Friday 30 August 2013

Septimus Frugalus - September's Non-Spender Challenge

Monthly Challenges in Frugaldom

The names of the months confuse me, what with the 'Sept' meaning seven when its month nine, 'Oct' meaning eight when it's month ten and so on, but September is almost upon us and, whether we like it or not, it's month nine of twelve and we're fast heading into Autumn.
 
You can feel a definite drop in the temperature here in Scotland, to the point that the thought of lighting the stove crossed my mind. Shame on me!  Now wearing my cardigan, I will continue, safe in the knowledge that no fuel was burned and no unnecessary spending occurred. This is what prompted me into launching this September non-spender 'game' here in Frugaldom, by introducing you to Septimus Frugalus.
 
Septimus Frugalus is the epitome of money-saving; every penny is a prisoner and no matter what it is, if it's taking up space then it needs to either be growing, earning or contributing positively to the overall frugal lifestyle.
 
For the full month of September, we are going to do as the great Septimus Frugalus does - hold our  money hostage and clear out the deadwood that might otherwise be cluttering up the frugal living process. We're having a month-long spending challenge throughout September, based on not spending unless it is absolutely essential.
 
September moneysaving challenge
Click to go to the challenge
 
The main aim of this challenge involves a basic introduction (or refresher course) to frugal living and it should be of some help to our lovely new forum members and followers, in preparation for the 2014 Frugal Living Challenge.

 
Wastefulness is bad, in our frugal books, so the month of September is going to be a 30-day challenge to polish up our frugal skills. This will include assessing the contents of the kitchen, garden and/or food stocks every day in order to use up what is already there, rather than buying anything we don't actually need. It will mean cooking with ingredients we may not have thought of combining in the past. There'll be batch cooking, baking, making and mending plus several other more fun things to try while we prepare for what's coming next - winter and the festive season!
 
The challenge thread can be found HERE in the frugal forums, please consider joining us and see just how much fun you can have frugalising your household running costs and saving yourself some money.
 
The September challenge thread is now up and running, please find yourself a suitable username and let me know if you are taking part. All further details are available in the relevant section of the Frugal Forums.
 
Good luck and have fun frugalising your household budget in September.

Edited in: Just in case anyone can't see the above links, the web address to the challenge on the frugal forums is http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org/about1347.html

16 comments:

  1. The year used to change over in March, making September month 7 as far as I know. The change went from Lady Day 25th March until 24th March the following year - making ancestral history quite a challenge around the time this system was operating. The changeover from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, happened in England 1752. 1751 was a short year from 25th March until 31st December. January 1st 1752 was the start of the full year as we know it. Apparently, it happened in Scotland around 1600 but dates were muddled for quite a few years before and after these dates depending on where you lived.

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    1. Thanks DC, dates are a minefield when looking at history, aren't they? IT gets worse when you start looking at lunar months, because then we have an extra one to contend with, but easier to tell when it begins and ends - assuming it's not too cloudy to see the full moon when it arrives. LOL

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  2. This is such a great idea. Unfortunately, this month is a planned spendy month for me (in a good way though). Add to it that I have already eaten down my reserves (that was an August goal), I need to hit the grocery store again to stock up. But on the days I don't have to spend the planned money, I will definitely be doing some frugaling!

    Pru

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    1. All frugaling is good frugaling, feel free to come and join us to show others what you do to keep your spends down, as it's to help introduce newcomers to frugal living and prudent spending while offering a refresher course for some who may have slipped off the frugal wagon. Good teachers are worth their weight in gold. :D

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  3. I'm in!!!
    This is the perfect challenge for me and I have added it to my blog :)
    xxx

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    1. Brilliant! I already have your blog in my list on here. :)

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  4. I'm in! unless I sell the house and then I will be giving money away to lawyers!

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  5. Go on, I will give it a go.....!! I have a good stock of food to use up and I have lots of 'stuff' to keep me going, knitting, crochet and quilting so it will be a good month to make inroads into that. I also have a bedroom to decorate, I bought the paint in a B&Q casualty corner and got another £15 off the price so that needs to go on the walls. This will make interesting reading for me to see what I can do with my stock of tins!

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    1. Welcome on board! :) Is your username the same in the frugalforums.co.uk challenge thread? I can't see it anywhere.

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    2. thanks for the welcome, this is the first time I have posted on your site and I have only just ventured over to the forums so you may see me posting over there too!

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    3. Hope to see you posting over in the forums so I can count you into the challenge. Should be frugal fun. :)

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  6. Great challenge, I shall watch and learn with interest, I have done my menu plan for September using the contents of my freezer, stock cupboard and whatever garden produce available. I only plan to spend on fresh veggies and dairy. I also have lots of craft stash to keep me busy and plenty fabric to recycle. It should be a really frugal and interesting month!!

    Good luck to all who are joining in the challenge.

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    1. All the updates will be in the challenge thread, hope you enjoy reading and do feel free to join in with the discussions even if you aren't taking part. :)

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    2. Sorry LOL Might have read it wrong, I see you are planning to take part. See you 'there'. :)

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  7. If anyone is taking part in the challenge and hasn't already done so, can you please post in the challenge forum thread, thanks.

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