2022 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

Floss said:

willow_loulou said:

Thank you for the suggestions. I’ll grab a sensitive one. Do you use a certain amount? I’ve not used it in 20+ years. 

I don’t have a tumbler anymore which is why I need the softner I think. 

I use about half what it says on the bottle

Perfect. Exactly what I was thinking thanks. 

weenancyinAmerica

Fabric softener is a new thing - relatively speaking. I try to think back to what was happening in the 1950s and go with that. None of these overly fragranced products then. 

JIL

Have a look at what fabric softeners are made out of especially tallow,  its put me off. I now just buy a bottle of eco zone, tallow free and for sensitive skin and use a very small amount. A little does go a long way. It does have a scent, but its fresh, rather than a washing powder smell, if that makes sense.

Shopaholic_no_more

I stopped using fabric softener about 2 years ago. I used to suffer from eczema patches on my neck/chest area. Tried everything to find out what the culprit could be but it wasn’t until I stopped using softener that it went away! Just use Fairy Non Bio powder now and I can honestly say I have not noticed any difference in my washing. I do put my towels in dryer but only for about 20 minutes and then let them finish air drying. It softens them just enough. 

I have been told by a washing machine engineer friend that fabric softener is actually not that great for your machine anyway so that was another reason to stop using it 👍. Money saved too! Win Win for me 🙌

CraftyLittleLisa

Hello all.  I had a lot of reading to catch up on as I haven't been online for a few days.  I'm not sure who asked about this but as to storage for soup I tend to use a certain brand of jam jars as they are a perfect size for one portion and they fit well in the freezer.  When it comes to transporting the soup if I have it at work I just put it in one of the soup mugs that others have mentioned.

I do subscribe to Oddbox and actually I find them quite cost effective.  I used to spend a lot on fresh fruit and veg (I don't particularly like frozen) and I find one small box will last me two weeks with the produce lasting very well as well.  I like the fact they give you a variety of things you would not normally use although I do struggle with the amount of cabbage you get this time of year.  If I do have anything left at the end of the two weeks I tend to try and do a stir fry or a soup to use what's left up.

I have had a couple of frugal events this month.  My challenge this month was to not buy anything non-essential but try and find things to do that cost nothing.  I signed up to a language app to teach myself German again (I did it years ago at school but I would like to revisit that skill).  That was for free.  My work is also providing art classes (as part of their mindfulness programme) and I am doing that.  I didn't think I could draw but two weeks in and a) I'm quite proud of what I achieved in the second lesson, b) it certainly helps me destress and c) its free.

I am a little concerned about expenditure at the moment as everyone else is.  My energy has gone up from £71 to £96 per month, my council tax has gone up £4 a month and my food this month was way over budget.  However, to try and combat some of it I have changed my central heating programming again so I am saving about 7 hours of energy usage every week, I have changed my council tax so I pay it over 12 months instead of 10 and the food I have reduced some of my food deliveries and I will just need to watch what I put in my trolley even more closely.  I have sorted through my seeds that I have and have started getting plants started at the allotment and I am going to try really hard to grow as much produce as possible.  The rhubarb this year is fantastic so I shall be freezing and cooking up a lot of that over the next few weeks.  I got my first ever Too Good To Go surprise bag last night and I think I will be trying that again.  That will provide today's lunch and part of tonight's dinner.

I still have some "free" things I can do such as books to read that I haven't managed to yet and sewing/knitting projects I can do.  I'm just trying to stay positive and get tips from everywhere.

Take care all.

Bluegreen143

The cost of living stuff is mad. Our energy is up from £100 p/m to £158. Last time I filled the car it was £58 (it used to be £38 pre-pandemic to fill up). And we are spending a fortune on food. Council tax up £5 a month which isn’t too bad. 

We are extremely fortunate in that this is still affordable for us, it just cuts down on what we can save. But I’m aware that if I was still a SAHM, I don’t know how we would be coping right now. My budget a year ago was much tighter without the room to absorb all these extra costs. 

Really need to bring the food spend down though as I do feel it’s far higher than it needs to be, too much waste and expensive treats.

Auntycaz

My rent is going up by £25 a month in May, so I will be paying £124 on top of my housing benefit each month as I private rent, but hopefully, I won't need the heating on by then. I know my pension will be going up a bit but nowhere near as much as how much I will be paying out. Hope the government come up with something tomorrow to reduce fuel prices. I don't drive myself but increased fuel affects the prices of everything else in the shops, but I'm not holding out much hope of this happening.

cw18

My gas and electric went up from £42/month to £65/month in February, after my fix ended on 31st Jan.
On 1st April it goes up to £100 - that's a combined increase of 137.75% !!

My water bill looks set to come down by about £3/year (I'll try not to spend it all at once ) assuming I use the same amount in 2022/23 as I normally do.  2021/22 has been slightly lower than normal due to being without a washing machine for 3 months, and 2020/21 was slightly higher than normal as I was showering as soon as I got home from work every day during the early months of the pandemic (I normally only shower twice a week, and then strip wash the rest of the time). - but previous years have been pretty constant   I'm hoping my new washer is more water efficient than my old one though, so hope to see it drop (only time will tell, as I've no information for the new machine on a 'per cycle' basis and no 'average' or 'average annual' figure for the old one!).

Council tax bill arrived yesterday.   I've paid over 12 months ever since they introduced that option, and receive the single person discount.  Increase of £47.19 for the year (monthly payments up by £4)

Broadband and landline looks to be staying the same - but I'm losing 'anytime calls'.  Not a problem as I now have unlimited calls on my mobile contract (which hasn't got any more expensive because of it).

Primrose

I don't know, if people have only single person washing machine loads, whether soaking the clothes in hot soapy water overnight in the sink or for a couple of hours would get the dirt out. followed by rinsing in tepid  water, and only using the washing machine for spinning the water out of clothes would save much electricity and energy.  Might be worth. experimenting
 with   

On your water bill, do you actually have drains in your road for which you're charged drainage fees?   Several years ago we discovered we'd been charged for road drainage for several years despite having no drains in our lane.  The council amended our charges but wouldn't  provide any back refunds despite it being their charging error .

joedenise

We live on an unmade road with no drains but have been told that as we don't have a soakaway on our property then we still have to pay for road drainage!