2025 Frugal Living Challenge

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Another very busy day. Started early with blood test for me and pre-op for DH. I then spent 50 minutes on the cross trainer at the gym whilst I waited for DH to finish at the hospital. After, we spent two hours visiting Mum and her cat. 

Late morning, DH and I went and visited four farm shops to see what they sold. The first was huge, owned by two cousins and sold anything and everything. We picked up some organic cheese 50% off, a bottle of beer and an organic bar of chocolate. The second, was now a cafe and only sold a handful of fresh produce - honey, strawberries etc. 
The third, had a Turkish butchers on site, there we found some lovely smoked salmon and a huge Lavash. The fourth, was a traditional farm shop, they had a basket of spoiled veg for free, we picked up three potatoes and an aubergine and bought a leek and huge cauliflower. The potatoes I turned into homemade chips and saved the rest for roasties for Sunday. The aubergine is in the slow cooker with home grown courgettes and tomatoes - made a ratatouille. Next week, I will add beans to it and turn it into a vegetable chilli. 

After the food prep, I changed the bed, did three loads of washing, getting it all dried before the rain descends on us tomorrow, cleaned the bathroom and downstairs loo. 

At 5pm, DH and I went to our local micro pub, we had our free drink that we won at a pub quiz and then another one, mine was a soft drink. 

Dinner was later then usual of h/made burgers and h/made chips and salad. 

Tonight, we watched the cricket on Tube of you. 

I had one other spend today - a crochet box. I first saw it at the beginning of the month and kept looking at it. I refuse to take out a subscription.There are lots of crochet sites with lots of different subscriptions on offer, you could get really carried away. The time to order it came and went and I was sorry that I hadn't been able to order it, when they opened it up to general buying they stated that it was out of stock. This I felt upset about this and eighteen days later wished I had taken out the subscription and ordered it. This afternoon, I checked the website again and saw that they had three boxes available. I snatched one up. I worked on the theory that I had waited nearly three weeks and still wanted it, I felt upset when I thought that I wouldn't be able to get hold of it. The downside is that I had to pay for postage as  it wasn't on subscription. I am very wary of buying things online on a whim. I try and ensure that I have a cooling off period for any online shopping as it is so easy to do mindless shopping with Apple / Google Pay. I also make sure that online websites do not hold my credit card details so that I cannot do a quick pay. 

@mumtoomany, good luck with your £2000 quest for the rest of the year. 

Duchess2

@mumtoomany. Nice to “see” you. Very best of luck with your £2000 challenge. If anyone can do it it’s you. I’m afraid RL has got in the way of forums atm.  However will need to up my game financially as DS’s dog has been diagnosed with cancer and we need to contribute towards the treatment. Look forward to hearing all of your frugal successes. Take care all 

mumtoomany

Promised I'd let you all know my spends so far this month.
Train fare. £107.39, went "up north" for a baby shower. Train was delayed a lot on the way, so expecting a refund for half.
Birthday gift, reduced, and chocolate for train journey. £3.
Dowel to fix a broken chair. £2.31
Wood, threaded bar, nuts, drill bits, all to make new barn doors. £42.81
TV licence. £7.50, DD1 and her family house share with us, so halved.
Petrol. Need to check the bank, but around £40.
Screws for barn door. Again need to check the credit card statement when it arrives, OH lost the receipt.

So total to date is £163.01 plus petrol and screws. So around £210ish. May need more train tickets before the end of the month, and the electric bill will have to be added, (also half, but paid by DD1, so need her for tell me how much). 

Right off to weed the raspberries, full of nettles, and dig up some more potatoes.

Hugs, mumtoomany.xx

mumtoomany

Hello, @Duchess2, nice to see you too. Sorry to hear about the dog. Hope it can get sorted and isn't going to be too expensive. Our dog is a collie, probably the least useful sheepdog in the world, but because she's a working dog, the vets charge much less for anything that needs doing. 

£2000 seems achievable at the moment. Just waiting for something to go wrong.

Hugs, mumtoomany.xxx

Prudent

So sad about the dog @Duchess2, but what a help to have family contributing too. Vet bills have become so expensive now.

@Gem-gem, I must admit to loving a subscription box. My sister has sometimes buys me one as a treat. I like the fact that it is stops me being indecisive. There is so much beautiful fabric available that I can spend ages mulling a purchase decision. I am now 3/4 the way through my scrap busting string quilt and I have caved in and ordered fabric for my next project. 

