2021 Frugal Living Challenge

Viking_mfw

DS1 has outgrown the vast array of tiny socks we got as handmedowns. I was about to order some to click and collect but instead went onto our village fb page to check if anyone had some - and they do! Seems both frugal and planet saving given the huge numbers of kid socks which must be floating around out there. 

Couldsavemore

Well... food shop came in at 27 this week... not bad! As budget is 40. Am counting january as 5 weekends but still expecting a saving.
Mam's bathroom window (upvc) broke..she got a company to come and fix it. Apparently you should oil the hinges etc twice a year! Who knew.. So dad bought 2 cans and gave 1 to me. So have been round and oiled all the hinges and catched... first time in years I can lock my patio doors...(they lead into the conservaotry which has a door which locks) so am pleased with my diy today.. it'll fend off repair bills hopefully

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Quick question Couldsavemore - what type of oil? Thank you 👏

Couldsavemore

WD40 specialist high performance silicone lubricant.. its in a squirty can.
This is what was recommended by the men who fixed the window (same company who put it in)

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Couldsavemore said:

WD40 specialist high performance silicone lubricant.. its in a squirty can.
This is what was recommended by the men who fixed the window (same company who put it in)

Thank you 👏

Frugaldom

DawnW said:

Frugaldom said:

MingVase said:

Nice to see you back after such a long time Frugaldom!

Not sure what you mean as I haven't been away anywhere.

Maybe MingVase means that the thread has been away from the Old Style board for a while? It was on the DFW board last year, wasn't it?

Yes, our challenge got moved to DFW several years ago. MV and I know one another from some years ago but we had lost contact. I'm now communicating via private message.

Frugaldom

MazzieD said:

... I hate food waste and would love to use Olio, but with approaching 3.5k users in 1.4 mile radius of me chasing not much of anything from T*sco or anywhere else it's a bit hopeless!.  Same with 'Too Good to Go' but that is mainly because it's just Costa due to Lockdown.

Wow! MazzieD, I never think to remind myself of population numbers in different areas as I live in a place where 3.5k people is probably more than the total population of all our local villages and there are only 186 Olio users within 25km of me. The app just doesn't seem to be catching on about here. However, that may be because we have only one small Tesco Metro store and none of the other food places listed are anywhere near us. But this also reflects the lack of opportunities for YS shopping and bargain hunting. Our nearest village store is several miles away and the nearest supermarket is a 20+ mile round trip. Having an Olio food waste hero nearby has made an absolutely amazing change to my grocery budget. I went the best part of 2 years without seeing a single listing before that.  Your foody bargains and YS reductions sound good.

This weekend's 'food booty' has been carrots, potatoes, celery, cakes, bread and yoghurt. A friend left a jug of soup at our gate and I gave away some eggs. I've still got half a dozen for our own use so there's plenty of food in stock. The kale cookies are now all eaten. One week to go until end of the first month and my savings on groceries should help to pay for the increase in gas and electricity while trying to keep the place warm. (We've already had frozen pipes and went for 3 days without running water.)

MazzieD

Frugaldom said:

MazzieD said:

... I hate food waste and would love to use Olio, but with approaching 3.5k users in 1.4 mile radius of me chasing not much of anything from T*sco or anywhere else it's a bit hopeless!.  Same with 'Too Good to Go' but that is mainly because it's just Costa due to Lockdown.

Wow! MazzieD, I never think to remind myself of population numbers in different areas as I live in a place where 3.5k people is probably more than the total population of all our local villages and there are only 186 Olio users within 25km of me. The app just doesn't seem to be catching on about here. However, that may be because we have only one small Tesco Metro store and none of the other food places listed are anywhere near us. But this also reflects the lack of opportunities for YS shopping and bargain hunting. Our nearest village store is several miles away and the nearest supermarket is a 20+ mile round trip. Having an Olio food waste hero nearby has made an absolutely amazing change to my grocery budget. I went the best part of 2 years without seeing a single listing before that.  Your foody bargains and YS reductions sound good.

It really is a case of swings and roundabouts.  I was a bit shocked when I joined Olio and saw the numbers  - just a bit too popular here!.  I'm really pleased with my YS finds, all I have done is changed from a main monthly shop to weekly.  Once a month means there are very few 'bargains', so a simple change has slashed my meat and veg bill for the last couple of months.  I always have a carrier bag with me if I'm near the shops on my daily exercise as well but have to strike a balance with Covid as supermarkets/shops are probably the only place where I might be at risk.

Just had the first sprinkling of snow, along with a spectacular lightning and thunderstorm and it's now raining, all within 30 minutes.

tryingtodobetter

Morning! Lovely snowy morning here so DS3 and I have been out for a lovely wintery walk (DH sleeping post and pre night shift)

I downloaded the Olio app a couple of weeks ago but the nearest items have been 12 miles away! I thought maybe I could get the ball rolling locally by listing things but as I meal plan and shop meticulously I never have any surplus to give away!

Frugal plans for today include waterproofing my leather boots, as they have started to let water seep in in a couple of places. I will be using DH's Wilmas Kängskosmorning leather conditioner and water proofer, its a bit smelly but does a fantastic job.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

My son is very fussy with food due to his autism and i really struggle with making his packed lunch for nursery. He would only eat peanut butter sandwiches and then the nursery said they werent allowed to take peanut butter so I have been buying jars of Pumpkin seed butter from Holland and Barrett but a tiny jar is £3.39. It works out at £1.99 per 100g!!! They have been out of stock for a while so yesterday I bought a packet of sunflower seeds when I was at work and this morning I put them in the food processor and now have a jar of sunflower seed butter. Its actually really nice and mine comes in at 23p a 100g. Very happy with my mornings work.