2024 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

I have spent on my ideas and still feel they are appropriate and worthwhile to what I do at Frugaldom. The 'aire' fell by the wayside so we have had very few campervan visitors, but of the handful who have visited, this year so far, the extra £100 income should not be sneezed at. It may be a drop in the ocean when compared to the overall running costs of this frugal project but every penny helps. That has to be enforced as my summer mantra.

Summer goals

1. Dig out the forgotten wormery and get the kitchen garden scraps composting faster 
2. Tidy up the yard to make it more presentable to visitors
3. Tidy up the gateway to make it look more inviting to visitors 
4. Create a new manure heap to make it easier to bag the manure for carting to the road end where we have a 'help yourself for free' area at the gate.
5. Dig out the old manure heap, bag it and move it to road end.
6. Preserve, preserve, preserve... Starting with rhubarb.
7. Clear out the old raised beds and somehow make them productive. 

That's it, just 7 goals  to achieve this summer. Micro holding includes small scale veg growing and this still has not happened. Herbs, fruit and berries are all doing well but I've just never got around to working on veg beds. There are several dotted about and I have a volunteer coming to help next week so here's hoping for some dry weather. I'll ask for help clearing the raised beds then fill them all with the rotted horse manure.

kayannie

@ Frugaldom. I've 'followed' you for many years but rarely commented, although I am full of admiration for your aims & for what you have achieved. I was brought up 70+ years ago on a rural smallholding which sounds very similar to where you are now (although about 300 miles further south!). My upbringing instilled into me the necessity of being frugal, although that term wasn't widely used in those days.

We had a small campervan in the past & came to Scotland for many years. I wish you had been then where you are now as we would have loved to have parked up with you for a night or two.

One thought about your free manure - to bring in a few extra pounds (or pennies), would it be worthwhile putting up a sign asking for a donation for it? Around where I now live in Wales, manure is usually £1 a bag.
KA

Frugaldom

Hi @kayannie, thank you for following and now for your kind comments. We have a small donations tin at the road end where we sit the manure so anyone who wants, or has spare change in their car, can pop a few coins in the tin. Last year, we managed to raise just over £100 from gate  'sales'. There are so many people with ponies around this area that putting a price on a bag would result in it being left but the kindness of others often surpasses the value of the bags so we appreciate that. Likewise with our lovely campervan nets and motorhomers - we don't get many in but those who do venture here tend to leave more than the £5 parking fee. Some have even signed up yo contribute monthly to our support group. Fabulous bunch of individuals, several who have also followed Frugaldom on here and elsewhere for many years. 

Frugaldom

Updating

Summer goals

1. Dig out the forgotten wormery and get the kitchen garden scraps composting faster 
2. Tidy up the yard to make it more presentable to visitors
3. Tidy up the gateway to make it look more inviting to visitors 
4. Create a new manure heap to make it easier to bag the manure for carting to the road end where we have a 'help yourself for free' area at the gate.
5. Dig out the old manure heap, bag it and move it to road end.
6. Preserve, preserve, preserve... Starting with rhubarb.
7. Clear out the old raised beds and somehow make them productive. 

I stewed some rhubarb and have a spare jar, more still to pick but it will need to go into the freezer. 
The little kitchen compost bin is back in operation for transferring to the wormery.
First of the raised beds got tidied up in the herbery then I got the chance of a load of tree chippings so doesn't yesterday narrowing it all to top the paths. 
The new manure heap got started but it hasn't got pallets round it yet. 
Started bagging manure to move to the gate.
Got some Olio that included bread and milk plus loads of lettuce and salad stuff, most of which is safe for the goat or the ponies. I did the wrong thing and looked at the original prices on the yellow stickers and was totally shocked! 😱

Prudent

Well done on all the goal setting Frugaldom. The true shop prices for groceries are so high now. I've had a reasonably good couple of weeks with groceries as I have managed to get some Aldi veg boxes. I am now even more focused on cooking from scratch as I am in the middle of reading Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken. It is certainly an eye opener. 

Life is still fairly slow as it is taking a while for the residual symptoms of covid to pass. Last year it wiped me out for nearly four months, but this year seems to be progressing better. I missed most of my June goals (partly due to covid, but also due to have work done in the house) so I am going to make some new ones for July.

• I want to get back into bread making. I know it doesn't work out cheaper but I want to avoid the additives in supermarket bread. There are wonderful bakeries around, but I refuse to spend £4 on a loaf. 
• To pop some things on eBay to raise money for muddy things and to start a savings pot for a new mattress. The bed base is a lovely sturdy divan with deep drawers. In a small house the storage is welcome. The base needs recovering after my cat using it as a scratching post. I feel this is something I could do myself.
• To extend my driving a bit further. I haven't driven much this year due my health. We had a wee outing to Crail last week and OH did most of the driving as I was too tired. 
• To continue with my challenge of using my sister in law's fabric scraps. I have made a couple of quilted shopping bags. I have seen some Youtube videos that make good use of tiny scraps so I will start on some projects for Christmas fundraising sales. 
• To get back into the allotment as too much as been left to OH. I managed to tidy up the front garden this week and it is looking good again. I redesigned it several years ago to support as much wildlife as possible and it is rewarding seeing that come to fruition. 

mandy47

Prudent said:

Well done on all the goal setting Frugaldom. The true shop prices for groceries are so high now. I've had a reasonably good couple of weeks with groceries as I have managed to get some Aldi veg boxes. I am now even more focused on cooking from scratch as I am in the middle of reading Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken. It is certainly an eye opener

I am currently reading the same book and you're right it's a real eye opener. I've started making my own sourdough bread. The black kitchen surface seems to have a permanent dusting of flour 
Everything possible from scratch and healthier for it!

kayannie

mandy47 said:

Prudent said:

Well done on all the goal setting Frugaldom. The true shop prices for groceries are so high now. I've had a reasonably good couple of weeks with groceries as I have managed to get some Aldi veg boxes. I am now even more focused on cooking from scratch as I am in the middle of reading Ultra Processed People by Chris Van Tulleken. It is certainly an eye opener

I am currently reading the same book and you're right it's a real eye opener. I've started making my own sourdough bread. The black kitchen surface seems to have a permanent dusting of flour 
Everything possible from scratch and healthier for it!

I've just ordered this book after reading a good review of it. Can't wait for it to arrive! 
KA

C_J

Prudent said:

• To continue with my challenge of using my sister in law's fabric scraps. I have made a couple of quilted shopping bags. I have seen some Youtube videos that make good use of tiny scraps so I will start on some projects for Christmas fundraising sales. 

Did you see the Great British Sewing Bee last week? They cut up little fabric scraps and sandwiched them between two pieces of organza and then quilted it to hold the bits in place. They turned the resulting fabric into a shoulder bag, and it looked fab - I’m going to have a bash at that myself!

Frugaldom

If anyone is planning a visit, you are welcome to read while here. I struggled to get into the van Tulleken book but think it's because I've never bought into the ultra processed or fast food industries. Yes, we eat 'cr&p' foodstuffs thanks to 0li0 and most seems to be labeled as vegan or vegetarian but in an ill-divided world, many need to appreciate a few calories no matter the source. We are so spoiled for choice here in UK that farmers don't stand a chance of surviving without being slaves to the subsidy system. It's sad. On a much cheerier note, we have finally managed to source some free top soil, enough to fill the raised beds built during the COVID catastrophe. Now I need stuff to put in them so am off to research what there's still time to sow and grow and request plants online from our local FB pages 

fionaandphil

We find purple sprouting broccoli good for later in the year. It's usually ready January to March and always a nice change at that time of year when everything feels bleak