2021 Frugal Living Challenge

AnimalTribe

Ellie79 What a great reason to have blown your budget.
It's lovely and sunny here today, so most of the day has been spent in the garden. A quick cup of coffee then I'm out again collecting some seeds to dry for use next year.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

Its been a good weekend all up. Managed to empty 2.5kg of blackberries, raspberries and tayberries out of the freezer which has been turned into 11 jars of jam. 
We had a move round of our furniture in the lounge and I wanted to get a floor lamp for a corner of the room. Old me would have looked online and bought a new one but instead we went for a short walk up the road to where there are 2 charity shops side by side and managed to pick up a nice one for £10. Also managed to get 4 childrens books whilst there for £1 which my youngest was happy about.

willow_loulou

AnimalTribe said:

willow_loulou said:

Booked the chimney sweep for next week. Determined to be really winter ready early in case of Covid stuff again. 

Good point, thanks, that's reminded me to get the boiler serviced.

You’re welcome lol 
I have added matches and wood wool firelighters to my shopping list as well, might as well pick them up as I go along. 

I also spent half and hour stuffing toilet roll inners with other toilet roll inners and paper rubbish, useful to get a fire going and it’s using waste products. 

Garden clearing is going well, the incinerator was a great buy. Definitely better than a big uncontrollable bonfire and numerous tip runs with tree bits. 

Ellie I’m seriously craving steak now! Lol glad he’s enjoyed the foods, what a relief for you 

Mrs_Cheshire

Deleted_User said:

That is fantastic Willow! We have around 10 pallets chopped up ready to burn in anticipation of the chillier evenings, and about half a log store. Logs are so pricey we need to manage entirely on free wood this winter. We are only just covering the cost of electricity at the moment, our gas is miniscule in summer like most people. Central heating on in winter is a true luxury nowadays - many don't like me saying this out loud, but it is a reality for so many households. 

A very frugal day here. The children were at sports club, and I spent most of the day preparing food for either us, the dog or the chickens! We have a fantastic arrangement with the local grocer whereby all of his stock that isn't sellable (i.e. no bruises etc at all) he gives to us. The chickens benefit, so do we and it reduces his waste bill hugely.

Radishes were the order of the morning, and I spent a good chunk of time preparing them for the hens. They absolutely love them. 

Tomorrow I will spend, but it is covered by egg sales money (an oven pizza for us to share as a Friday treat, and a beer). We always have a pizza and DVD night here on a Friday. A friend teased me recently saying "no-one watches DVDs anymore" - urm, we do! And people are giving them away for free left, right and centre as a result so we do well! If I could just source the final Harry Potter movie on DVD without having to resort to Amazon the children would be thrilled. I keep my eyes peeled in chazzas, I am sure someone must have a copy!

Save for the aforementioned sales of approx. £3, no money will be spent at all until at least a week tomorrow. We are currently eating eggs, courguettes and strawberres aplenty thanks to the garden, and planning meals round that. 

Take care and KEEP ON GUYS, your future self will thank you for it. xx

Are you still looking for the final Harry Potter dvd? 

Mrs_Cheshire

Hi all, spent a few weeks reading through the chat and planning, have finally caught up so I'm ready to jump in. 2 adults and 3 boys aged 12, 10 & almost 6. We've lived quite frugally for the last 8 years due to a number of reasons ( initially debt, then habit and now due to redundancy and lack of work). 

I've been doing the grocery challenge for a few years, although this year is the only one I've recorded every month. That's going well and any leftover cash is popped into a bulk fund. I used the majority of that from Jan-July for our holiday spends. Any saved between Aug-Dec will be used towards days out at Christmas. 

I'm a food waste hero for Olio but haven't got a regular slot currently. They were taken by the charities a few months ago. That helped keep my spends low as I regularly got meat. ready meals, veg and bread. We also shop at a local community grocery but supplies are dwindling there due to shops having less to donate now things are returning to the new 'normal'. 

I picked up a magic bag from a local convenience shop on Saturday night - wasn't overall pleased with the contents as I couldn't freeze much of it. I did get some leeks though which I'll blanch and freeze for stews later in the year. Whilst I was out I stopped at 3 other convenience shops and picked up the last reductions of the day. I also stopped yesterday just before closing and got a few bargains to freeze. We should have enough sandwich fillers for September now as the boys have meals at school during the week. 

We do grow our own with varying success - potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries and pears. We've recently planted salad leaves which seem to be growing well and I'm busy planning more growing next spring. 

I'm just over 2 weeks away from completing my BSc with the Open University then the job hunting will begin. 

Look forward to sharing our frugal ways together

fionaandphil

Welcome @Mrs_Cheshire, I'm sure you'll pick up some great tips on here, although it looks like you are well on your way!  if you like rhubarb then now is a good time to plant ready for next year, it crops most of the year from February/March.  A lot of gardeners are splitting the crowns just now so if you know somebody who has some they will probably be happy to pass some on.  Good luck!

welshspendthrift

@fionaandphil I have a rhubarb that I think needs splitting,any guidance on doing this welcomed @Mrs_Cheshire I assume your location i is a way from Staffordshire otherwise you could have some of mine. 

fionaandphil

welshspendthrift said:

@fionaandphil I have a rhubarb that I think needs splitting,any guidance on doing this welcomed @Mrs_Cheshire I assume your location i is a way from Staffordshire otherwise you could have some of mine. 

I usually just find a bit where the crown looks quite large and see if it breaks off with a bud.  If not, you can dig the whole crown up and split it into sections depending how large it is, but make sure you have some of the root buds on each section you take apart.  Reading up on it, it does say you should do this in spring but I find if I wait that long I don't then want to pull it apart just as its started producing new stalks.  I usually do mine now, make sure it is well settled for winter and then just leave it.  It seems to thrive on neglect 

[Deleted User]

@Mrs_Cheshire welcome! Yes I most certainly am xx

welshspendthrift

thank you @fionaandphil I will give it a go and offer the spare ones to the village residents!