2025 Frugal Living Challenge

suzeesu2000

@Frugaldom, will you be running the challenge again for 2026 please? I so need to get my act together so hoping you will xx

Frugaldom

suzeesu2000 said:

@Frugaldom, will you be running the challenge again for 2026 please? I so need to get my act together so hoping you will xx

Most definitely 😁 I usually set up the new one during the last week or so of December so it's all ready for start of the new year. 

Frugaldom

5 days and counting until the shortest day! Woohoo! I do not like these dark midwinter days, I'm missing daylight and sunshine. Today, we were shrouded in fog for most of the time then it was getting dark by 4pm

Christmas effect still hasn't kicked in here but I will look out some tinsel this week to decorate something, anything. I have a fun and free idea but won't say until I've tried it, in case it's a frugal disaster.

Made more lentil soup and I am going through a custard phase. I experimented with the Omnia stove-top 'oven' and successfully managed to bake sponge cakes so that opened up many more options. I was gifted the Omnia a couple of years ago and have used it almost daily at the hut, where there's just a basic camping gas stove. I still recommend everyone should try off-grid in some way, shape or form as it highlights where you have over reliance on life's luxuries and seriously opens your eyes to how much water we need each day. I'm fully considering blogging about off-grid, hut dwelling life, making it my 2026 writing challenge. My kids probably think I'm nuts and the grandkids think I'm the gran who lives in a hut in the woods.

Meanwhile, back at the house, the freezer is jam packed and I still haven't finished sorting through all my crafting materials. They are gradually being whittled down but I haven't done any crafting this year at all, aside from making the papier mache banks. H, on the other hand, has made loads more sculptures from collected driftwood, beach junk and old pallets. I think he's now up to about 75 different sculptures, including the latest ones made from all the old welly boots that had accrued over the past 10+ years. I'd add a photo but the mobile version of MSE still can't do that. 

kimwp

I think there was mention of a vlog/youtube early in the year, did anything happen with that? I think there's pretty decent money that can be made, even with basic videos- just videoing and talking. People like watching videos about budgeting, animals and alternative lifestyles, I think it could be a valuable income stream for you.

"Ali lives well on less" talks about the money she's made on YouTube and it's just from videoing herself talking about her budget and cooking basic food, worth checking out her channel.

Frugaldom

@kimwp The only things I post on the Frugaldom YouTube channel are short clips of the animals and wildlife. We are very restricted by lack of internet connection when relying on intermittent mobile signal, plus I don't do cameras - being seen or being heard on them. 😆 My nephew, on the other hand, earns his living and travels the world as a YouTuber. Our Facebook & Instagram have now been accepted onto the monetisation programme so I'm on my way, very, very slowly, to my first $25. It all helps.

Chrismas money all allocated this week and both DD and DS now have premium bonds so I'm pleased about that. I've still not checked my Nectar points balance but I've used my More points and also got the younger grandchildren the Disney trading cards books - Morrisons gives you a free pack of cards with every £15 spent so I've managed to accrue about 20 packs since they came available.

We are back to porridge breakfasts and soup & pudding lunches. Rice seems to have come back down a little in price and I've restocked with tinned tomatoes, herbs & spices. There are still potatoes in the ground and some cabbages, plenty of garlic and maybe some beetroot so we certainly won't starve.

Gem-gem

@Frugaldom, I have been watching programmes on how people stayed warm during the different eras before central heating and porridge, soups and stews were an essential part of supporting the body to stay warm. We have porridge most mornings, cooked on the stove and served with some stewed apple / fruit from the garden and seeds. 

Was very pleased with myself yesterday, I met a friend at Bluewater, we had tea and cake at JL, it was free to both of us as I received a voucher on my app. Only spend was a pair of socks for £1.90 instead of £14. They have a high wool count so will keep my feet toasty warm. 

Over the next few days I am going to be making ultra process free mince pies. I am going to be making my own mincemeat for the first time ever. Wish me luck.

MayDogsandCoffee

Sorry for asking the question on this page but thought it is likely I will get answers from people that will know.  I have some cashmere jumpers from Mum that need a wash to freshen up from her perfume before I wear them.  Best way to wash please, I know hand washing is better but I didn't get it done in the summer so can they go in a wash?  If I hand wash can I spin in washer?    I did try to post on another FB forum but got slated for being able to afford cashmere, so removed post.

daisy_1571

 I think there's folk that put jumpers in the freezer which kills off all sorts of smells and bugs and never wash woolies, see what other advice you get before doing it of course. 

How rude, 1 they were your mums but 2 the whole ethos of mse is to save on things you don't mind about so you can have the funds for the things you do care about so if you'd eaten beans for 18 months and bought yourself 5 cashmere jumpers at a bargainous price somewhere that is EXACTLY your right.

Dxx

Gem-gem

Hello @MayDogsandCoffee, I own many cashmere and merino wool items as they keep me warmer in the winter and therefore I save on heating costs. I have a special silk/wool wash liquid and I place my jumpers/socks etc in the machine on either a wool wash. Which has a lower spin cycle or a 15 minute wash with cold water. I try to only wash my cashmere jumpers up to twice a year (the second wash at the end of the cold season), I wear long sleeved t-shirts underneath them and I also hang them up to air. 

