2021 Frugal Living Challenge

AnimalTribe

villagelife said:

I can't remember who is thinking of rabbit proofing their garden. Have you rabbit holes in your garden? We purchased some land behind out garden which was overran with rabbits. We got rid of them by disrupting their holes by partly filling the entrances up with earth and by using the part of the field they liked to be in. After about 2 -3 months they had all gone. A very cheap way.

Villagelife - there are more holes than there is garden in one area. I did try filling the holes as you suggested, but it sounds like I wasn't persistent enough - I will start again and be more vigilant. Shh! don't tell my DH, and look away if you're squeamish, but when one part of the garden started to be a problem I found urine poured down the hole to be very effective. I don't think the world could produce enough of the wet stuff though to get rid of the holes in the bad area. Right I'm off to dig some soil and start tackling some rabbit holes, before lunch

nannygladys

Willow_loulou I freeze both fruit cake and banana bread in slices so I can take out what I need, I use tin foil, haven't tried film but I will do as I have some that needs going.

My frugal win today has been mentioning to my neighbour that my shower isn't working and I thought it may be an electrical fault, he asked if I had checked the trip switch, I hadn't so I did and it now works. Feel a little foolish as its been out of action a couple of months! But not as foolish as I would have been if I'd called out an electrician!!!

My other win is just (50p) keeping in my grocery budget for the month, I get paid tomorrow.
Nannyg

Tanya12345

Morning Fruggies,
Ha ha Animaltribe, love the idea of the wet stuff down the rabbit holes - not sure my aim is good enough though.... Plus no flush so also a water saving activity !! 
Well done Nannyg, saving significant expense on call out is worth a little red face any day ! Fab news on the grocery budget for me just staying within would be the win ! The amount is secondary !!
Off rowing this morning, it's at a local lake so afterwards I'm hoping to pick blackberries and see if the Elderberries are ready yet, also found a couple of mushrooms this morning - will add to my stash of dehydrated ones for winter casseroles. Will also try making Ketchup this afternoon as I froze too many tomatoes last year - I still have some in the freezer - and we are really short of freezer space !! Often wonder how long it took and how food was preserved in pre freezer days........More skills to be learnt !
Here's hoping for a Wasteless Wednesday xx

boultdj

Tanya12345, check out a youtube channel called OurHalfAcreHomestead, Bev lives in a remote area in Canada and stores most of her food in the pantry, she has loads of different ways to store food.

willow_loulou

Feeling sick this morning, I may have not given the right information to the council so may owe lots of benefits back plus a fine of course. 

All innocently done following the website and advice but of course still liable. I just hope they believe it wasn’t deliberately done, I just didn’t think to question things given the amount of times they’ve readjusted my CT benefit. Such a worry  waiting, which of course they don’t care about. I just hope it’s not so far back it’s impossible to repay or worse they decide I’m committing fraud. You hear such awful things about that. 

I guess the onus is always on the benefit recipient to double check everything. Trouble is my mental health makes me struggle to deal with the letters so I just do what they say and don’t question. 

Anyway, nothing I can do but wait. I’ve cancelled every non essential in prep of a large repayment and fine. So relived I’ve over paid my loan as I can get an extension if I need to borrow more. 

Sigh 

balabooberlies

Willow_Loulou

take a deep breath..........

Do you have evidence of mental health issues ?

Wait until they let you know what they are thinking before you panic.  Happened to my SIL...........THEY paid her too much in Tax credits.  She paid them back in a reasonable amount of time.

Don't forget Citizen's Advice, your Doctor, and other support agencies.

Please relax, I know it's an awful situation to be in but it will be resolved and it will pass.

Huge Hug.....

bala
x

AnimalTribe

Tanya12345 I'd forgotten the mushrooms would be ready so I'll go and see if I can find any. I only pick the boletus family, as they are the only ones I'm sure about. 
Boultdj I'll add OurHalfAcreHomestead to my 'want to look at' list.
Willow_loulou - I had a similar problem with income tax a fair while ago, I worried myself sick (it's hard not to with the awful letters they sent), but it turned out all right in the end. As Bala suggests, Citizen's Advice is a good place to start, at least they might be able to lessen your worry.

willow_loulou

Thank you both x 
I’m a little calmer after finally getting a nap. I hardly slept last night unsurprisingly! It is one of those things that you know there is nothing to do and worry is pointless but I cannot control it. 

I’m going to redo my finances later, give myself stricter budgets and make it work. I need to find the worst case scenario and hopefully nothing then will be a surprise. 

Working shortly which will help massively, and I’ve told my boss who will help fight my corner. 

Jellytotts

Willow, I'm sure it will all be ok, we had to apply for universal credit when my business closed down at the start of the pandemic, we answered all the questions, gave them all the details of everything but completely forgot one tiny income stream as it was too low for any thing else we've ever had to claim. We gave them a quick message, all the details and it was fine, tiny impact on our monthly benefit and they were really nice about it all.  

Well I'm 5 days post op (gallbladder removal) and feeling much more with it. Still utterly shattered and letting my body guide me to what it wants to do (sleep lots).  Did manage to turn a marrow and some French beans picked from the garden into a mixed bean and marrow chilli.  It was very tasty and made a huge slowcooker full so plenty for the freezer.

DH went to check on the allotment yesterday and came back with 11kg of courgettes, 1kg of raspberries and 3kg of beans.  Got them all sliced and diced and in the freezer last night and saved some back which are currently bubbling away making chutney.  

No spends as we've been nowhere, I'm not rushing to get back out and about.  We've had marrow chilli or marrow curry 3 nights in a row so I've prepped the last of our allotment spuds to par boil tonight and pop in the air fryer, will Chuck some garlic and herbs at them and serve with a chicken breast and the inevitable runner/French beans that need picking later.  There's the last 2 large corn cobs to harvest too so they may get involved.

t14cy_t

virtual hugs to all that need them(()).xx