2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Yesterday, I made £71 profit at the BF. This means that along with the money I already gave in my bank account, I have enough to pay my bills at the beginning of the month - yay! I have £15 in my purse - this is my enjoyment money for the next month, so I am going to have loads of NSDs. 

Last week, I spent another day emptying my DM house. I found material already cut out to make purses. Also, in the container were the clasps, embroidery threads, buttons to decorate. My DM made me a purse before C19 but I don't think she finished any others. Last month, I also came across the pattern / instructions. I am going to get DM to teach me how to make the purses and then make them - to give away as Christmas presents. DM and I will share them. I will let you know when I find the pattern just in case anyone is interested in making some. I have already made the pouches for this year, so these will be for next year. 

For Christmas, I give my DBIL and DB a quarter of a Christmas cake each. I cover it with marzipan and nuts, not icing. I also give family jars of jam for their birthday / Christmas. 

Last year, I made everyone back door key rings - crocheted with end bits of wool and  reused old keyring rings. I also bought ten rings for £1.00.

What do other people do? 

missymoo81

Thanks @gem-gem I would love the instructions, I’ve just been following along in the back ground, but my daughter would love to craft something like this. 

Quantaqa

Morning everyone,  I've been reading along but not had much to post.  I had to have my roof repaired at the end of March, the ridge needed replaced completely and several tiles replaced.  It looks so much beter now though.

I'm on holiday from work this week so trying to get some bits done around the house, the usual spring cleaning and garden.  My cousiin gave us 3 astilbe plants and 2 climbing roses so these have been planted.  I'm planning on making him some homemade bread or a cake to say thank you.  

Just about to head down to get some butcher meat for local butcher and I'll make a spicy mince pilaf for dinner tonight.  Other that that, I'm hoping today will be a no spend day.  

@Gem-gem, I am in awe of your craft skills.  I like to crochet but do it intermittantly.  I have made a small start on Christmas - my MIL is incredibly difficult to buy for but she does like jigsaws and puzzles.  I saw that Hobbycraft had a offer on a few weeks ago and theri own brand jigsaws were half price, so I bought two to set aside.  

kimwp

It will seem curmudgeonly to most, but I don't do presents or cards as a general rule - it's just extra stuff to manage, obligations to gift and to keep and I've learned that a lot of saleable items that go the charity shop will get binned, so it all feels like a nice idea that actually has quite negative consequences. I do buy/make things occasionally for friends if I'm very confident they'll love it - currently making a bright blue knitted scarf that I'm going to felt some white clouds into and do rainbow fringing on. 

Nelliegrace

A new bedside lamp to replace a 30 year old one which was wobbly and crackling with electricity when switched on. I found one on offer, with delivery, and the mustard yellow one was £3 cheaper. Buying one with a bulb cost less than buying the same lamp with a separate bulb! 

DH went to a cremation yesterday, rather a grand affair with a cortège, a funeral programme with photographs, the eulogy, hymns, and a good lunch. We are the oldest generation of the family now and have done the, “good send off” for our parent’s generation. I have suggested to DD that there is a lot to be said for unattended cremation, and it would not bother us at all. 

When we were young and friends got engaged, or married, or started families, well-meaning relatives would say, “You’ll be next.” Perhaps it is even less tactful at funerals. 

YorksLass

@Nelliegrace - DH and I discussed our funeral arrangements before he passed last year and, being in a similar situation to yourselves, elected for Direct Cremation for us both.  I arranged one for DH and have already arranged and paid for mine, with our children's blessings.  The only stipulation I have made is that my and DH's ashes should be scattered together at somewhere of DS's and DD's choosing when the time comes.  I don't have any siblings and on DH's side there is one surviving brother who is doing the same, as is his wife.  The service is unattended but the funeral director does let you know when it will be so you're able to reflect in your own way if that's what you want.  It wasn't about the cost or being disrespectful, it was just our preference.  I do recognise it may well be different for others on religious or cultural grounds and of course that is their choice.

