2020 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

Well done @rosewoodspa that’s excellent. 

I’m sat here looking at my empty plastic trying to think of makes to repurpose. I don’t want anymore seed pots so trying to use my imagination! I have 2 lists to my right to write down inspiration and to do’s. I’ve been cutting up envelopes that arrive to use the backs for note paper (once they’ve been sat a few days to decontaminate) It’s amazing how much I’ve accumulated just this week.  

mumtoomany

Hi all. I'm back having been MIA for a few weeks. Busy time here. We now have 22 live lambs, (we lost 4 at birth, 2 were squashed by their mother and one died at a day old), all bouncing around the fields enjoying the sunshine. We also have the addition of 2 piglets since we last "spoke", Berkshire gilts, named Sage and Onion. A lot of time has been taken up, between lambing and childcare, reinforcing the pig field. New fence posts, reattaching fencing, replacing parts, reinstating the electric fencing. reinforcing the gate. Pigs like to escape! The chicks are now outside in their own run, getting used to the older hens through the wire.
Lots of seeds planted, although the frost got around 3/4 of the tomato plants in the polytunnel, also some of the beans. I'm trying to plant all the old seeds that have been lying around for a while. Some have been more successful than others. Also planted some dried peas, around half have sprouted, and some haricot beans,none have come up, from the kitchen. Going to try some coriander seeds today.
Still being as frugal as possible here. I've transferred some of the savings in the bank to premium bonds. The interest rate is now so low, I thought i could try to win us a million instead. Watch this space! Trying to use up food from the freezers, we'll need room later in the year.
I to remember when this thread was on the old style board. Does anyone know why the powers that be moved it? Maybe in these uncertain times we could ask for it to be moved back. I'm sure it would be of great use to more people there. I know I've been very grateful many times to Frugaldom for starting it, all those years  ago. I try to read it most days, but if I'm on the tablet I struggle to post and turning the PC on takes more time than I have spare at the moment.
Keep on going everyone, stay safe, and if, like us, you're in Wales, stay at home. "Speak" soon, Mumtoomany.

Chessbear

I have been following this challenge for a couple of years but never commented. I find it useful and inspiring. I have  always tried to be frugal, yellow stickers and charity shopping.  I do feel we will come out of this with a better appreciation for life and much less need for stuff, shopping as a leisure activity having been curtailed other than online 

Frugaldom

CLOCHES: I do try to make them whenever needed just from sticks or old canes tied together with bits of baling string, usually.  A friend has just given me 2 huge lengths of black heavy-duty polythene and I keep looking at it wondering if I could make a mini mushroom tunnel but then the wind blows and I remind myself why it;s not the greatest of ideas. Instead, I'll use it for the composting 'compound' that is now being completely revamped using some reasonably inexpensive larchwood boards (almost 5m long, cost less than £3 each inc delivery, cut from local trees).

COMPOST: I add in absolutely everything apart from meat products. Teabags get emptied and the leaves used as mulch around the likes of blueberry bushes or strawberry plants. I have aactually mulched using the entire teabags and that has worked, too. Yesterday we dug 100+ tiger worms from the dumg heal and put them into the wormery to restart it, or the carbon materials, I just use brown cardboard or twigs. In the big composting 'compound', I'm going to move some old pallets to ensure I have 3 separate 'bins' of at least a metre square each 'bay' and then all the pony manure, chicken and duck manure can be added to the frugal compost factory. I'll use one of the big sheets of black plastic for over the top of them and just tie it down securely with, you got it, baling string.

WHY AREN'T WE IN THE GOOD OLD-FASHIONED MONEYSAVING SECTION? This is a question that I cannot answer,. We were relegated some years ago and despite trying to have us moved back there, this was never done. I do feel that frugal living is much more than debt clearing, this is an entire lifestyle based on the more traditional ways of juggling household budgets with housekeeping, gardening, bargain hunting, make do & mend, recycling, growing our own food, swapping, trading, money-saving and paying down any debts that may be there, plus so much more. We are not simply challenging ourselves to become debt-free. Apart rom anything else, many frugalers live this lifestyle in order to maintain their existing freedom from debt, enabling them to pursue other things in life.

In other news, I double checked my BT telephone bill today and found a new package that suited us better - hidden within the depths of the website -  shaving £10 per month off our existing bill. It also offers faster broadband speed and a moneyback style guarantee if the stated speeds aren't met. That could mean a £20 refund, which can be claimed up to 4 times per year. My mobile phone has unlimited calls so if we need to talk for longer than the 500 minutes included with the BT package, we can use that out at frugaldom, where it picks up a signal. (There's still no mobile signals at all at home)

cw18

Chessbear said:

shopping as a leisure activity having been curtailed other than online 

And as postie I have to say I wish they'd curtail it there too !!!!!

