My Off-grid and need to be frugal diary

AnimalTribe

New year, new start - trying to save in 2025.

AnimalTribe

I’m not sure this is the right place for my diary as I don’t have any debt, but I do need to be frugal this year as last year was very expensive due to some house repairs. This year is going to be expensive too as there are other things around the house that need to be fixed. Living remotely (and off grid) means that getting things fixed is always more expensive, as I usually have to pay travelling time in addition to labour and materials costs. That’s if I can get someone to actually come out this far.

I think though, that if I chart my progress here it will help to keep me on the straight and narrow.

My goals for this year are to:

Save money

Make money

Declutter

Repair and redecorate

Make the most of things

Get fit

The first task, I think, is to do a Statement of Affairs (SOA) and see how things are.

AnimalTribe

A successful day yesterday. Did the MSE SOA and was pleasantly surprised by the price I would get for DH’s car. Checked DD and SOs to make sure no expired ones were still there (there weren’t). Agreed a budget with DH (not the easiest of tasks).

Finished tying loose ends into some scarves I knit in December. The plan being to sell them online. I just have to write some care instructions and iron one or two of the scarves.

Joined the Frugal Living, Decluttering and Grocery Challenge threads (but I need to catch up with reading them).

Lots of food to use up in the house so a NSD and not tempted by anything online, as I have so many books to read and DVDs to watch already. Books and DVD buying are my main weaknesses.

The only negative has been the amount of snow that has fallen.

Today’s jobs are to use the broccoli that’s languishing in the fridge, check the current interest rates on my accounts, and to figure out how fees are calculated on Depop (which is where I intend to sell the scarves), and set up an account. That should keep me busy.

AnimalTribe

Another good day yesterday. I wonder how long my enthusiasm will last. Created a Depop and Etsy fee calculator. I won’t know for certain if it’s right until I’ve sold something.

Spreadsheet with balance of accounts and current interest rates completed. Sorting this out will take some time as there are some dormant accounts, some accounts my online access isn’t working for, and some accounts definitely need to be switched to a better interest rate. Credit cards are paid off in full each month, but I should probably see if I can find a decent (unlikely) cash back card to make best use of my money.

Made 2 broccoli, tomato & cheese quiches with broccoli that wouldn’t have lasted much longer. This also gave me the chance to finish off some past ‘use by date’ eggs (but they passed the float test and were fine). DH and I had one quiche yesterday and the other will be dinner tonight. I made a small apple pie for dessert with a Bramley apple that was hiding at the bottom of the fridge.

I started sewing together some knitted hearts I made last year. I like knitting, but the stitching the bits together must be the worst job in the world. Unfortunately, I hadn’t left enough of the same colour wool to stitch all the hearts together. Luckily I found some wool that was a close colour match, so that’s 5 knitted hearts finished.

More snow today, but at least the last 3 days of wind have been useful. All the large powerpacks have been charged, washing done and dried with a de-humidifier.

A couple of tiny savings were: kept the egg box as DH uses them as packaging for any Ebay items he sells; used the lining of a box of bran flakes to roll the quiche pastry out. I put the lining on a tea towel so that it doesn’t slip (when I’m done the lining is binned which means no big pastry board to wash); kept the broccoli stalks to add to soup.

Today I’ll finish my budget spreadsheet, finish some earrings I started to make and make a start on clearing down my online messages (I’m not very good at clearing my inboxes, so this will take a few days, as it’s not a favourite task).

Poor DH slipped on the ice this morning while walking the dogs. Fortunately, the only thing that was hurt was his pride.

AnimalTribe

Yesterday, I finished my budget spreadsheet and completed the earrings I had started. I also, started clearing down my online messages (still a long way to go).

I managed to put the laundry away. It took longer than usual as DH had put a few boxes of stuff that he was sorting through in front of the wardrobe, so I couldn’t access it until he finally moved the boxes today.
Lunch for me and DH is usually a sandwich, salad and fruit. The last of the blueberries have been eaten but there are plenty of alternative fruits to choose from. 
Not much sun or wind today so the battery bank is depleted. Unfortunately, this means the oil fired generator will kick in - it's noisy and expensive.

the_end_of_the_rainbow

Loving hearing about your off-grid life. Where do you live (approximately)

AnimalTribe

Thanks the_end_of_the_rainbow. I live in Northumberland, one of the most sparsely populated regions. I've had more snow today, but that's not really a problem as DH and I always make sure we have plenty of stocks of food, fuel and dog food in the house. We also have an all wheel drive car so can manage to get out most times (although we have been snowed in a number of times too over the years). 
DH has been out to sweep the snow off the solar panels, and he had to do some temporary repairs to the garden fence as we are surrounded by sheep, who always manage to find the smallest gaps. I feel sorry for the local shepherd when the weather is as bad as this.
I finally managed to make my spiced parsnip soup - the last of the 8p Xmas parsnips, left over broccoli stalks, the last piece of 'bendy' celery, home grown onions, a stock cube, chilli powder and water. Very cheap and very easy.

teapot2

I also made spicy parsnip soup today with last of Xmas parsnips @AnimalTribe.  Yumm 

AnimalTribe

teapot2 it's great isn't it, so easy to make, very tasty and very cheap. I made enough to cover today too. 

It's the start of the silly season where I am. People coming out to enjoy looking at the snow on the moor and getting stuck. In previous years we've helped to dig them out, but this year we're going to hand them a shovel and let them do it themselves. We'll still offer them use of the house phone (as mobile signal is patchy here), a warm drink and let them wait for the recovery truck in the warm house, but physically digging them out - not any more.
Today I've created a Depop account, but I have to edit the photos I've taken before I can start listing. I've done my Microsoft Rewards clicks for the day - the points take a while to build but at least I don't get screened out like most surveys. I find the points useful as I exchange them for Tesco or Amazon vouchers. 
Apart from a pair of DHs gloves which I said I'd mend, the rest of the day is going to be lazy. I'm going to catch up on the Frugal and Grocery challenge threads, and mooch about on the web. 

AnimalTribe

Today I've managed to clear down all my online messages and figured out how to create a signature on MSE. This afternoon I'll be listing stuff on DePop as I created an account yesterday and finished editing the photos. Unfortunately, I'll also have to arrange the return of an item I bought for Xmas as it is faulty. Dinner tonight will savoury rice using the last of the home grown yellow peppers. 
DH has topped up the fat balls for the birds. As we are the only house around I think we probably keep them going over winter. It is so lovely to watch their antics as they balance on the feeders and compete for space.

foxgloves

I agree about garden bird visitors. I think they are worth every penny of what we spend
  on bird food. They enjoy various scraps too - our robin & dunnocks gobbled the last little bit of suet leftover from turkey soup & dumplings at the weekend & they also have toaster crumbs mixed in with their seed. The local goldfinches don't usually eat from our feeders but like to visit centaurea seed heads in the flower borders.
F