Frugal Living during Winter

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Following a frugal regime during winter is never easy. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks or who agrees or disagrees with our lifestyle choices, it's always around February that we could happily crank up the heating and throw extra logs on the fire... or else pack up and head for warmer, drier climes!

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Wintertime is dragging on without any definite signs that it's either going to arrive here with a vengeance or extend its chilly, wet, occasionally frosty days. Will it snow? Will the temperatures plummet to 10 below freezing just as we expect springtime to arrive? Who knows? All I know is that this time of year brings new challenges - money and otherwise. We eventually got the caravan cleaned, aired and made up ready for the arrival of our first visitors: the season opens this weekend and the water pipes, thankfully, hadn't frozen. It's probably warmer in the caravan than in the house, if I'm honest. Living in a smaller space is always going to be cheaper, as it's easier to heat.

CHILLY MORNINGS

At home, the thermometer on the sitting-room wall reads just below 6 Degrees C in the mornings, as there's no central heating here and we still haven't resolved the issue of deciding on the best way forward.

The open fire heats hot water on a back boiler, which gets pumped around the house and heats 5 radiators quite adequately - if you have a full time stoker, a limitless supply of perfectly dry kindling, a self-filling coal bunker and a guarantee that the power stays on to keep the electric pump running. Last week the power went out!

Just as I had banked up the fire and the water in the boiler was starting to bubble, sudden blackness and silence descended - barring the roar of the fire and the boiling water! Flicking a switch is fine if you have one, but there is no such switch to extinguish a blazing fire in the hearth while the pipes are rattling like they're ready to explode! (Getting slightly paranoid at this possibility)

CAN A BOILER BLOW UP OR BURST?

Literally blind panic while retrieving torches and candles... A fine mist water spray and a dose of salt extinguished the remains of the fire after I precariously decanted red hot coals to the multi-fuel stove in the room across the hall! I do NOT recommend this at all, but until I find out for sure if a back-boiler really can explode from overheating while the power is out, I have lost trust in this solid fuel system. My faith in uninterrupted electricity supply has never been strong, as I've pretty much always lived in the country. I should know better by now, but these types of home improvements cost thousands of pounds.

More number-crunching work required and I really do wish I had been able to afford to replace the entire heating system all at the same time. I think I'd now prefer a bigger multi-fuel stove, but keeping a supply of perfectly dry logs is difficult in such a wet climate.

GARDENING, POULTRY KEEPING AND WORMS IN WINTER

Gardening has fallen by the wayside completely - the ground is saturated, the earth just mud - even the two remaining ducks are getting fed up with it. They should be happy once their new run is completed and their pond thaws. The hens have settled well into their new run, away from the flood risk part of the garden and we're even getting an occasional egg from the young (2 year-old) hen. The little banties are now 7 years old, so I'm not expecting too much from them. Garden hens are not frugal if you're in it for their lifetime, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The wormery is doing surprisingly well, despite the weather. I think with it being so mild for much of the time, the wrigglers have just kept on eating, so here's hoping we get some decent compost this year. I can probably count on one hand how often our food recycling bin has ever gone out for council collection!

KEEP ACTIVE - FEBRUARY'S FRUGAL FITNESS MONTH

Something I must practice as much as I preach, as keeping fit and healthy helps your metabolism and the extra exertion keeps the blood pumping sufficiently to prevent hypothermia setting in... move it, move it, move it... anything, anywhere, just keep something moving. Right now, only my fingers are moving because, once again, I'm sat at the computer. Ho hum... I'm a dismal failure at the physical fitness in February but I have remained vigilant with the frugal finances! Just need to try to reap the benefits of some savings interest from somewhere, even if it is a mere 0.5%

EXERCISE IS FREE!

You'd think I would get to grips with this fact and make the most of it whenever possible! For this reason, I fully intend marching into March, making it all the way through the month, exercising like a mad March hare (without boxing) then marching right out of there, into April.

CYCLING

I haven't even sat on my bike since last Autumn! I think it's safe to say I am no cyclist, just a fair-weather peddler. The only pedlar I'm ever going to be is the one at the gate trying to sell eggs, fruit and veg! Riding a bike in winter weather just is not for me - I'm too paranoid about being run over by a logging lorry, tractor or milk tanker!

ANOTHER BIG BANG!

After the hot coal sprint, any almighty bang and rumble had me worried. The entire house shook and I ran outside half-expecting to see a collapsed chimney had crashed down from the roof. Thankfully not! We hadn't a clue what had caused it, but the poor cat looked terrified!

Not long after that, another almighty explosion rocked the house... but it had resonated from the hill at the back of the house. I seriously thought the farm's wind turbine had exploded, but it was still there, still turning.

 

I went and spoke to the nearest neighbour - she had felt the explosion, too, but she was able to alert us to the war games being played nearby! How come I had missed that piece of news? Yes, we had seen the helicopters buzzing about and we'd even had two huge Hercules planes fly over the previous day, but that's not unusual for this area. A trip along the shore road showed there were more than just planes nearby.

WINTER TREE PLANTING

Excitement over - but blasting not over! We now have tree harvesting, road repairs and quarrying all going on around us at Frugaldom. Tree planting is going to be noisier than normal, I expect, but this isn't holding up proceedings - it's mainly the weather that's causing the delays!

TREE SPONSORING

1,000 willows, 25 heritage apple trees, 420 assorted natives and a small copse of oaks to be planted before the end of March. We would love to have actual help planting but no amount of posting online about it gets our news read by anyone close enough who has the free time to spare. You can lead folks to the Internet but you can't make them read specific information.

 

Having invested in 25 heritage Galloway Pippin apple trees for the new orchard, I am now seeking sponsors for each of them. If you would like to help support the Frugaldom project, all the options are listed on www.Frugaldom.com  and in the www.frugalshop.co.uk

POST TAGGING

As well as seeking tree sponsors for the orchard, we have several other ways available, both for individuals and businesses. Fencing the project is costing thousands of pounds, so we are tagging the posts with engraved discs displaying the chosen details of those who take part.

