2022 Frugal Living Challenge

Debsnewbudget

Living_proof said:

Last weekend I had a terrific find at a local cbs and initially bought a boxed Ecoegg out of curiosity. It was £2 so worth a punt. Later in the afternoon I saw another so out of interest I enquired how much, and at 50p I couldn’t resist. At home I was amazed to find both boxes totally unused and one is sufficient for 864 washes and the other 720! At 3 washes a week that’s 10 YEARS supply for £2.50. 

I have used it for this weeks washes and it seems to work really well although I appreciate that stains may need pre-treatment. Suggest you familiarise yourself with the packaging and grab one if you see such a great bargain!

Fantastic find
i have been using eco egg for last few years and they are great.
occasionally we use a bio wash tablet on just whites but use the egg for any other washes.

Mummy2cheekymonkeys

[Deleted User] said:

London_1 said:

I had to post a letter this afternoon so when I popped across to thepost box I had a quick mooch around the little Tesco Metro in the small precinct about three minutes from my house. I didn't buy anything, as I was just pricing things up.

 But I did notice that from last week the cost of McVities Hobnobs had shot up from £1.10p to £1.70p. Came home and made my own oatie biscuits for a lot less, and far nicer.

Also made a apple crumble from windfalls I had been given ,and a semolina pudding as the oven was on. I cooked a couple of jacket spuds on the bottom of the oven so had a mid week bake up and the oven was filled. No shopping needed until probably Saturday then it will be the last shop of the month
 
JackieO xx

Musing here ........ I wonder if any under 40s hear the saying, from their great grandparents "if you look after the pennies, the pounds look after themselves" ? !😋

I'm 35 and I can remember my granny saying this. I wish she was still with us. She was a fountain of knowledge but of course when you are a child you're not interested in listening. I would love to sit and talk with her now. 

wort

I have an eco egg it’s lasted way longer than expected “times” the pellets are supposed to , still not had to buy any.

MrsFarmer19

Cheery_Daff said:

QueenJess said:

I don’t think so as you are trying to fit 1.5+ of peoples things to do with 1 person. I’ve come to the conclusion that you have to choose what is done properly in accordance with what is most important to you and don’t worry about the rest that never gets done/doesn’t get done properly.

Saying that, my inner self refuses to acknowledge I can’t do it all so I remain in a cycle of never getting everything done, but can’t seem to agree myself with the things that don’t need to be done.

Oh, you have just described EXACTLY what I struggle with! I beat myself up CONSTANTLY because I can't seem to fit in working 4 days, commuting, housework, chickens, all garden maintenance, growing veg, fixing dry stone walls, DIY, sewing an entire set of thermal blinds, scything my own hay field 🙄 Sounds ridiculous when I write it down 🙄 

What drops off though? Growing veg the last couple of years. Housework is usually borderline. I never iron anything, and rarely do as much washing as I think I should. Some walls have remained unfixed for years now 🙄 Never clean the car (inside or out), DIy takes forever, quite often i just eat porridge for tea 🙄

Like you say, QueenJess, I often make decisions about what to drop, then keep disagreeing with myself! 😂

This has made me smile, I'm the same here! How can chickens take up so much time??    Then I have 2 bee hives, the dog, shift work at hospital & always make meals/snacks etc from scratch!  Defo no ironing here either (not sure where my iron is haha)
No point in beating yourself up, at least you are doing something, I bet there's plenty people with lots of time on there hands that do nothing!
Well done you!

kiloranbay

I second the well done to the busy people! 

And frugallers, please help! I need ideas on curtain fixings.

I got some unwanted fleece blanket from a painter/decorator which was big enough for my bedroom curtains, and fairly decent after a wash (this part is great!). 

But I just pinned it onto my thick, lined curtains and the added weight pulled the brackets out of the wall. 

I've got a collection of curtain rod/pole brackets from scouring Freecycle and the tip, but they're all either a wooden one in two parts that takes a single screw or a metal one that takes two screws but bends under the weight. 

I wouldn't mind DIY-ing something but I'm at a loss. I rent, so can't be putting lots of holes in the wall either. 

It's a plasterboard cavity wall but the brick (stone?) is only 1½" behind - it might be the case that a 5" screw could get into the masonry. 

Who makes heavy duty sturdy curtain brackets these days, and how might I get my curtains up frugally? What I already have looks like the standard fare from places like B&Q, Dunelm and IKEA. 

If I weren't renting I'd attach the brackets onto a length of wood and screw it in at multiple points. I don't suppose I can trust heavy duty glue to hold up what screws (and wall plugs) couldn't...? I've never tried that sort of stuff. 

I may have to break my no-buying vow! 

Any suggestions? 

RateTartExtraordinaire

kiloranbay said:

I second the well done to the busy people! 

And frugallers, please help! I need ideas on curtain fixings.

I got some unwanted fleece blanket from a painter/decorator which was big enough for my bedroom curtains, and fairly decent after a wash (this part is great!). 

But I just pinned it onto my thick, lined curtains and the added weight pulled the brackets out of the wall. 

I've got a collection of curtain rod/pole brackets from scouring Freecycle and the tip, but they're all either a wooden one in two parts that takes a single screw or a metal one that takes two screws but bends under the weight. 

