2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Gem-gem

@Prudent, I have made the following tray bakes: 
lemon drizzle
almond and cherry
Plain Victoria sponge

Mary Berry has lots of recipes including a coconut one, a chocolate one, a carrot cake one, a coffee and walnut one. 

Gem-gem

@Frugaldom, I agree that the weedathon has started, it is like painting the Forth Bridge. I despair at keeping on top of it in my garden, I cannot imagine what it is like at Frugaldom. 

@Prudent, I gave contemplated putting a water butt by the shed, my neighbour has successfully done it on his garage. But like you I am concerned about the durability / how stable / successful it would be. Keep us posted on how it goes. My DH is DIY challenged so I would need to try and have a go. Mind you I am not much better, but I have a little more patience.  Have you a picture of your patchwork quilt in progress? I was too tired tonight to crochet. I finally sat down after 8pm after making a large batch of gooseberry jam. Six jars to sell. Five jars will be given away - one jar when we go to a friend's for dinner (instead of flowers), two jars to my Dads for Father's Day. Jar to my DB for his birthday and one spare.
Lid! - my DH got a free avocado and lime this week. So I'm going to have avocado and poached egg tomorrow for lunch and a goats cheese salad for dinner. DH is out for the whole day / evening. 

MadamMim2013

Gem-gem said:

Mary Berry has lots of recipes including a coconut one, a chocolate one, a carrot cake one, a coffee and walnut one. 

🤭 I read that as a whatnot one.. Even thought out loud “wonder what that is” then noted it was actually Walnut and fell about laughing for a good minute or so.. a much needed laugh so thanks for that 😉

Prudent

@Gem-gem my OH is definitely DIY challenged. Fitting a water butt has taken two weeks , endless YouTube videos and advice from other allotment holders. We are have such a friendly community there.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I am wondering about the lemon drizzle. I have the ingredients for a chocolate digestive tray bake. In a rare bit of positive price news, I noted the basic Lidl chocolate is back down as far as 55p a bar. Last year I made Twinks hob nobs and they went down well. I have some lemons from a Lidl veggie box so that sounds a good option. 

The quilt is very much a work in progress. It is taking ages as the scraps are so small and random sizes. I need to trim every one to get a straight edge. It is the most bonkers thing I have ever made, but lovely to see fabric used rather than sitting in someone’s scrap pile for years or worse, being binned.

Frugaldom

Good afternoon from rain soaked Frugaldom. I've been doing more weeding but the midges have driven me back indoors to start a clear out and clean up of the hut. It's become a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff and the clutter is rather depressing so needs must. If it dries up a bit outside, I'll maybe sow some lettuce seeds but fir now, I need to keep busy and focus on decluttering for my own sanity.

Gem-gem

Good afternoon everyone, another busy day here. 

Three loads of washing done and dried. 

Two hours incl travel linked to the gym. 

Tided and organised the cupboard under the stairs, cleaned out tool box and decluttered / added new bits from DM's tool boxes. I now have a decorating tool box and a diy tool box! 

Tomato plants either planted out or potted on. 

Strawberry's picked (and some eaten 🙄)
Lettuce picked from garden and washed. Roast chicken put into the oven. I am chilling out for 30 minutes before I prepare the salad. 

A no spend day, which is needed as I hit Bluewater yesterday, after I had a lovely walk at Shorne Country Park with a friend, and purchased a couple of much needed pieces eg new bra as my underwire broke. I will still wear the old bra around the house. 

Yesterday, I opened up a new 18 month bond with Nationwide, they are offering 5% to their members. I also heard that I am getting another £100 fairer sharer payment. Yay!

Prudent

I saw the Nationwide bond and the fairer share payment @Gem-gem. I will need to check the minimum for the bond as I think I will be scraping funds together with a metaphorical search behind the sofa as most of my savings are tied up until at least the late autumn. 

I have just done my end of month figures. I have spent £160 on food which is a bit more than usual. Mainly because I have been having a big push on fresh fruit and vegetables so no cheap carbs like bread or biscuits this month. I have a big birthday next spring. While most people plan a special party or holiday, my big ambition is to be able to celebrate it by riding a horse again. I want to loose weight in preparation in fairness to both the horse and my joints.

We have an allotment open day this weekend so I have been busy baking for that in amongst a week jammed full with various community and social events. I would really like to make space in next week to go to the cinema to see The Salt Path as I loved the book. I will buy the tickets online as they will be £1 each cheaper. I rarely go to the cinema, but I have had my eye on this film since seeing the trailer.

Gem-gem

@Prudent, in by late teens, I use to ride a grey horse, 15 hands high called Crispin. Good luck with loosing weight for the occasion. I also want to loose more weight. I lost nearly half a stone over lent. I weighed myself this morning and I was only 0.2 kg heavier. My joints would also benefit it. I've also been getting pain in my legs. Am going to try a few things before going to the doctors. 

Last time they offered the bond I couldn't scrape the £10k together so I shared it with my Dad. He is well happy - 5.5% and I / he won't pay any tax as I am self funding early retirement.  

Quantaqa

Hi All, just noticed that my TV Licence DD, due off on Monday, has gone down from £15 a month to £9 75. Has anyone else had this too? Does anyone know why? I've no idea if this is just for this month or will be ongoing. 

Prudent

Are they changing the date of the direct debit @Quantaqa? It is the only explanation I can think of, unless you have someone in your household who is due a reduction.

@Gem-gem I have the last bond offering too. I wonder if they will have a follow up offer when that matures. I retired at 50 due to health issues and being an unpaid carer for my adult daughter. I get a small ill health pension which covers my outgoings if I live very carefully. I have checked the current bond offering and it has a minimum of £1 and a max of £10,000. I am going to see how much I can find to put in as that is a decent return given the cut in interest rates.