Our Tag-a-post scheme will continue for as long as it takes to fence the corrals, then we'll keep going - around the barnyard, along the track and around the nature walk. It would be fantastic if each new post got tagged, though I fear this could take longer than I have left, as the Frugaldom project needs many, many new posts.

Again, you can find out more about our sponsorship and membership options by using the links on the Frugaldom website or by visiting the Frugal Shop.

Many thanks to all who have supported us so far - I hope you will all be able to join us here in May 2017 for our very first Frugalfest get together. Or sooner, if you choose.

Back to keeping warm - we're chopping up as many of the old posts as possible and drying them for firewood. Frugaldom is huge compared to a garden, so there is more than enough scrap wood by way of logs and branches for any of our members to share, if you care to go the DIY route and collect them from site. (By prior arrangement only.)

PORTABLE SOLAR KIT

I am now looking seriously at investing in a small, portable solar kit for lighting the barn and for emergency use at home or at the caravan. I'm not sure how money-saving it may be, so it has to be seen as an investment. Renewable energy on a stand alone system has to be worth considering, so the possibility of incorporating a small wind turbine on the Frugaldom barn has not been ruled out, either. There are some great kits developing and these are gradually falling within the affordability of individuals, even those of us on a frugal budget.

My incomplete list of current winter warmers and emergency back-up supplies:

• Extra layers, including thermals
• Fleece has become part of my daily wardrobe
• Woolly leg-warmers
• Double thickness socks
• Warm gloves and a hat - your head loses a huge amount of your body heat.
• Furry slippers (Indoors only!)
• Flasks for filling with hot water (I have a 5 litre one that gets filled from the kettle on the stove)
• Cooking facility - BBQ, gas camping stove, log burner
• Insulated mugs
• Hot drinks, soup and instant hot meal options
• Bottled water (if you rely on electric filters or pumps for well water)
• Exercise or extra movement - a short, brisk walk outside or even up and down stairs or around the house works
• Electric blanket
• Hot water bottle / wheat bags
• Extra duvet
• Extra under-blanket - if your bed has slats, lay cardboard over the top, below the mattress, as added insulation
• Knitted blankets from scrap wool - keeps you warm even while knitting
• Burnable organic waste turned into fuel!
• Candles
• Rechargeable wind-up torch
• Coal in the bunker
• Logs in the log store
• Old newspapers (provided by neighbours)
• Matches and extra matches
• Hand and foot warmers - anyone tried these? Shame they're disposable but as emergency back-up when working outdoors in freezing temperatures, they sound good!
• Alternative energy source - even battery power is better than no power - being able to see during power cuts (or when off grid) is paramount to your own safety, as the last thing you want to do is fall over or walk into something.

How are you dealing winter on a budget? Is heating costing more than eating? It certainly does here!

Frugal Living from Scratch 2

 

Part 2 of 2: Getting right back to basics - Each step forward can be seen as another step back towards the starting line. Each tiny achievement marks the successful completion of part of your lifelong challenge, your quest for freedom. Along the way you will meet many sceptics, cynics and even a few cheats and liars whose only ploys are to get your money. As long as you have your 'get out of jail free' card then you know you'll be back in the game soon.

So here I am, sat in my latest home, looking out the window at a pretty grey and wet day with 'pretty' being the most important word in that sentence. The curtains are quite awful, but that's an easily remedied problem once I get around to making some new ones. Perhaps I'll add a pelmet or even some nets, who knows? I haven't decided yet. For now, the curtains serve the purpose of shutting out some of the cold at night.

Most of my days will now be spent between here and Frugaldom, planting and sowing, clearing and cleaning, plotting and planning and wading through all the meetings that these projects seem to involve. The site where we have the caravan is quite busy with fishermen, so I'm managing to hog the satellite wifi connection very easily from my makeshift office corner. It has great views and has all the facilities I could possibly need.

Buying a bigger caravan and siting in on a holiday park may seem like a major luxury to some - indeed, it has already been commented upon! However, this suits our needs and was within a strict budget. Now my new neighbours will know who and where I am, as this lot's sitting outside the caravan waiting to be built into the new decking. I can't wait to see it completed and then I'll be ready for welcoming visitors. I'm using this week as a trial run to work out what is needed, having come here on Friday with only the barest essentials. There's hot water and a heated towel rail, hand washing items of clothing isn't a problem. (Neighbours, if you happen to be reading this, come and introduce yourselves. Just make sure you get the right caravan, as I see several had decking delivered this week.)

This is frugal living! The little fridge is rather bare but I've cooked up some pasta salad, made some fruit jelly and strawberrry whip for desserts and will waste nothing - anything else is from a packet and most of it is vegetarian until I get the groceries brought over from the house. Meals are interesting! I had a box of individual milk portions at the office caravan that came free with an Approved Food order some time ago, so I decanted all of their contents into a jug and used it to bake some rice pudding with sultanas. Had some for lunch today and can have the rest as breakfast, snacks or pudding tomorrow.

Each of the tiny milk cartons has been washed and will be used to plant a single pea, so I can have some home produce. No point wasting good cartons when they can be put to good use. This is frugal living - waste not, want not. We'll grow what we can wherever we can and hope to have enough produce to swap and share. It's just a little chilly out to expect miracles at the moment.

This is my frugal life! The view of our barn dwarfed by the snowy Galloway Hills on the horizon is an awesome reminder of how small we all are in the grand scale of life. Only we can choose how we live and if we choose to live in a simple way then so be it. We don't own the land even when we buy it, the land ultimately owns us and will dictate what grows where, no matter what. Frugaldom is very much about watching the lie of the land and working out what might do best where and when in the future. Some people choose to spend their money on a big house, expensive jewellery, a luxury car, designer labels or visiting foreign and exotic places - we choose this.

Tree planting on a chilly but sunny day, overlooked by hills and snow, with the sheer joy of this being no more than a short walk from home - for some it is a nightmare they would never want to have but for others, it's their lives' work, investing in a better future.

