2025 Frugal Living Challenge

mandy47

Busy day in the kitchen. Half a carrier bag of gifted bramley apples prepped for the freezer.
Huge bag of gifted plums prepped for the freezer and a large jar of jam with the last of my jam sugar.
Dehydratedhome grown tomatoes and filled a jar with them. 
Cooked sweetcorn and pasta for salad lunches for the next few days.
Sourdough loaf slowly rising. Will bake tomorrow. 
Just cleaned up from lunch comprising of all homegrown veg and potatoes. 
Happy to sit and relax with a cuppa now.

Highlanddream

Gem-gem said:

@Highlanddream, I have never thought about growing sweet potatoes. Do you just do the same as new potatoes etc?

I planted them later than usual potatoes about May, I put them in a polytunnel but my friend is growing them outside, they are doing just as well but not flowering. They can sometimes break the surface, just cover them up with some more soil. I am very hopeful this will be a good year. You don't touch them until autumn, very hard not to have a dig around. They are like squash, grow everywhere, lol. 

Highlanddream

Gem-gem said:

Up at 5am to do another boot fair. £70 profit made. £50 put towards household bills. £20 kept for enjoyment money. We are going on another football weekend soon and this means I can treat myself to some things whilst away like a hot choc from G@il's. 

At the boot fair some know me as the 'jam' lady. Today a gentlemen came up to me and said, 'Are you the jam lady?'I replied that I was and he said that he had a present for me. It thought that he was going to come back with some jam jars, but no. He returned with 1.2kg of damsons, that he picked from his mother's tree, and asked if I would make jam with them and bring him back a jar. I said that I would. That I would be back in two weeks time. 

ohhh lovely, damsons are my favourite . Well done about the boot fair, we keep meaning to do one , going to run out of time this summer if we are not careful. 

Gem-gem

@Highlanddream, dawn was 5:37am this morning. I have set up my table in semi darkness before but am hoping to complete all boot fairs this year before this happens.z 

Gem-gem

mandy47 said:

Busy day in the kitchen. Half a carrier bag of gifted bramley apples prepped for the freezer.
Huge bag of gifted plums prepped for the freezer and a large jar of jam with the last of my jam sugar.
Dehydratedhome grown tomatoes and filled a jar with them. 
Cooked sweetcorn and pasta for salad lunches for the next few days.
Sourdough loaf slowly rising. Will bake tomorrow. 
Just cleaned up from lunch comprising of all homegrown veg and potatoes. 
Happy to sit and relax with a cuppa now.

It is always nice when you are gifted bramley apples. 

We think we have a squirrel who is coming into the garden in the early hours and is using it as a buffet bar. Sunflower heads keep disappearing or we find them in a raised bed with the seeds removed. We also are finding apples partially eaten. Too much for it to be birds. 

Quantaqa

Topher said:

Thank you for adding your comment on the book “Less”. It’s one I’ve been considering and like you I can’t get it from my library (not without a long wait anyway). At the moment I’m reading Four thousand weeks. I’m feeling a lot more chilled about so many things since starting it. (So chilled I’ve not finished it yet. 

Thanks @Topher and thanks for mentioning your current read.  I have never read any Oliver Burkeman books so I was happy that two of them are available from my local library and I've got them on order. 

This past weekend has been exceptionally busy and unbelievable expensive.  I am out of the habit of eating out so was astonished at the cost of a Pizza Express for me and DH and then a lunch with my niece to celebrate her exam results.  Added to that the obvious cost of food going up and an unexpectedly expensive stock up on essentials at Home Bargains - things like toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo and conditioner etc.  It's been one of my most expensive weekends in a long time so I am going to set myself a challenge that for the rest of this week, up to and including Friday, I spend nothing whatsoever.  I should have enough food in the house and I just need to get organised and plan ahead.  Wish me luck and if anyone fancies joining me you're most welcome.

Prudent

@Topher thanks from me too, always good to have a new book recommendation.

@Quantaqa we have decided to eat out tomorrow and will probably get a shock too. The new heating system is getting fitted. We will need to be out of the house for around eight hours. I had planned a day out in the Trossachs with a picnic, but it is forecast to be a sorcher of a day. I have changed the plan to inside activities instead as I don't do well in the heat. We are just going to buy lunch as it means we can stay inside somewhere cool.

This weather is salad weather so not much food prep going on here. We had a Greek salad for lunch. Thankfully we have had a good amount of free or cheap fruit and veg between Lidl veggie boxes and the allotment. Our bills are still rising though as everything else is going up so much.

Quantaqa

No spend week Update:
Yesterday went well,  Zero money spent which I am delighted about.  Dinner was meatloaf from the freezer and HM chips.  I made a Victoria Sponge that did us for a sweet treat after dinner.  A couple of loads of washing also done and hung out to take advantage of the warm weather,

Today dinner will be left over Lasagne from the freezer with carrot and mint salad and beetroot. DH has taken a sandwich and HM sausage rolls to work for lunch and I will have  the rest of the sausage rolls for lunch, although in this heat I always have less of an appetite. I am meeting my friend at the gym tonight to do a starting weigh in as we both want to lose some weight and then do a gym session.  This uses my membership so no money spent. 

@Prudent, I hope you have a fabulous day out. I love the Trossachs.  If the weather holds I might do a day trip there this weekend, ideally with a picnic.  DH and I like having a picnic at the picnic area near Loch Drunkie and then doing the walk there.  Like you, I struggle in this heat though.  Which part of the Trossachs are you headed to?  

@fionaandphil, thank you for the encouragement regarding my aim to tidy the kitchen before bed rather than leave it to deal with in the morning.  I'm slowly getting better with this and I really do appreciate going into a nice clean kitchen in the morning.  

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Started the day fixing a wardrobe door hinge in the spare room. The top two hinges had broken. 

Then went to the gym - yoga and Pilates. 

After popping a few bits into my DM, I fixed the side table lamp in our bedroom then did the few bits of ironing. Mid afternoon, I sat and continued to crochet my blanket. Tonight we went to a local quiz, which we won.
Tonight's dinner was sourced from the freezer, three tubs of different leftover curry. 

Frugaldom

Bit of a late night catch up for me - everyone is so busy frugalling and it makes for impressive reading. I'm still decluttering at snail's pace but there's a tiny spot of light at the end of that lengthy tunnel.

Fruit & veg growing has been a total failure this year, what with the heat, the dry spells, the torrential rain and a general lack of time and energy to deal with garden stuff. I'm still hopeful of getting a couple of cabbages, although that could be wishful thinking.

What has happened to white cabbages? I've tried buying them from Aldi and Morrisons but they are tiny! Talk about shrinkflation!! Or perhaps it's just our area. Has anyone else noticed the shrinking white cabbages? As a huge slaw fan throughout summer, it's most disappointing. I usually grate cabbage, carrot, apple and cheese then throw in a handful of sultanas. A cabbage would make at least 4 big bowls but now only makes 2.