2021 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

I got 2 greggs tgtg bags this evening as a well deserved treat for what feels like an incredibly stressy couple of months. 

The bags were £2:95 each and contained

A pack of 4 sausage rolls
A large tuna baguette
A large chicken and bacon baguette
A chicken bake
2 large Jammie biscuits (lush!) 
A toffee Muffin. 

So we had a baguette each this evening and a biscuit. Ds had the chicken bake too.
The sausage rolls will be tomorrow’s dinner with mushrooms and beans. All in all a great value treat if 2 dinners. 

zafiro1984

Had a lovely surprise today.
I pay my electric by STO and we have 2 meters on this property, one for the house and one for the farm. I do keep quite a close eye on the amount we use, to the point where I go around the farm's workshop, stables, office etc on a regular basis turning off everything on stand-by and turning down or off any heaters left on.
In the house there is nothing on stand-by, I have the ironheart going day and night - it burns wood which is free - it heats a lot of the house and stops the central heating from kicking in, also I do most of my cooking on it. The house uses an average of 15-16kw a day, plus oil for the central heating, the farm uses a lot more.
When I rang the electric co I expected to have to increase my STO, but to my great surprise I was 264.81p in credit. Not only that but I looked at the last time I ordered oil and worked out that by keeping the ironheart alight and using it for cooking my oil consumption has gone down by over half.

It's not often I feel this pleased. Small tweaks pay off

weenancyinAmerica

There are many sites in the US and well as sites in England. One such is https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/ld/the-diabetic-foot which says

• Avoid socks, stockings or tights with wrinkles or prominent seams, or socks with holes or darned areas

The other posters are right. It has to do with the rubbing causing ulcers.

mumtoomany

Well, if any of you remember back to October 2020, I began my own challenge of living on £11,000 (plus another £1440 from DD1 for food for their family. Today I've totalled up the figures. Rather than the £12440, above, that i thought we'd have, we actually ended up with £16195. This was due to selling some stuff, earning slightly more than anticipated and getting the interest payments from our help to save accounts. In addition to the £1500 I was going to put into savings, I managed an additional £2000. The rest was spent on fixing vehicles, we have two very old volkswagons. Both were bought as barn finds. Both over 30 years old, but the total mileage for both together is less than 80,000 miles. Our previous one had done over a quarter of a million! They have needed a lot of fixing. One is now on the road and our workhorse. The other is a work in progress. The other area where we have gone over budget is DD3. Her driving tests, theory and practical, were both delayed due to covid. So far more lessons than were budgeted for. Also, the cost of driving tests. We have been taking her to and from work, so more fuel. Hopefully she will pass next time, December, and can then take on the cost of her own car. We promised to pay for it's upkeep until she passes. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the year. Everything else came in on budget. I'll try again in January, see has well i do then. Take care all, mumtoomany.

nannygladys

Frugal things done today- made soup, cake and courgette bake with last home grown courgette! With enough for tomorrow.
Made some floor cloths from old worn out tea towels and sorted out food cupboards.  
On the budget front I'm OK but not much saving going on which needs rectifying sooner than later, I think if I was actually saving for something it would be easier, I'll have to put my thinking cap on. During first lockdown I told my dd if I manage to live through cv19 I would buy a bottle of jo Malone perfume that I really like (I've never bought any before, but love the smell) but when I found out the price I quickly changed my mind, I couldn't justify spending that amount on something so trivial even if I loved the pong!!!!
Anyway, I'll make a last drink and go to bed
Nannyg

willow_loulou

I think saving for a bottle of Jo Malone is a wonderful idea, why not! We deserve nice things even in the frugal life. Maybe do prolific surveys to earn some of it 

Sweetlittledaydreams

2Scratters said:

@Sweetlittledaydreams you are surrounded with like minded people just not physically. Pop in here anytime there is always someone to chat to. We all get inspiration off each other. Talk to your other half or family anyway they will get used to it and hearing you. It will take a long time probably never  but don't loose heart we are all here for you.

