peelings in the composter? Or just garden waste? Mine needs relocating and was considering bringing it closer to the house to add scraps. We don’t have much tbh as we have small animals but a few potato and mushroom bits sometimes. 

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willow_loulou said:

Do you put peelings in the composter? Or just garden waste? Mine needs relocating and was considering bringing it closer to the house to add scraps. We don’t have much tbh as we have small animals but a few potato and mushroom bits sometimes. 

Peelings of veg other than potatoes are great - potatoes have a habit of starting to grow in the compost bin and use all of the nutrients - great if you want a potato crop but rubbish if you want compost! 😉

dannie

Hi everybody. I have been reading this challenge for years. Thanks!

willow_loulou

Thanks @squirrelgirl I was a little unsure. I’ve found a bit in my gardening book that says never put any peelings in! I think that’s a little extreme. Mine will have the occasional from now on- I know there’s a tin can in there somewhere 😂 long story. So will be interesting to see what’s inside 

Rowan9

Hi I’m another who has been reading along daily for years. Long before we moved back north of the border and that was ten years ago. 

I have been inspired by you and your posters. This has always been a fab community of folk. I am mortgage-free and don’t have any debt. Agree you were better suited to the old siting than on debt-free but I followed you over here anyway! 

mumof3.12kindebt

Hello fellow frugalers. 

I've read back over many of the frugal threads and posts over the years. I use to have a different user name (I can't remember what it was) but I've been reading posts on here since around 2010 . And posted many times too. 
I've had times where I have slipped up but for the most part I have been frugal since having my first baby at 16 and moving into my own home at 17. I've learnt so much over the years thanks to the Frugal living challenge ... And I'll admit I'm very much a frugaler at heart and would do without all of few extra comforts we do have as a family if I lived on my own. 
A few things I've done over the years. 
- I've never brought school uniform new apart from school shoes .. we have always been lovingly given someone else's old uniform that their child has outgrown or Ive managed to buy it secondhand 
- I've always grown some fruit / veg since having my own place (even if it is in small quantities some years) 
- I stopped using disposable dish cloths years ago . I now use washable ones. 
- Im now focusing on no spend / frugal living whereby I'm not buying things unless it's really needed and / or is a replacement (this is something I recently slipped up on during lockdown but the last week or so refocused and so far so good) 

A few years ago i was drowning in debt. But frugal living , readjusting my mindset and changing my relationship and behaviour with money has seen me go from drowning in debt to debt free and a homeowner all while raising 3 children (I still have a mortgage but compared to friends and family our age our  mortgage is about half theirs , this is mainly due to relocating) 

When I look back . My dad was always very frugal when I was growing up - he still is now . My mum on the other hand is a massive spender. If I'm honest with myself I have traits of both my parents . I can be extremely frugal but extremely happy for months and then I'll go on a massive spending spree buying stuff for the sake of it. And over the years I've tried to stop these urges to spend so much. My mental health illness can sometimes be the cause of these massive spends.  But over the years I have become better at not spending so much and I've also got better at being frugal, resourceful and just generally greatful for what I have , reassuring myself I have enough I don't need more ... 
When I need to refocus , this is always the place I come back too... I'll read posts from this year and the years before sometimes for hours , like binging on your favourite TV series .. and I'll become grounded again. 

I really appreciate this thread , even though I sometimes don't post for a while I'm always reading .. so thankyou everyone and thankyou @Frugaldom because without this thread and this site I wouldnt of got to where I have and I wouldn't be living the life I'm living. 

I still have along way to go. And so much more to learn. But I'm really looking forward to the coming months and years ... Being frugal is my way of life now 

sashacat

I put all veg and fruit bits in my compost. I do occasionally get potatoes. I put the tops of weeds in as long as they have not set seed but the roots go out in the garden waste bin. I put in chopped up cardboard, grass cuttings, sawdust, shredded paper, egg shells, coffee grounds and much more. It is important to get the balance right between ‘greens’ and ‘browns’. There are excellent videos by Charles (can’t remember his surname) on YouTube 

ancientmum

Hello, I try to catch up every few days with the posts even if I don't write  much myself.  I like to think  my life is pretty frugal and I have learnt a lot from reading on here.   I live in a flat without a garden but have an allotment where I'm growing flowers, fruit and veg.  My windowsills are full of seedlings at the moment, waiting for the warmer nights to plant out courgettes as I lost all my crop last year due to a late frost.  

rosewoodspa

I've been reading every day for years. I think I even joined in one year but maybe with a slightly different username as I lost one when the site changed and I had to go back to an ancient one. I've always been really frugal and because of it only need to work part time (usually about 12 hours a week). I've been furloughed at the moment so am trying various money making schemes as 80% of not much is even less! My latest project is turning all my old scraps of fabric into washable cotton masks to sell. I've made about 30 so far  and been selling to friends - and yesterday from a board outside the house. I've been sewing for about 50 years so some of the masks are made from lovely vintage Laura Ashley fabric etc. I've just taken the plunge and ordered 50m of elastic from Amazon as I'd run out of my stocks. I was very frugal however and used the birthday present  Amazon gift certificate my husband gave me to buy it!! The idea is it's an investment and will recoup its value. I spent the actual birthday money my Mum and 2 sisters gave me on renewing my tennis club subscription as we can now play again and the gift certificate my son gave me on tennis balls. My daughter also gave me an Amazon gift certificate, which I save for just buying books. Every time I buy an expensive new book for the Kindle I text her and say thank you for my birthday present! So all my birthday gifts are really being used and valued already.
Rose