I wouldn't mind DIY-ing something but I'm at a loss. I rent, so can't be putting lots of holes in the wall either. 

It's a plasterboard cavity wall but the brick (stone?) is only 1½" behind - it might be the case that a 5" screw could get into the masonry. 

Who makes heavy duty sturdy curtain brackets these days, and how might I get my curtains up frugally? What I already have looks like the standard fare from places like B&Q, Dunelm and IKEA. 

If I weren't renting I'd attach the brackets onto a length of wood and screw it in at multiple points. I don't suppose I can trust heavy duty glue to hold up what screws (and wall plugs) couldn't...? I've never tried that sort of stuff. 

I may have to break my no-buying vow! 

Any suggestions? 

I had to fix a curtain bracket into plasterboard recently with rawlplugs for plasterboard. Some are like plugs which expand out once in. Others are like screws, but you cannot put two close together on one bracket because they are quite wide. In fact, I used one screw rawlplug and one normal one and it worked. If you have a hole and you can't reuse it, I suggest filling it and fixing it in a new place. 
Alternatively, you can fix bracket into a beam using some very long screws into the ceiling (I found them by using a detector used for wood / metal). This however may change the drop of curtain you need, I would only recommend doing this is it just involved taking a hem down; otherwise you will have the expense of a new curtain.  

I would hasten to add I am a DIYer, not a trades person, so I would also be interested if anyone else has ideas.

cw18

[Deleted User] said:

Musing here ........ I wonder if any under 40s hear the saying, from their great grandparents "if you look after the pennies, the pounds look after themselves" ? !😋

I'm closer to 60 than 40, but used to get this from my Dad and his parents.

Is it common for people to know their great-grandparents these days?

My grand-kids knew my Dad / know my Mum as I started my family young and my daughter was only a few years older when she started hers.   My daughter and grand-daughters have lived much closer to my parents than me for the last 12 years, so the two youngest (born after daughter moved back up that way) probably know my parents better than me!!    But I don't remember mine at all as I was very young when the last died, and I doubt my boys remember my maternal Grandfather (they were 3 and 11 months when he died - my daughter was 7.5 so probably has some memories, but not many).   My daughter was born while both my grand-fathers were alive, but I very much doubt she'd remember my paternal Grandfather (I think she was 4.5 when he died, but he lived at the other end of the country so she probably only met him 2 or 3 times).

florianatwobob

cw18 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Musing here ........ I wonder if any under 40s hear the saying, from their great grandparents "if you look after the pennies, the pounds look after themselves" ? !😋

I'm closer to 60 than 40, but used to get this from my Dad and his parents.

Is it common for people to know their great-grandparents these days?

My grand-kids knew my Dad / know my Mum as I started my family young and my daughter was only a few years older when she started hers.   My daughter and grand-daughters have lived much closer to my parents than me for the last 12 years, so the two youngest (born after daughter moved back up that way) probably know my parents better than me!!    But I don't remember mine at all as I was very young when the last died, and I doubt my boys remember my maternal Grandfather (they were 3 and 11 months when he died - my daughter was 7.5 so probably has some memories, but not many).   My daughter was born while both my grand-fathers were alive, but I very much doubt she'd remember my paternal Grandfather (I think she was 4.5 when he died, but he lived at the other end of the country so she probably only met him 2 or 3 times).

I’m 44 and only knew one set of grandparents (Grandma was born 1899 and Grandad was born 1903!) All my Gt Grandparents were born between 1853 and 1876, I am more likely to be the exception than the rule though! 😉

[Deleted User]

cw18 said:

[Deleted User] said:

Musing here ........ I wonder if any under 40s hear the saying, from their great grandparents "if you look after the pennies, the pounds look after themselves" ? !😋

I'm closer to 60 than 40, but used to get this from my Dad and his parents.

Is it common for people to know their great-grandparents these days?

My grand-kids knew my Dad / know my Mum as I started my family young and my daughter was only a few years older when she started hers.   My daughter and grand-daughters have lived much closer to my parents than me for the last 12 years, so the two youngest (born after daughter moved back up that way) probably know my parents better than me!!    But I don't remember mine at all as I was very young when the last died, and I doubt my boys remember my maternal Grandfather (they were 3 and 11 months when he died - my daughter was 7.5 so probably has some memories, but not many).   My daughter was born while both my grand-fathers were alive, but I very much doubt she'd remember my paternal Grandfather (I think she was 4.5 when he died, but he lived at the other end of the country so she probably only met him 2 or 3 times).

Yup, absolutely is !!!

I work with a lot of great grandparents and i hear all about the entire family's life, i love hearing the interactions of the great grandkids with their GG's (Great Grandad/Grandma) 😊

Bluegreen143

My children have one living great grandparent (my papa!) and one living step-great grandparent (my stepdad’s mum), both in their 80s and very active and healthy so able to interact well with the kids who love them. The spouses of both these were alive when the kids were born so knew at least my eldest briefly but the children don’t remember them.  

But my husband’s mum is a full 25 years older than my mum, in her mid 70s (I’m 5 years younger than my husband, and he is the youngest of a large blended family and his mum was older when she had him; mum was a teenager when she had me). So no living great grandparents on my husband’s side due to this.