2024 Frugal Living Challenge

RavenRover

I managed to get apile of magazines from a nice wee lady today thanks to our local Facebook page. They will keep me going for a couple of weeks before I pass them on to my wee mum.  Managed 5 no spend days.😃

Frugaldom

London_1 said:

One of my grandsons works in a boarding school in Kent and lives on site.But he was always saying because its  a smart shirt and tie in class no jackets expected he felt nippy so I got him a couple of thermal tee shirts from primarks last year and he says its brilliant as he still looks smart with his nice white shirt and tie but hidden under it is his thermal tee shirt.

I also sent my eldest grandson in New York some as they are so much cheaper over here than where he lives .He says they are brilliant when he goes to work in the office as New York winters can be very chilly, and their snowy days are very cold, and seem to last longer than Kentish ones do . Seems a little warmer today than yesterday but the wind is a bit keen, no ice on the car at least, hopefully the snow has gone, but we still have February to get through before spring 

  JackieO xx  

I have thermal everything's got working outdoors in winter and fleece everything else for inside and out. I also have one of those long water bottles, I think it holds close on 2litres of hot water (hopefully that never bursts) to warm the bed. I spend a lot of my time off grid so keeping warm is essential.
 
The wind direction has shifted round to almost north / northeast and there was a dusting of snow to be seen on the higher hilltops this morning. The ponds are frozen but the taps on the IBC rain collection tanks were ok. I wrap them in foil bubble wrap and have old duvets covering the tanks themselves, then black nylon covers over them for some added insulation. These also help prevent algae forming in the water. When I'm off grid, this is the washing water, heated on the stove or gas ring, as well as used for watering the animals. To conserve water, I reuse the same water each night for water bottles, topping it up when needed.

I'll need to stock up on toilet rolls soon so will go through my cashback  site and look for a Wowcher or Groupon offer to compare that with what's available in the shops. I sometimes manage to get just as good a deal in the village key store so that will get a visit soon, too.

suzeesu2000

Bargains today. Got a stash of Christmas wrapping paper, 25p per roll. Gift tags 25p for 20, Candle gift sets £1.50, candle in a jar £1.50 and Christmas cards 50p per pack - and they are the nice foiled ones. Stocked up for Christmas 2024. Am feeling very pleased as that’s taken care of another 4 gifts as well. 

Am looking out for some pretty jars with lids as I want to make some jams, chutneys and pickles for gifts as well. Any ideas? I already keep all my own used jars to reuse, I love glass. Hoping to get things made mid year so they have chance to mature in time for Christmas. 

Isn’t this daft that I am thinking of Christmas when we are 10 days into the new year!! 

London_1

suzeesu2000  not in the least its a sound and practical idea as who knows how much the cost of living will be in 11 months time. squirrelling away stuff is excellent and a lot of us do. If you can often you will find unneeded gifts in CS that were  passed on for what ever reason. I have a friend who always gifts me with some smashing onion chutney every year and its a very welcome gift and my sis-in-law always makes me a little Christmas cake as I'm the only one of my family who enjoys it, none of my DDs or grandchildren like Christmas cake so I never buy or make one just for myself. But Jan ,my sis-in-law make a delicious one just for me bless her.

As I'm moving this year I am trying to cut down on stuff so I used up virtually all my gift wrapping paper at Christmas and only have a small bag to move with me but still have some gift tags and cards in a box.

I survived going to Dobbies yesterday, and didn't spend any cash in the W8rose outlet there .Very little reduced and what was there was seemed a bit over priced anyway.

A rather up-market fellow shopper looked and the reduced section and said in a rather loud voice "Hmm even reduced, its still too expensive." Seems even the well off are feeling the pinch

 I must admit a small bag of brussels sprouts about 500gms for over £2.00 reduced was a bit OTT especially as the outsides were going a bit yellowy I looked and walked away so apart from my freebie coffee another NSD  

My slow cooker full of Chicken Tikka last night made 5 ready meal sized portions which cooked, cooled and frozen added to me stash of easy meals in the freezer. I shall rearrange the batch cooked meals at some point today in the freezer and see how many I have I think more than enough for this month. i want to list whats left in there asnd see what I can do with it .The less I have to go to a shop the better ,especially as its very icy today and supposed to get more wintery next week.

Have a good frugalling day chums January is a loooong month  


  JackieO xx

MegA43

Good Morning All.
Had a busy few days so enjoying a coffee & catch up on here before I get going this morning.
@London_1 that book you mentioned sounds interesting. Will see if my library can get it in for me as I've nothing to read at the moment.
Haven't done well with the NSD's this week as I keep getting tripped up by the unexpected. For example - smashed lunchbox needed replacing, £5 needed for youngest's new club etc!! Nevermind! Today is a new day & I don't plan on leaving the house so it will definitely be a NSD!!!

