Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

mambury

DdraigGoch wrote: »

I have a strong suspicion that going down the secondhand road is far more ecofriendly than scrapping and buying new .... no evidence, just a gut feeling. I'd appreciate if anyone could confirm or deny this thought. A car is essential in rural life, buses, if they appear, are no use for shopping!

I too lived in the middle of nowhere!! And I have to drive otherwise we don;t eat etc!!

I did here that it is more ecologically sound to maintain and repair an old banger than a new car as the overall co2 emissions are lower in the long run when you take into account the co2 'cost' of producing a new car.

Personally we have chosen to keep our car until it dies and then look for a second hand car, mainly because we can;t afford to buy a new one. When that time comes I will be looking at the cheapest to buy and run car that I can find. I don't think it will be long before fuel prices and car tax start creeping ever higher......

http://www.scenta.co.uk/eco/carbon_footprint/cit/1745546/greenwash-cashback-scheme-is-car-crash-logic.htm

the above link might be of some interest too!

HTH

Mambury

bonsibabe

Oh goodness I wish I lived in the countryside!!!! I've just emailed my local council about allotments. They are considering starting up some and I emailed and asked if they had maybe considered the waste ground that is at our back between the two roads. At present it is used by kids on quad bikes (illegal!!!) and I asked if we couldn't have our garden extended to meet with the back yard of the house in the next road?? That would mean the council had less waste ground to tend and we could have a chicken coop and possibly a rabbit run to breed rabbits for food!!!! Hubby just looked at me like I was mad!!!! But why not!! Only problem would be what to do with the rabbit fur???? After all, rabbit tastes like chicken???!!!

And my veggie patch would be much much bigger and possibly more productive! Not withstanding I'm also emailing to ask if my one year old fully electric and massively expensive heating could possibly be replaced with solid fuel central heating system which we could quite easily cope with. After all there are plenty areas round by us for foraging firewood, not to mention freecycle!!!!

Am off to freecycle to see if I can get a foot operated can crusher ... my neighbour often asks me to put her aluminium cans in my recycling bin ... I don't mind but have discovered that I can crush the cans, and take them to the scrap merchant down the road for cold hard cash!!! Luckily I have mentioned this to her and she is happy for me to do this as she is relatively well off compared to us just now ... although I will buy her something with the cash ... depending on how much we manage to get!!!!

mambury

hey bonsi! Fab idea with the waste ground...... Get a petition together with names of people that would want the lotties and names of people prepared to run the comittee and that will probably help persuade the council.:D

Oh, and the rabit skin? I;m sure there are some tanners around that would probably buy it off you if you had enough. Or you could learn to tan it yourself and sell it on as mini rugs or something like that?!!!:rotfl: Wigs for the discerning gentleman.....:D

There are ups and downs to living in the country and its not for everyone....... I love it but sometimes it does get a bit lonely when you are skint and cant afford the fuel to go anywhere but things are a bit better for us at the moment so thats not really and issue.

mambury

bonsibabe

boo my hubby says no to the bunnies!!! says they could get miximatosis (?sp) but i'm sure if we looked after them properly they would be okay! have emailed the council but no word on whether we could get the garden extended yet but will keep asking about it! If we win the lottery then thats it, out to the country we go so we can keep chickens, ducks, and piggies!!!

But am really keeping my fingers crossed about getting a bigger back garden so i can possibly keep some chickens in the garden! Was thinking of getting maybe five laying hens and five that i could fatten up for eating! Just have to wait and see, although hubby was out in the garden today and it looks a bit bigger now that he's dug up some of the rubbish that was in there!

hungrynurse_2

bonsibabe wrote: »

Oh goodness I wish I lived in the countryside!!!! I've just emailed my local council about allotments. They are considering starting up some and I emailed and asked if they had maybe considered the waste ground that is at our back between the two roads. At present it is used by kids on quad bikes (illegal!!!) and I asked if we couldn't have our garden extended to meet with the back yard of the house in the next road?? That would mean the council had less waste ground to tend and we could have a chicken coop and possibly a rabbit run to breed rabbits for food!!!! Hubby just looked at me like I was mad!!!! But why not!! Only problem would be what to do with the rabbit fur???? After all, rabbit tastes like chicken???!!!

I wouldnt email them, just start tending the land and keep quiet but take photos, after 10 years the land is yours then for free I think

bonsibabe

Thanks hungrynurse, the only problem with that is that the council tend it but not very well, we already go out and pick up the rubbish and clear the weeds that don't get touched by the council.

My original quote for the patch of decking hubby wanted to make was £1500 and thanks to timber from freecycle and hubby taking timber home from the tip, that is now reduced down to £150 for the top decking!!! Really chuffed for it

harryhound

hungrynurse wrote: »

I wouldnt email them, just start tending the land and keep quiet but take photos, after 10 years the land is yours then for free I think

12 years and under the new law for registered land the person in adverse possession ("squatter") has to write to the address of the registered owner after 10 years to say they only have 2 years in which to reclaim their land.
To prove your USE of the land take a picture of you reading a well known newspaper with a recognisable headline, while taking a rest from your use of the land; then sign seal and deliver your evidence to yourself by registered mail and don't open it.

(I have learned these things because I live in a home where part of the garden was sold twice back in the inter-war years. During the last thirty something years two people have come out of the woodwork trying to claim they own 2 different parts of my garden).

Beware of highway land and the Council claiming they hold the land as a proxy for the Queen, similarly beware of coastal land as special rules apply.
Similarly a tenant squats on behalf of his landlord.

mariat

kingkano wrote: »

Find your local farm shop/farmer and get a freezer You can then order whole lambs, whole pigs and maybe even half a cow. Butchered however you want it, at certain times of the year. The price is excellent, you know where its from and its fresh. You then freeze it and use as you want. (we get a lamb every 6 mths and half a pig about the same).

Unless you go to the butchers I used at the weekend. It was getting late, and my son fancied a roast. So I used a butchers which raises and slaughters it's own meat. My jaw dropped when he told me the price - £24! For a leg of lamb which would have been about £14 in Tesco. And it didn't taste any better either!

Frugaldom

Foraging has contributed to my biggest moneysaving this year, as we normally eat or way through a jar of jam or whatever a week. I now have enough preserves to last until next year's crops with shelves full of jellies and jams, all made from locally foraged hedgerow fruit and berries, some exchanged for other stuff like marmalade via LETS. That along with the 10 litres of delicious elderflower champagne will save having to buy anything like that. My stash of cones is doing not too badly but is nowhere near enough to see me through the winter. I guess living in the country also means needing plenty of dry, airy storage space. Keeping anything dry over the past 4 months has been rather difficult with all the wet weather we've had.

Lotus-eater

What do you use cones for?