2026 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Good evening to all, I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter. I'm a bit jealous of all who have access to the cheap veg as I just cannot get away for long enough to drive into town and these bargains are never available online for home delivery. 🥴😞

Frugality here seems to comprise of buying nothing and going nowhere. Easter, like Christmas & New Year, was busy with visitors but every penny counts, plus I do enjoy a good blether. Sis brought us dinner tonight so that saved time and effort as I'd just to warm it up.

I still haven't sold my car, not even tried. 🥴

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81953868#Comment_81953868

buying nothing and going nowhere

Sounds idyllic! The world is upside down - don't venture out until 2027 …people flying to moon in the name of mankind meanwhile on earth wars a plenty.

at least there is the joy of monty don hosting have i got news for you this friday x

Frugaldom

@Sallyp2 - 😄 No TV here. Enjoy Monty Don.

Prudent

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81951856#Comment_81951856

This is something I must learn. I put kefir on my porridge every morning and it would be good to learn how to save money on it.

Prudent

Hello from a chilly Scotland this morning. We seem to have missed out on the warm day yesterday too in this area. However it has been dry for a few days so I am hoping the ground will be warm enough to plant some broad beans today. I also want to buy some compost to start some salad leaves in a planter in the poly tunnel. I love freshly picked salad leaves so this is always a 'beginning' that I welcome.

Like @suzeesu2000 I need to do some meal planning. I am trying to clear two to three shelves in my freezer. OH is due a major operation, which we think will happen earlier summer onwards, and I want to make some meals to cover the first few weeks of his recovery when he will need more support from me.

C_J

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81954122#Comment_81954122

I make my own kefir too, it’s so easy. I asked on a local freegle group if anyone had any kefir milk grains to gift me to start things off, and loads of people offered me some!

fluffycatling

Hi,
Just wanted to air my head /help myself reflect/ check people experiences regarding O!io.
At first I was really sceptical as did not know how it works, it did not seem to be worth the drive for a baguette as there was no one within walking distance etc etc. But then I started looking here and checking myself how does it actually work and it was the best thing under the sun! 🌞
The food is not being wasted and ending up in the bin, there are kind people there to distribute it, builds community spirit, win win all around. Don't know about supermarkets but I hope they get something out of it too in some way (some tax relief?).
I even got subscription not to watch certain games advert on repeat 😆

And then things started to be less rosy perhaps, I guess I should have expected some hiccups because
a) I work with people, helping people and you wouldn't think there could be something they can be unhappy about but there's plenty
b) someone here (sorry don't remember exactly) mentioned they had some odd attitudes and they've been put off for a while.

Well, I am at the put off/confused stage at the moment.

1. I am aware, working with people, even with simplest things like food collections will have some twists as things change especially that people have other commitments etc. - it's fine I can adjust, never been a problem as I consider them angels of goodwill being FWH so I always adapted accordingly and always given them 5*
2. some people have their own set ups as FWH - some will want you to knock, some will want you to use special units they have especially put for that purpose. The thing is, they won't always say so I did find myself ringing the doorbell as there was no other info and there was a unit there with everything prepped. Some will put it in small print under address so after you click 'go' you don't even look there I guess. Needless to say, I felt like a right idiot in both, with my phone torch around 10pm looking for where things are 😂😵‍💫 but again, fine I swallowed it, one was my fault entirely for not noticing and the other one was apparently obvious but not if you never collected there before and with no info to be found - 5* given because as I said, angels iny books 🙏😊
3. I started to treat it a bit like a shopping - I never drive to the shop for one item only and I try to treat O!io the same - I only drive if there are several items I could use. There have been times when people simply got confused or mixed up with bags and few items were missing which is fine, we're all human, not a problem. But on one of the trips I ended up driving like to the supermarket for about 20minutes one way, to only collect 2 or 3 items out of 6 or 7 I requested. The person never said they were no longer available etc like they sometimes do. They were just not confirmed, I risked it thinking maybe they're busy or sth. No. Just no communication whatsoever. I politely asked through messages if certain things have gone to prompt some sort of answer as I was a bit puzzled. I got back a lot of attitude back that they are saved for people that collect bread as they had tens of loaves. Ok, fair enough, they try to tempt them with other things. But then again, I got asked to take bread which I did even though we don't eat it unless a treat (diet and health reasons - I donated it to a friend). They then quite assertively not to say aggressively explained the recommendations are 2 or 3 items per person. That baffled me to be honest because the previous collection from this hero definitely did not have these rules attached and suddenly it did. Ok, I can back home feeling a bit like a not well spent petrol cost (especially now!). I checked back the next day and the items that were refused to me were classed as expired 🙄 so the tempting did not quite work and the person must have ended up with not only bread but loads of other stuff that actually was requested. Unless that was a trick and they wanted something for themselves but then again why to advertise it... Anyway that was really puzzling but a perfectly civilised conversation and I admitted I'm still learning about these things etc. Left me feeling like I drove for a pack of apples and some carrots though 😂 I will definitely keep it in mind for the future with this particular person

Then recently there seems to be this Impact and Quota numbers. I read the FAQs but to be honest I'm a bit doubtful if that actually works - didn't have any collections whatsoever the last few days, my number remained static which I think should go down by now, I will wait a for a week and check again but it makes me wonder.