I'm still working mad hours trying to catch up with the volume of parcels, and feeling like we're getting nowhere fast.

Then I come home exhausted and have to prepare and cook myself a healthy meal as I live alone so have no-one to have it on the table waiting for me - having found time to shop for the ingredients, all the while hoping the shops have what I need as I'm coming home - some are even closing earlier than they used to, so they're shut by the time I'm walking back because of the overtime I'm doing!

This coming week is an annual leave week for me, which was meant to be spent in the Lake District.   Even though it's a privately owned property (owned by family members who can no longer care for it properly, and are shielding so couldn't go anyway) I can't go for more than a day trip which isn't worth the petrol cost - the government have banned stays at second homes still, which is annoying as I'd have less contact with anyone there than I do my neighbours here      I expected to be asked to work, but we've had a change of manager and I don't think he has sight of our holiday sheets so probably doesn't realise I'm off (cue a phone call just after 10am tomorrow morning asking where I am!).   And I don't like this one (he does as little as he has to on the ground floor because he's a manager, despite the fact we're drowing under parcels due to volume and low staff levels!), so I didn't feel inclined to offer up the information.

So this week is going be a week for recharging my batteries and getting some proper walks (and hopefully runs) done.   Meant to go for a run today but am still sitting here in my PJs - so I'm accepting that as being what my body needed most.   I'd also like to check my stocks of my most used groceries, and if needs be grab the opportunity of getting to the shops to restock on some of them earlier in the day (meaning they may have them available).  And I'm debating travelling to exercise - a round trip of about 80 miles means I can drop off my grand-daughters Easter Eggs (from a safe distance) before going for a lovely long walk (or short run) along the coastal path near them.   And then I can call round to my parents house and move some bags of bark from the back to the front of the house for my Mum whilst having no contact with them (she can't lift them, and would struggle to decant into buckets to carry around on multiple trips, but gardening is giving her something to do whilst they're shielding).

willow_loulou

Thank you for keeping the post going @cw18 as someone who needs to stay away from shops I’m very grateful for my posties (I tell them every time they knock) 

I’m contemplating a shop visit though, I was going to so I could buy toiletries but I had someone get the urgent stuff thankfully. I’ve ordered lots from Avon lady and now I’m making a list of things I can’t get in other ways. Everything id normally buy is either not available at the freezer shop delivery or out of stock where my shoppers shop. I get paid Friday so I’m thinking a comprehensive list and get it all in one go. Even duplicates of what had been bought for me. There’s something’s that alternative products don’t fit the bill. 

Nargleblast

Cw18, you make a valid point about accepting what your body needs most and not getting hung up about pottering around in your PJs. In normal times we are often so busy with this and that, we tend to miss those subtle signals from our bodies that it's time to rest until things get too much and we crash. You work hard, doing more than your normal hours, so make this week about you for a change.

Mumtomany, I like your idea about Premium Bonds. Interest rates are close to zero so it's worth getting a few bonds if you can. They hold their value and there is always a chance of a win.

I had a go making bread from ordinary plain flour in the breadmaker, seeing as strong flour has been hard to get hold of. It looks good and smells good, I will check for taste and texture later. If it's not successful I can always slice it up and freeze for toast, or make bread and butter pud.

mumtoomany

Hi, Nargleblast. Morrison's here have bread flour. They are selling it in paper bags at the fresh bread counter. 60p per kilo, I think. Maybe other big supermarkets are too. Might be worth checking or asking. HTH mumtoomany.

cw18

mumtoomany said:

Hi, Nargleblast. Morrison's here have bread flour. They are selling it in paper bags at the fresh bread counter. 60p per kilo, I think. Maybe other big supermarkets are too. Might be worth checking or asking. HTH mumtoomany.

I've seen many reports of this happening on FB (I'm sure people have mentioned Asd@ as well), but I don't have a store within easy reach of home - especially not one with an in-store bakery, which seem to be the ones that are doing this.   I'd have to drive to get to either of my closest M0rrisons, and I'm not prepared to do that on the off-chance that (having likely had to queue to get in as well) they actually have some.     If I could call ahead and get a few bags put to one side then it might be worth it, but I'm having to work with that being my single missing essential item until the flour bags arrive from China and the local A!di gets it back on their shelves.    Once it reappears it's going to become another item I keep in my store cupboard at all times - I'm just going to have to make sure I do some bread baking at regular intervals so that I can rotate my stocks of flour and yeast.

willow_loulou

Prices are creeping up aren’t they, I was shocked looking at the receipt that came with my toiletries. I guess people have hoarded them too so price has gone up with demand. Question is, if I buy a few more am I perpetuating the problem?