2023 Frugal Living Challenge

Glittering_M

zcrat41 said:

. Planted some aubergine seeds today. Grew them for the first time last year and got at least 10 aubergine chilli meals from them. (10 meals for 4!). Hoping for similar this year. 

Sounds like you've had a productive day, well done!

I got an aubergine plant last year but had no luck. I'd love to try again. Did you grow outside or inside (e.g. greenhouse or polytunnel?)

Edit: do you know what type/variety of seeds?

nannygladys

So I have made a start, re-evaluated my budgets and hopefully the increase in g&e that happened on the first of January has been accounted for, but until I get the bill I won't know, also increased all the DD'sSand sinking funds in I have  by 10% for any other increases but it may have to be reassessed again when I know how much everything is going up! 
I'm worse off than last year but can still manage as long as I keep being frugal. So I'll have to make more use of the food hub, community pantry and allotment, and use the bus more when I can. Now my visitors have departed home to warmer climes the heating has been turned off, I've debunked back to the kitchen where it's warmer and I'll be eating leftovers for the next few days!!
I'm having a no spend week followed by a low spend week for the foreseeable future to keep costs down so it's about to get serious for me🙂. If by any chance I manage to save any money it will go in my Xmas fund for the dgc or at worse will be used to supplement a bill. Oh well here goes, good luck everyone 😃
Nannyg 

Soontobeoap

Good luck @nannygladys. If its any help our gas and electric have gone up by £1.00 a year each. I really dont understand how they have worked it out but I am not complaining. I have missed you on Grocery challenge. You are the person who inspired me to keep going when I was beginning to work on getting grocery bills down. If anyone can stay on track you can.

Hope this year gets better for you. 

Landgirlinthelittlecity

First payment of the year, £17.60 on our monthly milk bill. Coffee and Tea are something I drink by the boat load so sadly probably won’t be getting this lower, but it’s good to know for future months.

That brings our yearly grocery spending to £17.60/ £2100

Tomorrow is the first week of changing when I shop (we’re now to busy on a Saturday) and I don’t think it’s going to be a lot which means we’ll be on track. I have menu planned so that’s a win already.

Nothing frugal done today sadly, but I am pondering what to grow so reading January in my ‘Your Garden in War Time’ to get some ideas.

patentgirl

Frugaldom said:

@patentgirl Not sure how far you are from SW Scotland but we have campervan & motorhome stopover space at Frugaldom :  You could come visit! . You will be very welcome anytime. (As will anyone else who is into off-grid vanlife adventures)

Thank you @Frugaldom we are right down on South East corner of Kent but once we eventually buy a camper van Scotland is one of our first choices to explore so hopefully won't be too far in the future .

Frugaldom

Good evening, Frugalers.

 It's been a bit nippy here so Hungry Horace, the hut stove, has been eating extra logs while keeping the place toasty warm for everyone. This also means water can be heated on the stove top and it's hot enough for making soup etc.

Tonight, I  added a layer of cheap kitchen cling film to the single glazed glass panels in the door. Hopefully, it will help reduce condensation.  Someone gave me a quilted curtain to hang over the doorway anf I've an old broom handle that will do as the rail. I still hang fleeces in some of the windows before closing curtains - the same cheap fleeces I got over 10 years ago are still perfect. They're just hung using sticky-back velcr0 so easily removed.

Outdoors today, I made polystyrene covers for all the taps to help prevent them freezing. My next job is wrapping more old duvets around the tanks, beneath the black covers. (I use 1000litre plastic tanks for rain harvesting off the roofs)

Meals will continue to be mix and match, mostly using one pot cooking. Simplifying life is a journey in itself but it's one that I'm still thoroughly enjoying.

Hope you've all had a good new year and will stick with us throughout 2023. I'm hoping to try harder to keep up with posts but feel free to message me or tag me.

jackieblack

fionaandphil said:

@jackieblack there is a similar halogen air fryer in Ald1 this coming  Thursday at 29.99. Sorry I can't say whether it's any good or not. Good luck!

Thanks for letting me know, that’s really kind of you 🙂 - there isn’t a convenient Aldi anywhere near me and I haven’t had good experiences ordering online from them (Evri ‘lost the parcel’ apparently  and by the time I got the refund the product was out of stock - twice! 🙄) 

I’ve ordered the Daewoo one from Robert Dyas as it was cheaper than Amazon (£39.99) and added some bulbs I now need for the spotlights in my kitchen (1 blew on Sunday evening so I’m expecting the others to join it over the next couple of weeks) to get free delivery. 

carolbee

patentgirl said:

Frugaldom said:

@patentgirl Not sure how far you are from SW Scotland but we have campervan & motorhome stopover space at Frugaldom :  You could come visit! . You will be very welcome anytime. (As will anyone else who is into off-grid vanlife adventures)

Thank you @Frugaldom we are right down on South East corner of Kent but once we eventually buy a camper van Scotland is one of our first choices to explore so hopefully won't be too far in the future .

I’m down  here too @patentgirl,near Margate. I’d love to visit there too, it’s a long way from us isnt it?

alja

I'm going to join you all in having a truly frugal year this year. I'm not sure how often I'll get the chance to post, as life often gets in the way, but I enjoy reading your posts and they keep me on track.

I must say I'm quite apprehensive about the year ahead. We've been house hunting for a while now and the recent years haven't been kind due to the climate of everything financially. And to add to this, the company I work for has announced that it's not in the best financial position, and with the type of contract I'm on I'm not feeling very secure, so I'm a little worried about our house buying plans. I was made redundant from my last two jobs so I'm pessimistic to say the least. And if it does happen, I feel I'm likely to have to take a lower paid job, as my current one pays quite well for what I do. It's a big company, so I'm not sure if our team will be targeted yet, but I feel the best thing I can do right now is take control of what I can control and get myself into the best position in case it happens.

So I'm spending some time to figure out the steps I can take. E.g. I have lots of toiletries that I'm trying to declutter/use up and have plenty to keep me going throughout the year - I'm sure I don't need to buy much at all. I also won a few things in competitions over Christmas, so I'm using those and anything I can re-gift where suitable for upcoming birthdays. At Christmas I gifted a few things to friends that were items I bought for myself over the previous months, but wouldn't get round to using anytime soon, so gifting those meant that I still gave them some lovely things, decluttered them from our house which is another challenge of mine before moving house, and it helped me save money. So I'm trying to find little ways like that where I can still give or do nice things without it costing anything or much at all.

Looking forward to reading your posts and ideas!

annieb64

We are in Kent too. Near Sandwich.  DH would love to go hill walking in Scotland  but It's such a long way to drive.