And there's the ratings 😂 my partner had a good chuckle when I told him. Rating and reviews even here, I mean I understand for safety reasons but if anyone ever looked at Google reviews, this is such a farce at times.
So I was very smug with myself, having a rating of 5* .
Since the whole impact and quota thing been introduced, I keep looking in that section more than previously and I noticed my rating shockingly 😅 gone down to 4.9 with the same amount of 'reviewers' . Ok, call me petty and pedantic, but I keep racking my brain what have I done wrong suddenly? As I said , no recent collections whatsoever and the same number of people so someone must have changed their rating after a while??
I know it's a small thing and I should just move on, but I cannot help but wonder what happened.

• did someone accidentally swipe it incorrectly (naïve 😂)
• did I not say thank you to someone and they just realised? (I always say thank you, either in person if collecting this way or through messages if that is a contactless collection also notifying them I've been already)
• is it my very delayed penalty for time misunderstanding? (One FWH had a range time wise when things could be collected. I gave that it will be after X hour not earlier, no issues, accepted request. The thing is there was an accident of my way from work so everything got delayed but I still showed up within the range given. Turned out the person expected not 'after X time' but on the dot of X time - so that was awkward, but I explained and apologised for misunderstanding (if any) and later again said thanks through message and gave them 5*
• is it unhappy person that offered something I posted as 'wanted' but turned out that what they had was different to what I asked and they also did not know if it has all the parts 😂 so wouldn't be much use for me in this case and a bit of waste of an item so I explained politely and thanked for the offer but it will not work for me but it might for someone else
• is this thing about requesting more than2or3 items since I need to drive to collect it? That would be a funny one because even though I felt tricked by lack of communication and then got a lot of attitude to start with for even asking a question I still gave the person 5* which now makes me wonder if that was fair since their approach

Gosh, that was long, sorry. Seems like it was more bothering me about this whole thing than I realised. But to sum up, a bit of mixed feelings at the moment even though I think this is a really awesome initiative. It stand for everything believe, reducing waste, reusing, mending, freeycling etc. I wish that people would not make it awkward though but hey I guess that cannot be avoided.
Best wishes,
FluffyCatling

fluffycatling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81955654#Comment_81955654

Update re Impact/Quota - it seemed to have updated itself out of the blue so it works somehow/eventually.

Update no2 - FWHs in my area/part of the area really, occasionally post quite annoyed messages about number of things: tens loaves of bread, Swedes, people not offering to bag swap, people not saying please or thank you etc etc. Seems like something is happening in the background,perhaps some boundaries (and buttons;P ) are being pushed, sad really. I think I stumbled on some FB news about some areas struggling with people stealing the bags without requesting through app?...

t14cy_t

sadly our local olio collections are going down, such a shame. hoping the staff are taking home instead, so at least no waste.

Frugaldom

Good evening to all from rain-washed Frugaldom. I've been reading the Olio references with interest after several conversations with people, including a couple of Food Waste Heroes (FWH). It seems collections may be down in many areas as the likes of Tesco is said to be putting out unsold yellow sticker goods as 'help yourself for free' after a certain time of night, then anything not being claimed is disposed of... I'm unsure of what happens at the point of disposal so if anyone can shed any light on this, I'd love to know the truth. Is the food macerated, incinerated, sent into some form of energy production, or simply landfilled? I've always been a fan of the concept of fully, self-sustainable stores, but keeping all their freezers, fridges, lighting, heating, bakeries and electric & electronic equipment powered must take a fair whack of electricity, probably more than roof mounted solar could provide. Did Sainsbury's ever create their 'energybfrom food waste' production units to power new stores? Lots of food for thought. 🤔 I only ever look at Olio as bonus food and then shop accordingly after receiving it but haven't had any this past month. My bonus this month has been gifts from a lovely friend who brought some Farmfoods lentils, corned beef, butter and milk.

Today, I had to cut out part of the rhubarb as three of the crowns that were well up with rhubarb had sent up flowers! I've had this in the past when weather has been dry and hot for prolonged periods but never this early during wet weather. We are still getting sub-zero temperatures overnight here so icy puddles in the morning followed by spells of warm sunshine then hail or rain and wind. Still no blossoms on any of the fruit trees other than the sloes / Blackthorn.