2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
We are back from my DM bungalow. 120 mile round trip, two sheds emptied, one six yard skip filled and anything reusable either brought back or stored in the garage to sell later. We did manage to get rid of somethings from the garage but it needs to be gone through slowly. There are lots of tools in there. Half way through the day a van stopped and removed all old cables and anything metal. We didn't mind it resulted in us having more room. 

NSD - we took sandwiches and cake with us and had an omelette when we returned. 

Had some good news, I have managed to get DM exempt from her council tax, back dating from Sept 2024 when she went into a care home. £1480 refund will be wending its way back soon plus no CT to pay until the house is sold. I now need to contact DM new council authority to do the same as she is now in assisted living with carers and not through choice. She is no longer allowed to live totally independent. 

No PB win for me. £150 for DM. £100 for DD.
Hope Agent Millionaire visited one of my frugal friends on here. 

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
NSD for me. I have spent the day doing washing and a little cleaning, gardening and card making. I have planted a couple of more tomato plants out, a courgette plant and another butternut squash. I have finally placed my runner beans into the heated propagator. 

These are two of the dozen cards that I had made. Where possible I have chosen toppers that match the person's likes. 

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
DH and I visited Rochester today, we went to the sweeps festival. We haven't been for around five years. It was good to hear the live music in the castle grounds. We did eat out - bought a pasty from a bakery. We got DH and my lunch plus a pastry for less than one meal at most of the stalls. 

When I was in the bakery I asked them about the ingredients that they make their cakes with. I also did this with a bakery in Bexhill and both showed me their ingredients lists - they both use margarines which contain palm oil and rapeseed oil for their cakes. A flap jack doesn't taste the same when made with margarine.  

So I ended up with a pain aux raisin which was made with butter. Thank goodness that we walked 8km to help offset the calories!

Frugaldom

@Gem-gem you are on a roll! Keep up the good work.

Not much to report here on the spendy topic but I did receive more seedlings from a friend who often comes to collect manure from Frugaldom. I now have Brussels sprouts and curly kale babies to transplant. Everything is doing ok so far but I'm glad I held off with moving anything else outdoors as it dropped to -2C and got frosty overnight here last night again. Olio items were rather luxurious - cocoa dusted peanuts, a very posh cheesecake, plentiful supply of hot cross buns and some yoghurts plus carton if milk and some leftovers handed in for the animals.

I stewed rhubarb and also made some candied rhubarb. Bulk cooked pork mince into a basic Bolognese sauce and most now frozen for future meals. I was gifted some honey, cider, crisps and apple juice when looking after pets for a neighbour so more luxuries here.

No premium bonds win for me - better luck next month, when my latest numbers will be included. I would love to be maxed out on PBs but that could take quite some time on my frugal budget. it's still one of my goals, though. 

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
@Frugaldom, I have grown Brussels sprouts before. I had fun with trying to keep the caterpillars / butterflies away - good luck. I am going to have the same fun with my tenderstem broccoli. 

Today, I gave a friend two spare tomato plants and many tenderstem broccoli plants. I also gave my Mum two tomato plants. Once I have split up butternut squash plants I will also be able to share these out too.
Whilst visiting my Mum, I helped her with some housework - stripping her bed etc, Hope this will keep her care bill down. 

Spent the later part of the afternoon crocheting my blanket. 

Dinner was left over roast chicken, first pickings of lettuce from the garden, other salad items and a jacket potato. We also had h/m rhubarb crumble. The rhubarb came from Mum's old garden, I stewed it down on Saturday. 

First NSD of the week. Fourth of the month.

I would also loved to be maxed out on PB. But whilst interest rates are half decent I need to have the guarantee of interest from a saving account. Saying that I try and top up PB most month from birthday / Christmas money, interest money or from selling things eg bootfair.

Prudent

@Gem-gem I love the cards, homemade feel so much more thoughtful. 

Lots of great growing of veg going in this wee group. There should be some decent crops for everyone later in the year.  I have transplanted beans and peas outside and I am hoping they survive the pigeons and the bunnies. Some people are already getting strawberries in the allotment polytunnels because of the warm spring. We moved all of ours outside as OH didn’t get a break away last year as they always needed so much watering. They are growing well outside. I have direct sowed fennel, spring onions and lots of flower seeds and can see seedlings coming through. My cucumber plants have tiny cucumbers developing. Rhubarb is being turned into jam, stewed and given to friends.

I have just booked a three night Perthshire break in ‘big tree country’ for OH and myself late September in the Verdant Leisure flash sale. Hopefully the poly tunnel with be okay by then and the beautiful autumn colours will be starting. I am heading up north next week to see my daughter and to have a seaside break. The weather forecast looks good. Having a paddle in the sea is one of life’s great free joys to me.

£200 on the PBs here which is welcome. I have reinvested it in a Coventry regular saver. Like you @Gem-gem, I am also trying to target interest rates while they are good. Mostly I have been using fixed rate regular savers or fixed rate ISAs. This product is a variable rate. However it has a prize draw at the end of the month with 50 chances to win £1,000. I felt it was worth a punt. I am not sure I will add anything further because of the variable rate. 

Frugaldom

@Prudent Another if my goals or challenges is to try to save £10k+ into one of the BoS or Halifax accounts so it's entered into their monthly draw as I think it's for around £1,000 prize / bonus. When you start looking at the odds and looking at the huge list of PB top winners and seeing just how many are maxed out, there's an astounding amount of wealth tied up in the banking institutions and Government bonds. I'm not sure I will ever manage to afford everything needed to create a serious income from investments that can be passed on to family as I sway between that and ploughing it into Frugaldom and similar projects, leaving family to determine their own routes through life so they retain the ambition to set goals of their own.

Another dry and sunny day here so lack of water will very soon become an issue. I'll test the bilge pump and battery today to ensure we can pump water up from the burn to reach the ponies. Got plenty stored in tanks for the fruit, veg & herb gardens.

Frugaldom

Apologies, I made a mistake on the Halifax / BoS free draw! Site says...

You must be 18 or over and live in England, Wales, or Scotland.

Keep £5,000 or more in a qualifying account for a month.

Each month we give away

3 prizes of £100,000

100 prizes of £1,000

1,500 prizes of £100.

My new goal... Switch around some accounts to reach £5k in savings for entry into the monthly draw!

sams247

Well my car is def at the dying phase of its life, its been a good workhorse but is now not reliable.  Advice from RAC guy and mechanic is dont waste money on it as its not worth the money itll need.  So I'm off to look at second hand cars today.  I got pre approved on HP and I am sad to be taking on a loan but nowt else I can do.

Oh and at work theyve announced they are considering redundancies.  The joy!

I'm close to retirement age, my company allows (and encourages) people to work past that and I was planning to but now not sure my future is quite as stable as I thought  

Prudent

Aww @sams247 that is a lot of financial pressure at the same. I hope you get a good bargain with your next car.

@Frugaldom, are the odds for the Halifax/BOS accounts published? I am wondering how that compares to PBs? 

Your children will have a wonderful inheritance as you are asset-rich. If my health were better, I would have liked to have invested in land, but I  couldn't look after it. I think you have followed a better route than me, with land, rental property and cash. If cash/ money held in investments all crash in the wake of awful climate change, you are more secure.

Our greatest asset as frugal people is our resourcefulness and adaptability to changing circumstances.

Edit: It is also worth looking to see if these prizes are taxable as Premium bond wins are tax free. I have already maxed out my PBs and this year's isa allowance so tax wasn't such a big consideration when looking at the Coventry prize draw.