2022 Frugal Living Challenge

nmaria

 no water at the allotment other than the rain barrel have made me think about changing the garden slightly to have veg growing at home next year. 

Picked the first beetroot yesterday along with 2 courgettes and a handful of green beans. Normal years I would have tons and courgettes would be at the gate for anyone who would like some. This year is a different story.
on the plus side we have managed to pick loads of blackberries. 

soosiejq

I remember petrol coupons back in the 1970's (about 1972 at a guess).  I had changed my job and could walk to work and used my petrol for going out in the evenings.  I drove a big old Humber Sceptre and was very popular as I could get half a dozen of us in it; (probably illegally). 

cw18

I do remember a sugar shortage - but only because I won a box of white sugar cubes as a raffle prize at a fund-raiser my parents had taken us to.

I recall being watched like a hawk as I went to collect it by everyone else there, and getting a huge round of congratulations.    But it wasn't until later I realised WHY it was such a big thing.

My Mother put the box on top of the wall cupboards in the kitchen, and a couple of times a week (if, and only if, we'd been good) my brother and I were allowed one each to crunch/suck.    It was a huge thing for us as we rarely got sweets, so to get pure sugar was pure heaven.   She refused to use them for daily use, so they must have lasted us for months.....

Primrose

nmaria said:

 no water at the allotment other than the rain barrel have made me think about changing the garden slightly to have veg growing at home next year. 

Picked the first beetroot yesterday along with 2 courgettes and a handful of green beans. Normal years I would have tons and courgettes would be at the gate for anyone who would like some. This year is a different story.
on the plus side we have managed to pick loads of blackberries. 

There's no doubt growing veg in your garden is  far easier than an allotment if you have the space:
- no wasted travelling time so can use free time more profitably, even in short bursts,
- easier storage of tools,  watering, weeding, harvesting
- no potential theft of produce just as its ripening 
- you can inspect your crops every day for damage, etc 

We had two previous allotments years ago.  One had our crops stolen just as everything was ripening, , the second one was vandalised.  Converted to Home growing only after that  when wr moved and got a bigger garden, and after converting our previously unproductive  front garden to soft fruit bushes, blackberries, a grape vine & strawberry production we found we had nearly as much space overall as the allotment but much more security and ease of management.     I figured out that as our council tax included our front garden area, it might as well earn its keep ! 

Paspatur

-taff said:

You're mxing up your miners strikes. The 70s was pay, the 80s was Maggie the milk snatcher deciding to break the unions by telling everyone that coal wasunproductive.

And I don't remember any blackouts from the seventies but then, I was only two to ten years old.

Known in our house as the only cow that didnt give milk

Jellytotts

We gave up our allotment this year as I’d managed to get my new raised beds built in time to grow here. We have a very big garden but it’s taken me 3 years to tame half of it into something manageable.  The next half starts getting tackled in the autumn.  Our growing has been really slow though with a south facing garden that doesn’t go into shade until 6pm mid summer in this heat…no amount of tap water and feed is going to get it all producing like a drop of rainwater would. 

I wasn’t born until 1973 so have no recollection of the power issues either.  Since I was 22 I’ve lived in villages with frequent power cuts though so have learnt to be prepared.  Now we are much more power stable but I still keep the preps up incase of illness.  Learnt the hard way that you always fall poorly on the day you’ve opened the last pouch/tin of cat food or eaten the last slice of bread.

nmaria

Primrose said:

nmaria said:

 no water at the allotment other than the rain barrel have made me think about changing the garden slightly to have veg growing at home next year. 

Picked the first beetroot yesterday along with 2 courgettes and a handful of green beans. Normal years I would have tons and courgettes would be at the gate for anyone who would like some. This year is a different story.
on the plus side we have managed to pick loads of blackberries. 

There's no doubt growing veg in your garden is  far easier than an allotment if you have the space:
- no wasted travelling time so can use free time more profitably, even in short bursts,
- easier storage of tools,  watering, weeding, harvesting
- no potential theft of produce just as its ripening 
- you can inspect your crops every day for damage, etc 

We had two previous allotments years ago.  One had our crops stolen just as everything was ripening, , the second one was vandalised.  Converted to Home growing only after that  when wr moved and got a bigger garden, and after converting our previously unproductive  front garden to soft fruit bushes, blackberries, a grape vine & strawberry production we found we had nearly as much space overall as the allotment but much more security and ease of management.     I figured out that as our council tax included our front garden area, it might as well earn its keep ! 

Did you grow vegetables in the garden or did you make raised beds?

WeegieWumman

Info for those of you who have difficulty keeping warm in bed.  Two or three years back I bought ladies fleecy pyjamas from Primark.  At that time they were either £7 or £8 a pair.  Definitely the cosiest nightwear I ever wore.  Also, for the first time I wore fluffy bed socks.  Sheer heaven!   

Primrose

nmaria   - No We didn't make any raised beds which require a massive expenditure on additional compost and wooden planks for edging. . We just created a big veg plot across the back end of the garden and dug a south facing border against a fence for tall plants such as climbing beans and tomatoes

.   Our soil is good here although quite free draining so we have two big compost cages, one of which is dug out every year and spread over the veg growing area.    All our grass mowing, shrub trimmings and veg peelings etc go into them so nothing is wasted. . ,

cw18

WeegieWumman said:

Info for those of you who have difficulty keeping warm in bed.  Two or three years back I bought ladies fleecy pyjamas from Primark.  At that time they were either £7 or £8 a pair.  Definitely the cosiest nightwear I ever wore.  Also, for the first time I wore fluffy bed socks.  Sheer heaven!   

Primarni fleece PJs, old walking socks I no longer use for that purpose AND teddy fleece bedding (bottom sheet, pillow cases, and large throw as top sheet under quilt in normal cover) does me nicely.     My OH shudders when he visits during the colder months, as the bedding is way too much for him      He often ends up without any of the quilt even in December & January !!