2026 Frugal Living Challenge

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107729#Comment_82107729

My children - now all in their 30s - used to reject copper money too, so it's not a new thing. Eventually I put all their discards together and paid for a ticket for myself to go to an all-day event. I wonder if that's still possible?!

amber03

Used to work in a secondary school and was always finding loose change thrown on the floor as most of the kids didn’t bother with it unless it was a £ coin. Don’t think they realised if you saved all your loose change it soon turns into serious money. Mind you they probably all use contactless to pay for stuff and not actual money.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82109695#Comment_82109695

You’ve brought back a memory from the mid-1990’s. The ex and I were on holiday with friends. We were walking down the street in the middle of a town when one of them started throwing away their coppers, just dropping them on the ground. I picked them all up and handed them back, thinking he must have a hole in his pocket. He then threw them on the ground saying they were worthless! I was gobsmacked. There was over 20p!

Yes. I picked up all the coins again. In those days, 20p was enough to buy a pound of apples. (When I was really broke, that was my lunch.)

• Pip

Arrietty

Hello,

my prolonged absence due to various life events and expenses is over. I have been reading regularly but unable to contribute anything of value as my own finances have been in a freefall for the last 2-3 months 😬

Eldest Daughter's wedding was an absolute joy and the costs now a distant memory. All the separate parts of my outfit could easily be reworn and hopefully will be although not all together again!

The cost of horsery has increased due to drought in this area and the need to hay the fields; small bales of hay now being charged at £11.80 😮 each by yard manager (they were £9.20 last month) and I'm not convinced this is necessary as local feed shops are charging less than £10 but until I can find a way to fit more than 2 bales in my car I'm kind of captive and I'm sure her taking a new horse on loan at the same time as this increase is purely coincidental…

The interest on my Early Retirement Fund savings account has just reduced but I have acquired a new monthly saver offering 8% interest so I'm going to focus on trying to fill that each month. No PB win for me in August but I have reduced my holding so that's not too surprising.

After a couple of months ignoring the growing pile of paperwork on my dining table I finally dealt with it this morning. I've been keeping all my supermarket/grocery receipts as suggested in previous threads and it's been quite a revelation. My first shop of the year was 30th December ( I get paid on 26th of each month so that shop was for January) and the most recent was yesterday.

I have spent a total of £2016.22 so far this year. I was quite shocked at first but then worked that out to be £59.30 a week which sounds slightly less alarming although still significant for one person.

Yes, there have been a few gifts bought (wine, cake, giftcards, beauty items etc) special food items for contributions to family gathering meals, cleaning, household and laundry products and most of my toiletries. I occasionally pick up things like socks and stationery, and I cannot deny that a few ciders have made their way into my trolley too 😉.

I reckon I can reduce my average by at least £10 per week for the remaining 18 weeks of the year and then reduce again by about £5 for next year which would give me a saving of over £700!

GAME ON!!!

fionaandphil

I can't believe that people throw coins away, I always like to have some for charity collections so that we are giving something even if its not much. In scouting there was a Christingle collection at church each Christmas and they used to go in a pot specially for that and the kids used to pick them up whenever they saw them. It pays for something no matter how little you save.

I have just been out picking blackberries in our garden, 2kg so far to add to the several kg already this summer. This lot are all going in the freezer as we are drowning in them. Neighbours are picking from them regularly as well and whenever I'm going to meet friends I ask if they'd like some too! I'm thinking of some nice crumbles over winter to fill up hollow legs.

DH is out doing some more chainsawing so that we are full before the weather starts getting cold and wet. This lot have been drying for about 2 - 3 years so once that space is cleared we can put in the newer stuff to finish seasoning for another year.

Hope you're all having an exciting weekend x

Prudent

@fionaandphil people can be odd about coins. My OH puts them all in old ceramic biscuit barrels. I have talked to him about either spending them gradually or taking them to the bank (a long trek for us now), but he is resistant to either.

@Arrietty welcome back. We all have spells like that. I have just opened the latest MSE email and realised that I need to give myself a big kick up the bum with my mobile and broadband, both of which are well out of contract. It is my goal for next week, aiming for a 'spend less September'. I was absolutely shocked by the price of a bale of hay, although it had crossed my mind when I was out walking one day and looking at the big bales. We haven't had such long periods of hot weather here. The rivers have been lower, but the hills and the fields are still green. I wonder if @Frugaldom has noticed any change in hay prices in Scotland?

I don't have an awful lot of frugalling action to report. Food bills have stayed steady and our wee community shop has been reprieved from closure. I went through to Refrewshire last week as I had a voucher that I could only spend in certain shops there. I used some of it in M&S to do a big restock of bras and socks. I buy most clothing now on Vinted as the charity shops offer few bargains now. When I was in M&S I looked at a 3/4 sleeve t shirt at £12, but it was out of stock in my size. I went on the Vinted and bought 5 (3 still with tags and two new without) for £11.70 including the Vinted fee and delivery. That included a bundle discount as they came from the same seller.

fionaandphil

@prudent my DH is the same with coins - what are they like! My very frugal child picked up 5p from under a picnic table the other day - taught him well!

In terms of mobile, we took one of the cheap deals with Lebara and it worked well. Very easy to deal with. After the discounted rate finished we moved onto a 12 month fix but still only 4.50 per month.

ET22

Managed to activate the prepaid master card from changing internet provider which is 120 pounds so it will pay for a lot of my shopping next month. Just going to put the 120 cash I would have spent into my savings account instead.I think i'm averaging 160 pounds a month on shopping but I wont really know until I get to September when the cupboards will be empty and I start tracking it properly by just using the master card.

Viking_mfw

Planning to harvest our unsatisfactory apples and make jelly. Does anyone have any recommendations for flavourings that work well? We do need more sweets chilli but I'll wait til Olio provides chillies for that. I've seen a few suggestions for rosemary online but my husband is a bit dubious - has anyone tried it?

maryb

Yes I've tried it and sage as well. can't remember which but one of them makes it go a lovely colour. But they weren't very strongly flavoured. I decided to stick to redcurrant jelly for lamb and we don't eat pork very often so I haven't bothered since and just make apple sauce as and when