2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Good evening to all my friendly frugaleers, I hope the weather is being kind to you, health improving for those who have been unwell and symptoms / reactions reducing for those with post-covid-vaccine reactions. 
My shopping list for March has been transferred to online supermarket order for delivery end of next week but I'd to spend £2 on milk this week to keep us going. I made a tentative start on tidying up a bit of garden and straightened up some of the apple trees that were leaning precariously but there are so many jobs needing done that I barely know where to start first. It looks like I should prioritise my seeds for sowing, sort out what can be sown outside the door for convenience. The way things are going with prices, I'm REALLY going to have to get into a routine of eating simple things like salad leaf sandwiches, egg & spring onion (or chive) flan or quiche and find out what's easiest and quickest to grow for main meals as I am forever trying to become as self-sustainable as possible. 

fionaandphil

Tightpants24 said: very smug about sending 2 personalised cards via Moonpig (usually £3.29 plus postage) for 85p each using a voucher code: FREEKHSHFJSDHKW

Found these offers on HotUKdeals website. 😏

Thanks for this - I had been putting off ordering a card and this reduced the cost to zero as I had 95p left in my account - great result!!

Onebrokelady

Frugaldom said:

Good evening to all my friendly frugaleers, I hope the weather is being kind to you, health improving for those who have been unwell and symptoms / reactions reducing for those with post-covid-vaccine reactions. 
My shopping list for March has been transferred to online supermarket order for delivery end of next week but I'd to spend £2 on milk this week to keep us going. I made a tentative start on tidying up a bit of garden and straightened up some of the apple trees that were leaning precariously but there are so many jobs needing done that I barely know where to start first. It looks like I should prioritise my seeds for sowing, sort out what can be sown outside the door for convenience. The way things are going with prices, I'm REALLY going to have to get into a routine of eating simple things like salad leaf sandwiches, egg & spring onion (or chive) flan or quiche and find out what's easiest and quickest to grow for main meals as I am forever trying to become as self-sustainable as possible. 

When we had our allotment we had great success with the humble potato, those plants just gave and gave and potatoes are very versatile.The other popular thing was beetroot which I never realised tasted so good roasted and of course you can chuck it in a cake if you want a treat. Also raspberries were a good one to encourage,there were already raspberry canes on the plot and we didn't really know what we were doing with them but we got pound after pound of raspberry's which saved me a lot of money not having to buy them 😀

elbree

skint_chick said:

Fionaandphil - sadly my car was also damaged, because it's fairly new it was almost £800 as I also damaged a tyre, so I had to claim on my insurance. I will lose 5% discount, so maybe £20, and I've to pay £250 excess.
Sashacat - so sorry for your loss, hope you're looking after yourself
Kerry_woman - I enjoy beginners yoga with Adrienne on YouTube - the gentle movement helps my mood and I'm definitely getting better and more flexible with each session. I've also done Open Learn, FutureLearn, and Coursera courses, and listening to 80s music while dancing around hoovering etc always cheers me up. It's tough when you're feeling low at the moment because it's grey and cold, so I find I need more self care like eating extra veggies, beauty treatments, making a real effort to reach out to friends and family when I'd rather hide away.

My motivation for doing this challenge was originally to pay off £26k of debt, then I wanted to work part-time rather than full-time, ended up going back to uni and building a successful business. Now it's about living sustainably and not having the stress of having to take on too much work wise to have a better balance in life. I became an auntie just over 2 years ago and words can't express how happy it's made me and how much I love the 2, soon to be 3 little people in my life. They live abroad so saving to see them as much as possible is my priority.

We've only spent £156.42 on groceries this year, that shows how much food I had hoarded last year! Now we've used up all the older food and are just buying weekly amounts, with a few spares here and there if there's offers. OH has his 2nd lockdown birthday in a few weeks so I need to get cake ingredients and make his favourite dinner. Other than that I've started attempting sea swimming - I managed to get up to my thighs on Sunday before running out screaming a bit, but I'd already done over 5,000 steps so it wasn't a wasted journey (I live 5 mins drive from the beach). This weekend I plan to submerge my shoulders and actually swim for at least 15 mins after cycling to the beach.

