2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Paspatur

Unusual for a prescription to change in a matter of months
I have had blepharitis a few times but it has never changed my prescription
Mostly solved with EyeBag but have had antibiotics for it once
Is it worth seeing another optometrist for a second opinion as a change over a few months is very worrying

willow_loulou

I second the getting another opinion on your eyes. I had 3 eye tests recently one of which had me going back so many times I just got angry and frustrated. 

I finally went to a new spec savers near me and my new glasses are the exact same script as the ones I had 5 yrs previously! My eyes are slow to focus so the scripts were miles out and causing me real headaches. 

When I have any eye irritation I use cooled tea bags on them, soothing and an astringent apparently. I also was my eyes ever so carefully with well soaped up tiny amount of shampoo just to clean the eyelash bases. I was told to do this by an old school optician when my son had the same condition as you. 

Im now several
days no internet at home. I had better get some compensation as I have had to buy extra data on my phone just to check my bank app! Madness.  

balabooberlies

Sorry for everyone's eye problems.  Before the start of the pandemic I had an eye test that showed scaring on one eye.

Was meant to have appointment with Moorfields but it has been cancelled and re-arranged so many times.  The last letter was that my appointment for 6th January has been cancelled but have not had new appointment.  Must chase that up.

I have joined Olio.  Nothing yet.

have a good evening

bala

x

Frugaldom

Late nights are occurring too often here but there's simply too much to do every day. I haven't done any Christmas shopping at all, although I did book a delivery slot for A$da, due Wednesday night.

We've been really lucky with Oli0 and been given several packs of mushrooms so I spent tonight slicing them up and have loaded them all into the dehydrator. It's a fairly big one that I got from a friend several years ago so I have also put in a couple of trays of banana and apple - all Oli0 claims.

Our hut is complete! It now just needs to completely dry out after all the storms and rain blasting it during the build but I've had the stove lit several times to help things along. All the scrap wood has been stored in the barn, but there isn't enough through draught there to dry it out so it will all need sawn and chopped to manageable size then stacked to dry properly. 

I still haven't planted my garlic as the weather has been awful recently. However, I believe we are to have a few dry days this week so will try my best to get the herb garden under control in between planting Spring bulbs, garlic and the trees that are waiting to go into the ground. I need my volunteers back as there's just too much to do and not enough daylight hours to do it all. H has invested in a head torch woolly hat for each of us so maybe I could plant the bulbs after dark.

I've not yet completed my budget for 2022 but will make a start on that very soon. I always post my household challenge budget figures on here and my £4000 a year can't change much as I have all the livestock to feed plus the car to run and site fees for the caravan we rent out on the holiday park near Frugaldom. (As always, regular members of our Frugaldom challenges are given priority and discount but I don't post any of the details for that on here.)

My budget usually includes, groceries, toiletries, heating, electricity, TV, telephone & Internet, mobile, clothing & footwear, insurances, gifts and miscellaneous other. Then there's Council Tax and the cost of running the car. I'm sure I've missed something but it's too late to go looking through my spreadsheets.

willow_loulou

@Frugaldom congratulations on finishing the hut! That’s amazing well done! You must be so happy 😃 

Im interested in dehydration, how do you store foods after? And how long? If olio comes up even semi regular here I can save more food. 

After much thought I’m going to try to follow the 4000 budget route. I’ll sit and read your early threads between Christmas and new year. I have a cash book I acquired free, I think we will become very attached! I desperately need some work done on the house, if I can restrict my budget I can achieve some of that in ‘23

[Deleted User]

Thank you all for your comments on my post. I think sharing figures is useful and hopefully offers a framework that someone else could base their own budget upon. 

I have ordered the Christmas presents we needed to buy, staying well within budget and have zero intentions of going anywhere near a shop until into the New Year. I have a supermarket delivery on the 20th, and aside from that no need to spend any money at all. I have managed to keep that to £48 which I am very pleased with. In fact, I am going to pledge now that aside from the 20th food delivery, I am not going to spend a penny until January. Oooh, I had forgotten how much I enjoy a NSD challenge! 

If anyone wishes to join me for this bit of fun for the remainder of 2021, I would love your company. 

YORKSHIRELASS

Ooh yes ASB sounds like a challenge.  We have the chimney sweep next week and a supermarket delivery.  I am cycling with some friends on Saturday morning and we may have a cafe stop then DS2 is home for Christmas so we may have a trip to the beach or something similar.  I am going to try for 12 NSDs excluding the supermarket and chimney sweep up to 1st Jan 2022.

I have been pondering if the remaining loo roll in the house will last until shopping day on Sunday.  Such is my mindset at the moment!  DS1 has come home for a few days and I think he is a bit concerned about how empty the fridge is, but we have carefully planned what we are going to eat until the delivery arrives.  

No news on the car, I am very anxious about it, fingers crossed we will find out tomorrow whether it has been fixed or not.

[Deleted User]

Eminently doable @YORKSHIRELASS thank you for joining me lovely xx

Frugaldom

I've had a quick shuffle around of m challenge budget for 2022 and come up with the following:

Groceries - £800
Electricity - £520
Heating - £700 
Internet & Mobile - £336
Footwear & Clothing - £50
TV Licence - N/A
Car £1,000
Postage - £10
Insurances - £240
Social - £120
Gifts - £200
Misc other -  £24
Total £4,000

The above is everything that I can try to drive down. Things like Council Tax are non-negotiable so I don't count it in here, even although it still needs to be paid. I have separate budgets for different things but the above is my frugal living budget. 

On the topic of dehydrating food - I store it in airtight clip-top jars. The fruit gets used like sweets and the veg can be added into soups and stews.

fionaandphil

I'll join you on NSDs @Deleted_User we are stuck at home with Covid so should manage at least 10 😁 We are eating solely from fridge, cupboards and freezers. I will need to do some shopping once we're out of isolation but this will double up as our Christmas food spend.

Well done on completing your hut @Frugaldom it seems to have gone up really quickly since your planning permission came through