2021 Frugal Living Challenge

mumtoomany

Hi, willow_loulou, I use a freezer! (Sorry couldn't resist) Seriously i use old margarine/ice cream tubs and the bags youngest DD buys her clothes in. They are from stein i think, strong bags with a zip at the top. I re-use them over and over. mumtoomany.

[Deleted User]

Hi frugal friends,

We are well and truly into the swing of the school holidays here. I am managing to stay on track with the £5k per annum budget, with a little bit of creative thinking and lots of veggie and egg based meals. Two young children who are constantly hungry and doing sports means an awful lot of food! 

I have three more egg sales to deliver this week, which will cover the cost of the small amount of food we need to see us through the rest of the week. The freezer is quite full and we will visit the foodshares too. 

Today I sold some eggs, gifted some surplus corguettes and was gifted a cake in return, made a huge pan of veg and lentil soup, and sorted lots of outgrown clothes out of DD's for charity. We played football in the garden and ate all our meals together. I love having my children at home with me in the holidays. 

@Frugaldom - I hope all is well with you. Your facebook photos and posts are fab x
@YORKSHIRELASS - bob your head in here and say hi

Take care all and remember, those pennies really do make pounds. Be proud of walking against the consumer tide and spending on needs, not wants xx

nannygladys

A nice day here, so I did all my laundry and got it dried outside and ironed as soon as I got it in.
Spag bol for tea and enough LO for tomorrow, I haven't any spare room in the freezer as what little there is, is allocated for veg off the lottie.
Nannyg

Frugaldom

t14cy_t said:

bumper bounty on our walk this morning!!! some people are funny!! came home with 3 tins tuna, 6 packets crisps, jar nutella, 2 tubs custard, a bar of fancy chocolate, 3 different takeaways and 5p for the pot!! zeus will soon need a trailer!! just cant understand why or how people waste so much, alien to me!! 

I'm missing something but firstly, hello Secondly, who or what is zeus?

Frugaldom

We;come on board, @Jellytotts

Everyone seems to be doing ok here, a few slip-ups and slides of the band wagon, I see, but nothing that isn't repairable. 

@willow_loulou I hope you are feeling a bit better

@t14cy_t I hope your lemon curd making went well

As usual, it's been fulltime chaos corner at Frugaldom but it is still fun! Eveything has got overgrown, the veggies are ruined / shot / dead from sun stroke and dehydration from before we had any rain but we succeeded in getting enough water from the burn and seep to keep ponies & goats watered and the pond deep enough to save the fish. The rain got here just in time. I had a friend staying for a week followed by several sets of visitors and then when I read the latest updates from the council about them waiving planning permission for 'Aires', we set about clearing a corner of the yard and created a motorhome parking space for anyone travelling nearby and looking for an overnight stop. Now we are clearing out sections of the barn to create better storage space, mulching fruit trees with sheep fleece and making floating paths over drainage areas using the fleeces with stone dust on top. So many jobs needing done and time marching on so quickly, heading for autumn. 

Another lucky £25 win on the premium bonds this month buy I donated it to something so that took care of that. Car all MOT'd and had a full service, insurance and tax paid for another year and I'm still keeping tabs on all spends because EVERYTHING is going up in price at a horrific rate. Thankfully, I've had a few lucky breaks with Olio.

Keep on frugalling, folks. Tag me in on stuff so I don't miss important updates like debt-free moments and extra lightbulb moments. The new 'normal' seems to be turning our usual daily lifestyle into a trendy thing to do - working from home, gardening, keeping hens, growing food, making stuff, DIY, staycations, wild camping... except now, it all seems to cost an arm and a leg. Wood is a ridiculous price now and finding free pallets is nearly impossible.

angela110660

Such a pity you are so far away Frugaldom - my OH has loads of pallets he could pass on from the business ! 

mumof3.12kindebt

Morning frugal friends 

Only spends this week is petrol money to friends giving me lifts to work due to car being repaired. Food shop and cat food today that I forgot to get on food shop and a pack of sweets each for the kids 



I really really want to be debt free by the end of next year so I'm trying to be as frugal as I can. It will definitely continue when the debt is gone so i can get jobs that need doing round the house so 2023 is going to be another expensive year. But it's stuff that needs to be done. 


My goal for the next few months is too sell as much as possible instead of buying stuff. 

I'm working now till the weekend. 

I've picked up 2 extra shifts in August to help towards the car bill 

Will try and post more regularly to keep myself accountable 


Take care all 

Jellytotts

Evening all,

Another frugal day here as we haven't left the house.  Sold a couple of items on market place which were collected and paid in cash so that's gone in my "happy stash" pot.  We use this money to treat ourselves to something we'd like rather than something we need.  We've agreed that it will be used for a bag of chips on the beach in a few weeks time (after my op) and maybe even a drink at the beach side pub one evening.  A proper treat! (But I bet we just buy a bottle of wine and drink it in the garden instead)...such a cheap date.

Got more wood cut this morning and spent a good few hours clearing another section of overgrown garden, catching up with washing and then harvesting loads from the courgette and bean beds.

I finished a craft project last night which has been laundered, photographed and will be listed on my Etsy selling a page later.  The materials were given to me so it's cost me nothing but time to make and anything I can get back is a nice bonus.  I'm quite lucky that my Etsy turn around is fairly good and it provides a nice little side hustle.

Going to light the outdoor fireplace this evening and enjoy the dusk and darkness with some music and marshmallows.  We are not really telly watchers as we have plenty of hobbies and listen to music or that radio instead so sitting on a comfy chair with lovely views and a snuggly blanket, watching bats is our idea of bliss,

YORKSHIRELASS

Ahh the lovely ASB has shamed me into making an appearance, and a truly good friend she is because I have slipped off the Frugal train and need to get back on.

We have managed to reduced our debts from £35201 to £29921 so far this year, and getting them under £30,000 feels like a real achievement, however there is still a long way to go.  This doesnt include the Mortgage Reserve either which is a similar figure.

We have just had a £600 car bill (thankfully there is money set aside for it) and have lent DS2 £1150 (how much of it we will see back I dont know).  DHs very old van goes in for its MOT on Friday too, and we are going away for our wedding anniversary.

DH has done a great job of growing veg in our raised beds this year and we have done fairly well on the grocery budget.  I have wasted money on clothes and other things recently but I am going to try really hard to rein in the spending for the next few months.

I shall try to keep in touch with you all!

willow_loulou

Evening all! The chickens have arrived!! They are adorable and take no nonsense from the dogs. 

Hopefully we will get eggs soon enough. They came with feeders so that’s one less thing to buy! 

I also got 2 books for Christmas  gifts at 50p - both look new. I will wrap and label them tomorrow. 

The trip out for yarn was very successful and I got bought a coffee for driving! I had a very luxurious almond milk cappuccino. I’m so easy pleased. I’m working tomorrow so will take soup for lunch as I’m in on my own. 

I’ve not spent any of my food budget yet, but I’ll need bread tomorrow if olio isn’t forthcoming.