Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

Tigsteroonie

nykmedia wrote: »

Find out all you need to know here. The Forestry Commission also offers training seminars for chainsaw use, as you need a licence to operate one on forestry land. Hope this helps

Just to clarify. You need to approach your local Forestry Commission office (check the website for addresses of Forest District offices), and you'll buy a "Firewood Scavenging Permit" which permits you access to a specific area of land for a set length of time (it varies).

To use a chainsaw on FC land, you'll need:

1. proof of certification in chainsaw use
2. public liability insurance to the tune of £2-5million
3. permission from the local manager - and this last item is often the hardest to get; for example, our local Forest District doesn't permit ANY chainsaw use by the public.

An alternative to the Scavenging Permit is to buy a small quantity (a few tonnes) of small diameter logs at roadside from the FC. Two men can generally lift a small log, e.g. into a trailer. Take this home and then you can chainsaw to your heart's content in your back garden! (Being sensible, wearing appropriate personal protective clothing, yadda-ya)

Whilst you're on the phone to your local Forestry Commission office, ask them if they sell culled deer for venison (depends on the office). You'd have to arrange collection of the beast and transport to a local butcher, but it could still work out cheaper than buying beef in a supermarket.

Please smile sweetly at those green-and-yellow Forestry vans when you see them!:p

Edit for Mojo: Sorry you couldn't find anything on the website. I'm not sure whether there is anything on there about firewood permits - I can never find anything (and it's even worse on their intranet!). The page with the Forest District office addresses is: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/HCOU-4U4HZV

Tigsteroonie

andyinlondon wrote: »

moved both north and out into the country last year ... does anyone have any ideas or tips for rural scotland?

Where'bouts?

andyinlondon

im not far from helensburgh overlooking the loch

MoJo

Tigsteroonie you're a Star:staradmin Scavenging was not on my radar as a search word (neither was firewood - d'oh!)

The Public Liability Insurance puts me off a bit, unless they organise some cover for you, but I'll ask.

Thanks also for the heads up about culled deer

Tigsteroonie

MoJo wrote: »

Tigsteroonie you're a Star:staradmin Scavenging was not on my radar as a search word (neither was firewood - d'oh!)

The Public Liability Insurance puts me off a bit, unless they organise some cover for you, but I'll ask.

Just to clarify - you'll only need PLI if you want to use a chainsaw (or any power tool) when on FC land, it's because it's public ground; you can use a handsaw etc, no problem. But PLI is expensive, it negates any money-saving from collecting your own wood.

The FC won't organise PLI cover for you - are you trying to give me more work to do?

If for some reason you really want to use a chainsaw, then ask the local Forest District for guidance first - it really is at local Manager discretion, and there's no point you pursuing PLI if the Manager has a blanket ban on chainsaws locally (as ours does).

bigpaws23

As another poster mentioned, we're able to buy sacks of carrots, potatoes and onions from an equestrian centre too.

I take advantage of supermarket home delivery - the fee is worth it for me having to take my car into town.

I run a food co-op for six families in the village and we bulk buy cleaning products, rice, lentils, flour, sugar etc

Lots of 'gifting' and swapping goes on around here! Eggs, bread, baking, jams, produce, seeds and seedlings, even clothes...........

The grape vine has word that we run a woodburner and we frequently get home to find gifts of anything from old fence panels to oak stumps on our driveway.

Free entertainment for the kids with fields, animals, wildlife, foraging and a stream to explore. So no 'I'm bored' or demand for the latest toy / gadget is ever heard of (although I put a lot of that down to the fact that we choose not to have a tv)

I find living rurally much cheaper because, for me, it's the temptation of what you see in the shops that makes for those impulsive purchases. Out here it's out of sight, out of mind and I'm busy cleaning out the fire, drying fruit or digging the garden

We also have a monthly table sale in the village hall where you can earn yourself a nice bit of money selling things and then donate a percentage of what you take to community projects. Unlike car boot sales where you have to pay just to get in, at these sales if you take little, you pay out little for your table.......

Not sure how this compares to other areas, but activities like brownies or St Johns Ambulance are about a pound a throw. That seems ridiculously cheap to me.
We also have lots of activities that go on free of charge such as animal shows, craft and dance workshops during the school holidays, fetes etc

Oh, and use a 'farming' vet for your domestic pets - their fees are about a quarter of what you pay for a regular cats and dogs vet that sells posh food and kitten milk. <rolls eyes>

And while we're on the subject, did you know that if you don't have a pedigree pooch or feline, some insurance companies will put your pets on your contents insurance? I've saved an absolute fortune like this. I've claimed twice, so I know they pay out too

You don't need an expensive alarm system on your house either, because you have neighbours that look out for you

TTFN
Bigpaws x

moo2moo

We pop round the neighbours prior to getting anything major done. Usually means we can split the costs of quite a few things.

The chimney sweep gives every house a £5 discount per chimney when he does more than 5 in an area. Keeps the costs down for those too elderly to do their own. We also have the septic tanks emptied en-masse at a bulk discount.

One neighbour cycles the 8 mile round trip to the nearest shop every morning and collects newspapers for those that like them. Post gets popped through my letter box to put in the post box at school each morning and we also car share on the school journey. If it rains and you're out your washing is usually brought in for you.

BBQs tend to end up as impromptu street parties as does bonfire night and its not unusual for at least one lot of neighbours to be here for x-mas dinner.

Simon_Williamson

RDA wrote: »

Many rural homeowners will use oil to heat their houses rather than gas due as it's often not available in outlying areas.

I organise a consortium which places a single large order with the most competitive oil supplier and we receive a bulk discount in return.

In our case, a 3% discount allowed us to split a saving of £150 between 5 neighbours.

This may not seem much, but later this year we plan to place a larger order and have been offered an even higher discount for a tanker load.

You could try www.fueloildirect.co.uk who put customers for heating oil directly in touch with their local suppliers who quote on-line.

Simon_Williamson

hawks wrote: »

I use a wesite called www.boilerjuice.com for buying oil that seems to get better prices (bulk ordering I guess) and also groups orders together by postcode to save money. So if you don't have enough neighbours to form a consortium this site sort of does it for you.

This is my first post so if I should not have mentioned the website sorry!

www.fueloildirect.co.uk is particularly good as you can get an on-line quote directly from the suppliers. Boilerjuice takes a commission on all orders.

jenhm

ViksB wrote: »

We sell lambs and pigs to friends, family and neighbours and last year we charged £35-40 for half a lamb and £90-100 for half a pig, however costs have risen alot especially for pigs and that price will rise this year.

Viks

Here in mid Wales the village butcher is still offering 1/2 lamb from £20! Well, that's Wales for you I suppose! On the downside: we don't get a choice of high street shops/supermarkets so no competition=high prices, no fast internet, no mains gas, rubbish mobile reception, almost no public transport, no nightlife, etc,etc
Still, roast lamb mmmmmmmmmm