Just to make sure we truly appreciated these days of walking, fetching, carrying, digging and tree planting, we were honoured by the presence of this beautiful bird in flight as it soared above us on our walk between field and caravan - the Red Kite has reached Frugaldom.

Believe it or not, in the beginning it is quite difficult to stop spending money when you're on a roll - no matter what you buy, it becomes a habit, just like smoking, drinking, gambling, even clothes, shoes, handbags or hobby stuff. We each justify our spending but any manner of excuses but we are wise to remember that the ends justify the means - and I'd rather end up with the freedom to soar wherever frugal life takes me. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that, but taking your first flight of fancy into your own future of freedom is like starting from scratch over and over again. You just need to quit spending on stuff that weighs you down, then spread your wings and work like crazy to reach each goal.

Join us in Frugaldom, give up spending on what you don't need and shape yourself a new and affordable lifestyle while you invest in your future.

Frugal Living from Scratch 2

Frugal Bytes

Bite-sized Updates from Frugaldom

Keeping everything up to date online is difficult, so I am going to begin sharing my 'Living on £4,000 for a year' personal challenge from www.frugalforums.co.uk to here by way of 'frugal bytes'. I hope you enjoy them.

My budget spreadsheet looks like this:  

The Frugaldom budget spreadsheet

My January spending already looks high at £475.60, however, the freezer has been filled, the electricity meter topped right up and I paid 12-months telephone line rental up front, which will save me about £45 overall. I cancelled the 'free' 1571 service some time ago, as we seldom made sufficient calls to qualify. There's a £10 allowance for 'mobile' just in case I go gallivanting further afield, otherwise no need for it as there's no signal here. Figures on the right are for my 'EEK' (Everything Else Kitty). Feel free to ask questions.

Managed a trip to Co-op with a friend and a second trip is scheduled for two weeks' time to ensure I can spend my £5 voucher before it expires. Logs have been ordered for delivery next week and the coal bunker will need to be refilled soon. The kindling has been well topped up thanks to another big bag of scrap wood from local yard by way of a bartering agreement we've struck between us.

23rd March 2013 - last winter's snow

Winter preparations are on-going in case the snow gets here. Last year we were completely snowed in and, at one stage, without power for about 4 days. Luckily we had the stove, fuel, plenty of food in stock and sufficient feed for the livestock - I am grateful for the fact that we were able to cook and share what we had with neighbours who didn't expect such a bad winter.

This is our local construction company, 3B, digging out the main road down to the village last winter - a reminder of what Mother Nature can throw at us, whenever she so desires.

Over a year, my household spending averages almost £11 per day, £76.71 per week or £333.33 per month and has done so for the past 7 years. Despite inflation, I seem to be improving my lifestyle with every year that passes. Strange, but true!


FREEZING TIP

If you have a power cut during a freezing winter and have no access to a generator - pack your freezer with bags of snow and ice! There is no point in risking losing good food for the sake of a few days without power. Throughout the year, I have zero available space in my freezer - all gaps get filled with tubs or tins of water. If you have just a fridge and it's colder outside than in your fridge, use a sealed box sunk into the snow or sat in a shaded corner.

NYK, Frugaldom

Post-Festive Activities for Frugal Living

Start the Way You Mean to Go On.

The festivities are over, we're now firmly on our way to beginning the 'normal' year of juggling income and expenditure on a daily basis. For the frugal living among us, it's probably the best time of year to get organised, especially if you know you have post-festive credit card bills to pay off at the end of January. So where do we start?

By now, you should have used up all the festive meal leftovers, turning them into an assortment of dishes both for using up and for restocking your freezer. Stock for soup can be frozen but I made all of mine into soup, then froze that. It gets the job done before 'normality' resumes.

Next job to do is start the preparations for Christmas 2013!

Yes, you read that correctly. Frugal living means always being prepared in whatever way you can, right from the first day of the year to the very last. I can't say I go as far as ironing the wrapping paper received from gifts, but I do save whatever I can, along with tissue paper, gift bags, string, ribbons and bows.

Next job is sorting out the Christmas cards - ideal gift tags for next year and for salvaging the more fancy bits and pieces for homemaking future cards.

From my pile of cards, I split the fronts from the backs, setting aside the backs as spare card for recycling into the feet and bases of future McGonks. This card will either get painted or covered in felt, fur or fabric.

The fronts of the cards are kept for making gift tags, festive post cards and for cutting up to make embellishments for future card-making activities. (The top photos show little bits and pieces cut from the cards, along with some interesting 'jewels' that will make great additions to future projects.)

I apologise to anyone reading this who spots their card sent to Frugaldom but it's being recycled and put to good, future use, rather than binned or burned. Only the little trimmings from the outer edges get added into firelighting materials.

That has been my today's job, in between rejigging the budget to incorporate a hefty drop in income in 2013. (I received notice of termination of self-employed work-related contract yesterday.) In lieu of this (and giving up the car), I have slashed the household budget by 25% to £3,000 for the year.

Believe it or not, the above means surprisingly few changes - the only real one is that there's no contingency fund for everything else, so 'everthing else' needs to finance itself in a self-sustainable manner - garden, poultry, dedicated workspace etc, etc, etc. In addition, there's no gifts budget! Everyone is being told it's homemade or nothing. It should make for a much more interesting and creative year ahead, because I'm not prepared to jeopardise plans for getting the essential home-repairs done. I will not allow the cost of living to eat into savings, I'll simply cut costs further!

That's the plan, as of this evening. Let's hope there are no further surprises to help fire 2013 from the cannon! It's already been blasted by December's events with the car et al.

January is always an expensive month in Frugaldom - there's the annual *telephone line rental to be paid, insurance, extra costs of electricity during winter, the coal bunker needs refilling and the usual start of year preparations include recovering from the extra costs of the recent festivities. Credit card bills need clearing to maintain debt freedom, contingency plans adapted to incorporate any new year resolutions and, as always, rainy day savings still need to be put aside.

