2026 Frugal Living Challenge

2Scratters

My storage for such items will be being located under the cupboards by removing the kick boards. There is plenty of space for your hand to gain access that is required. I may decided to put some tins there too. I am now going to investigate the plastic boxes or make one that have wheels on to assist in moving items about. The loft is too warm in the summer for these items but there is dry produce up there shelved away for now.

2 Scratters xx

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82157288#Comment_82157288

I have a vague memory of seeing a photo of ? an iKEA kitchen where there were drawers in the kickboards. It was either in their paper catalogue - remember those? - or in one of those multi-part home decorating magazines that my dad collected. Always thought it was a clever idea.

Just had a thought: the small fruit boxes that L!dl use/sell as their £1.50 veg boxes would probably fit well in the kickboard space as a drawer.

HTH

• Pip

suzeesu2000

there’s a man I watch on YT who made a new kitchen which was very tight for space, he did just that. All the baseboards were drawers with the push to open function. It is a really wasted space. I’m thinking, when our new kitchen goes in, of doing something like this as I am losing a cupboard and one of my pantry shelving units.

Esmeralda2662

@dND I know this might be obvious but just a quick reminder to everyone to never use barbecues indoors as they give off toxic fumes. It never occurred to me until I read it in a newspaper article. (Sorry if it sounds very patronising, just want us all to be safe especially if times become tough). x

dND

@Esmeralda2662 Outside BBQ only, I do know that. 😁 But thank you for the warning, if I didn't know I would have been grateful to be told. Dx

MrsCD

Also, on a side note, if your chimney needs sweeping, get it done before you start using it in the colder weather. Our DD had a near miss with carbon monoxide because her next door neighbour's chimney was blocked and the CO went through the walls and set off her alarm! The man who came out said her alarm had saved her neighbour's life. He wouldn't have made it through another night.☹️

2Scratters

@PipneyJane thanks for that idea. Just after reading it another popped into my head - I have some plant pot saucers on wheels. Think I'll give them a practice and see how they perform 😉

@suzeesu2000 I used Howdens but wish I had checked out properly Kitchenhaus who use German made units they are bigger and definitely have more space under them. I would have put the dog beds under there too.

2 Scratters xx

leftatthetrafficlights

I've been MIA from this thread for a while (I was away from the boards for a long time this year) but I'm so glad I've re-found you!! 🙌

It's not been a very frugal year for a variety of reasons but I'm back in control now and very much want to ride the frugal wagon again 😉

I have spent some time recently thinking about the habits I need to get back into and the ones I definitely need to ditch - I'm not a massive spender really, but I have definitely not been as mindful of my finances and have frittered away quite a lot more than I would have liked this year. I want to build up our savings considerably and the fastest way to do that is to reduce, reuse and recycle but also invest in my future self by getting back to making more of my own stuff, growing more and taking advantage of offers when they are genuinely good value and suit my needs.

I'm also preparing for winter - I should have bought logs during the summer but I didn't so I need to order some of those and get some coal organised -we don't use the open fire frequently but it's one of those things that I like to have a stock of for when we do. I've also organised a boiler service so that it's at peak performance when I turn on the heating - it's oil fired and the price of topping up the tank is ridiculous at the moment and I don't see it improving any time soon, so having the boiler working to the best of it's ability is really important!

I've done some food preparation for the winter - I've made chutneys, jams and cordial from our garden produce and have frozen lots of tomato and courgette sauces and veg, plus we've dehydrated lots of herbs. We still have a few bits growing in the garden and I harvested our winter squash which is now hardening in the greenhouse 😁 I have a good supply of dried foods too so I'm hoping to keep the grocery bills low over the next few months.

@dND- I've ordered the pressure canner from lovejars too after the one I ordered from amazon was 'lost in transit' (my dh then ordered it on his account and that was 'lost in transit' too! 🤔🤬). It won't arrive for another few weeks but I'm looking forward to getting started with it - I've got jars waiting, I've earmarked space for storage and I've got lots of youtube videos bookmarked! 😂 Mainly it will be used for homegrown stuff next year but I'm planning on getting plenty of the December cheap veg (if they do it this year) and processing that too. I want to be able to do enough to have emergency supplies for my kids and their families too - my dgs has all sorts of challenges so being able to pull an ambient meal that's not loaded with chemicals straight off the shelf for him would definitely make life a lot easier should it be required.

Despite the initial outlay, it will pay for itself within a couple of seasons - I buy a lot of organic goods and they are pricey! Having veganically grown, tomatoes in a jar will be much nicer than paying between £1. 30 - £1.50 as I currently do for the organic ones

We grow quite a lot of produce considering there's only the two of us and we have no safe structure outside to store harvests like root crops. We have freezers (which are currently full of summer stuff) but should we have a longer term power outage due to storms etc they won't be very helpful after a couple of days! It will also save me money as I'll be able to do big batch cooks of beans and lentils which will mean less use of my instant pot (so less electricity). I'm sticking to 500ml jars which will be more than enough for dh and will reduce any waste (not that we ever really have much - hence the very full freezers!) and so that I can pressure can two layers of jars at a time - again saving on energy usage 😁

Anyway, I'm glad to be back (although after that essay, I'm not sure anyone else will be! 🤦‍♀️😂)

dND

Welcome back @leftatthetrafficlights It sounds like we are singing from the same song sheet. 🤣

Have you found Nikki from Back to the Good Life? I like her down-to-earth approach, no pun intended. 😁 Dxx

Matty246

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82157838#Comment_82157838

It's well worth saying. I remember a number of years ago when there was a petrol shortage a woman filled up a can of petrol and took it into her kitchen. The fumes caught fire.