No more discretionary spending just now though. I thought that by half way through July finances would be a bit more relaxed. The car is reinsured, the wedding gift and our autumn break paid for. However the pressure is going up on my boiler regularly and it is cutting out. It is of an age now that I don't want to spend more on parts and repairs as it has had a few expensive repairs. Also it is getting harder to find parts. I have someone coming tomorrow to discuss a new boiler and potentially changing some of the piping as my current system is slow to heat up which is apparently due to narrower piping than is currently used. At the moment it is only cutting off out hot water, but I am keen to get the issue sorted out before I need to turn the heating on again (although that is usually well into the autumn for us!).

I have been given some currants today so will be jam making this afternoon. There is a lot of rhubarb still in the garden and the allotment. I had too much in the freezer last year and it limited the space for other things. I am going to give some to a local community centre tomorrow as they run lunches for people on low incomes. 

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Dinner today was either reduced from the butcher, ys, free or came from the garden. The only full priced items were the cauliflower, flour and eggs (Yorkshire Pudding). Pudding was rice pudding - ys milk, only half the sugar with stewed apple (from the garden).
More berries picked in between rain showers. Buckets and watering cans filled up with water - every little helps.
Turned out a drawer in my bedroom and about another dozen items for the next boot fair. 

Counted out our 1ps and 2p's that we had in an old fashion sweet jar - over £34 to go to the bank tomorrow. Also counted £45 of 5p's. This will pay for our meals - we are going away in two weeks time for two nights. 

Another purse made - another one with pink dots. I am two thirds way through another one. Only one more left to make after this. Then all clasps will have been used and I have enough for my needs plus a couple spare to trade with my neighbour for wooden crafts and sell. If I could sell two this will cover my costs for the extra clasps that I bought and will result in all of the purses being cost neutral for me.  

mumtoomany

Evening all, no spends to declare. Difficult to spend when you've no car on the road! The bits at the back are now welded and undersealed. Clutch being done now, gear box is proving difficult apparently. 

The post on Facebook seems to have worked. I've now got fewer than twenty courgettes/marrows left on the gate. More growing daily. Picked lots of tomatoes and beans with DGD1 today, too. 

Made soup yesterday with the box of leftovers in the freezer. Blitzed, then added veg and roast pork. We had some with bread rolls found in the freezer. It was a bit too thick for soup, so finished it for tea today with some dumplings. Made a batch of parkin buns. If I make a loaf cake, it is gone in a couple of days. In fairy bun cases they last a lot longer.

Still reading the old thread. Problem is, I'll think, "oh I know the answer to that," or, "you could use xxxx for that" but can't reply. 

Found out why I've not received the train refund. I applied to the wrong rail company! Reapplied to the right one today.
Hugs to all, mumtoomany.xx

Gem-gem

Good evening everyone, 
Made an almond and cherry tray bake. DH had the edges to munch on. The rest have been cut up. Some frozen, the rest boxed up ready to take to my DM on Wednesday - it is her birthday. Also made fruit flap jack. Most will be frozen - chopped up into very small servings. 

Dinner was hot beef, onion and pepper into a baguette with salad. Beef was left over from yesterday's dinner. The rest of the beef we froze sliced ready for a sandwich. 

We banked all the coins today. 😀 I could barely lift the bag with them in. 
Found 2p and 1p in the street. They are now in our road kill tin.
Bathroom and utility room cleaned

Another purse finished. I am now on the last purse. I have enjoyed making them. 

@mumtoomany, I had the same desire to reply to some of the old posts as well. 🤣
How many courgette plants do you have? I have two. Our first two tomatoes have just ripened. I got all excited because I have another butternut squash growing on my plant. Even with all this rain it hasn't died. I have three others that are small and ripening. 

joedenise

The rain is making my butternut squashes grow really quickly!  I have one which to be honest is big enough to pick but not worth it just yet as it hasn't started to ripen yet.  I've got about 5 quite good sized ones growing as well and you can see how much they've grown overnight with all this rain.  The plant has gone absolutely loopy!

mumtoomany

Morning all, just popping on before I go out to water the tunnel.

@Gem-gem, how many corgette plants? Far too many! The last two or three years I've had very few germinate. So this year started off two packets of seeds. Every one came up! No problem, I can always sell some plants on the gate. But this year nobody bought them, all the other plants sold. So I was left with lots. I have squeezed them into the tunnel, with no space for them to grow properly. I can't throw them away. They are now climbing the walls,  (the plastic) and covering the paths. Around two dozen plants I think. The runner beans and french beans are to the roof, I need a stool to pick them, and the butternut squash is making a dash for the door. A real jungle! 

Right, time to get my wellies on and water. Childcare later so need to do it this morning, if I don't want "help".

Hugs, mumtoomany.xx