Heat preservation is essential, so here are a few of the things we frugalers do: Extra layers are worn, single glazing gets lined with bubble wrap to help preserve heat, likewise with door panels and attic windows, curtains get hung over drauhty doorways, fleece blinds (or curtain linings) fitted as soon as darkness descends and draught exluders are all in place.  The worst spot for heat loss in this house is the chimney! It sucks the heat from the livingroom in similar fashion to a giant, blood-sucking leech! When the fire isn't lit, the fireplace needs covered - anything does, even cardboard cut to size, as long as there's no fire lit and no hot embers! The updraught alone is usually enough to hold it in place.

2013 - another year of waste not, want not!

Have frugal fun!

*Annual line rental with BT, who offer a discount for paying 12 months in advance. In 2013, the cost is £129, equivalent to £10.75 per month rather than their standard charge of £15.45 - a saving of £56.40 over the year. You'll find details of it here.

Looking Forward to 2013, plus some interesting old links.

Frugaldom's Final Blog of 2012



 

Let's hope the view from Chilcarroch standing stones doesn't change forever over the next year. It really would be a shame to see a wind farm going through it but who are we to halt what our Government considers to be the winds of change?

 

A final fling from Frugaldom in 2012... before the start of the great challenges of 2013 are upon us!

 

It's about six hours until the start of the 2013 Challenges, so here are the new links to the main ones we have listed, for anyone who cares to take part:

• ENERGY SAVING
• FRUGAL FITNESS
• GROCERY SHOPPING

For all the individual challenges, you can browse the following sections of the forums:

• GENERAL MONEY SAVING
• GENERAL MONEY MAKING

Anyone is free to join any of the challenges at any time and, with over 15,000 previous posts to read, there's plenty to keep you busy while we await the 2013 lists being populated. You may need to register (FREE) in order to read everything but it's the only way we can exercise any sort of control over scammers and spammers.

 

Having had a look around while trying to summarise my past few years of frugal living, I located a link to June 2008, when I first added the Frugal Living message boards to the website. Hope nobody minds if I list it here for ease of access at any given time. It's from three houses ago and handy for looking back over various prices, budgets and events that occured during that time. Apologies for any dormant links if anyone happens to take a look back at our past endevours.

 

After a bit more 'web tidying', I came across some of the  2005/2006 messageboards that are still listed online, so I have taken the liberty of adding a link to them here, too. These 'historical hystericals', as I like to call them, can help highlight the major changes that have occured over the years, as well as remind us of some seriously funny (verging on ridiculous) situations. Looking back on this particular challenge, however, I am almost tempted into resurrecting it.

 

Anyhow, I won't babble on, as it's Hogmanay. I hope you have all had a great year and that 2013 will bring everything you hope and dream of, without breaking the bank.

 

Live long and prosper, as they say, but prosperity doesn't need to be about cash in the bank. Kill the debts and the savings will follow and remember the Frugaldom motto:

 

'The less I spend, the more I can afford'.

 

Until next year,

Frugaldom

Frugal Food Treats for the Garden Birds

Don't Forget to Feed the Garden Birds

As temperatures plummet and the prospect of another long winter draws in, it's time to check our wild bird supplies. Seeds, nuts, berries, fruit and suet are all firm favourites, as is a bit of cheap cat food. (Mealworms are a treat few frugalers can afford, hence the cat food.)

Frugal living may be based on a very tight budget but the 'waste not, want not' in all of us can usually stretch to helping the wildlife on our own back doorsteps.

Here in Frugaldom, we have an assortment of feeding stations dotted about the garden, mostly of the homemade variety. (This is my logman feeding station, he's made from part of a felled conifer tree and some bottle tops for eyes and nose.)

I buy wild bird food by the 20kg bag from the local agricultural merchant and have it delivered along with the poultry feeding, so it's available all year round. Otherwise, anything left over that's suitable gets put out on the tables.

The Bluetits love peanuts and fat-balls, but we need to remember to remove these from their net bags to avoid the birds catching beaks, tongues or claws in them. The Robins eat almost anything, the Coal Tits love peanuts and the list could go on and on and on. In fact, wild birds could eat us out of house and home here, so I try to make feed last as long as possible and as interesting as possible.

Peanuts in shells (leftovers from Halloween, perhaps?) are great for stringing together and hanging in hedges or trees - the bluetits quite happily dangle there, pecking away at the shells and feeding on the kernels. There's also a cheap way of making the fatty treats the birds all seem to love.

I have an empty herb tub that I line with tin foil - you'll see just shortly why it has to be lined. Into this, I put a couple of handfuls of mixed wildbird feed in plus any seeds, crumbs, sultanas etc that have been left aside for any reason. As long as your tub is at the ready, you can tip in the hot fat anytime you fry.

Having bought several tins of sausages from ROSSPA, they come canned in lard, which is great for making the feed blocks as it sets hard quite quickly. You can also set the seed, fruit and nut mix inside half coconut shells and then hand these from trees or posts. The other thing you can do is place string (non-nylon) in the middle of the seed blocks then tie them up once the fat has set hard.

To speed up the process, you can pop the cooled blocks into your fridge or freezer. Obviously, if you live in freezing northern parts of the country, you'll find it's cold enough outside to set the feed blocks hard. This is one I have setting now, after having fried up a tin of sausages to add to a little chilli I had leftover - it meant it fed two of us instead of just one.

During the hardest of winters, it's also a good idea to provide a daily supply of water, as most of what's around will be frozen. The starlings will probably bath in it, but if that's what they want to do, who are we to say otherwise.

Now all I need to do is try my best to keep everything out of reach of Scruffy cat, which means hanging it up high enough that she can't climb or leap up and grab the birds!

Frugaldom
www.frugaldom.com
 

Eco-Renovations and Gruesome Discoveries

Frugal Progress, but Eeeeeeugh!

 

It's getting colder by the day and we really need to get the potbelly stove fitted in as soon as possible! To this end, Thrift Cottage is in chaos! I called said chmney man last night and he was available for a visit this morning! Eek! We hadn't even cleared out the room, let alone removed the boards from the old fireplace. The moment of reckoning had arrived - had the chimney been blocked or capped?
 

