2021 Frugal Living Challenge

fionaandphil

@musiemum yes you can still use the lentils, they will be fine

mumsiemum

fionaandphil said:

@musiemum yes you can still use the lentils, they will be fine

That's great!  Thank you :-)

the_cross_rabbit

miss giddychops haltie collar broke yesterday, checked how much it would cost to replace and 😤. Anyway managed to find some webbing and fixed it this morning. I don’t think it will last 8 years which is how long we’ve had it, but it will do. Road tested it this morning and it was fine. 

CRx

fiwen30

Gosh this thread moves fast! Hope you’re all keeping well, as nice to read the ‘close outs’ of January, not that I had chance to write up our own!

Partner is still off work, and I’m still of furlough pay being calculated on my pre-Christmas hours, so we’ve been able to set aside a bit more than usual this month. Having to keep firmly on top of tracking our expenses & purchases this month, first week has already been a bit hairy with a larger than usual grocery shop, plus a few additional food spends.

In regards to our lovely dog - his scheduled surgery was cancelled, as pre-op X-rays showed he wasn’t a suitable candidate for the type of surgery that was planned. We were referred to a specialist today, who suggests he actually needs a combination of 2 surgeries in order to get the best outcome - every professional involved has called him ‘complicated’, ie. difficult & expensive! The op will come in around an eye watering £3.2k, with a high chance that he’ll need the same surgery on the second leg within a year. We’re expecting a call early next week, after the surgeon has consulted a few other people, to hopefully get the op booked in.

I’m thankful that we have a £4.1k emergency fund, and about another £1k which had been earmarked for travel to a friend’s wedding in July and also for work on the house, so we have the cash available without having to go into credit or debt. The second surgery will be a cross the bridge when we come to it scenario.

I’ll feel very uncomfortable for a while till we’ve built that financial cushion back up again, and partner will just have to wait a bit longer to get that motorbike he’s been after!

Couldsavemore

@BarbCh
I have a child, 2 cats and a dog so avoid candles... to much risk of a fire.
I have solar panels on the roof and lithium batteries in the loft. The convertor thingy means I always use...
electricity from panels then electricity from batteries then electricity from the grid.
My supplier is 100% green electricity and 100% carbon offset gas.
Am looking into either increasing my solar panels or getting some sort of roof top turbines next.
I fancy being off grid but in town!

BarbCh

Couldsavemore said:

@BarbCh
I have a child, 2 cats and a dog so avoid candles... to much risk of a fire.
I have solar panels on the roof and lithium batteries in the loft. The convertor thingy means I always use...
electricity from panels then electricity from batteries then electricity from the grid.
My supplier is 100% green electricity and 100% carbon offset gas.
Am looking into either increasing my solar panels or getting some sort of roof top turbines next.
I fancy being off grid but in town!

Sounds good.... isn't it an expense to get the solar panels initially? 
Off grid sounds fab and inspirational if you can do it and live the lifestyle. I've seen some of the programmes about people living off grid... it looks cool... but hard work! I think if we can all incorporate some aspects of it into our lives,  we can be all the better for it.
Well done and good luck with your future green living.

Frugaldom

@AskYouWillGet quite a few of us saw.pips and seeds to grow them on.... Any success is better than nothing at all. Peppers, tomatoes, beans and peas all sprout successfully and then you can keep on saving seeds. Somewhere along the line 'they', whoever you choose to believe 'they' are,  are meant to be trying to prevent people doing this. I know in certain states in US, fruit/veg are modified to produce no fertile seed and there is also a ban on collecting rain water. It's ridiculous do keep going with whatever you can to make frugal living a lifestyle choice. Shop bough potatoes grow fine in buckets. I have found over the years that 1 potato saved from bin/compost can grow a kilo of new potatoes no problem without any special attention. Celery will regrow, as will spring onions, cabbage etc. Have fun experimenting.

Frugaldom

willow_loulou said:

I saw a thing once about candles under upturned terracotta plant pots, about how they become a heater, I’ve not tried it as my nutty dogs would probably knock anything I tried lol though it’s a thought for the kitchen. 

Several of us did this as an experiment a few years back - you may find the posts if you use the search facility. It didn't work out as cheap as some blogs suggested and some people were reading as money saving then wasting more money buying terracotta pots. Many people forget to factor in the costs of acquiring even free stuff so it wasn't worth our while entertaining the thought. Better just making a big blanket from wool or fabric scraps and wrapping up warm. Less condensation, too.  Hope this helps

BarbCh

@Frugaldom.... really!  a ban on collecting rainwater.... what next a tax on breathing fresh air!
For heavens sake.... here in UK we have hosepipe bans when it hasn't  rained for a while and resoviors are low.... so we are encouraged to collect rainwater to use on gardens etc.

Frugaldom

Good afternoon chatterbox frugal friends . It has been absolutely awful weather here and rain still hasn't stopped so everywhere is beginning to flood as the burns burst their banks. Next high tide is around 4.25,pm do here's hoping no huge damage done anywhere. Stay safe, stay warm, stay sane folks, and stay frugally fed.

I had a carton of almond milk that was well past its BBE date but I don't tend to care about those. As long as it is Best Before... it should be safe to keep long after that as long as kept sealed for freshness. Dried, tinned and preserved foods can last indefinitely when stored in cool, dark, dry conditions, which is why most frugalers have stockpiled bargains within the BBE category to see us through any lean times.  My almond milk was free from someone who had bought several cartons while on a fad-diet then changed their mind as didn't like the taste. Anyhow, I've gradually used it up in milk puddings, tea and pancakes. No way was I going to let it go down the drain.

I have some slices of black pudding defrosted - another freebie from a few weeks ago - but it's something that I wouldn't normally buy. So... Black pudding and mash for tea tonight, then probably same tomorrow to use it all up.
My savings from last month's grocery budget got donated to Donkey sanctuary do that has bumped up my 'everuthing else' spending. Swings and roundabouts in frugaldom