Life of Pie

The world, according to Frugaldom, is a complete package. We have all we need to create all that we want and if we break it, we have the wherewithal to fix it. Nothing is fake, everything is real - just take the time to look into this amazing frugal bubble that is our world. It's like the life of pie!

Life of Pie!

Humour me, if you will. I'm still the same person living the same frugal life surrounded by the same people, same space and same basic ingredients that make up Frugaldom and the world around me. Yes, some faces and places may have changed, some friends and family have passed along the way and new little humans have been born into our extended family, but nothing much has actually changed. We are still in this same bubble that holds all the secrets and solutions to all the mysteries. It still dumbfounds me that some people just can't see the bigger picture when it comes to looking after our spinning rock as it hurtles around that blazing ball that we call the sun.

Planet Earth (Free Blog Photos)

Don't get me wrong, I'm no scientist, I'm just someone who likes to think more and spend less when it comes to the topics of money and life. I can't stand money but it's a necessary evil in our society. Whether we see it as paper notes, metal, coins, pebbles or digital points, it is merely a number that can represent pretty much anything else, anywhere else. Our imaginations know no bounds and are restricted only by how much we can experience, not by how much money we have. It's like pie - some of us can bake our own from very little while others are happy to pay whatever it takes for others to do it for them.

Our world is a mish-mash of every possible ingredient available to mankind and it is all contained within this giant, multi-layered, bubble oven that's heated by the sun and insulated or protected by the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, ionosphere, magnetosphere, atmosphere and any other invisible-force spheres that engulf our ball of spinning rock. They contain everything, dictate our weather, our climate, our tides and the phases of our moon. As far as mankind is concerned, nothing more gets added and nothing gets lost - it is baking mankind in an ever evolving life 'pie'.

Life of Pie

We have what we have and it is up to us all to keep making pie and sharing it accordingly. Some people will be researching and developing the very basic ingredients, some will be tweaking the recipe, some harvesting and preparing the ingredients and some making the dough. Some will be helping bake this never-ending pie while many more will be contributing to all the various fillings needed to help our spherical bakehouse stay in production and meanwhile, we all need to contribute to maintaining the oven, as a complete break-down would be globally catastrophic.

Sadly, there are those who will always want a larger slice of the pie than others and there are also those who aren't prepared to share their slice with anyone else under any circumstances - they'd rather pig out, get fat and dictate the pecking order. But one would do well to remember that when times get tough, those who spit feathers, bully the flock and crow loudest are likely to be next in the pie, even if it's just to bring peace to the neighbours.

Feed the world... every single person is contributing to the global pie in their own way - even if it doesn't turn out the way we like it.

There is only one way out of this kitchen and it isn't by any earthly door that anyone's ever found. We're in it together and we're in it for life... only you can decide how you choose to contribute. What holds it all together and keeps things going is the balance of nature and our combined, conscious efforts to maintain the equilibrium. I believe this is the very basic principle of life itself and that everything we amount to is what gets returned. Trying to lead a balanced life and helping those who can't should be first and foremost, in my mind. Money won't buy food, water, shelter or even fresh air if this bubble bursts, so why accumulate useless 'stuff' that has no meaning in the meaning of life unless you already have everything you need for a balanced and happy life? By all means, protect your investments, but spare a thought for those who have nothing.

We need to find alternatives to save our bubble from bursting!

www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk / Frugaldom

How do people not pay any energy bills?

 

Most people know by now that there are all sorts of ways to reduce energy bills. Insulation, double glazing, smart appliances and simply knowing when to put on a jumper can all help. But how is it that some people manage to pay nothing at all? Is it really possible, in an ordinary home, to generate directly and sustainably all of the energy you need? You might be surprised.

A new generation of homes

Finding homes with this kind of potential is getting easier than ever as construction and development companies have cottoned on to the fact that there’s a big market for eco-friendly properties – and some, of course, share that wish to do the right thing as far as the environment is concerned. M1 Group, for instance, now routinely put eco-friendly systems in their new build properties, giving them added market appeal at the same time as standing by the principles of sustainability that have always influenced their way of doing business.

Solar power

Many people assume that there’s no point in fitting solar panels if they live in northern climes, but with the new generation of solar materials now available, that’s no longer the case. Even when the days are short and there’s a lot of cloud, a single solar panel is often sufficient to create all the hot water an average family needs. This new technology is also a lot cheaper than the old technology because economies of scale have come into operation as more and more people have concluded that solar energy is the right choice for them.

Wind power

You will need planning permission to install a wind turbine, but you can now buy good rooftop models for just a few hundred pounds, and if they’re well positioned – so as to get plenty of wind – they can generate impressive amounts of electricity. They’re ideal for remote locations where there are no neighbours to annoy and few other buildings blocking the flow of the wind. In places such as this, versions with masts can also be a practical option and are often more productive.

Water power

For people fortunate enough to live near a waterway, small-scale hydroelectricity generation can also be an option. People have been using waterwheels for thousands of years, but modern hydropower systems are highly efficient and can produce electricity for all your household needs. You will need to get a professional assessment to find out if it’s a practical solution for you.

Energy generation systems such as these can provide all the power that’s needed for some homes. They can also be used in combination. In some cases, the results are so impressive that householders can not only provide for their own needs but also sell electricity back to the grid. This means they make a bit of money, and a larger proportion of the overall energy used in the country comes from renewables, helping to reduce everybody’s carbon footprint. It’s a win-win situation.

