2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Prudent

Choc brownies are always good @Quantaqa.

I have been doing some frugalling today. My phone contract was up in March and it went up by £1.70 this month to £10.50. I held off from renewing in March to avoid getting caught in the April price rise with the new contract. I used Uswitch and got a deal which gives 32GB a month for £8. This is better than the previous deal which was £8.80 for 20GB.

I had a charity shop potter as I always find they have new stuff in after people use the holidays to have a clear out. I got a F&F dress (new with labels) for £5, Romans navy stretch cropped trousers £3 (not new, but excellent condition), M&S navy and white striped t shirt £3 (new with labels). The dress will be perfect for a friend's birthday meal that I am going to in a couple of weeks.

After that I picked up a 2 L milk from Poundland for £1. I good a few good deals in Farmfoods too. Five options hot chocolate sachets were £1 (I take these when I go on self catering holidays as a wee treat), two boxes of Dorset Cereal granola £0.75 each, large tins of sweetcorn - 2 for £1 which is cheaper than Lidl. 

Frugaldom

mama67 said:

Frugaldom 
I’ve got some of the Tesco ones on my delivery tomorrow if that helps. 

Asd@ has the cheap veg listed so I've added a couple of bags each of potatoes, carrots and parsnips. Thank you again for the heads up on these. 

Frugaldom

Good luck @startin_again I reckon the worst part will have been facing up to a problem you maybe hadn't noticed so bearing your frugal soul in here is a great start. If you happen to be nearby, I always have spares of things looking for new homes but I'm not sure you're close enough for that. Frugal friends are great at rallying around so you are in good company and will soon be loving life in the frugal lane.

I was gifted a cast iron casserole dish so I've now started to use that for cooking on the top of the logburner whenever it's lit. Last night, I did a whole chicken, which will now be stripped for meals with the meat and the remainder cooked  into soup stock. Huge thanks to my fellow frugaler who gifted this.

Babysitting again today so the kids can help me plant some potatoes. I got given several small bags with leftover potatoes that had sprouted so there's enough to fill a bed. Still need to dig out some composted pony manure but it's very well rotted.

Today, I made a conscious effort to get back to blogging. Longer days means more daylight so staying off-grid more means making the most of the free solar.  Frugal fun!

Frugaldom

Welcome back @ApplePie23 and congratulations on your new baby, hope you are both well. It's great that you can slash 6 years from your mortgage by making a move so I hope that all goes to plan smoothly.

Quantaqa

DH joined me in a baking session last night so we did the choc brownies and also made fruit scones.  We both enjoyed a scone each afterwards and have taken two each to work as a snack.  So a nice NSD and an enjoyable evening baking was had.

2Scratters

@Gem-gem what is the site your brother informed you of re the records please as I have inherited a lot of albums and 78's.

I have a stash of items/stuff/goods for the car boot ready to go when the weather prevails. I have had 1 successful one so far.

My frugal workings are a bit off skew at the moment and money has been going somewhere  and I need to pull it together again. It seems to be where I have bits of income that arrives at different times of the month I seem to be all over the place. I like to get any money to be saved working as soon as it arrives.  My SP commences next month, I need to work out a system of what gets paid and when. 

2 Scratters xx

Frugaldom

This month's groceries amounted to £97.62 including a few luxury extras like ice lollies, ice cream cones, crisps and sweets. I'll try not to spend anything else before May but wanted the supermarket delivery so I could make the most of the 8p veggies.

Yesterday was very productive, several raised beds prepared, weeded, planted and a major effort put into dusting down my blog to focus on returning to the frugal living and self sustainability topics, now that we have closed the campervan parking to the public.

Today's tasks include washing windows, preparing another raised bed, repotting a couple of tomato plants and sowing some courgettes and  runner beans. 

Managed to sweep my budget underspend  balance into a few more premium bonds and I will continue looking for best interest rates without tying up savings for 12 months. DGDs 21st is looming and I've a niece getting married within a couple of weeks of that. Can't make it to wedding so will send the happy couple an appropriate amount to compensate for our absence.

Quantaqa

Good afternoon everyone, HM lasagne tonight for dinner when I get home and then a  bit of housework and ironing. I am meeting a friend for a gym session at 7pm so want to eat sharp when I get in.  I also need to figure out what to make for lunch for work tomorrow.  I've had HM potato salad and deli meat for the last couple of days but I'm out of Potato Salad.  It'll probably be a sandwich as I'm not sure I have the energy to think too much about it today.  

I'll check the weather forecast and see what the weather is like tomorrow and, all being well, I'll get a load of washing set on timer to be ready to get hung out to dry tomorrow.  

It should be another NSD today so I am happy about that. I am trying to get into the mindset of minimal consumerism and normalise not spending daily.  DH can get into a habit of nipping to the shops multiple times a day so I'm trying to keep this to a minimum.  We have HM goodies from last nights baking session and I'll make us a hot chocolate when I get in from the gym.

Gem-gem

2Scratters said:

@Gem-gem what is the site your brother informed you of re the records please as I have inherited a lot of albums and 78's.

I have a stash of items/stuff/goods for the car boot ready to go when the weather prevails. I have had 1 successful one so far.

My frugal workings are a bit off skew at the moment and money has been going somewhere  and I need to pull it together again. It seems to be where I have bits of income that arrives at different times of the month I seem to be all over the place. I like to get any money to be saved working as soon as it arrives.  My SP commences next month, I need to work out a system of what gets paid and when. 

2 Scratters xx

https://vinyl-wanted.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_content=&utm_campaign=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_wta-1kVyihcYvg39_DX2M5pxM8&gclid=CjwKCAjwn6LABhBSEiwAsNJrjvIcLvHt-vK6gkQ6WuAHvAUEpAiT9O_ksxwwcfCmeLAaTMk29iJ0yxoCSWIQAvD_BwE

This is who I contacted. They don't buy 78s. 

Gem-gem

Good afternoon everyone. 

Another NSD today. 

Morning spent in the gym - Pilates and yoga. 

After I visited a vintage and collection roadshow, I didn't sell anything. I took along a couple of vintage pieces of costume jewellery that has little value as I wanted to see what the process was/what happened. There was a couple next to me that had quite a few pieces of gold jewellery and were offered just under £4k!!!
This afternoon, I have cooked from scratch a chicken and mushroom stew with dumplings. 

Enjoying the novel by Tom Hindle  - Death in the Arctic - a whodunnit, Agatha Christie style. 

Also, still busy crocheting my blanket. 

At the weekend, I planted 19 sweetcorn plants and three butternut squash plants. 

I have seven plants spare just in case they don't like it. I also put two tomato bun plants into my mini greenhouse to see if they will withstand the drop in temperature.