Katiehound

suzeesu2000 said:

 

Am looking out for some pretty jars with lids as I want to make some jams, chutneys and pickles for gifts as well. Any ideas? I already keep all my own used jars to reuse, I love glass. Hoping to get things made mid year so they have chance to mature in time for Christmas. 

 

One way to 'upgrade' your jam jars is to cut a circle of fabric (maybe cut with pinking shears) and tie over the top of the lid  round the neck with raffia, string etc & then attach  a fake flower or even real holly. Dab of glue to keep fabric in place?
You could also use wrapping paper but fabric would hang better.

Ask friends to save jars for you

[Deleted User]

suzeesu2000 said:

Bargains today. Got a stash of Christmas wrapping paper, 25p per roll. Gift tags 25p for 20, Candle gift sets £1.50, candle in a jar £1.50 and Christmas cards 50p per pack - and they are the nice foiled ones. Stocked up for Christmas 2024. Am feeling very pleased as that’s taken care of another 4 gifts as well. 

Am looking out for some pretty jars with lids as I want to make some jams, chutneys and pickles for gifts as well. Any ideas? I already keep all my own used jars to reuse, I love glass. Hoping to get things made mid year so they have chance to mature in time for Christmas. 

Isn’t this daft that I am thinking of Christmas when we are 10 days into the new year!! 

Wow, well done on the Christmas stash.  I usually stock up post christmas but was away this year so didn't.  I thought most places would be sold out but now so haven't really looked anywhere.  I don't think it's daft thinking of Christmas early.  It's a great time to pick up bargains and plan ahead that helps us still be generous without spending more than we'd like.

For jars it's worth a look on gumtree.  I've got jars there before and there were a few people locally just getting rid of them.

London_1

megA43 I think my friend bought it from Ebay and got free postage as well around £2.50-£3.00 she knew I had tried to get it from my library but had not had any luck so she treated me to it bless her and I made her a box of 'melting moments' as a little thank you. Most of my friends do swaps or exchanges if we can if there is something we are after.  I'm busy decluttering for the hopeful move this summer so my pals are coming in for all sorts of things

I hate tipping stuff if I can find a home for it .I had an electronic typewriter and my DD has found a home for it for me at a small local charity.
Never been used and not likely to be as I have my laptop but too good to just throw into landfill.
Someone junk is someone else's treasure  

This book is really interesting as in actual fact the poor were better organised than the better off after WW1 as they always had to manage on less whilst the better off housewife often hadn't a clue as a domestic servant did things for her but after WW1 many women didn't want to return to 'service' as they had tasted a bit of freedom at last, whereas the better off ladies suddenly had to do things for themselves like shop and often pay bills especially if sadly widowed by war. great insight into the birth of thrift and how attitudes were changed within a generation.I'd highly recommend it and we were talking about it at coffee morning yesterday so I have already a list of ladies who want to read it .I think it was published around 2010-11 

JackieO xx

dND

Hi all, 
Frugalling here is confined to finding best deals!

So far I've had zero no-spend days 😱 apart from NYD.  My DS and DDiL's house is right next to a large supermarket and can be damp so no bulk storage.  My contribution to the household while I'm living here is to buy and cook the meals, so shopping frequently for that.

What I have done though is to start a spending diary - remembering to update is is the difficulty as there's nowhere to leave it - and I know that seeing what I buy is going to be so helpful in the long-term.

One of my purchases the other day was a bento box. Well 2 actually, I bought one for my son for work and decided that I would get one for me - they were reduced by 25% - so that when I'm out visiting places, as I plan to do, I can take my own food rather than end up buying.  I usually think that I won't eat out but come mealtime I end up hungry and willpower departs.  I know that I have a lot of plastic boxes in store but the bento box with it's compartments means that I'm not rooting around in my bag for lots of little boxes.  I figure that I only have to use it twice to recoup the money spent.  Next up will be a decent thermos.  I do have a travel cup for places I want to support.

One thing that I have noticed is that it's very expensive setting up a house again even with CS finds.  I left a lot of old stuff behind in France but looking around for buckets, pegs, hangers etc., all small things, but together the cost mounts very quickly.  I'm trying to buy reasonably quality versions with the aim to keep them going longer and reduce landfill so that adds to the start-up cost.  We live in a very complex world navigating the best path we can through financial/ ecological/ age constraints.

I'm loving reading about everyone's journeys and discoveries.

Black_Saturn

Today’s frugality has been putting the sofa blankets out on the line after washing them, rather than use the tumble drier. The wind will give them a good blow, then over the airers tonight. I am on 8/10 NSD’s, but a visit to the elders is imminent, which means a gift needs buying as we never visit empty-handed.