=============

Following on from our discussion in the NYK chat room regarding frugal entrepreneurs and long term investments, making the right choices at anytime can reap real rewards, in both money and self-sustainability terms. Frugaldom has vast potential for development of more eco-friendly projects than you can shake a stick at - and let's face it, we have plenty of those lying around the place. So what would you choose for your ideal self-sustainable, eco-friendly home? I know Frugaldom isn't home, but with today's technology, almost anywhere in the world has the potential to become self-sustainable on or off the grid, even Scotland could balance the energy books with the right mix of solar, wind and hydro, although we do seem to get more wind and rain than sun most years.

You can discuss this subject and many others at www.frugalforums.co.uk

Zero Waste Week at Frugaldom

Sunset at frugaldom wild camp

Waste not, want not… let’s all do our bit to reduce what ends up in the landfill and make the most of every penny we spend.

This week, we have been wild camping, repurposing an old log burner, picking home grown produce, knitting string dish cloths and taking cuttings from the herbs in the garden.

Read the first instalment of our Zero Waste Week here

Inside a Tiny House

Inside a Tiny House

Have you ever wondered what the inside of a tiny house looks like?

Wonder no more!

NYK has managed to meet up with Mark and Jen from TinyHouseUK and fully investigate what tiny houses are really like…

I love them!

Read all about it and see the photos here

Nature - The Greatest Artist of All Time.

If Mother Nature didn't inspire art, there would be no inspirational art. 'The Arts', as a term, always invokes visions of landed gentry, stately homes, museums, galleries, theatre and multi-million pound investments, but art is all around us and it is totally FREE! You just need to take a closer look.

Spring is taking its time in arriving here in Frugaldom but we are managing to inch our way along the list of garden jobs whenever the weather permits. As you know, we have already laid in most of the foot path through the garden, so it now extends to the bottom of the micro-orchard. Next, we need to sort out the remains of 'rubble mountain', which H reduced by around 6' in height. This year, it has been levelled enough to sow some potatoes to help break up the soil and prepare it for greater things in the future. Read more here

Nature - The Greatest Artist of All Time.

Experimenting with Candle Heat

My Frugal Adventure Into Candle Power

So many people have posted (or shared or commented or reposted) about the ability to heat a room for 8p per day using a simple candle heater that it was beginning to annoy me - mainly because the information is so outdated and so few people were reading the full story concerning the tiny dimensions of the original room in the article. I remember trying this heating method many years ago, possibly while attending Girl Guides, so it isn't anything new.

 

Inflation has to count for something and I expect current candle prices and room sizes will negate any possible financial benefits, but I do have a good stock of candles and will happily number-crunch my way to the 2014 prices.

 

My Candle Experiments

Our bathroom is, I believe, a conversion from an old stable and, as such, has 3 external walls. We haven't fully refurbished it yet, other than having to fix the immediate problems when we first bought the house - roof, window, floor, water pipes and some plasterboard on one wall. There is sheep wool insulation in the roof and the one re-lined wall, but the place gets very cold without heating.

 

I lit an 8-hour taper candle and left it burning overnight with no other heat source. We had a touch of frost overnight, temperatures dropped to around freezing, but the candle was still burning and the bathroom was 3 Degrees C the following morning.

1. A bit of online research showed me the cheapest 8-hour candles I could buy would cost about 10p each, if bought in bulk. (I can't use tea lights through the night because I do like to sleep then, not stay awake to relight candles every couple of hours!)
2. Subsequent searching showed me that these taper candles can produce about 80-100w, whereas a small tea-light is, at most 30w, presumably because of much shorter burning times. I'm not too hot with watts, so I won't go into this part any further and I can't guarantee the facts, only say that's what I read when researching.
3. To calculate how much energy you need to heat a room 'comfortably' (whatever that means), you measure the length x width x height in metres and then multiply it by 0.07 My bathroom requires 637w to heat it.

Based on all of the above, 1 + 2 + 3 = 8 taper candles per 8 hours x 3 = 24 candles per day to heat the smallest room in the Frugaldom household. £2.40 per day - not 8p per day, as per the grossly over-shared, long out of date, candle heater articles.

 

I am currently paying approximately 17p per kWh for electricity (after factoring in the standing charge), so heating the bathroom with an electric heater would cost about £2.60 per day

 

Interesting stuff, but a few words of caution - sufficient ventilation needs to be maintained to ensure there's no risk of poisoning from any potentially hazardous fumes. And if you're trying this in the house do NOT try it anywhere you are likely to spray flammables such as hairspray!

 

Having raked out all my old candles, there was one major flaw in this experiment - lack of candle sticks! Many years ago, households possessed candelabras for holding the multiple candles but none have come my way recently. I'd to use an empty wine bottle and a big jar - it did not work!

 

Yes, the bathroom felt warmer while the candles were lit - it had to, there were 8 naked flames dancing in my shower cubicle! As soon as they got to jar height, one by one they melted until all were extinguished. This morning, I had a cold bathroom and a jar of candle wax sitting inside my shower. The room thermometer was ready 4 Degrees C.

 

Undeterred, I did the experiment again using tea lights placed inside an old stock pot, for added safety. The bathroom temperature was 4C when I lit them. They are the cheap, bulk-bought ones, so I'd need many more of them to generate the near 700w necessary to heat the room. I burned 8. Even at 2p each or 16p per hour, that's still cheaper than electricity, right? 

