2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Primrose

Living_proof said:

Primrose said:

We had grilled fish today resting on a sheet of foil under the grill. When clearing up afterwards aI found myself washing th foil and outing it back under the still warm grill to dry and re-use.   Think my OH would probably just have chucked  it in the rubbish bin!  Every little saving helps!  

I do this and also wash out and reuse decent plastic bags. I think I get three or four uses out of most foil and bags so good for the environment too. 

Me too with plastic bags unless they're very soiled or greasy.  i try to dry them on the washing line in good weather.    Has anybody found an easy efficient way of drying them indoors?

Primrose

I see that in recent times many people have resorted to using cash again instead of credit cards to be able to keep a better track on their expenditure.  Yet they are being badly hampered by the fact that so many banks have closed their branches. Only this week we,ve had more announcement's   of additional local closures  which will badly affect the elderly, those without transport or online facilities or capabilities.

i really despair of the short-term"ism" of those in these industries.  Few of those in senior positions seem to have been able to interpret the lessons of economic history and realise that once they contribute to these "ghost towns" it becomes almost impossible to turn the situation  around.  Banking premises or former shops get converted to living accommodation r other uses  then there is nowhere in the infrastructure to recreate them when economic conditions  improve.  Thats why ghost towns remain ghost towns.  If you,re in business younhave to have the vision to invest for bad times as well as good times without destroying the infrastructure in which you operate.    

i believe Banks and manny other national businesses still have the money to do this. I think  they,re just  greedy for maximum profits. Of course they need to make a profit. Many of our private sector pensions depend on them for continuing income but they don't seem to recognise the consequences of the "scorched earth" business environment they,re creating which makes the long term recovery of our society and basic infrastructure even harder to achieve. 

Floss

Primrose said:

Living_proof said:

Primrose said:

We had grilled fish today resting on a sheet of foil under the grill. When clearing up afterwards aI found myself washing th foil and outing it back under the still warm grill to dry and re-use.   Think my OH would probably just have chucked  it in the rubbish bin!  Every little saving helps!  

I do this and also wash out and reuse decent plastic bags. I think I get three or four uses out of most foil and bags so good for the environment too. 

Me too with plastic bags unless they're very soiled or greasy.  i try to dry them on the washing line in good weather.    Has anybody found an easy efficient way of drying them indoors?

I hang them over the kitchen tap.

otb666

Hose pipe ban areas are not allowed to clean windows or cars.  I wondered why as i dont use water from tap to clean my windows Just wondering why really as a lot of people use products sprays rather than water to clean windows.  I use white vinegar only

London_1

Looking at the comments it seems we are all thinking ahead which is great. I have lived through many boom and bust situations and as long as you can adapt and think before splurging out on unnessary stuff you should be fine . 

I too have bad memories of a huge interest rate back in the 1970s ours went up to 17% and God knows how we got through it, but we did
I had two small children 4 & 2 and we had just bought our first house We were totally potless every month , it seemed like we had made the daftest move ever, from our admittedly tiny two rooms and kitchen flat with no bathroom and a shared loo with two other families to move to somewhere that had a bathroom and a loo and a garden and most of all my own front door.

Our rent in our tiny flat was 4 guineas a week (£4.20p) and we went to paying over £40.00 a month.My husbands pay at that time was £125 per month take home ,but he had a company car with free petrol plus our phone bill was paid as he was on call.within 6 months of moving in the mortgage had shot up to £65 per month over half his take home pay.Boy was that a lean time I depended on the family allowance which was 8/- a week (40p) to get us some extra bits on a Tuesday.

But all my friends were in the same boat and stoney broke then the strikes started and we had three day weeks and electricity blackouts so you could be in the middle of cooking something (I was all electric ) and the lights would go out for a minimum of three hours sometimes more .

Candles were like gold dust, not the nice smelly ones like today, ordinary white ones and you hoarded them carefully .We had no central heating and only one open fire in the sitting room

It was an old victorian house with sash windows that rattled like mad in the wind and was extrememly cold.One night all four of us cuddled up on the sofa bed in the sitting room as there was ice on the inside bedroom windows upstairs .

