2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Duchess2 said:

Haha @Frugaldom can’t help but put your last post to the tune of Ian Dury & the Blockheads’ Reasons to be Cheerful. Oh dear showing my age. 😂 Love reading everyone’s reasons for being frugal....

You may be the only person who picked up on that but it was exactly the tune in my head as I wrote it. 😆 We can be the blockheads. 🤣

Frugaldom

Frugalontoast said:

Thank you for setting this up. I need inspiration to get back to being more frugal again- have got into a bad habit of selling online and declutterring, but then buying way too much secondhand  stuff online too..looking forward to being motivated by other people’s efforts!

Welcome to the challenge. 😊
I have found that for many people selling online, having payments going into PayPal or similar seems to be the number one cause of spending on non essentials. It's surprisingly easy to overlook the fact that it's extra cash that can be swept into your bank then allocated somewhere useful, rather than left and spent without feeling any financial implications. I tend to sweep the balance from mine once a month and use it to pay what needs to be paid.

Frugaldom

No Spend Day (NSD) 4. We have friends visiting but no spends made as there are enough pastries, breads, cakes and buns from Olio to keep us all happy. General chat so far has been about affording the enjoyable things in life, whilst sitting in the off-grid hut with the log burner blazing. Yes, some need to return to the 9-5 on Monday and some of us work 7 days outdoors, but having plans and living frugally means fewer hours, less stress and more opportunities to do exactly as we please.

Off to find the link to that 7% savings account some of you have been recommending. Every penny counts. 😁

Katiehound

The BS a/c interest could even be 7.85% if you choose the 6 month RS account
here: https://www.principality.co.uk/home/savings/savings-accounts/6-month-regular-saver

and yes, I clocked up 'reasons to be cheerful!'

my main reason to be cheerful- we escaped the snow- but due for heavy rain tomorrow....

mama67

Gem-gem said:

Zcrat14, as Mama67 said chop it up in smaller chunks and freeze. My DH bought some reduced to quarter price last week. I have frozen 3/4 of it into 1/4 size chunks. Today I had Stilton and biscuits with carrot. The biscuits were free and the carrots were part of the Christmas veg. Tonight I had 30% off piece of steak. Towards the end of the cooking process I crumbled Stilton over it and let it melt. It made a sort of cheese sauce. Steak and Stilton - yum, yum 😀
Has anyone made Stilton scones? I make cheddar ones with a little mustard. 

I add crumbled Stilton to portabello mushrooms when we have steak yummy

mama67

Frugaldom said:

Duchess2 said:

Haha @Frugaldom can’t help but put your last post to the tune of Ian Dury & the Blockheads’ Reasons to be Cheerful. Oh dear showing my age. 😂 Love reading everyone’s reasons for being frugal....

You may be the only person who picked up on that but it was exactly the tune in my head as I wrote it. 😆 We can be the blockheads. 🤣

I sang it in my head as well lol

Quantaqa

Gem-gem said:

Re: your Mum's blanket - what colours and design? 

I crocheted a cream blanket with 10 heather and cream flowers that went across in a band. 

Hi @Gem-gem, I am going to keep it fairly simple.  I did an colourful granny square blanket for her 70th so want to go for something totally different.  I'm thinking like the Mamma in a Stitch modern heirloom blanket or the Bella Coco moss-stitch blanket (I'd include links but I'm not allowed).

The main colour will be cream and probably a lilac/lavender or rose pink for the contrast stripe.  

Your blanket sounds gorgeous, I love heather shades and they would contrast well with the cream too.  

I haven't got round to buying the yarn yet, so that's a job for tommorrow.

zcrat41

Steak and Stilton is a GENIUS idea! We are lucky enough to be farmers and had our own beast for the freezer just before Christmas so we have mountains of steak! 

Tiny bit of snow here this morning. Off to church this morning then the in laws are coming over for lunch to say thank you for looking after the farm whilst we were away. Shouldn’t be too hard - kitchen not dining room and we’re having turkey pie from the freezer. This Turkey pie is almost my favourite bit of Xmas and I always make 4 or 5 big ones to last all through Jan. Pudding will be leftover Xmas cake for those who want it but I’m going to make a fruit salad for those of us trying to be a bit healthier. 

Will put away the last of the Xmas deca this afternoon and then want to spend a bit of time planning my year in the Filofax of Joy. Will also make sure k find time to walk the dog and read with the kids in front of the fire. 

Kittencat

Morning All.

We didn't have any snow that was forecasted overnight, did anyone here? 

Had a food shop delivery this morning. First time in years that I have had it delivered and it saves so much (money and time) that I have just bought a delivery pass and will see how it goes. 

My biggest failures is waste, food waste. I don't plan meals and leave it until last minute when we are hungry and then put something quick in air fryer. We only tend to eat vegetables on Sunday when I do a roast (we all love roast dinners). We eat a lot of pasta dishes, jacket pots. I really need to organise my week and meal plan. I have the time (I work a 4 day week) but lack the initiative.  

Our air fryer is new so still getting used to what I can put in there. I did salmon and potatoes last night and that came out lovely.

Life is good but needs organising. We are in middle of moving house. Out house has been sold but we are having trouble finding another house we like. We have half the house in boxes as offered on a house but it fell through. So getting organised is difficult at the moment but I'm trying.

ancientmum

Happy Sunday everyone.  Wow, this thread has grown so quickly it feels like we are all determined to have a frugal year!  I've worked out my basic costs and divided by 12 so I know how much I need to live on each month and happy to say that there is some left over to save for the more enjoyable things in life. At my age (72). I have come through the vicissitudes of working and raising children.  I'm on my own and want to make the most of life while I still have my mobility and my marbles.  

Two big holidays are booked for this year and the money to pay for them is nestling in an accessible ISA.  I hope to be able to add to this towards another holiday in 2027.  I've also got a five year plan to save for some work on my flat as the old storage heaters will probably need replacing, as will the carpet so it would be nice to have it properly decorated as well.

The year has started well with a PB win of £100.  I'm putting that aside for days out or theatre/cinema tickets.

Good luck to everyone whatever your circumstances.  I never thought I would be in this position when I was knee-deep in Napisan.  Make the most of what you have but work on those dreams.

Mags x