 

Did this raise the room temperature to a comfortable level?

 

No!

 

By the time all 8 candles had burned out, the thermometer was reading just 6 Degrees C and I could still see my breath.

 

Meanwhile, I wanted to devise some sort of contraption for concentrating the heat to try and radiate more of it outwards, rather than upwards... cue the 3-tier, stove top steamer! I am currently burning only 2 tea light candles inside this and it is already too hot to touch. It's sitting on the stovetop, reminding me of the Christmas tin can lanterns we were making not so long ago, albeit on a much grander scale. And this, frugal readers, brings my right back to the beginning of the experiment -

 

Can you heat a room for 8p a day?

 

In a nutshell - NO!

 

Candle power may be sufficient to prevent a tiny space from freezing if you have no other source of heating, but it is neither economically viable nor safe to heat a room with candles for any prolonged period of time. In a well-insulated and draught-proofed house, the condensation, soot and fumes generated just cannot be healthy, so perhaps buy a pet canary and keep it in the same room as the candles if you must use them, just to be on the safe side. Again, not very frugal - perhaps best just buy a carbon monoxide sensor and an extra smoke alarm.

 

What have I learned?

 

A simple candle heater, such as my converted steamer, makes a great experiment for both small space warming and attempting to heat a meal during an emergency power cut. It would most certainly prevent a tiny room from freezing, perhaps even a little greenhouse, but I couldn't recommend it for any modern-day, well-insulated household and it most certainly wouldn't be cost-effective to heat an entire room - there are just too many cheaper alternatives to stockpiling a candle mountain.

 

As an example of the above, I'll use my own sitting room.

 

The calculations of L x W x H x 0.07 would suggest I need 2565w to heat this room 'comfortably', which equates to 32 quality 8-hour candles - that's £3.20 per 8 hours, or £9.60 for a full day. (Cheap tea lights may burn for only 1-2 hours, so that's over 100 per day needed for my sitting room alone, plus someone there to keep relighting them while ensuring the house doesn't catch fire.)

 

Need I continue? I think I will...

 

£9.60 x 7 days = £67.20 for a week and this is just to 'comfortably' heat one room in the house. It really doesn't take a number-crunching, moneysaving, frugal living genius to see the flaw in this plan, does it? Candle heating is not about frugal living or money-saving. Apart from anything else, can you imagine the colour of your ceilings from all that sooty residue?

 

I know my figures are not scientifically accurate, but they do reflect real costs associated with modern lifestyles. We need to march boldly on, shoulder to shoulder with progress, and just do our best to be prepared for any hiccups along the way.

 

Now I'm off to light my 6kw multi-fuel stove for a bit of instant heat and a hot cuppa. It costs about £10 per week to run, call it £15 to cover a shovel of slow-burning coal to keep it alight overnight. although it hasn't got cold enough to do that, yet.. I can boil the kettle and cook dinner on it and there's sufficient heat radiated to send some out into the hall and up the stairs to the bedrooms. :)

 

I'll keep my candles for genuine emergencies, if you don't mind.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

That's Life! Be Grateful for it!

Life!

Late start after a very blustery, chilly and damp night - it was warm in bed, I didn't want to get out into the cold! Nature calls and we must obey!

The cat has been fed, I've had my mug of tea, lit the main fire, read the electricity meter, eaten my porridge and can still see my breath while sitting here at the computer, looking at the thermometer on the wall reading 8 Deg C. I could switch on an electric heater but we are doing our best to learn to live without these - persistent power cuts render them useless, anyway.

The stove has now been lit and will have this room warm by the time the other fire has heated the water in the back boiler to pump it round the radiators. 'H' has been out to attend to the feathered friends, chopped more sticks and had his first soaking of the day. This is a typical morning in Frugaldom. We should learn to appreciate typical days much more than we do!

We're still waiting for the full blast of the next storm to arrive - perhaps it has changed direction overnight? No, that would be too much to expect when this is January in Scotland. Besides, it is absolutely battering down with rain and hail now, so chances are the power will be out by lunchtime. The kettle is back on the stove. We are offered a little shelter on this southwest coast by way of Ireland, so best wishes to all over there when the surge arrives.

Meter Reading

The chart above is of my weekly electricity meter readings for this house. You can see both spikes from the past two winters and this is what I want to avoid completely in 2014 - but it isn't a catastrophe if we fail!

Monday has traditionally become meter reading day in frugal households up and down the country and this one is no different. I began the exercise in 2003 to try and control how much was being fed into the prepayment meter in the rented cottage while also buying logs and coal. I am grateful for the fact that I have the knowledge and good sense to prioritise my spending in a way that allows me to pretty much live my own life the way I want to and still afford to save for whatever else life throws at us! 21 Deg C throughout the house isn't necessary here, we can live happily without that!

