2022 Frugal Living Challenge

spudsmum

DawnW said:

@spudsmum I haven't tried vinted, but my daughter sells outgrown kids clothes in bundles (by age, eg bundle of age 3-4 boys etc) on FB marketplace, rather than individual items. It shifts pretty quickly. Not for loads of money, but gets rid of it and gets it used again! Might this work for you?

Thanks @DawnW

I've tried that but not had much success. Unfortunately I live in a very tiny town miles from anywhere so there's not a lot of business here. It's too far for people to come collect and too far for me to go out delivering. 

I really want something where I can just parcel it up and post it out  

Bluegreen143

I never found selling kids’ clothes made much if anything so I always pass on to friends or donate. But I agree you do better with bundles and it’s much quicker to get rid of them.

cw18

spudsmum said:

Not loving all the cost of living announcements today - belt tightening all round I think. The £350 of government "help" won't even scratch the surface  for us sadly.

Just been digging for info on the 'help'.   Actually disliking that as much as the increases !!

So every household gets a £200 fuel rebate.   That would be nice, but then we're going to have it clawed back at £40/year - and it doesn't even kick in until October, by when we'll have had 6 months of the highest prices I've ever seen!

I can't find anything to indicate whether the £150 council tax help will be clawed back as well, but this is only for people with a property that's band D or below.   My estate (at a quick look on-line) appears to be a mix of D and E - the good news being I'm a D.   All the houses bar one on my Mum's street are a D - the bad news there is that she's the exception, and she's an E.   It does appear that households with the single adult discount will get the full £150, which actually surprises (and benefits) me.   But Council Tax was set to go up anyway - and I'm seeing quotes of 3.99% all the way up to 5.99% (depending on the social care precept), so for many there won't be much of this 'help' left in the bank to help with higher energy bills AND higher mortgage/loan repayments.

nannygladys

Going through the under the sink cupboard last night and found some eco washing pwd sheets, there's enough for 60 washes!!!! And I'd forgotten about them, they had been given to me as a freebie at the community pantry that I use every few weeks and as I live on my own and have two washes a week they will last over six months and along with the pwd I'm using at the moment I reckon I won't have to buy any until next year!!   

Made bubble and squeak 'cakes' but only ate two so I'll have the other two tomorrow. Managed to get 2x avocados and some bread, from the food hub so sushi is on the cards over the weekend and I have courgettes and mushrooms to use as well.
Nannyg

joedenise

From what I've seen the £150 towards Council Tax doesn't have to be repaid so at least it's a bit of a help for a lot of people.  I think we're in Band D so should get it.  Our neighbours live in a house rather than bungalow and they are in Band E - it's also a newer property.  Our road is definitely a mix of Band D and E so it's going to be very uneven as to who gets it and who doesn't.

I agree about the gas/electric loan having to be repaid at £40 a year - that's fine if the price of gas falls but who's to say it will?  At least with the 6 months we've got to wait for the £200 loan is the cheapest 2 quarters of the year and will be using much less for heating.  In fact for a lot of people there won't be any heating at all in that time.

Sweetlittledaydreams

@Clutterbug07 mooli ki bhurji is really nice and you can eat the leaves but people often throw them away. @nannygladys I've never heard of bubble and squeak cakes so googled them and they look really nice so I think I'll make them tomorrow for tea. Thanks for the recipe idea.

nannygladys

Sweetlittledaydreams - we used to  have them regularly on a Monday when i was little, as my gran used to cook extra potatoes and greens when she made Sunday dinner, and the family had them with LO meat for Mondays dinner . I was bought up by my grandparents.

nannygladys

I'm getting hungry talking any food, 

London_1

Digging into my tin cupboard I found a tin of corned beef that I bought before Christmas for I think £1.50. I had some yesterday with a salad of tomato, cheese, lettuce, beetroot and a hard boiled egg. All diced up with a decent dollop of mayo on top at lunchtime. Then because I was still full by tea time, I only really fancied a sandwich which I made with four crackers and some thin sliced corned beef on top with pickle ( a jar given to me from my DDs hamper after christmas as she doeesn't like pickle much) after I had some stewed apple and custard.

Today I had some more of the corned beef with some chips from the freezer (also donated as DD had inadvertently bought the crinkle cut ones and the boy and her aren't keen they like the thick cut steak chips)along with a sliced couple of tomatoes and a fried egg. Finally finished the last of it with crackers and pickle and some fruit and plain yogurt for tea.So my £1.50 tin had done two main meals and a couple of light snack type teas. Just adding odds and ends to it I was quite pleased and used it up.
I had forgotten all about it.

As I'm using up stuff from the cupboards and freezer, tomorrow I have a shepards pie from the freezer (defrosting in the fridge at the moment) for dinner in the evening and HM leek and potato soup with cheese and crackers for lunch. No shopping needed this week at all I am out to dinner on Saturday (at eldest DDs), Sunday and Granddaughters  and Monday at youngest DDs so no more cooking really until next Tuesday.only breakfast and lunches to make

spudsmum

cw18 said:

spudsmum said:

Not loving all the cost of living announcements today - belt tightening all round I think. The £350 of government "help" won't even scratch the surface  for us sadly.

Just been digging for info on the 'help'.   Actually disliking that as much as the increases !!

So every household gets a £200 fuel rebate.   That would be nice, but then we're going to have it clawed back at £40/year - and it doesn't even kick in until October, by when we'll have had 6 months of the highest prices I've ever seen!

I can't find anything to indicate whether the £150 council tax help will be clawed back as well, but this is only for people with a property that's band D or below.   My estate (at a quick look on-line) appears to be a mix of D and E - the good news being I'm a D.   All the houses bar one on my Mum's street are a D - the bad news there is that she's the exception, and she's an E.   It does appear that households with the single adult discount will get the full £150, which actually surprises (and benefits) me.   But Council Tax was set to go up anyway - and I'm seeing quotes of 3.99% all the way up to 5.99% (depending on the social care precept), so for many there won't be much of this 'help' left in the bank to help with higher energy bills AND higher mortgage/loan repayments.

Yes I just hoped for something a bit more solid somehow. 

£200 loan in 8 months time when average bills are rising by over £700 and set to increase further again  doesn't seem like it's going to do much to help anyone really. And obviously it has to be paid back so if prices don't fall we're just storing up issues for the future. 

Our council tax also went up by about 5% last year I think so if we have a similar increase again the £150 will be pretty much swallowed up

Hey ho I suppose its better than nowt....