The prospect of having 'Wilbur' installed in the sittingroom/office/dining room is an extremely exciting one. Wilbur is my pot belly (pig) stove. We installed one at our previous house. (It was named 'George', by a frugal friend who had been reading Peppa Pig stories to her little nephew. George is, I think, Peppa's baby brother?) Anyhow, I loved the tiny stove so much that I wanted to bring it with me when we moved house so, when the new tenant offered to buy 'George', I replaced it with an identical model for here, while they were still available for under £100! (Wilbur, as many may remember, was the little pig in Charlotte's Web.) These are fabulous stoves for the price, although you do need to chop logs smaller to fit through the tiny door. They're multi-fuel, they burn hot, have a cleaning hatch and are blessed with a stove top plate that can be used for cooking or boiling the kettle; handy during power cuts!
 

The following is NOT for the squeamish, so if the word 'gruesome' didn't alert you to the contents of this post, let this be your final warning to look away now, or else think of science in school.

 

Chimney man was hard at work for well over an hour but I was delighted to hear that the old chimney has not been blocked up or capped - which explains the dampness. It was, however, blocked solid with years' worth of damp soot, birds' nests and, you've got it, the remains of some previously feathered tenants! Quite disgusting seeing the eggs and body parts tumbling from the 200 year-old chimney, but fascinating, all the same. Some looked positively preserved!

 

You know me, I felt compelled to take a photograph for posterity and have decided to sare it with you all right here, now! It's like the frugal version of a visit to the natural science museum! The worst of the mess is over for now, with bag upon bag of soot, rubble and the last remnants of the creatures that once inhabited our other chimney. At least we had a lovely, crisp day during which doors could be left open and heaters switched off to help save electricity. IT was a case of seeing your breath in almost every room in the house today, that's how chilly it's getting.

Amidst this, the postman delivered me a lovely stash of oddments, buttons, ribbons and other beads, my frugal food order from ROSSPA got delivered, friends arrived with 25kg of spuds that I'd ordered and another pal arrived for a quick trip down to the village this afternoon. A busy day, by anyone's standards.

Trip to post office got the November work stuff out of the way but I do wish I had taken my camera to capture the glorious pink sunset.  The view over Luce Bay was stunning! Never mind, here's one I took previously - it's the one I'm using to colour match the decor for the new kitchen, once we reach that stage.

 

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a HAPPY ST. ANDREW'S NIGHT and thank you all, once again, for being such fabulous, frugal friends and taking the time to read my frugal witterings.

 

NYK Media, Frugaldom

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Winter



As Temperatures Plummet...

As the icy grip of winter tightens, so, too, do the purse strings, in a bid to stem the flow of cash needed to heat out homes. How are you managing to stay warm and how is that affecting your budget? For me, it's (ice) crystal clear that we need to take stock of everything from home insulation to pipe-lagging, draught-proofing and just basically keeping warm. All of this needs doing 'within budget', so this could explain why folks like me show renewed enthusiasm in crafting and an increasing interest in producing a vast array of culinary delights. At best, it helps absorb extra spending by way of the DIY gift production, at worst, we'll not starve or freeze, because we can eat or wear our own creations. It's a fabulous time of year!

 

For our feathered friends and fruit-bearing trees, it's a bit of a sad time, I would think. What with the frosted ground, bare, dormant trees and frozen ponds, there's not much cheer to be seen, and even fewer eggs being laid (if any). For the ducks, it's time for extra layers of straw, warm mash suppers and extra players in the ice-breaking games. (I wonder if ducks would like winter woolies and fur-lined wellies, or is that just quackers?)

Indoors, staying warm is just as difficult if you're mid-renovation, but the sub-zero temperatures are stark reminders to last winter, when we had no proper kitchen roof, therefore no proper kitchen. Now I have more than half a kitchen and work well underway towards completing the bathroom and the hall, with it's salvaged stone-flagged floor. I love my 'new' hall floor and know for sure that few will have similar, unless they also recovered their 1805 original, dug it up, cleaned it up and then re-used it.

 

Earlier this week, we had two wooden steps replaced - it was a necessary job, owing to the discovery of a bit of wood rot at floor level that had obviously been temporarily mended at some stage over the years. 

To our amusement, our lower step had been partially constructed from what resembled part of a wooden, Aberdeen fish crate! You can just make out the word 'Aberdeen' stamped to the right of the old box handle, but I can't quite decipher the company name, as this was all that remained of said box. Later, of course, this got used to kindle the fire.

 

Onwards and upwards, the weather is staying a little kinder to us, despite the -8 Deg C on the thermometer this morning. There's been no more rain! Indeed, we have even had a little more sunshine, further prompting me to investigate alternative transportation and pick up a few extra tips along the way. First tip was call the garage and ask for the car battery to be removed before they scrap the car! I'd never have thought of this, but am now convinced by fellow-frugaler's suggestion to utilise this in my quest for quail-house lighting. The car battery should easily power an LED light. But back to the car costs...

 

Cheap cars aren't always as economical as we might think. £1,000 to buy, then there's insurance, road tax, MOT, servicing, general wear and tear, savings needed set aside for a replacement and, lest we forget, the astronomical cost of the fuel to power the blasted thing in the first pace. It all mounts up and, in this case, it amounted to a massive 65p per mile driven. In steps frugal-friend, once again trying to convince us of the merits of cycling. So d'you know what? We've agreed to have bikes! The carbon footprint of Frugaldom has been slashed. All I need to do now is try to cut down on the number of electric heaters I have plugged in, in an effort to reduce the costs of trying to heat the house.

 

And now for some fluffy stuff, because I love being part of this little global family of frugalers, bloggers and forum posters. Some kind person has given me these colourful goodies to help me on my way to starting the previously mentioned 2013 Frugaleur Challenge, which will see Clan McGonk come alive for the new year. It's all very exciting and I can't wait to get started, especially as the pink wool almost matches the original pink gonk. I can just picture it now... Granny McGonk with her pretty shawl, keeping her extended brood in order over the coming year. I'm itching to get started on this project and wouldn't surprise myself in the least if I cast on a few huge loopy stitches this evening, while sat in front of the fire.