With a prepayment meter, costs are unfairly inflated by the power companies assuming that only people in debt, without bank accounts or who cannot be trusted to pay their bills possess such things. To be fair, they are a great way of inadvertently running up a huge bill during winter, as you can over pay during summer and not need to top up extra through the freezing months, but this doesn't excuse the fact that the rate per kilowatt hour is set at a premium. In my opinion, anyone being paid in advance for anything should be rewarded with a discount at least equating to the bank interest rates! (Link to Scottish Power rates)

Energy price increases were due to take effect on 6th December but we had topped up the meter to the maximum £249 by then. I haven't a clue what to do about this, as I won't be topping the meter up again until summer - will we be beating the price hikes? The kilowatt hour rate increased but the daily standing charge decreased on 6th December 2013. Overall figures suggest we are saving slightly but is my meter also clocking up a debt along the way? For some obscure reason, Scottish Power representatives have been unable to confirm or deny this for me. I guess I should just be grateful that we have the sheer luxury of electricity at the touch of a button, regardless of tiny percentage differences in metered prices.

Today, I read of yet another possible price change, this time a slight reduction! To be 100% honest, I haven't go the faintest idea how much a single unit of electricity should be costing me, all I know is that my meter is currently charging 12.96p per kWh plus a weekly charge of £2.11 despite the standing charge having fallen to £1.92 and the unit price having risen to 14.42p per kWh on 6th December - time will tell what happens. Does it really matter if we're prepared and can afford to pay it?

Since buying into this house in April 2011 we have done everything in our power, pardon the pun, to reduce electricity costs. I simply hate paying over the odds while seeing wind turbines appear all around the country that bear no effect on the cost of heating our old terraced cottage on this tiny street on a tiny budget without gas or oil. Here we have coal and logs. Coal is now £14 per bag for the cheapest available in our area. We should be grateful, as many a life has been lost in the quest to harvest coal from mines!

But we still need to think ahead and do what we can for future generations. I'm already a gran to a 9-year-old and a 3-year-old and I'm not even 50 yet! I could be a great, great grand parent if I'm fortunate enough to live that long. I want to be part of the population who did what they could to prolong the existence of our planet in a sustainable and meaningful way.

Burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) is something I would prefer not to do if it could be at all helped - but for now it can't! One questionably better option that's deemed 'carbon neutral' is log burning but, at the same time, keeping a plentiful supply of dry, well-seasoned timber in sufficient quantities to sustain a household all year round simply isn't feasible unless you want to make a career out of log splitting - which pays you zero income and the trees still need to be bought with cash, felled, hauled, sawn, split, stacked and stored a year in advance. We haven't even got around to building a big enough log store yet, far less fill it with an entire winter's worth of wood! Let's hope we can remedy this problem during 2014 and, meanwhile, be grateful for what we already have.

Fingers crossed for no power cut, as I've just switched on the breadmaker. As soon as the water is heated by the fire, I'll get a washing on - I swapped the cold feed hose onto the hot water pipe to reduce the energy needed by the washing machine to heat the water (thank you for the tip @Solarbud) - and then the clothes will need to dry indoors on airers by the radiators.

The bulk of the 'Nile' mince (so called because it stretches so far) cooked on the stove for last night's dinner (served with veggies and suet dumplings) is in the fridge waiting to be turned into a huge lasagne, so that's what I need to make this afternoon. This will be done in between putting together a web page for a client, catching up with the frugaldom forums, knitting a bit more of grand daughter's blanket that I still haven't finished, chatting, keeping the stove and the fire going and, all the whiles, thinking of the horror being endured by a family well known to all us 'horsey folks' from Lanarkshire at the sudden and devastating loss of a 4-year-old child. I cannot begin to imagine the horror for any mother witnessing such a tragic event.

Thoughts are with all concerned at this extremely sad time.

NYK, Frugaldom

Going to War on Waste: Time, Energy, Food, Water, Fuel and Finances

2014 Will be my Personal War Against Waste!

www.frugalforums.co.uk

As previously mentioned, my journey to this place in time has taken 15 years of challenging myself to beat a financial mess into submission and recover enough to take control of my own finances.

Along the way, I have been joined by many others and, hopefully, I have been able to offer sufficient moral support to enable them to move on, leading their own personal journeys, sharing their news as they go. I know many have and continue to do so.

 

Despite everything, however, I still find myself day dreaming about what I would like out of life, wandering off the straight and narrow 'path of need' in search of bigger and better things, or perhaps substitutes for those things in my life that haven't materialised. Life, for me, is about marking progress, passing each milestone marker and ticking it off as a small achievement before moving on to the next. If one route isn't fulfilling all my own, personal needs, then I need to retrace my steps and set off in a new direction, once again hopeful of achieving what I set out to achieve.

 

So, here goes with my war on waste!

 

The Frugaldom eco(nomical) renovation has been in progress since April 2011, when we first bought the house. Work is slow but we are getting there. Where 'there' is, I'm not exactly sure, nor am I sure how I'll know when I reach that destination, or where I'll go from there! But for now, that's where I'm heading.

 

Since having the old back boiler behind the open fire replaced with a Grant's triple pass boiler (second hand/reclaimed), we soon discovered that the hot water being produced was not being used! It was soul-destroying the night I had to run off gallons of hot water just to stop the tank boiling up, but there was simply too much of it to do anything else. We have now invested in another two radiators and, this time, bought them brand new.

 

Of course, I bought online through a cash back site and used my cash back credit card so there was a little bit of saving involved, but all done with the view of not wasting precious hot water in the future. We've had one fitted in the hall leading to the shower room and the other fitted in the living room, where the fireplace is. It's brilliant! Even now, with two extra radiators, there's sufficient hot water to run a bath - if we had one! Needless to say, I am now on the lookout for a bath! Sheer luxury for wintertime use when the fire is lit. But, of course, with all highs, there can be lows...