Thank you so much, it's lovely to feel welcome here. I'm really glad I've found this group now, it gives me a bit of time to get into the swing of things so I can go into next year with a proper plan. 
Drinking some homemade (free!) wine, I don't drink very much so this bottle has lasted me over a week, what a frugal lightweight! I will make some more soon ready for Christmas presents.
Had another no spend day today but did buy some wool and a meal-deal yesterday. Won £50 on premium bonds this month too, so I'm really hoping that will cover this month's food shop, have also picked up an extra shift at work next week so this month's extra shifts should cover my council tax and gas/water/electric. It might sound boring to some but if I can get into the mindset of it being a challenge to make extra money to cover the bills, that way I'll push to earn more and try to spend less, and over all save more, win win.
My friends birthday is coming up, going to try and make her a gift using the pyrography set she gave me last christmas but she is a very good artist so if it all goes wrong I will end up buying something just to save face!
I'm still fighting sleep but hope the rest of you are having sweet dreams.

summertime_2

2Scratters said:

@Sweetlittledaydreams you are surrounded with like minded people just not physically. Pop in here anytime there is always someone to chat to. We all get inspiration off each other. Talk to your other half or family anyway they will get used to it and hearing you. It will take a long time probably never  but don't loose heart we are all here for you. My DH just accepts it when I am on a purge in here catching up. He certainly has never questioned the results put does a bit of a sigh when I do act in a serious MSE way. As I have always been the money stasher of the house he just does as required
2 Scratters

This 'old style moneysaving ' site  reminds me of what my older sister told me once. She said when l was born in the 1950's it was the habit of housewives to have the next door neighbour pop round for a cuppa at 11am, Only for about 15 mins ( no longer) to have a quick chat and cuppa  because each housewife had a strict housework timetable routine to do. Over a cuppa they would chat about any gossip in the street or to exchange recipes etc. Then before the neighbour went to go and finish off her housework, she would take a quick look at my moms new baby in the pram (she had 7 !!) that was wrapped up in tons of knitted clothes, bonnets, gloves and blankets and popped outside in the garden to get the daily dose of fresh air lol.
 As long as it wasnt raining or snowing ,the babies were put outside for an hour, next to the window, where they could be checked upon. My sister said after the 11 am teabreak my mom went shopping (daily as no fridge or freezer) as baby was already wrapped up and then would be back for babies next feed. That baby in the pram was me lol.

florianatwobob

summertime_2 said:

2Scratters said:

@Sweetlittledaydreams you are surrounded with like minded people just not physically. Pop in here anytime there is always someone to chat to. We all get inspiration off each other. Talk to your other half or family anyway they will get used to it and hearing you. It will take a long time probably never  but don't loose heart we are all here for you. My DH just accepts it when I am on a purge in here catching up. He certainly has never questioned the results put does a bit of a sigh when I do act in a serious MSE way. As I have always been the money stasher of the house he just does as required
2 Scratters

This 'old style moneysaving ' site  reminds me of what my older sister told me once. She said when l was born in the 1950's it was the habit of housewives to have the next door neighbour pop round for a cuppa at 11am, Only for about 15 mins ( no longer) to have a quick chat and cuppa  because each housewife had a strict housework timetable routine to do. Over a cuppa they would chat about any gossip in the street or to exchange recipes etc. Then before the neighbour went to go and finish off her housework, she would take a quick look at my moms new baby in the pram (she had 7 !!) that was wrapped up in tons of knitted clothes, bonnets, gloves and blankets and popped outside in the garden to get the daily dose of fresh air lol.
 As long as it wasnt raining or snowing ,the babies were put outside for an hour, next to the window, where they could be checked upon. My sister said after the 11 am teabreak my mom went shopping (daily as no fridge or freezer) as baby was already wrapped up and then would be back for babies next feed. That baby in the pram was me lol.

My mum used to park me in the front garden in my pram or pushchair under the cherry tree ‘for an airing’ when I was little. She could easily see me from
the front window whilst she did some housework. 

 One of my earliest memories is looking up through the blossom and seeing the blue sky and the birds flittering through the branches. That would have been the late 70s very early 80s. 

Mum was born 1939 and I was the tail end Charlie of 4 kids so she did use sone tried and tested techniques. Apparently Mum got more sleep if I’d had a good dose of fresh air! 😉

AnimalTribe

Rainbow Hippie I get huge satisfaction from fixing things. If something breaks I try to fix it first, but I do bear cost in mind. If I don't know how to fix something I usually look on Youtube for suggestions. Clothing, crockery, books - anything that's not electrical or woodwork I'll try to fix. After all if the fix goes wrong I've lost nothing. My DH is a qualified electrician, and can fix almost anything - so between us we can fix most things. If something needs a part my DH can often fabricate it, or unusual parts are sometimes up for sale on Ebay. I sell unusual parts myself, so know it's always worth a look. I recently fixed some chips in some crockery with fine, white Milliput - you can see the fix, but it can be put in the dishwasher. If I was keen I would have painted around the rim of the dish with gold ceramic paint to hide the chip, but that would mean I would have to remember to hand wash the dish.