2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Gem-gem

Good afternoon everyone, 
A relative quiet Sunday and Monday here. Two more no spend days clocked up. 

I made £107 profit at the BF. I arrived home just a 10am due to rain. 

Gardening - weeding, crocheting and cooking has been keeping me busy. Made a batch of scones and reboiled some strawberry jam! Hopefully, the jam is now less runny and not too thick. 

Hope everyone has a good week. 

fionaandphil

That's a good amount for a few hours at the boot fair - well done!

kimwp

Gem-gem said:

Good afternoon everyone, 
A relative quiet Sunday and Monday here. Two more no spend days clocked up. 

I made £107 profit at the BF. I arrived home just a 10am due to rain. 

Gardening - weeding, crocheting and cooking has been keeping me busy. Made a batch of scones and reboiled some strawberry jam! Hopefully, the jam is now less runny and not too thick. 

Hope everyone has a good week. 

@gem-gem, what do you sell at the boot fair? 

Gem-gem

@kimwp, I sell anything and everything...
This time was things like.. 
three ladders with paint on
large kettle/urn
Old tools
old screws / nails
five saws
old tape measures
cup hooks that haven't been used
old curtain rings and brackets
old garden chairs 
paint brushes
homemade jam
card making stuff
craft stuff
sewing stuff

in the past...
bedding
towels
clothes
books
records
Home made birthday cards  
pots and pans
old casserole dishes
kitchen appliances (small)
cutlery - bits and bobs not full sets 
mugs
glasses
ornaments
magnets
keyrings
toiletries - incl partially used
cleaning materials - that I won't use
freebies eg washing scents 
old plant pots incl plastic ones
Christmas decorations / crackers
pictures / mirrors
old shoes / trainers
bags / rucksacks
loads of cushions 
Wallets / purses
playing cards / games / jigsaws
embroidery stuff
old jam jars
water bottles
picnic stuff
curtains
old light fittings
old mobile phones
brushes / combs
travel toiletries
my nan's old curlers! You name it, I have sold it. 

kimwp

Gem-gem said:

@kimwp, I sell anything and everything...
This time was things like.. 
three ladders with paint on
large kettle/urn
Old tools
old screws / nails
five saws
old tape measures
cup hooks that haven't been used
old curtain rings and brackets
old garden chairs 
paint brushes
homemade jam
card making stuff
craft stuff
sewing stuff

in the past...
bedding
towels
clothes
books
records
Home made birthday cards  
pots and pans
old casserole dishes
kitchen appliances (small)
cutlery - bits and bobs not full sets 
mugs
glasses
ornaments
magnets
keyrings
toiletries - incl partially used
cleaning materials - that I won't use
freebies eg washing scents 
old plant pots incl plastic ones
Christmas decorations / crackers
pictures / mirrors
old shoes / trainers
bags / rucksacks
loads of cushions 
Wallets / purses
playing cards / games / jigsaws
embroidery stuff
old jam jars
water bottles
picnic stuff
curtains
old light fittings
old mobile phones
brushes / combs
travel toiletries
my nan's old curlers! You name it, I have sold it. 

Amazing, thanks for sharing! 

Frugaldom

Hi frugal folks, glad to see some positive vibes, great work with the boot fair, @gem-gem. 

The rain finally returned to our corner so all the tanks have refilled and everything is growing again. A bit of a weedathon has started, seeds were sown, tomato plants pinched out & tied up, another raised bed cleared out and all the extra strawberry runners etc potted up and sat out at the gate for folks to help themselves. I did cave and spend £5 on a bag of compost for sowing the seeds. I still have plenty of vermiculite so that is being mixed in with it. Great excitement (for me) when I spotted the first berries on the honeyberry bushes! (The two were bought with a gift voucher we were given by a neighbour.)

We have had a few bits and bobs from Olio, including more bananas, and the small home delivery order from supermarket - less than £50 this month - plus I'll do a main shop next week for June.

Struck lucky when a friend found stretch jeans for £1 in charity shop - I now have 2 new-to-me pairs for workwear. Of course, she wouldn't accept reimbursement. I do appreciate the kindness of friends and can't imagine life without good people supporting one another through life. I love the saying about nobody ever becoming poor from giving and always try to give what I can, be it time, money or 'things'. 

Stay positive, round down payments to debts to the nearest whole pound and round up to the nearest pound in savings. Only buy bargains you genuinely need, share and swap what you can, make do and mend and, most of all, live your frugal lifestyle with a passion every day. I still can't post photos on here but do so on my social media. Yesterday was double rainbows.

fionaandphil

I was thinking of you last night @Frugaldom when watching Springwatch as their mindful moment was in a bluebell wood.  As you say, its great when you have friends and neighbours who share or help out with things.  We are lucky that we live in a community like that too with people happy to share.

Still tipping down with rain here so our water butts are also full again and everything is looking much fresher and less dusty. We are catching up on clearing clutter, fixing and sewing.  I have also put a few things on Vinted and sold one of them today, fingers crossed the rest goes this week too.  Eating from stores and trying to use what is in the freezers and cupboards.

Greenhouse is coming along nicely, no tomatoes or cucumbers yet but lettuces are providing salads already.  The lovely slugs ate the pak choi but the peas and beans have been left for now. Strawberries and blackberries look like they are thriving, just waiting for them to change colour.

Take care all x

weenancyinAmerica

I once sold a bag of twist ties collected from bread wrappers! We found that at our sales, the uglier we thought a lamp was the faster it would sell. Tools and things like nails and screws sell really fast. I figure it sometimes takes 3 or 4 sales before the right buyer comes along, so I recycle things for several yard sales or boot sales. We do that for the library sales also - it may take a month or two to connect with the person who needs that book. 

Gem-gem

weenancyinAmerica said:

I once sold a bag of twist ties collected from bread wrappers! We found that at our sales, the uglier we thought a lamp was the faster it would sell. Tools and things like nails and screws sell really fast. I figure it sometimes takes 3 or 4 sales before the right buyer comes along, so I recycle things for several yard sales or boot sales. We do that for the library sales also - it may take a month or two to connect with the person who needs that book. 

I am always amazed by what people buy. I've also found that things that I never thought would sell goes first. 

I have spent the evening going through old jam jars full of nails and screws, as well as odds and ends. I have been sorting things into 'likes' and bagging them up. I now have a large plastic box full ready to sell.

Prudent

I love your long list @Gem-gem, good to see things going on to be reused. 

Lots of growing going on. Our allotment is beginning to mature and come on steadily. I saw @Frugaldom's photo of honey berries on Facebook and feel they are another thing to consider and we are focusing on perennial plants. OH has been putting guttering on the shed for a free to us water butt which has proved a bit of a challenge as the (also free to us) shed is a bit flimsy and it was not easy to attach anything. I have been a bit intermittent with gardening this week as I have had so much else on during the daytime. I don't tend to go to the allotment in the evening as it is in a bit of an 'iffy' area, so I have been using the evenings to continue sewing a patchwork quilt using scrap fabric.

In spite of being busy I have been pretty focused on cooking from scratch and made good use of Lidl veg boxes. I have also had quite a bit of free fruit this week via their app. I need to do some baking over the next few days as the allotment is having an open day. What do other people make as tray bakes for these kinds of sales?