 

This is what will be the living room, complete with its newly fitted radiator. Looks a bit wet, doesn't it? That's it drying out after our latest disaster; blah, blah, blah, nobody really gives a toss about why etc... but it's drying out now.

 

I have to say that I am majorly impressed by my workman's ability to keep his cool while all around him is chaotic! He even made mention of Rudyard Kipling and his famous words! I'm not sure how funny he found it when I asked what 'King of the Swingers' had to do with anything!    Shows you how my mind works - it leapt to Jungle Book and the Just So Stories while he was beginning to recite lines from 'If...'!

All mopped up now and I was singing my version of 'Steamy Windows', while lighting the fire and trying to remember where I read that music and song calmed crazy minds... I'm sure that's of Biblical origin, so it brought Noah's Ark to mind and that made me think of 'Noah and Nelly' the TV cartoon, which brought me right back around to Rudyard Kipling and his Just So Stories - the one about how the elephant got its trunk.... Crazeee...... me? Never!

 

Moving swiftly on, now trying to ignore thoughts of Jonathon Swift and Gulliver's Travels, it brought

me to the fact that we almost have the living room competed, as soon as it's dried out, but how do we get in and out of it when there's no door? Yes, OK, I know we just walk through the hole in the wall! Anyhow, that hole in the wall isn't a standard door size (I wasn't in the least surprised at that news!) and it meant having a door made to measure. Umm... I don't think so, not at that price, thank you very much.

Cue an online search and some helpful suggestions from the trusty workman. And this is what we came up with; a light-weight shed door that can be cut to fit the existing door frame and made to fill the gap!

I was a bit dubious at first and couldn't, for the life of me, work out how I'd open and close a shed door with what I thought was a latch! But look at this! A set of black hinges and a matching black latch, known as a Suffolk latch, and the new door is beginning to look mighty fine to me! In fact, I love it just the way it is, all natural and woody and rustic, but it still has to be undercoated and then painted.

Had I been changing the other doors in the house, I might have left this one bare wood and simply varnished it, but the other doors are white. White should look good with the black, as that's what's already on the replacement front door. I'll let you know what I decide, eventually.

Back on my war against waste, everything that got delivered was boxed in brown corrugated cardboard, so the past 3 days I have spent tearing it all up into strips and rolling it into fire sticks for 'Wilbur', our pot-belly stove in the sitting room. They have worked brilliantly, boiling kettle after kettle of water and even cooking dinner for the past couple of nights. How great is that?

One of my MAJOR grievances is the cost of electricity, especially when it is the main source of energy for cooking, heating and lighting. Over the past few years I have faithfully recorded electricity use on a weekly basis, along with the costs involved in heating by way of coal and logs. I haven't had a house with central heating in it since renting a property in Suffolk while working down there in 2001-2003, so getting this solid fuel system up and running here is absolute luxury, even if it will never have push-button convenience.

For the past year, I have worked extra hard at trying to drive down my spending on electricity, coal and logs, despite the prices of coal and electricity increasing. Here are how the current results of that challenge are looking.

 

We had a major blip last winter after the worst snowfalls here in 60 years, cutting us off from the outside world for 4 days. Temperatures were dropping well below zero and we didn't have the heating system repaired at that time - thank goodness we'd had 'Wilbur' fitted, as it meant we had one warm room in the house, the rest relied on electric heaters! We're now about to enter the coldest period of the year; temperatures have already begun dipping below zero and we've had the first flutter of snow. December, I suspect, could be much worse, but the fight against wasting electricity continues.

 

Firstly, this week I learned the fabulous new (to me) trick of switching the cold water feed for the hot water feed on my little washing machine. This means I can do the laundry while there's hot water in the tank and have no need to burn extra electricity waiting for the machine to heat the water - I can let the fire do it for me and afford a warmer wash for things I'd normally do cold! How simple and ingenious is that?

 

Secondly, I was very fortunate in that I was awarded £60 of Amazon vouchers by Barclaycard for taking part in a quiz and then listing it here for everyone else to take part. Amazingly, very few of you chose to take part, although it isn't too late yet - you have until midnight tonight and I have 3 x £20 Amazon vouchers to give away tomorrow! (See here) Anyhow, I gave mine over to Christmas shopping and this freed up another few pounds from my savings.

Seeing the 'Black Friday' offers for light bulbs prompted me into spending a whopping great £14 of my own money (plus £60 courtesy of Barclaycard and £15 courtesy of Topcashback) to replace every light bulb in the house, barring the fluorescent strip light in kitchen, with maximum 5watt LEDs plus motion sensor battery operated LEDs for the stairs, cupboard and even the wood store. The batteries will be rechargeable, so I'm now saving for a solar battery charger and a set of spare batteries - unless anyone has some they'd like me to review?

 

Even our old rechargeable (via electricity) torch has been made redundant by way of this fabulous little device! It's a wind-up torch complete with phone charger. I have a whole other tale to tell about this after grand daughter and I took it away on out hillwalking and indoor camping holiday last month! Just thought I'd mention it here since it is contributing to my overall energy savings by way of no longer needing the other torch plugged in and at the ready for power cuts!

 

I'll let you know on Monday if electricity use is down this past week, despite there having been some power tools in use, By next Monday, once the new bulbs are all fitted, there really should be a marked difference.

