2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

That is beautiful 😍 

Gem-gem

Mrs_Salad_Dodger said:

That is beautiful 😍 

Thank you @Mrs_Salad_Dodger, The Heat pack was £5 and I used up wool that I had left over from my Sampler Blanket. This is the second out of three blankets that I am making. This one is for me and my husband to keep our laps warm. The third will be an 80th birthday present. 

weenancyinAmerica

Great idea with the heat pack cover. Giving me ideas on how to use up yarn - have boxes of it here.

Debsnewbudget

Last year I started to collect Christmas material including bedding from the charity shops.  I then made some drawstring bags and continued finishing them off this year. 

Hopefully have enough this year to put all the presents in.  I Will use them every year and have an idea that they will be brought out year after year after I have gone, in the same way I am using the shoe bags my mum made 40 years ago ! 

Gem-gem

Debsnewbudget said:

Last year I started to collect Christmas material including bedding from the charity shops.  I then made some drawstring bags and continued finishing them off this year. 

Hopefully have enough this year to put all the presents in.  I Will use them every year and have an idea that they will be brought out year after year after I have gone, in the same way I am using the shoe bags my mum made 40 years ago ! 

I tried to convert my family over to them. My husband was okay with it as he hates wrapping. But the rest of the family were non-plussed.
The Japanese wrap things in cloth. They look beautifully done. 

joedenise

I think cloth bags are a great idea.  Hopefully the recipients will either use them next year or return them to you to use again.

MrsCD

At the moment I still wrap our daughter's presents with paper, but we have Christmas shopping bags to keep all the gifts apart. That's a really good idea to make reusable bags.....something to think about in the new year.

weenancyinAmerica

I've been using reusable bags for years. The rest of the family does too - we have been passing some of the bags around for 6 or 7 years now. 

Prudent

Lovely to hear about everyone's creative ways of keeping warm and cooking. I made Twink's hobnobs this afternoon. I was trying to remember when the recipe first appeared on the Old Style forum. I feel like I have made them for years, and they are always well received. It has been very chilly here with dense fog today. I left the oven door open after cooking to warm the kitchen for a bit. 

@Gem-gem thank you for the reminder about posting cards early. I don't send many now, but I do like to send them to close family and a few older friends who still appreciate a card and a handwritten note. I only buy a few presents now too, and keep the day quite low-key. One of the lovely aspects of frugal living is that it can make life slower. 

We are busy with jobs in the house. I am finally making some changes to the main bedroom. I am going to box up everything this week and see if we can get a local charity to uplift at least some of the furniture. I need to replace the carpet (well overdue!), and I want to change the layout to give more space. OH has severe arthritis and is on the waiting list for a hip replacement. The consultant said that his other hip would also need to be replaced at a later date. OH was super fit and thought nothing of walking 18 miles in a day just ten years ago. I think he is struggling with the change, so I want to make the house as easy as possible for him to move around. It feels a bit of a mindset change for me too, as functionality and comfort are more important than cost just now, whereas I have always been quite focused on buying second-hand and upcycling. I will still look at second-hand options, but I won't take on a project.

I went into B&Q this week and bought a new vent for an external wall. The house had a gas fire when I bought which has since been removed. I am going to take off the old vent as the wind howls through and replace it with a new vent which can be closed. I will also put some insulation between the vent and the outside air brick. We had a new heating system put in last summer, and it has made a big difference. The area near that vent is still a cold spot. Hopefully, the new vent will help. This evening, I noticed the bathroom tap was dripping. I duly googled washers only to discover modern mixer taps have a cartridge system, not a washer. I can't work out how to get into the tap, so sadly it might mean getting a plumber out. I will do some more googling tomorrow when I am less tired. I suppose it is a bit like modern cars, which require diagnostics and a trip to the dealership at great cost for repairs. I am holding on to my older car for as long as possible. I hope everything goes well with your car @RavenRover.

Gem-gem

@Prudent, I'm impressed with your husband walking eighteen miles in a day. I walked 12km /8 miles on Thursday and that was enough. My knees play up if I walk much more in one day. Two members of my close family were walkers / runners and they both ended up having both of their hips replaced. 

@weenancyinAmerica we reuse gift bags that we have received. My friend and I gave been know to swap them back and forth. Anything to stop it landing up in a landfill and for us to save money. I was talking to my nephew about these little ways to save money. I explained that if you have a set income. Do you want to spend your money on something that is just going to be thrown away or on something that you want / enjoy.