I wonder how long it will be before someone pops up and suggests a rocking chair! (It's not like I have my eye on one of those for when the eco-renovation is completed.) :)

 

Stay safe, stay warm and stay dry, everyone, and let's keep up the good work of making life fun and affordable for all. Best wishes to all, from a happy Frugaldom.

Some Frugal Experimentation with Eggs

WINTER PREPARATIONS

With the approach of winter and the long, dark nights, anyone who keeps hens, ducks or quail will be all too aware of the fact that the egg laying diminishes to a virtual standstill, so it's time to make the most of whatever is available before we have no daily supply.

Normally, I'd have access to a proper kitchen to enable me to bake plenty of quiche, make lemon & lime curd and have a stock of meringues, assorted cakes and biscuits in store. However, Thrift Cottage doesn't, yet, have a kitchen, so some alternative storage methods have had to be employed for winter food supplies.

Egg storage is all quite new to me, as where we previously lived enabled me to sell any surplus, but making them last all year round was never given a thought - we simply did without them and made the most of whatever had been cooked up and popped into the freezer beforehand. Now,having read up on it, there seems to be no reason why we shouldn't freeze the eggs for defrosting and cooking when required. So that's what I'm in the process of doing.

Using a silicone muffin tray, I am cracking one duck egg into each section and then open freezing them. It's still at experimentation level for me, as I don't know how these will cook once defrosted, but the freezing seems to be working alright, allowing me to pop out each egg once it's done. They are curious looking 'cakes', that's for sure!

These frozen duck eggs are being bagged up and sealed, so they can be easily accessed individually, depending on how many are called for at any given time. Biscuit baking calls for only one at a time, so this seemed like the obvious solution to a winter egg shortage problem - we can at least have biscuits, cakes, pasta and quiche. That's the plan - I'll update you once I've got to the stage of needing to use any of them. I reckon the sections in the muffin tray will hold either one duck egg, 2 hen eggs or at least 4 quail eggs each.

 

If anyone else already does this, please get in contact and let me know if there's anything special I should know before defrosting and cooking these. In the meantime, wish me luck in my endeavours to keep a supply of garden dwelling poultry produced eggs going until spring, when the birds will, hopefully, all start laying again.

 

Join us in the Frugaldom Forums at http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org if you are interested in participating in any of our 2013 moneysaving challenges. Frugal living and frugal working can work and it needn't mean doing without anything, assuming you concentrate on becoming debt free as your first priority. It's also a great way of finding new hints and tip about cost-cutting and reducing your spending, none more so than at home.

 

You can also follow @Frugaldom on Twitter.

 

Gve me a shout out if you spot Frugaldom anywhere else and have fun preparing for winter and the start of 2013.

Slow Cooking, Rice Pudding and Electricity Costs

A Winter Warmer and a Winter Warning!

I'll start with the frugal winter warmer, as it's more comforting than the winter warning.

Rice pudding is a firm favourite of our household but, despite this, it seldom seems to be on the menu during summertime. For this reason, I have come to the conclusion that it must be a frugal winter warmer.

Being a big fan of the slow cooker, as opposed to switching on the main electric oven, I tipped in the following ingredients, in no particular order:

INGREDIENTS

1.5 litres UHT milk
Half a can of evaporated milk (left over from semolina pudding the previous night)
300g rice (I had to use long grain, as nothing else in store)
3 rounded tablespoonsful of sugar
3 handfuls of raisins or sultanas
a good sprinkling of nutmeg

I cooked this on high then reduced it to low after about an hour and a half. It was then left slow cooking until teatime. Give it a stir every half hour or so, just to ensure it isn't burning (caramelising is the more frugal terminology used for this browning process) and add a little more milk if you don't like it too thick.

The above should provide you with around 6 to 10 servings, depending on how hungry/greedy you are. Obviously, if you follow guidelines, then the portion prices are minimal.

I'm finding now that I need to cook as much as possible at any given time, mainly because the cost of electricity is creeping up to a level that's getting out of control!

"Ditch and switch", I keep hearing people say, only these people obviously aren't thinking on behalf of the entire nation! Get cashback to ditch and switch - that might help! Only problem I have found is that each time I feed my household's electricity requirements into one of these comparison sites, they all seem to come back saying the same thing: Amount of savings = ZERO!

I'm not one for brand loyalty but, when it comes to electricity and telephony, there can't really be a cheaper way of doing things, can there? Living in a rural community, our only service provider for telephone lines is BT. There may be other companies out there but, at the end of the day, if the BT network goes down, the phone connection and Internet access is lost, regardless of who is billing you.

I feel the same way about the National Grid. If your electricity is coming to you on mains wiring, it has to be connected to this self-same grid, regardless of who is supplying it.

I double checked my figures using the E.ON site, thinking I could possibly take advantage of their Tesco Clubcard points offer, but found that, in order to 'benefit', I would need to pay even MORE than I'm currently paying Scottish Power. I guess what I'm trying to say is, no matter who your supplier is, they're always going to get your money somehow. As they say, "better the devil you know than the devil you don't", so I'm sticking with what I've got and hoping that the original is always best.

Of course, if all this talk of the miraculous *E-Cat proves to be true, I'll want to make sure I have enough in my savings account to cover the cost of purchasing my very own energy catalyser. Guessing I'll need to be quick, too, before 'they that be' clamp down and the miracle device mysteriously disappears, all traces of the thing dissolving into the ether.

My one piece of extra good news over the weekend was that my £35 cashback has finally been confirmed for last year's contents insurance. If I remember correctly, the policy cost me around £40 for my minimal contents and if I 'cash-in' for an Amazon voucher, I'll get an extra 0.5% bonus.

Topcashback and my eBid Buddy Points are paying for Christmas 2011 in the Frugaldom household.