 

That takes care of wasting electricity - we simply won't be doing it, as it's just like burning money. With what gets saved by the above actions, there should be sufficient surplus in next year's electricity budget to more than cover the cost of having the silly prepayment meter replaced and then switching onto a cheaper tariff. Our tariff increase comes into play one week from today, but the electronic key has been topped up sufficiently to last us for what could be months if my calculations are anywhere near correct.

 

Back to my war on waste! What else is worth saving? Well, basically I see binning anything that we've had to pay for as binning money, but so many people remind me that time, itself, is money, so I have decided to severely cut back on wasting my time.

 

For November, I made some recipe card sets and fridge magnets to sell, either as gifts from frugalers for those who could benefit from learning some basic cooking skills, or for newcomers to frugal living, so they could learn to make their own delicious alternatives, plus have a bit of fun. (I included a card about papier mache.) All profits (25%) were for my nominated charity. I'm ashamed to say that I sold only 11 sets over the entire month and earned a pitiful £11 for the charity! I can clearly see I have been wasting my time trying to promote these via social media, as it has proven to be one of the most unsociable, to the point of being anti-social, places I have ever set virtual foot online. For me, it simply doesn't work! After a month of trying (and failing) I discovered that only a handful of people were seeing my posts on the Frugaldom Facebook page and even fewer were seeing my Twitter posts.

 

No more wasting time, no more wasting money, food, water, energy or fuel, no more wasting opportunities to have fun. My war on waste has been declared!

 

NYK, Frugaldom

Addressing the Speaker of the House on the Subject of Small Gadgets.

Here in Frugaldom, I am forever trying to source great gadgets that can be relied upon in emergencies, but equally put to good use during normal, day-to-day life. We seem to have to deal with power cuts on a fairly regular basis, so anything electricity free is a good start.

The first handy gadget I encountered this year was, of course, my Ventus Twister - the foot pedal operated mini washer and spinner that allows you to do laundry without needing to plug into an electricity source. (Half price offer still stands if you use the code word 'laundry' at checkout when buying via the store. (See this post for details of our recent competition.)

But what about this for a handy wee gadget?

It's a tiny speaker, a mini boom box, if you like, complete with built-in FM radio, micro-card reader, flashy twinkling light display and a fully integrated battery, recharged via USB to computer or electrical adapter (also available from Ventus). It has a tiny, retractable aerial to help with radio tuning, with a booster available by way of plugging in a short cable, if necessary. (Special £5.00 off voucher code included later in this post .)

Read more here…

Septimus Frugalus Competition Results!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER OF OUR SEPTEMBER COMPETITION!

See the exciting draw for this fabulous Ventus ‘Twister’ pedal-powered, mini washing machine and spinner. It doesn’t just wash do your laundry, it makes a fabulous tombola!

Check out the Frugal Living Forums :: SEPTIMUS FRUGALUS CHALLENGE for results of tonight’s exciting draw, which was made from our 19 finalists after a full month of challenging themselves to frugal living on a whole new level. You can also find out where to get a Twister of your very own, with 50% OFF (now only £32.49), courtesy of our sponsor, www.ventusfreeenergy.com

What a fabulous month it has been, despite a few major highs and lows along the way. Let’s hope our winner enjoys saving even more with this foot pedal operated washer.

Laundry With a Difference - Review of the 'Twister'

 Footpump Action Washer and Spinner!

I've been playing with my new toy, the Ventus Twister. 

Having done some quick research about easier ways of hand-washing than turning your hands into fat white prunes, I learned of this device online and then quickly discovered that others had done similar research and had devised all sorts of contraptions using commercial salad spinners. These, however, proved to be far too expensive for a frugaler, as did the £60 or so price tag on the 'Twister'. (I ended up paying £29.95 + delivery for mine via good old eBay.)
 

First appearances: It's much bigger than I had anticipated. I was imagining a tiny pedal bin barrel with a salad spinner inside, but this actually holds 14L of water in the main washing chamber. At the time of trying this, we had a power cut while upgrade work was going on in the area, so I had to do a cold wash (no hot water) and chose the filthy bath towel that I'd used to soak up the water from my flooded washing machine after it went 'bang'. Using cold water was through necessity, as the power outage lasted 6 hours.

 

Using the shower cabinet as a mini wet room, I got the towel into the basket, added some homemade laundry 'gloop', left it to soak for 5 minutes and then got started with the 'foot pump' action, which is surprisingly easy to do! It didn't take long to froth up the water, despite it being cold!

Pumping the water back out the 'bin' was easy, then same thing as above but without the 'gloop' until the suds were gone and water was running clear. The 'Twister' stays put (I was expecting to be chasing it around the shower base) thanks to the suction pads on the bottom of it, although I'm not sure how well these would work on grass in a wild camping situation.

Then it's spinning time... suggested at 50 to 60 half-size foot pumps per minute! This does get the basket fair whirling around and all the excess water was removed from the towel, which was impressive - no dripping wet towel to carry out to the line - but I still gave it a hand wring before hanging it on the line.

As you can see, despite it being a cold and quick wash, the towel came out fairly clean and dried quickly in the sunshine and breeze. Most impressed, as I wasn't expecting a towel to fit into the basket.

As soon as the power was restored, I tried a warm wash, just filling straight from the shower. I discovered that by removing the shower head, the flex fitted perfectly into the inlet hole of the 'Twister', so that was ideal, especially with the aid of an electric shower and all the varying water temperatures available!