Many a time I would have to scoot down the road to my friends house so she could finish off cooking our dinner as she had a gas cooker. I am still friends with her today after over 50 years In fact she said 'right we're both broke so if I have your two with my two during the day you can earn a bit more and so will I '

I paid her £4.00 for the two children as one had just started school so she really only had my youngest during the day Her husband had their two in the evening and she worked part time in the local hospital cleaning to earn extra. We were all in the same boat really ,young Mums with big mortgages and very little cash ,but we survived

 I remember making a hay box with old pillows in my childrens toy box and would cook a stew to boiling point then stick in in amongst the pillows and cover it over and leave it from the morning to the evening and it would be cooked in its own heat . We managed to have at least one hot meal a day that way.

 So a recession is something that the older generation have had many times ,Its like history on a never ending loop, hopefully in 18 months we will come out of it and be better off, and for the youngers ones a lot wiser. I

 think the differance today is there is more debt around than there was in the 1970s ,back then we rented out black and white tv and we didn't have a credit card so just had to manage with the actual cash in our pockets. I had a fridge ,but never had a freezer until about 1980, and my washing machine was the Hoover twin tub that I had for 11 years ,no automatic back then.

Life was a lot different ,and although stressful I would no more of thought of drinking a coffee when out than fly in the air . 

There are more expectations today I think, and children have higher expectations when it comes to presents. The summer holidays were taken at my late Ma-in-law who lived on the Isle of Wight. So the kids got to the beach at least.

But it wouldn't have occured to us to have a mobile phone each or a computer.Today life has moved on and with it more expectations I think of how stressed young mums are going to be just meeting their heating and eating bills let alone worrying about Christmas . 

Hopefully I will survie this recession, as I have all the previous ones, at least I have a good working knowledge of how to steeetch the cash more now.

Chin up chums we wll as Gloria Gaynor sang "Survive" 

JackieO xx

oystercatcher

Primrose said:

Living_proof said:

Primrose said:

We had grilled fish today resting on a sheet of foil under the grill. When clearing up afterwards aI found myself washing th foil and outing it back under the still warm grill to dry and re-use.   Think my OH would probably just have chucked  it in the rubbish bin!  Every little saving helps!  

I do this and also wash out and reuse decent plastic bags. I think I get three or four uses out of most foil and bags so good for the environment too. 

Me too with plastic bags unless they're very soiled or greasy.  i try to dry them on the washing line in good weather.    Has anybody found an easy efficient way of drying them indoors?

I hang mine upside down over an empty bottle or water flask on the draining board.

HelenaPinky

I remember making a hay box with old pillows in my childrens toy box and would cook a stew to boiling point then stick in in amongst the pillows and cover it over and leave it from the morning to the evening and it would be cooked in its own heat . We managed to have at least one hot meal a day that way.

I could listen to your stories all day @London_1 ! Did anyone ever get ill from the hay-cooked stew or this an acceptable way to cook food? You probably felt you were just doing as you could, but to me you sounds so adaptable and hardy and decisive. 

Luckily my DH is on board with minimal living and not wanting more than we need, but I even have trouble convincing him about extra ways we could be frugal, like moving to a basic tv package without pause/record (I suppose it’s difficult as tape recorders have become obsolete!).

I put a washing up bowl in the shower this morning and used it after my shower to flush the toilet!! I have no idea if we’re on a water meter…no-one comes to check it but when we get the bill every 6 months it says “you used 78p per day’, so I’ve always assumed we’re on a meter, am I wrong? 

Debsnewbudget

I put a washing up bowl in the shower this morning and used it after my shower to flush the toilet!! I have no idea if we’re on a water meter…no-one comes to check it but when we get the bill every 6 months it says “you used 78p per day’, so I’ve always assumed we’re on a meter, am I wrong? 

If you look at your bill it will have a start and end meter reading for the 6 months if you are on a meter. They work the same way that you have a start and end reading each month for electric and gas. 

poppy811

Have to agree with London 1. I lived through those times too. Yes expectations were a lot lower and it never occurred to me that the government should help.  It was a source of pride that you paid your bills on time and saved for what you wanted.  I had envelopes on the mantle piece marked up for mortgage gas electric food etc and clothes for the children were passed between my friends.  Not sure if todays ways make for happiness, sounds very stressful to me.

poppy811

sorry, my post came across as a bit negative, I have to say I love the instant access to information, banking shopping etc but just do not understand the have it now mentality.