2024 Frugal Living Challenge

otb666

My hubby was very disappointed he will not get a free bus pass at 60. We have to wait until he is 67 in England.

Dizzycap

@Prudent: I wrote a whole reply and it got wiped out before I could post

Olio seems to have died a death but have you tried TooGoodToGo? I downloaded the free app, signed up, put in my postcode and it displays all the local shops that supply a £3.50-£4.50 surprise bag. I've used it twice for my local Budgens for a £4.50 bag. Each huge bag has had 3-4 days left in date food: 6 x cooked chicken breasts, 3 packs of ham, 2 packs of cheese, bread, potatoes, veggies, marg, salad items, fruit - Had to take my shopping trolly to get it all home . Thank goodness for freezers! It's cost me a total of £6 a week for the last 2 weeks to eat well, including the Lidl fruit & veggie box

I've now got my Free Christmas Beef Joint, Leg of Lamb & Turkey Breast all sitting nicely in the freezer - courtesy of Nectar Points & half price meat deals this week at Sainsburys  I've got enough points left to stock up on the cheap 10p Christmas week veggies, which might be 20p this year, but I stock up for 6 months - best ever use of my shed!

So far, so good with my Totally Free Christmas Challenge. All my Free Christmas Pressies or Swap Pressies have been wrapped up in Free wrapping paper and cellotape. I've written all my FREE Christmas cards out ready to post 4 with 4 stamps I found in my purse, which are ok to use, and give out the rest to neighboours & friends. I've been given a half Christmas Tree which I've made decorations for with left over arty bits from my art stash and I found a set of string lights which work perfectly in a box of other things I was clearing out. TBH, there's not much left to do now, except avoid the stress of others 

Santa has arrived early! I received an email from local leisure centre this evening offering me FREE use of the pool for my water treading exercise days for 3 months starting in January  Yes please! 

B&M have a half price sale on which has also been great for essentials, so I stocked up today on all the things I would usually buy with no extras thrown in because it looked like a good deal. If it's not essential & not on my list, it doesn't get put in my basket Now my bank card is safely frozen in my bank app & back in the don't use draw 

It's definately an early night for me tonight. I've packed & completed 3 inpost trolly runs today for items sold belonging to my mother and that's it for today. If I see one more piece of packaging or the trolly again today, I'll scream

I'm 2/5ths of the way through her items listed for sale and sold with now another load as I write to pack ready for tomorrow. I've told her that I'll surprise her with the proceeds after the 9th of December when I post the final items out, I shut shop with no exceptions, and the funds become available. I don't do Christmas Stress

Off to get a nice hot cup of coffee and have a read through the MSE boards. I've got so much to catch up on!

Ta-ta & God bless to all for now xxxx

Prudent

Thank you for all the help. I have decided to wait a bit with Olio as the pick ups mean a five mile drive in the dark and one stretch of that road can be very icy. I had a look at Too Good to go. There are nearer offers on that, so I will give it a try.

@Dizzycap you are making great progress with Christmas.Today I put price labels on all the things I have made for a local fundraising sale this weekend. I will hand them in tomorrow morning when I go out to get my hair cut. I am hoping to get my cards written and posted on Friday. Then I just need to get some wee bits for OH, decorate and get in all the non perishable food before it gets too busy. I keep decorations quite old style with most being things I have made or bought at local craft sales. If the weather is decent I will collect foliage and make a door wreath. I am making a quilted wall hanging for the hall. If I can get it finished in time…. 

ET22

Second hand clothes are the way to go for me anyway. I always keep my eye out in the charity shops as do my daughters. Its really nice when youve got a woolly jumper or a coat from a charity shop and it does its job well for a fracion of the original selling price. I also prefer to buy second hand because of the impact on the environment in buying new clothes. Ive noticed a lot of clothes are made in china now, like REISS and HOBBS, and I find that going to charity shops can sometimes mean i can find something older which has been made in an ethical way x  

I might try collecting foliage myself to make a wreath o r a garland. I cant say it would look any good but its worth a try 

Prudent

@ET22 I totally agree with you about charity shops. I started buying from them when I was working single parent. I needed presentable work clothes as part of my day was in professional meetings but as I taught children with complex additional needs they always seemed to get covered in some kind of sensory craft materials, caught up in mobility aids or dusty from being in the ball pool. I found charity shops allowed me enough of a budget to buy some nice things without stressing about the cost with the wear and tear. A little charity shop in my village had a 20p box of tops. I had some fabulous finds there. Sadly it has closed now, although latterly the tops were £4. My finds this week have been the baubles £1, brand new M&S black chinos £4. (Originally £25), a navy Next long sleeve t shirt also new £1.50 (originally £9) and two Temple spa soaps £1.50. They are most definitely in the ‘out of range, luxury items usually.

Now the greatest value for me is environmental. I feel it is a win win. I stop things from going into landfill and it leaves me a bit of extra money to buy some plants to encourage wild life. This year I raided the planned clothing budget to support the mud monsters (aka The Frugaldom ponies). They have given me joy that far surpasses any item of clothing. 

Working_Mum

All this talk of wreaths and garlands so I thought I'd share the pomander I made at the weekend with a gang of friends. I used foraged greenery and what friends brought with them. The baubles, ribbon and inner straw are all re-usable but the oasis has to be bought new each year.
I love that it has cost me about £10 and if I were to buy one I'd be paying £40 or £50.

ET22

@Working_Mum, thats looks sooo lovely! Can i ask how much the oasis was and what size and shape you used? 

 

amber03

Beautiful Working Mum.xx

Prudent

That is so creative and pretty.

Dizzycap

Working_Mum - AWESOME! I Love it

Prudent - Great charity shop finds! I love recycling and I do it as much as possible. Firstly, it's cheaper than buying new. Secondly, Who doesn't love nice things often found new with tags in a charity shop? Far better than it all going into landfill Thirdly, you can get really creative rumaging through the arty barty bits & bobs section.

However, I only go to charity shops when I am really in need of something like my printed canvasses that I recycled & upcycled into a brand new piece of 3D tacktile art:-) Saved me a fortune. I was just thinking the other day that about 5 years ago I could pick up a 4 pack of A4 sized flat canvasses for a £1 at poundland. Those same size canvasses now cost over £18 a pack

I need to go to bed and get some sleep but I hope to pop ino the MSE Forum earlier tomorrow. Night, night & God bless for now xxxx