2024 Frugal Living Challenge

RavenRover

I've been awol the last few weeks, so gradually catching up.  Thank goodness for my frugal ways as otherwise I would be totally sunk.

My lovely 4 year old cars engine died on Easter Sunday on my way to work to do my last day before my holidays.  At first my mechanic told me the car was scrap. Couldn't do anything for 2 days until insurance company started back.  Well apparently they (AA) don't cover mechanical failure.   I was gutted.  So went and saw mechanic who told me a friend of his had a car he thought he would sell to me while i got myself sorted out and we sold the car for scrap.  Excellent.  The car was cheap but cheaper than me hiring a car with penalties for the amount of mileage I do in a week.  It was running really well for an old car with 250k on the clock.

Plucked up the courage to go to my caravan for a couple of days.  That's when the new car showed its true colours.  There is a really steep hill I have to go up and let's just say my car was hidden in a cloud of black smoke!  On the return  journey the wheel arch cover slid under the car and scraped along for the journey.  

Absolutely scunnered I took it back to mechanic who promised to do some tests on it before I went back to work.  Shortened version is that he didn't do the tests - couldn't get a lone of a machine- and I managed one return journey and one single journey to work before I was brought back home on another breakdown lorry thanks to yet another engine failure. I swear I could write reviews for many round my area😄  When I warned my mechanic what was happening he laughed and said he was going on holiday for a week so I was stuck. (He under estimates me, more than him  in my town!!!) 

During all of this I started fighting with the car company who had been great and eventually agreed to replace the original cars engine.  I made the mistake of phoning to see how things were going, only to discover that despite being told they had confirmation to go ahead, now they didn't and had to wait.  So now I am having to plough the rest of my savings into the second car to get it back on the road just in case my original car isn't going to get fixed.   My mechanic told me to get shot of the original one once it was fixed as he said the make of car was unreliable but there is now way now I can afford to get rid of it.  And to be honest it is my decision not his and if he doesn't want my money...

On top of that my washing machine went on the blink and I had it confirmed my current job will be coming to an end.  I swear I am not making this stuff up.  To add insult to injury I have been using my wee mums car and the wiper motor died on it this morning!!!!

Thankfully the Olio collections have been a blooming godsend  - possibly too good according to the scales at my Dr's today  - as I have been fortunate to get veggies, bread and ready meals. No one wants to collect from me for some reason but I'm trying not to let too much of it go into the bin or compost. 

fionaandphil

@RavenRover hopefully that will be all of your bad luck out of the way for the entire year and things will only get better.  Hope you get sorted out soon with everything working 

cw18

RavenRover said:

Well apparently they (AA) don't cover mechanical failure.

During all of this I started fighting with the car company who had been great and eventually agreed to replace the original cars engine.

I've never known an insurance company pay out for mechanical failure.   If they did then there'd be fewer cars scrapped - but premiums would be higher.

Who agreed to replace it?   The company you bought the car from?

Prudent

Goodness @RavenRover what an awful experience with your car. Especially poor for a car that is just 4 years old. I hope you find a solution. 

RavenRover

cw18 said:

RavenRover said:

Well apparently they (AA) don't cover mechanical failure.

During all of this I started fighting with the car company who had been great and eventually agreed to replace the original cars engine.

I've never known an insurance company pay out for mechanical failure.   If they did then there'd be fewer cars scrapped - but premiums would be higher.

Who agreed to replace it?   The company you bought the car from?

According to my mechanic RAC cover mechanical failure, but who knows!!!

Vauxhall head office agreed to have a look and repair.  Surprising what happens when you have a brass neck and are desperate.   I couldn't see my 4 y.o. van just go to scrap.

Prudent

@RavenRover good for you. I would have been kicking up a fuss too. I hope you get your repaired vehicle back soon.

I caught up with some cooking today. While I was waiting for OH to come back from the morning bird feeding at the allotment I made a butternut squash, spinach and lentil curry. We had some for dinner with naan this evening and some went into the freezer. I like the large sized Naan bread that Farmfoods sell. It is as close to a takeaway naan bread as I can find. I have tried making my own but have never been especially impressed with the results.

After breakfast I went for a woodland walk. The highlight for me when a pair of Shetland ponies came to a gate to say hello. I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at the photos Frugaldom posts of her ponies and constantly wish they were nearer. The woods were full of wild garlic so I harvested a little from several clumps and by the time I came out of the woods I had a decent amount. I made some wild garlic, leek and potato soup. We had half for lunch and I froze half. I often feel too wiped out to cook so freezing food, when I can, helps. I had potatoes to use up and OH reappeared from the allotment with 10 leeks (we are digging out the leeks to make space for pea and bean frames) so I made cheesy wild garlic and leek potato bake and froze it all. We went back to the allotment for a bit this afternoon and I thinned out seedlings, planted some poppy seeds and did a bit of weeding. I had a wee wander to look for some wild chickpea leaves for salad but I couldn't find any.

Just wondering if anyone else is foraging? 

kayannie

@Prudent I've been foraging the wild garlic too - the flowers are lovely added to salad. Nothing else much about yet, but I will very soon be able to pick samphire from the beach. 
KA

RavenRover

@Prudent I like a wee bit foraging,wild garlic just now and I make enough garlic butter for the year and freeze it.  Also make chive butter with the flowers.   Love late summer for the berries.  Would love to do a serious foraging course at some point.

RavenRover

Also hoping to dehydrate some wild garlic this year - and yes I LOVE garlic!

Frugaldom

Oh, @RavenRover, you really have had a rather bad time mechanically. I hope the situation is resolved and that you are fully mobile soon. I also hope the work situation improves. There's always a hut or a wagon if you want to hinker down and shut out the world for a few days once you're fully back on the road.

No foraging opportunities here asso little grows nearby but summer will soon bring berries galore. Weather here is so changeable that we have barely got used to a bit sunshine before the wind, rain, hail and frost returns. Motivation is completely lacking by the time I finish seeing to the animals and then get dried off from the latest soaking and age is creeping up at an alarming rate. I must find summer helpers or else there will be next to nothing growing that's edible. 

We recently repurposed dome bits and pieces to make a new wildlife feeding platform so watching the antics of the badgers, fox, pine marten, cats and birds is entertainment enough for me. Who needs TV, Netflix or the cinema when you have windows looking over the countryside. Siskins are picking at the dandelions just now, despite the rain.