That's so impressive, I live right on the beach but simply shudder when I see people in at this time of year. I know people say it's exhilarating but I'm too much of a wuss! There was a lady in in a bikini this weekend!!! 

Bluegreen143

@Wraithlady we actually got an email today FINALLY (one month on nearly) confirming our seeds have been dispatched 🙌🏼 Thank you again though for your kind offer!

Very sad today as my 2yo had her first full day at nursery (well until 3 as I finish work then) and after initially doing well at settling sessions, today and yesterday she has been very unhappy about going & constantly saying she “misses mummy” 😭 - apparently she didn’t eat all day, just lay on the floor all morning, refused to go to the toilet so had two accidents etc. Hate to think of her so sad without me and makes me feel seriously crappy about going back to work (have been a SAHM until now). Really wish she could go to my 5yos nursery with him as think she’d settle much better with him there (plus his nursery is amazing & I think they’d deal with it better), but it’s a preschool and only for ages 3+. I’ve told them to phone by lunchtime tomorrow if she’s as bad and I’ll get her early as husband is furloughed tomorrow and next week, so she can do 1/2 days or even 2-3 hour sessions til she’s settled in better and he can watch her while I work.

Trying to do my Tesco order and keep falling foul of the 95 item limit! It’s basically tons of low value items in there (eg 22p tins of beans) and I also think the 95 items penalises you if you cook from scratch as a ready meal lasagne is one item, a home cooked one has loads of separate ingredients needed! 

[Deleted User]

Morning frugal friends

This will be yet another NSD - we went to our local waste food share last night and it was absolutely groaning with produce that would have otherwise been destined for the bin. There is another share tonight but it’s at 6pm and my children are so tired by then, and the queue is long, so we will have to forego that one. 

Frugaldom your post got me thinking, and reminded me I’ve been meaning to ask for advice - 

GARDENING- as a complete novice who wants to grow spuds and raspberries this year, please could someone give me some basic advice on how to start? I am utterly clueless in the garden. DD and I eat absolutely loads of berries so this would save a fortune in summer. Thank you xx

Still keeping my eyes peeled for pallets/wood whilst out and about. Logs being so expensive means it’s a no for now. 

Have super frugal days all x

Bluegreen143

@Deleted_User you do amazingly with all your free food!

Raspberries are very easy to grow, the canes need to go in Nov-March so get them in ASAP. We’ve had raspberry plants in our garden from the previous owner and they require little maintenance except cutting back each year and they give us tons of berries! Strawberries are easy too.

Bluegreen143

@Deleted_User if you put your council area in this site it gives you sowing, planting out & harvesting dates based on your local area’s weather/climate (eg we are a month later here in Scotland due to the weather) so it’s quite handy! https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/adjust-dates-uk-done-dropdown.php

[Deleted User]

Thank you lovely that so useful! I’ll order some today. Do the raspberries like a sunny spot? Do they need netting from birds? X

MazzieD

Living_proof said:

Welcome @retiredinfrance and I hope you have fun in your budget challenge!
@MazzieD I am sorry you didn't manage to get a box - it is almost the highlight of my week and I will go first thing tomorrow. I am close to two Lidl stores so my chances are higher I guess. I did get a Spar Magic Box yesterday, from the Too Good to Go app. but as I expected the majority of the contents was more suited to my omnivore friend. However, very much worth the £3.09 I paid for it and we help each other out with food all the time. The LIdl boxes are generally my best buy and some of their Vegan reductions, like Houmous and Felafel, salad bags and kale, etc. If only they offered a short-dated red wine, I would be a very happy bunny!

Quite by chance I went past at 8.15 this morning, dashed in as noticed they had 6 boxes and discovered they were all empty, it seems they now put them out later in the morning so I just need to adjust my timing!.