2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Siebrie

Quantaqa said:

  I'm also going to do a 20 minute exercise of some sort, probably one of those Walk at Home type sessions that are on you tube.  Free exercise will be the rule for 2025.  I have had expensive gym memberships in the past and not made full use of them and going forward I don't want to spend money on that again.  So free at home exercise using YouTube videos, walking, weights and I have a mini trampoline as well.  I'd like to get fit enough to join in a Parkrun without taking 2 hours to complete the course

I use ‘Nederland in beweging’ (The Dutch are moving ) on Yootoob. It’s in Dutch, but not difficult to follow, special exercises for at home in a small space, standing up, for about 15 minutes. I follow an episode whenever I have the time and add my own floor exercises such as crunches and planking.

cybertortoise

I'd like to join please.

My plan for this year is to pay off a chunk of my debt (£1025 target), this will mean making savings across the board as I can't fit many more work hours in without it costing me money for childcare. Plus there's a lot of competition for extra shifts. 

I also need to start building an emergency fund (£1000 target this year) as I have nothing put aside and it's a constant cause of stress if anything seems like it might break!

I managed to get a free greenhouse from a lovely lady on FB and hope to make good use of that this year. If I can grow fancy tomatoes and some salad leaves I'll be happy! My garden is over shadowed on most sides so it'll be interesting to see what actually grows in there.

I can crochet and have sewn a dress for myself and my daughter before so I hope to be able to save some money on clothes and use up some of my fabric/yarn stash. I will need work trousers and shoes though.

I got a book for Christmas and that has lots of budget and eco friendly cleaning recipes, I just need to use up the cleaning stuff I already have before buying the ingredients.

I'm hoping to clear some of my craft stash, maybe even make some money by selling some bits I plan to make.

Lastly, my house and garden both need work. Nothing significant or structural but now we've decided to stay here I'd like it to look halfway decent, and for the garden to be usable in time for late spring / summer.

MissRikkiC

I know there are a few people around the OS threads who bottle tomato sauces @glitterinM I’m sure @Suffolk_lass is one of them who is very knowledgable. 

I’m in the process of building my own veg patch in the garden having moved house 3 months ago, so converting lots of lawn to raised beds. This weekend I really wanted to get the turf I pulled up about 2 months ago, shifted out of the way, so that I could build the compost bins having secured a large number of pallets over the weekend as all of the turf was stacked there. (Free pallets of course)

I could have moved it to somewhere else but it would have meant then handballing it again at a later point so I enlisted the help of my friend who’s OH has a trailer and we loaded that with the turf. He will dump that in a heap (along with some of their own) and is making a mound to then build a tunnel for the children underneath.

I paid them in roast dinner today for their efforts. Nearly everything was either YS or cheap veg somehow. It has eaten into our stores quite a bit but it was worth it for it to be done. 

Really nothing physically spent today, 6 pallets scored for nothing yesterday (providing I went and collected them) and 6 garden bags full of horse muck picked up in the morning. Dinner all from the fridge or freezer, including feeding same said friends yesterday from tins and freezer stuff. Happy Frugal weekend all 

Siebrie

I’m reading along for inspiration . I’m in Belgium, and husband and I get something called meal vouchers as a job perk. For every day we work we get €8 in a special account with its own debit card, that we can spend on any type of food, from supermarket to McD’s. That gives us a budget of around €350/month for us and our 2 DDs (16 and 13). The downside is that it has to be spent on food, I can’t even pay the toilet paper with it. Anyway, I try to aim a little below that and stock up with the rest, or save it up to eat out for a special occasion.

MissRikkiC

I’ve not heard of that before @Siebrie that sounds quite interesting! 

A couple of slow tasks for me this weekend, you’ll all probably laugh and think they don’t count but I really do have to get them when I can. Folding the laundry/tea towels rather than just shoving the stuff away in their respective homes and having to hand wash 4 pairs of merino wool socks. I honestly wouldn’t have purchased them had I have known they needed HW but actually they’re the warmest socks I’ve ever had so it’s totally worth it. 

Quantaqa

I use ‘Nederland in beweging’ (The Dutch are moving ) on Yootoob. It’s in Dutch, but not difficult to follow, special exercises for at home in a small space, standing up, for about 15 minutes. I follow an episode whenever I have the time and add my own floor exercises such as crunches and planking.

Thanks @Siebrie, i will have a look on YT shortly. 👍

Suffolk_lass

MissRikkiC said:

I know there are a few people around the OS threads who bottle tomato sauces @glitterinM I’m sure @Suffolk_lass is one of them who is very knowledgable. 

  

Thanks for tagging me. I do quite a lot of bottle-preserving. If you are using previously used jam jars, I urge you to invest in new lids. The pop top jar-lids have a band inside that quickly degrades, either because of the contents, or by heat when dishwashed or oven sterilised. I buy lids from Freeman Harding (from whom I buy jars for our honey) and they sell lids alone. You can buy from the bay or big river but my experience is that these are often seconds. 
By the way, for preserving fruit, I simply bring it to a simmer then put it straight in jars heated from cold in an oven to 120c, using a hot jam funnel, then on with the lid. If the lid does not pop in as it cools, it won't keep, but if it pops, it will be good for 3-6 months. I make flavoured oils, preserve tomatoes, jams, jellies, bottle perfect fruit like plums, apples, pears and I recommend it. It means you are not paying electricity for a freezer full of stuff you grew. Tag me if you want more. I am not subscribed on this thread. I hope this helps 

Glittering_M

Thank you so much @maryb @dND and @Suffolk_lass (sorry if I've forgotten anyone!). That's really helpful. I'll give it a proper read when I've got more time.

zcrat41

@Gem-gem your freezers sound like a thing of joy!! Don’t feel too bad about using supermarkets. Our cattle go to M&S and Aldi and to be fair the supermarkets are much better with us these days. 

Lovely day yesterday. But I forgot that when the in-laws come for lunch that means they hang around till about 6 so I didn’t get any of my planning done yesterday. Kids don’t go back to school till tomorrow so hoping to get some time today to think through 2025. 

Ate pretty healthily yesterday. Chose the fruit salad instead of the Xmas cake and just had soup for supper. Today’s main meal is provided by DS11 who got the Buddy Oliver cookbook and has been inspired to make meatballs. I’m impressed though as the recipe calls for courgette and mushrooms, two things he wouldn’t normally touch with a barge pole!!! 

Have a good day all. 

Prudent

@Siebrie there used to be a similar scheme in the UK called Luncheon vouchers. My dad given them by his employer, but always took a packed lunch. My mum was able to spend them in Littlewoods, which had a food hall. We lived in an isolated location, but I made the long bus journey into the city for a Saturday job in a saddlery. Every Saturday morning I would leave for work with luncheon vouchers in my purse and my mum would tuck a shopping list in too. In my gap year I worked for the same company and received my vouchers too as well as being given vouchers from other employees as they couldn’t be bothered using them. So I caught the bus with a bulging purse on a Saturday morning. I gave up the Saturday job, but still made the journey once or twice a month to use the vouchers and meet friends. 

@zcrat41 well done to your DS. Lovely to have someone else to cook a meal. 

@Suffolk_lass thank you for an enormously helpful post about the jar lids. I have always been wary about bottling due to the lids. Now I can take this forward. I just hope we have better weather for produce this year as the allotment yielded very little last year. 

@MissRikkiC I fold tea towels too. I have a small kitchen and I need to keep things tidy or it becomes unworkable quickly. I have a pair of merino socks too and just love them in winter.