2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Poppy_Golightly

Methinks you and I have the same dream about animals, wee house and a big field!

Prudent

A third one here! Sadly I know that due to health issues those days are well over for me. I enjoy ponies and goats through a friends of Frugaldom membership. I remember my mum's huge sense of loss when she had to give up that lifestyle due to health issues.

kimwp

I've started hanging out with dogs at a dog rescue - I wanted to be a vet when I was young, so it's like living my childhood dream but better as I get to see the scared ones become more confident and have lots of cuddles with the confident ones. I highly recommend it!

Arrietty

Good morning,

after another week of rain the sun is shining here today and it makes SUCH a difference to mood and sense of wellbeing.
All the windows are open and there's lovely fresh air blowing through. 
With you @Frugaldom on the countdown to Solstice and then the slow return to the light; animal keeping can feel quite relentless this time of year.  I admit I don't envy you the midges in summer but do love the zebra fly rugs, especially when accompanied by fly masks 

Reading all the above comments about dreams of small houses and big fields has reassured me I'm in the right place   I don't have a large home anyway and I rather count the yard and the 200 acres of fields there as 'my garden'! Very lucky that we have badgers, deer, bats and lots of birds that I'm yet to identify but the threat of development is ever present.

I've allowed myself a generous budget of £400 his month as there will be a few outings and expenses I probably haven't accounted for but I was very pleased to discover that in my wrapping stash I have plenty of lovely paper and tape for those gifts which won't fit in the baskets and they will be decorated with existing ribbons or garden twine and whatever sprigs of greenery I find in the garden!

Frugaldom

As many have wished, I was one who also wanted small house and big outside space and ended up with both... However... They are 20 miles apart so not quite the original dream. As the years roll by, it definitely becomes harder and the long-term prospects seldom look good when relying on fundraising and self-employment to keep it all going. Retirement old age pension will be a blessing, assuming I reach 67, but finding homes for rescued, retired and generally unwanted animals is so incredibly difficult that it makes actual retirement look impossible. Budget has been redone once again as food prices have increased again. It feels like we are now spending about twice as much on half as much, which simply isn't sustainable while trying to maintain a minimum annual spend on household. Dirnow, I'm stubbornly keeping it my plan so there's always something left over to set aside in the emergency fund. Another £50 premium bonds win helped.

Prudent

No sunshine here today sadly, but I did get outside. I had to do some errands in my local town this morning, so I went for a short woodland walk to recharge when I came home. 

@Frugaldom well done on £50 I got the same too and it will help with the costs of improving my bedroom. I had an unexpectedly frugal bonus with that too. I had arranged for a local upcycling charity to collect the old furniture on Friday. In the morning we decided to take the sections of the divan bed apart, and take off the headboard and mattress to make it easier for them to uplift. As we were doing that, it struck me that I could have kept the base and simply recovered it. Also that I could have done the same with the headboard. OH said I still could, but I knew I wouldn't be comfortable with that after offering the whole bed to them. When the guys arrived they took everything apart from the divan base and headboard because the cat had damaged the fire labels. A bit of frugal good karma I think. I am bidding on some upholstery fabric on eBay and will recover them after Christmas. I have ordered a new mattress (in another good eBay deal) and I will begin to look for furniture in the January sales. 

Gem-gem

Well done everyone on your PB wins. 

I always said that if I had my time again I would want a small holding with chickens etc. An aunt and uncle had a small holding firstly in Kent and then later in N Yorkshire. They reared chickens, turkeys, goats and ducks to name a few. We used to go up near to Christmas and collect the Turkeys for all the family down south. We learnt to milk the goats. My aunt would make her own butter etc. I spent a summer with them whilst they were in Kent whilst my mum recovered from an operation. 

@Prudent, I'm pleased that the frugal good karma came to you. 😀
@Frugaldom, I hope one day you do accomplish you retirement dream. 

Arrietty

The rain has returned!

This seems to be how the season are now here in the south east; rain all winter and drought all summer. 
Our summer fields were barren by the end of July and in the 10 years of being owned by a horse,  I have NEVER had to give him hay and feeds all summer as I did this year. That compounded with the scarcity of hay has led to incredible prices ... we are currently paying £9.50 a bale and I was going through a bale every 5-7 days. That did not help my savings plans at all!
I'm not sure if those prices will ever drop again but thankfully, since moving to winter fields 3 weeks ago I have not had to buy any and do have a bale in storage, I stocked up on enough feeds to see us through winter and he only has one small one a day at the moment, mainly to deliver supplements in! 

@Frugaldom  I can imagine it's pretty tough having to travel 20 miles between your 'dreams', well done on the PB win, may many more of these flow your way 

Frugaldom

@Arrietty we still have 6 ponies and 2 goats at out little sanctuary, they get through 2 big bales of haylage @ £55 each every week throughout the year so that's the biggest regular expense, plus the actual feed & supplements and straw for bedding in the shelters. We don't have any 'normal' grazing, all are on non-grass track systems with a little bit of extra play space when the weather permits. Very costly and labour intensive but as long as people keep producing surplus animals, folks like us have to try to mop up wherever we can, sadly. Rehoming is a very, very slow process with so many 'free' animals available everywhere.

I've been looking, once again, at what's needed as we head towards the 2026 challenge and I'm more convinced than ever that having a car is now pure extravagance. H has a car and I don't see why we can't go down to one, especially now I have my bus pass if I get the chance to go anywhere. Next time I visit the garage, I'll ask for a valuation but will also check on the websites. It's almost 10 years old but has done less than 40,000 miles. Better the money be in the bank (or premium bonds) than sitting doing nothing. I don't want it becoming a mobile mouse house over winter. It would also save me over £1,000 a year... Going to think more about this... Hmm... 

amber03

We went down to one car when me and DH retired. Was abit strange not having our own cars at first but it was a good decision. Im usually the one that has the car as we help look after our GK’ds so I do a lot of running around with them. DH usually gives me warning when he needs it tho he did by a bike a few years ago that is gathering a lot of cobwebs in the garage.