* On the subject of the e-cat, my research is beginning to look more like an article for the Paranoid Times!

NYK Media
www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk

Chilly Weather But No Snow in Frugaldom.



1st December 2010

The past couple of days have been very cold but gloriously sunny. It's actually quite warm in the sunshine, so we've been sitting out at the back door for coffee breaks in between seeing to hens, ducks and quail.

Egg laying is on the increase, so I've been able to set aside a few extras for selling and also made the first batch of stove-top lemon curd. It's just cooling now. I've also popped two trays of muesli biscuits into the oven, so bring on the visitors - we have something to accompany the coffee. :)

Keeping the stove going is a daily chore, as is trying to keep a ready supply of dry  firewood. Chopping logs and splitting sticks is a very regular occurance here - we just can't get enough of the stuff. With temperatures not getting above freezing, most days, it's going to be great once the wet weather returns - NOT!

The plan to summarise the past year fell apart. It just seemed silly copying it all over here when it's already on the old website, so that time-wasting project has been called to a halt.

Off to check on the biscuits then make lunch; can't decide between soup and bread or eggs on toast. Such are the major decisions that have to be made in Frugaldom.

LUXURY LEMON CURD RECIPE

4 egg yolks (I use our own freerange hens' eggs)
150g sugar
100mls lemon juice (you can substitute this for lime juice or do half and half mixed)
70g butter (or margarine)

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together whilst gently warming the butter and lemon juice. Add the egg yolk/sugar mix to the pan and whisk together with the lemon and butter. Keep this on a low heat and whisk regularly until the mixture thickens to resemble custard. If you are cooking on a log burner, it's easier to take the pan off the heat to whisk it, otherwise cook slowly over a low heat. Do not allow the mix to boil.
Pour into a sterilised, pre-heated jar and leave to cool. Once set, keep it refrigerated.

Did you know there are NO EGGS in many of the cheap, mass produced lemon curds?

Join us in the fun, frugal forum at
http://www.frugaldom.co.uk/

A Look Back at 2010 in the Run up to 2011

Week One, 2010.

I started the year full of enthusiasm with the usual list of New Year's resolutions - spend less, save more, get fit, live a more frugal life... you know the type of stuff. My year's budget for running the household was set at £4,000 after rent and council tax and the amount I wanted to save had been deducted. It was the same amount I'd budgeted for the previous four years, so I was already combatting the problem of inflation by adjusting lifestyle and eating habits to fit with each consecutive year.

We'd had a lovely white Christmas, with some of the snow still lying. The day normally starts at dawn in Frugaldom, heralded in by an array of noisy cockerels, hens, ducks and quail. At this time of year, the cattle and sheep are normally fairly close by, sheltering as best they can from the chilly winds and I'm up before dawn to get the fire lit before going out to face the freezing morning. It was a dry, frosty start to the new year, with temperatures slightly below freezing. I'd managed to take a few photographs of the 'blue' moon before it disappeared. I also took some of dawn breaking over snowy Frugaldom; the skies look spectacular from here at this time of year.

Celebrations like New Year, in the Frugaldom household, include the making of the clootie dumpling. It's a traditional Scottish fruit 'cake' that gets boiled in a cloot, or cloth. Mine is a family recipe, one that's been passed from mother to daughter for several generations. As a rule, I now keep all the basic ingredients in stock at all times – flour, suet, sugar, treacle, syrup, dried fruit, assorted spices and milk. A dumpling was duly made for New Year's Day. I also made shortbread, to try out my new cookie cutters. I think everyone was fed up with my using the hoops made from empty tuna tins, so I eventually caved and got myself a set from the eBid online auctions. Homemade elderflower champagne was the drink of choice on New Year's Day. The main meal included beef broth followed by the traditional steak pie accompanied by carrots, potatoes and braised red cabbage – a friend made the braised cabbage. Pudding was, of course, clootie dumpling. There were mince pies for later, homemade by a friend who would eventually become a neighbour.

During that first week in January anything edible that could be frozen got frozen. Even the big old heron, not that I'm suggesting we eat him, looked frozen standing in his icy patch of the stream. Freezing weather is a great time for defrosting and cleaning your freezer, as none of your foodstuffs defrost if you leave everything in a box outside. After defrosting, cleaning and repacking my little chest freezer, I added a blanched cauliflower, pate, sliced dumpling, stewed tomatoes and a heap of chopped and blanched carrots. Even the surplus cheese found a space. Along with the normal bread baking, I also baked four banana loaves to use up my share of the bananas that soon-to-be neighbour bulk bought for a few pennies on New Year's Eve. I managed to squeeze the four of those into the freezer, too. Waste not, want not, my freezer was filled and Frugaldom was ready to face another year. All the vegetable offcuts and scraps get boiled for the feathered friends and, in return, they provide us with eggs. Egg production was picking up a bit, so lemon curd making was on the horizon.

The 'wishing book' was duly unlocked and the previous year's list inspected. Out of the 'top 10' items I had in my 'To do in 2009' list, I had succeeded with 8 of them, failing only in the 'homemake all presents' category and the 'fill my ISA' stakes. We'd had a big wedding for daughter, so what wpuld have been savings had been put to good use, meaning no borrowing and no ensuing debt.

With hindsight, hand-making ALL presents was too far-fetched for the world in which I live. I hadn't thought through the reality of preparing and making stuff and then ensuring it reached the right people at the right times, especially when they are scattered all over the country. Basically, I didn't plan, nor did I try hard enough to achieve that goal. I didn't really want to, if truth be told, I'd prefer to leave creativity to the creative or hand crafting to the handcrafters and simply trade for their skills.

The garden and poultry 'project' had been the bulk of the work done in 2009, but it was still nowhere near completed. With the ground being frozen solid, nothing could be done outdoors at this time, so indoor jobs became the main focus.