Prudent

@Gem-gem I hope you enjoy making the purses and find the process relaxing. I love sewing and find it helps me switch off from everything else. I am going to start a new project tomorrow to use up some of my scrap fabric which is left over from other projects. I mainly make things I want for myself. For the several years I made things to sell to raise money for the food bank. However I am finding myself less able to batch make things now due to fibromyalgia. Like @kimwp, l do make things for family and friends, but only if I am sure they will love them. 

My car has been making an odd noise for the past couple of days so I will need to get it into the garage. I had been tossing up whether to replace and had started to look at newer cars online. I don’t drive as much as I used to due to health issues. As cars have become so expensive, I having been giving much thought as to cost versus use. I can’t manage without a car due to my mobility issues and an ever decreasing local bus service however for the couple of thousand miles I do a year, a newer car feels a bit extravagant. I did a longer journey a few weeks ago, and while I throughly enjoyed the trip away, the longer drive left me quite sore. Where possible I always do longer journeys by coach or train. I notice there are more older cars in my street. Perhaps other people are holding back from replacing them too? I wonder where the balance of cost lies between replacing a car and repairing an older one? In the past I needed a reliable car to get to work and ran newish cars.

Frugaldom

LiveSimply said:

These threads started out in 2008 as ‘living on £4000 per year’. Given that that was quite a while ago, what would the equivalent be now? £5000? And for a beginner, a complete beginner, one who has their head firmly stuck in the sand, what is a realistic first attempt? £7000?

Welcome to frugal living and the best challenge ever (in my opinion). The best and most realistic way of getting started with your budget is to count up everything you are absolutely guaranteed to have coming in and that's your annual budget. Next, add up everything spent on needs, as opposed to wants. Needs are things that need to be paid and are non- negiabke as far as paying them. If you include rent or mortgage, council tax and water, home insurance, groceries, telephone & internet, TV licence, monthly payments, debt repayments, toiletries, clothing & footwear etc... whatever you feel is an essential, then start from there. These are separate from wants as the wants are more luxuries than essentials. A realistic budget is always based on available income with everything left over going towards becoming debt free. If you are already debt free, your savings plans can be prioritised. Hope this helps and good luck with your challenge. 😊

fionaandphil

We agree Frugaldom, best challenge ever!  Keeps us accountable and I have learned so much from everyone on this board. It surprises me regularly how many frugal things people come up with to help save themselves money and I am in awe of those who are much better than me at doing this.  We also love all the photos of your animals too.

I managed to get some of the 8p and 15p veg yesterday and am planning to stash some in the freezer for soup.  Not there yet with the weather so I suspect there a good few more soup days to come before 'summer' arrives.  We did have some salad leaves from the greenhouse last week when we had a quiche so some small wins there.  Greenhouse is doing nicely with lots of seeds started and I planted out my first batch of sprouted beans last week as well as planting some outdoor vegetables like chard and beetroot.  Rhubarb is looking a bit puny after we moved it last year but I am hoping its just getting settled in and will be thriving by later in the year or next spring.  Raspberry canes are shooting up and the blackcurrants and blackberries are thriving, the apple tree is looking lovely so I am hoping for a better crop this year, we watered it last week as it was so dry.  The rain this last few days has been welcome just to get the garden looking less parched.

Lots of indoors jobs to do today so I'd best get to it.

sams247

I'm not very craft although I do enjoy making pom poms.  My grandchildren love a craft session, as do the people who attend our breaks at work.  So I often visit the scrap store locally, you can pick up so much stuff, save it from landfill and its so cheap.  Today they had a half price sale so in addition to the craft I also indulged and got envelopes, wrapping paper, wooden trays, art canvas, some lovely plates (that I will use as dinner plates) and lots of beads and buttons for my grandaughters to sort through.  Got a huge bag for £12 in all.