I tend to hand wash my jumpers, when they are brand new, to ensure no colour run. 

If you want anymore info I would message @Laura_Elsewhere or @PipneyJane, they are the font of all knowledge when it comes to clothes / fabrics. I'm sure Laura has spoken about spraying the clothes with vodka. 

Laura_Elsewhere

MayDogsandCoffee said:

Sorry for asking the question on this page but thought it is likely I will get answers from people that will know.  I have some cashmere jumpers from Mum that need a wash to freshen up from her perfume before I wear them.  Best way to wash please, I know hand washing is better but I didn't get it done in the summer so can they go in a wash?  If I hand wash can I spin in washer?    I did try to post on another FB forum but got slated for being able to afford cashmere, so removed post.

Hi And thanks @Gem-gem  

If you definitely want to wash the jumpers, I would use cold water and no detergent (most wool literally doesn't need detergent, so if you do use it, you're only adding perfume in most cases and not making any real difference to the cleanliness).
If you handwash, then let it sit in cold tapwater for 20 minutes, drain the water and refill, gently move it around and massage (ie squidge it gently) the water through the fibres, change the water a third time and squidge gently, and then drain; lay the items flat on a dry towel and roll it up and stand on the cylinder; repeat with another dry towel and finally lay on a third dry towel to dry flat away from heat. 

 I routinely wash all my woollens (inc cashmere, hand-knitted, etc.) in my washing-machine, as it has a useful "rinse" cycle that is cold-water only and has a 1400rpm spin. The fast spin means that the woollens come out half-dry, so don't need long to dry even in midwinter.
I have never had a problem with shrinking, but obviously it's as always at your own risk! Wool shrinks suddenly when it has the combination of heat and agitation, so if you use cold water then you can get away with the agitating (and for dyeing, I happily heat wool considerably but make sure it stays as still as possible... one but never both!). 

If the jumpers aren't actually dirty, though, you may prefer not to wash them at all. In that case, turn them inside out, and hang on a good hanger- a thin wire hanger is too 'bony' for a jumper so use a shaped wooden suit-hanger or a padded hanger, or simply wrap a towel or similar round a wire hanger. You want something that gives a bit of support to the area where the full weight of the jumper is hanging from iyswim. 

Then the best thing is a bit of fresh air and sunlight, so if you get a decent day, no matter how cold, pop the jumper outside if possible, inside-out to avoid fading, and let it air for an hour or more. 

Failing bright sunny days or if you live in a top-floor flat like me, hang it up in front of the closed window, and lightly mist it with vodka. You can add a few drops of rosemary essential oil if you like but go easy on it (and avoid temptation to use lavender or lemon, both of which undiluted on skin can cause a reaction even if you never had it before- although the essential oils is diluted when you spray it on, once the vodka evaporates it is effectively left behind undiluted; I used to throw lavender EO around until a friend suddenly developed a reaction after years of being fine; she now has a lifelong allergy to the stuff and multiple related EOs, so I'm now very wary of advice to throw it in baths or dab it on clothes or bedding!). 

You don't want to soak the cashmere; just lightly spritz it. Better to do it lightly several times over a week than to spray heavily once. 

Finally, if the ribbing at wrists and waist is a bit saggy, gather it up in your hands and squeeze the ribbing together, squidging it about (there's a lot of squidging in caring for woollens ) ; it will regain a little of its elasticity, but if it needs more, just gather it up and put a hair-elastic on it. I often store my jumpers with a hair-elastic on the wrists and waist Just don't do it too tightly, as you don't want a line indented- or you could wrap a bit of fabric round and put the elastic on top of that. 

Some of this I learnt from my Gran, who partly brought me up, some came from years of historical textile research for re-enactment, and some from a wonderful old friend who worked for years in the stage costume world of opera, where costumes physically cannot be washed but are worn night after night, by different people, under hot stage lights and with greasepaint, and so a lot of methods have been developed to clean without washing, which he kindly passed along to me. 

I knitted myself a cardigan with wool I had dyed in bright vibrant colours, and then realised that if it faded, it would never look right, so I started by trying to avoid washing it often, and as the months went by, I realised it still didn't need washing. Anxiously, I asked a kindly friend to be honest and she bravely sniffed the cardigan and said it was absolutely fine... and that's now been three years! When I take my woollies off, I hang them up on a hanger inside-out and put them away the next day. Mostly they don't even need spraying with vodka... 

And finally-finally, yah boo sucks to people being rude I too have some lovely things, some family things and some my own, but I don't drink coffee, probably only drink two or three alcoholic drinks in the year, and I cut my own hair with my dressmaking shears annually, so I could just as well sneer at them for their preferences!  

We're all different, but we're all the same under the skin.... and if we all liked the same things, they'd sell no tins of Mixed Biscuits