2024 Frugal Living Challenge

willow_loulou

@Frugaldom You’re so right, the freedom I feel is incredible. It was the cancer diagnosis that did it. I told a close friend and she questioned why I hadn’t told him. I realised it was because he would make it all about him, another trauma I’m supposed to burden for him whilst dealing with life changing things! I’m so happy right now it’s unfathomable to me why I stayed so long. 

In other news I’ve discovered a £1 fill your bag food share place open tomorrow! Guess where I’m going! 

Frugaldom

@willow_loulou the £1 per bag food share sounds like a great place!  There seems to be a huge number of these types of places springing up all over the place.im hopeful that they will bring about a resurgence in a new community spirit for some.Frugal living is mo longer the lifestyle of what was perceived as an impoverished minority, it now seems to be becoming trendy to spend less on 'stuff' and save more towards a better or slower lifestyle. It will be very interesting to observe how it affects the property markets, rentals and associated landlord legislation. Our visiyur today was saying land prices in parts of Essex had more than doubled from around £10k per acre up to £25k! I remember the days when the National Coal Board were selling off thousands of acres at around £40/acre.

mandy47

DHs birthday yesterday.  The big 60!
Looked at getting a cake made. Only wanted a small one and they were so expensive. So DD and myself set about making one. The cake wasn't a problem but the decoration was much harder. Didn't look much like the finished item on YouTube but he was thrilled. Saved a fortune. 
We went to the cinema. Meerkat and my insider card got it down to £6.10 for the 3 of us. Took our own chocs and pop at £2 each. 
That left me with a bit more wiggle room for a nice meal out.
He thoroughly enjoyed it all and it didn't cost the earth. 

leftatthetrafficlights

I've finally made the ivy leaf laundry detergent!! 🙌 @Frugaldom - I know you make and use it, would you mind telling me how long it keeps and do you need to keep it in a fridge or is it okay just in a cupboard? 

nannygladys

I've been a little 'spendy' the last few weeks and have to get back to my frugal ways. I have been reminded not to take my foot off the peddle as I have a rather expensive car bill coming up sooner rather than later and I'm hoping I'll be able to save the majority of the cost in the next few months, but if I have to have the work done sooner then it'll have to go on the credit card and it'll get paid off as quickly as possible 🙁  
It's a bit of a wake up call for me to not give up any frugal ways.
Nannyg 

Frugaldom

leftatthetrafficlights said:

I've finally made the ivy leaf laundry detergent!! 🙌 @Frugaldom - I know you make and use it, would you mind telling me how long it keeps and do you need to keep it in a fridge or is it okay just in a cupboard? 

I just make enough to do a few washes at a time and keep it in a coffee jar under the sink. I've made 5 litres of laundry 'gloop' so that's what's being used for the machine washes at home but any hand washes off-grid will be with a new batch of ivy leaves.i love the subtle smell of it.

leftatthetrafficlights

Frugaldom said:

leftatthetrafficlights said:

I've finally made the ivy leaf laundry detergent!! 🙌 @Frugaldom - I know you make and use it, would you mind telling me how long it keeps and do you need to keep it in a fridge or is it okay just in a cupboard? 

I just make enough to do a few washes at a time and keep it in a coffee jar under the sink. I've made 5 litres of laundry 'gloop' so that's what's being used for the machine washes at home but any hand washes off-grid will be with a new batch of ivy leaves.i love the subtle smell of it.

@Frugaldom - thank you! 😁

Debsnewbudget

Olio app was very glitchy last night so I was left with 2 bags of pepper stir fry, 4 packs of sliced red peppers with a cheesy dip, and a pot of pepper pesto along with a bag of carrot, cauliflower and broccoli veg.
so apart from the cheesy dip I threw the lot into the pressure cooker, with a Veg stock pot and have made about 8 portions of a very tasty soup. All for the price of a stock pot.

willow_loulou

Well the £1 bag was incredible!
 I got a squash, 3 green bananas, an iceberg, some chicken, bread, 2 tomatoes, 2 plums, some potatoes and miso paste! I will be going again this week! 
It’s really helped stretch the food budget this week, I’m very grateful. @Frugaldom it was a lovey atmosphere, with kids games and drawing out for the mums collecting. Nice for the lites to feel welcome. 

I’ve paid off 2 stupid debts and challenged my Council tax as they still showed both children living at home despite me telling them my daughter was travelling, they even had their council tax closing letter sent to me to settle for them! Just as well as the £300 increase from last year is a touch more than the 4.5% stated increase! They for some reason took away the extra support I got for being disabled too. 

So make sure you really check the bills when they arrive. 

Glittering_M

Frugaldom said:

I've made 5 litres of laundry 'gloop' so that's what's being used for the machine washes at home 

What is this please?