The clothes were left soaking for a few minutes before starting the washing process. I'd easily know how well this works because the leggings and tea shirt I had in got a bit messed up when I accidentally dropped a skewer of toasted marshmallows on them! (Yes, we were barbecuing again!)

Washing, rinsing and spinning completed with a small load comprising leggings, t-shirt, undies and jammies - quite a bit more than what I was expecting to fit into this - and all hung out to dry. They were clean!

This is a great little contraption, BUT... I am going to share the things that should be considered before rushing off to spend your hard-earned cash on a washer that needs no power supply. In characteristic fashion, I am beginning with the cons, as opposed to the pros, because that's the way my mind works.

CONS

• These could NOT be used indoors on the kitchen floor, for example, because the water needs somewhere to drain away.
• It needs to be next to a source of water, although there is a length of hosepipe supplied.
• It isn't big enough to wash a duvet cover - but I'll no doubt try to cram one in, as I'm a bit daft that way!
• It doesn't spin all the water out of the clothes, only enough to allow you to lift them out without them dripping all over the floor.
• It's too big to cart on a bike along with all the other camping gear you would need if going alone - you'd need at least one other bike to help.
• Possibly uses much more water than an ordinary machine - I reckon you could easily get through 40 litres in one small wash, so not water meter friendly if you have one of those to consider... unless you recycle the water.
• Clothes take longer to dry than if they had been spun in a machine

PROS

• Money saving on electricity - no power supply is needed so this works anywhere you have access to water.
• It's fairly lightweight for packaging into a caravan or car boot if you're going camping, or even onto the back of a bike if several of you are going camping.
• The foot pedal is easy enough to be operated by hand.
• 14 litres of water is quite heavy for carrying but I think it's light enough to sit on a sturdy draining board or in the sink, if you have one big enough, or even the bath. The hose pipe would reach from tap to washer, just make sure the drainage tube drains anywhere except onto your floor.
• Small capacity still allows for a full set of lightweight summer clothing, meaning you could do an electricity-free mini-laundry every day after an overnight soak and reserve your electric machine, if you have one, for larger and heavier stuff like bath sheets, bedding, jackets and jeans.
• Easy to utilise the rinse water for garden and plant-watering, assuming you aren't filling this with chemicals. Hmm... I wonder if I should use it in the polytunnel? That would certainly help the cucumbers!
• Makes you appreciate modern conveniences, sunshine, the summer breeze and the great outdoors in a fun-sort of a way. I can always hang my washing in the polytunnel if it's raining!
• I'm guessing these could help save money on nappies if you're using terries rather than paying for disposables.

So there we have it - a simple, plastic contraption that may save you money on  electricity and could help water your garden while encouraging members of the household or family to play at doing laundry outdoors.

I'll let you know how it copes with whites, but I don't have many as these are considered anti-frugal by me. :)

I'll keep on spinning,
Frugaldom.

A Washing 'Machine' for Campers

Portable Washing Machine / Spin Dryer - Pedal Powered

No Mains Required!

* HALF PRICE * WAS £59.95 NOW £29.95

This may be one of the silliest things I'll buy during 2013 and I do hope that it hasn't been done in vain, as it's a tiny item that is costing more than it has cost to give my entire bedroom a makeover!

 

When the washing machine went bang and I was left hand washing my 'smalls' every night, my hands were beginning to look like white prunes. As for my nails, well... they are very clean, that's about all I can say in their favour.

The search began for a cheap and cheerful alternative, rather than diving in with both feet to invest in a new washing machine. I want to at least give the old one the opportunity of being fixed - but the local 'fix-it' man is ill and can't get to us until he's fully recovered. I may even start taking the machine to bits myself, but not having the correct tools could be a bit of a pain.

 

Keep in mind my recent 'airing of the tent' escapades and my passing thoughts of 'wouldn't it be fun
to have a camper van', then consider several more power cuts in our area and you can see where all this is leading. You got it - off grid alternatives!

We do have a stream running through the bottom of our garden but the thought of slapping clothes off rocks on a daily basis is a little too far-fetched, even for the likes of me.

 

Search Lotto is my friend - it's my free ticket to the Lotto millions, so off I went in search of an alternative to an automatic washing machine, something to save my poor hands until I have my machine fixed. (Or replaced - perish the thought!)

I found the Ventus 'TWISTER' Pedal Powered Portable Washing Machine, as seen on TV's 'The Young Apprentice'. On closer examination, the price tag on most of the camping store sites and, even, Amazon, made it look ridiculously expensive, but I then spotted those magical words displayed on an eBay advert - * HALF PRICE * WAS £59.95 NOW £29.95 *

 

The description included things like:

• Just fill with water, add clothes (ideal for underwear...) add a little washing powder and pedal gently for a few minutes.
• You get clean clothes, and a little exercise!
• No power bill / No batteries / No inconvenience!
• Uses water sparingly and efficiently.
• Perfect for camping / caravanning / power outages / or simply use at home when a small load does not justify the cost or energy of your regular electric machine.

Well, I was won over almost instantly, but with an alternative thought in mind!

