Septimus Frugalus #Nonspender Challenge and a Free Giveaway

Septimus Frugalus Welcomes You All to a Free Giveaway and a Fun, Frugal Challenge this September.

 As announced yesterday, our September moneysaving challenge over at www.frugalforums.co.uk is about one month of frugal living - some handy hints and tips for newcomers, a few refreshers for us old diehards and an invite to try out the lifestyle that we all love. So, without further ado, let's get ready to frugalise the household budget and earn ourselves a handsome ransom by releasing the captive pennies from the bonds of consumerism.

 

Taking part in the challenge is completely free, you simply need to join us in the forum HERE and post to let me know to add your username to the list. All names on the list (barring my own) will be entered into our free giveaway.

 

I was trying to think of some easy examples of frugalising your budget, but was soon provided with a couple just by reading some of the responses. Here are a couple of really straight forward suggestions:

• Newspapers offer discount coupons, such as £5 off a £30 shop at a particular supermarket, in the hope that we'll all dash out and spend £30 whether we need to or not. Why not use these vouchers to stock up on particular items that you would normally use throughout the year? For some items, £30 can be a full year's supply of stuff that doesn't go off - tins, dried goods, toiletries, laundry products, paper products, coffee, tea or discounted goods that can be frozen when you get home - and the free £5 could equate to a full year's supply of laundry cleaner, if you stock up on basic soap and washing soda. What you don't want to do is fall into the trap of spending the extra £5 on extras just because it seems to be free. If you must do this, I'd suggest you use the extra £5 for something that can be used as a gift for someone else - it's the £5 saved on Christmas or birthday gifts.
• So what if your cupboards are bare and your freezer almost empty? This challenge is about making every penny count, so challenge yourself to replenishing the stocks by bulk buying, looking for the very best deals - remember it's all about price per gram, kilo, ml or litre, not about how many in a pack - and always keep a good stock of basic essentials for baking and batch cooking.
• Be prepared to learn to love soup - it's one of the cheapest, most nutritious and cost effective meals there is in the frugal living menu stakes. (Likewise with porridge made the traditional Scottish way - with tap water.) You can make soup from almost anything. We have a thread about soup-making in the frugal forums and also several recipes included in this blog site.

That's it - the start of a new way of life for some, extra fun for others and, along the way, a few little extras just to make it more interesting. Nobody needs to be a gourmet chef, nor should they need to live on takeaways and fast food, we'll be having cheap, easy to cook meals that anyone can manage on a budget and we'll be helping one another along the way. We'll make do, we'll mend, we'll recycle, make, bake and budget wisely. All going well, we should have spent less, achieved more and maybe even have a few pounds left over to put towards winter and some festive fun.

 

Everyone is welcome to take part free at anytime, so bring yourself over to our 'Septimus Frugalus' challenge (http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org/about1347.html) and have yourself some money-saving fun. Many thanks to all who have chosen to join us, so far.