Baking and preserving were two things I loved about 2009! The gift of the bread maker from a very good friend was a godsend. I haven't bought a loaf of commercially produced bread since September 2009! Living where we do, with such a vast hedgerow, means that everything preserved one year will keep us going in jams, jellies, relishes and wine throughout the next plus, of course, I hadn't had to buy any eggs since the hens started laying in Spring of 2009! Surplus either get sold, traded via LETS or made into something that can be frozen for future use. Eggs fast become part of the staple diet in a frugal household, hence the need for my compiling the Frugaldom '100 things to do with eggs' list.

But it was time to renew the list of goals and ambitions for 2010. Here goes...

1) Grow more fruit, veg and herbs

2) Improve on the poultry keeping set-up to make it self-funding

3) Home make gifts - plan ahead!

4) Do not buy any bread, cakes, biscuits, jellies, jams or relishes

5) Improve the kitchen for better use of available space

6) Make better use of recycling, trading and exchange schemes

7) Live on £4,000 or less (excluding rent and council tax)

8) Maintain a debt free status whilst working from home

9) Fill my ISA

10) Continue to reduce, reuse and recycle

Rubber chicken is a great favourite in our household. After a roast chicken dinner with the breast meat, there's enough left over for a curry from one leg, a stir fry from the other and then at least one pie from what's remaining. What's left of the bird can then be turned into stock for a big batch of soup... it just keeps stretching to more meals.

I hasten to add that we do NOT kill or eat any of our own chickens. I may be frugal to a fault but the buck stops at killing anything for the pot.

Frugal chicken stock gets simmered in a 5 litre slow cooker overnight, during cheap rate electricity. It's then bulked out with whatever vegetables are available and a quantity of rice. It makes for a huge amount of soup but it's cheap, it's nourishing and it's great in winter for a hot snack or at lunchtime. Of course, all that surplus had to be fitted into the now bulging freezer. No matter how hard we try, there's just no emptying a freezer once you're into the way of using up leftovers to turn them into another meal, even if it's just a single serving for someone taking to work.

I was considering my 'master plan' to better utilise the kitchen space to provide more storage and introduce some extra heat to the place. It was freezing in there! But 12 degrees was starting to feel warm after being out in -6C Porridge became the staple morning diet of all Frugaldom inhabitants. The bitter cold kitchen was making me think of log burners and multi-fuel stoves. Once again, I began to wonder of the landlords would permit us to install one.

The lemon curd did get made (4 jars), followed by coconut macaroons and some frugal meringues to use up the egg whites. I also made pizzas and a big batch of bolognese sauce, which had to be fitted into the freezer. I'd had my New Year visit from daughter and family and then a friend had popped in with some odds and ends that she'd de-cluttered from home. I rescued a copy of 'Life of Pi' from her. Between us, we still managed to fill a couple of boxes of stuff for the charity shops.

By the 5th of January, the snow was back. Nothing too serious, we thought, but enough to trigger the 'top up the electricity meter and be prepared' type of mild panic. Son was due back at work, so he topped the meter key up while he was out, just in case the weather situation got any worse. How he managed to get his little car out the lane that week I will never know! It was getting so cold that I was worried about the water supply pipe freezing. The coal fire was lit continually, eating through the supply of logs. Sun, sleat, snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures... the road out of Frugaldom got worse. The snow fell on top of the ice that we'd had for the past several weeks and, eventually, all deliveries into Frugaldom ground to a halt – no animal feeds, coal, logs, even the postman wouldn't attempt to reach us. I went as far as send off an order for overnight delivery from one of those discount food supply outlets, but we'd to collect the box from the road end, just over a mile from the house. We took many photographs that week. How the digital camera survived it's speedy decent flailing from a frozen wrist is beyond me. All I know is that someone going arse over elbow then plunging head first down an icy slope like a human tobogan is rather amusing, especially as it wasn't me!

I was extremely glad that the electricity meter was topped up, cupboards and freezer full and plenty of grain in stock for the feathered friends. The landlord was out with a snowplough to clear the deepest snow from the road outside the houses, but it ended up making it worse than ever. Main roads were fine by then, just these little lanes and farm tracks that couldn't be cleared. The paths and driveway were soon like glass, so smooth and frozen that the salt was blowing off before it had a chance to melt. It was so cold, I'd to plug in oil-filled radiators to supplement the open fire and storage heaters. Electricity budget took a battering, using over £50 for one week, while temperatures remained below zero. It was a case of prioritising our needs and, in order to remain sane, we NEEDED heat. Logs were running out fast but still no commercial vehicles of any description were getting along our road. Salt was sold out everywhere, so it taught me a very valuable lesson - be much more prepared, keep a bucket filled with household salt for emergencies.

Temperature rose to -2C, power stayed on and the phone line meant we maintained access to the Internet. We discussed Berkshire pigs in the Frugaldom forum and I learned that the Berkshire is, "a first-class light–weight porker, suiting the modern smallholder, killing out at 55-65 kgs live weight". Apparently, “it's the ideal freezer pig for the discerning customer." I also learned that the housemartin nest in the eaves of the gable end had become a winter retreat for upwards of 20 wrens, which we managed to video at dusk! I photographed my first Reed Bunting that week, too, whilst out walking along the lane.

Temperatures dropped again, to around -8C. By the end of the first week in January, the council had to plough their way through and grit the lane in an attempt to get a hay wagon to the farm before supplies ran out completely. Our hen and duck eggs were freezing to the straw in the nest boxes! I stupidly tried hanging out washing in the winter sunshine, but it froze solid. I re-read my '100 things to do with eggs' page and awaited a slight thaw. That same week, the cows began calving in the field! I'll bet their babies hadn't expecting to dive headfirst from 38C to -8C or less!

That was my week one of  Frugaldom in 2010. The future next-door neighbours made it through the snow for their New Year's visit, the cattle and sheep at the farm got their hay, the wrens continued to pack into their tiny, temporary home and the weasel began making regular visits to the Frugaldom garden! Of my £4,000 budget, I had managed to spend £90 on topping up the electricity meter and £17.93 on bargain bulk food supplies like savoury cous cous, that could easily be made using the kettle of boiling water that is always on standby in case of power cuts.