To all intents and purposes, this looks like a glorified salad spinner housed inside a small pedal bin, so I am assuming it is going to be tiny. I have a 3 litre plastic bowl, looking at that I suspect that the 4 litre interior basket of this pedal-powered gadget won't hold very much, but should be large enough to 'rinse one's smalls of an evening'. I figure I'll be setting up said contraption in the corner of the shower, for ready access to hot and cold water, rather than using it outdoors. Of course, during sunny, summer days and doing a cold rinse, it will be ideal for doubling up as a garden watering device, as the amount of soap used will be minimal. (This is the plan, to date.)

The other wacky idea I had is developed from my desire to create a 'tiny house' come bird hide come mini-summer house in what will, one day, become the secret garden. All of these handy little gadgets should be ideal for next year's summer camp if 9 year-old grand daughter decides that it sounds like fun to camp out at granny's!

I'll follow up this blog post with a second one as soon as my clothes washing salad spinner arrives, letting you know how I get on and how well it performs. In preparation, I have made a fresh batch of frugal laundry cleaner.

Until then, best wishes from a prune-fingered Frugaldom. 
 

How Will I Ever Afford Retirement?

Frugally philosophical thoughts about how to avoid abject poverty in the event that the State Pension collapses and we're left without an income.

Part II

Having had a quick look around at what people (and nations) fear most, it would seem there are four main threats. Whether these are perceived or real remains to be seen, but fear them, many do. In no particular order, here are what look to be the biggest fears of all:

• Financial instability
• Global Warming
• Extremist groups / terrorism
• Nuclear developments

I can't say that any of the above surprises me in the least, as it simply boils down to money and self-preservation. Let me think, where have we heard that before? "Your money or your life?"

This brings me to an abrupt conclusion about the future of our financial well being during retirement - it matters not one jot as long as you are alive and well enough to live life when the highwayman comes calling. Nations may rise and fall, sea levels may rise and fall, we frugal Scots will vote for or against independence as we see fit but, at the end of the day, it's all about life until the end. So let's get ready to live it for less in a way that helps secure our own futures.

My main priority is to slash overheads - the basic cost of living. No rent, no mortgage, no debts whatsoever and nothing that ties me to a lengthy contract. Looking around to see what ill-fate could possibly befall me to foil any such plans, I begin to see how little we are taught about self-reliance, self-sustainability and self-responsibility, so I want to redress that balance and ensure that my future is secure in my own hands and less dependent on others.

Think ahead - what do we need to live and enjoy life without fear of discomfort? Where could we possibly save cash so that it will grow and provide us with a secure future during retirement? Where is it safe to save it so that it needn't be lost completely in the event we don't see out life long enough to retire, more to the point? Lest we forget, the highwayman isn't averse to daylight robbery and his weapon of choice can inflict sudden death! (I'm a cheery wee soul, really, but let's get real and face facts - our ticket to life doesn't include a 'use by' date!)

Right, back to basics - food, water, clothing, shelter and energy with the health, wealth and fitness to enjoy life. That's it! Those are the basic essentials that we all need and into which we should invest, be it financially or practically.

Knowledge is power, as they say, so learn as much as you can about food production & preparation, making & mending, DIY and energy saving while balancing a healthy lifestyle with a fun fitness regime. And share your views freely.

If we are financially savvy with it, we can enjoy the speculation of accumulation by way of long term investments that are guaranteed to be there for generations to come, serving us well when needs must.

The wisest investments, I would think, would be those that cannot be manufactured or mass produced - personal skills, personal space and the environment in which we live.

Entrepreneurs, did you know that it's 90 years since Clarence Birdseye, an American taxidermist, invented the concept of frozen food? But we still aren't eating synthetic food, it still has to originate in nature, albeit with a genetic helping hand now and again.

Since the above and other such conveniences, we seem to be freeing up more and more time, finding more and more things to buy and spending more and more time trying to earn cash to pay for a whole heap of ludicrous, unnecessary 'stuff' just because it's there. Think labour saving and time saving with an element of 'cool' mixed with gimmicky 'must-have' and you might be onto a winner in the invention stakes, but there's also a huge amount of money to be made in security, be it home, personal or virtual and alternatives to fossil fuels. At first I thought the hydrogen fuel cells would eventually develop into something big but it's been so long now that their shine has tarnished. The naturally occurring elements and exploration of space have to be at the fore of research and development, surely, as planet earth cannot expand to accommodate the billions of humans as well as all the flora and fauna forever more.

I don't have the magical answer to the ever-asked question, 'what is the next big thing?' What I do have is a head full of useless facts that all seem to be pointing in the same direction - civilisation, despite all these leaps forward in science and technology, still isn't all that civilised. There are still wars, famines and epidemics, there are still murderers, rapists and thieves and there are still no life-sustaining environments outside of our own planet.

Wondering about how to afford to live in the event that a tiny Government on a tiny island cannot afford to extend me a tiny amount, sufficient to pay for the bare essentials, becomes so insignificant that I may well simply never ask the question again. I'll just save what I can, live my frugal lifestyle and invest in long term benefits like those provided by a good pair of wellies, a waterproof jacket and a productive garden. I may even buy myself a parasol for the patio and just sit there watching the herbs grow while contemplating life as we know it.

Please Send Warm Weather Soon, Thank You.

And Now We Have Rain.

It seems such a very long time ago,
That winter hit us with everything it could throw,
Yet, here I am, sitting just so,
Looking out the window and still seeing snow!

A very bad poem, indeed! But it's true. Now, to add to the mix, the rain has begun to fall. I doubt very much if it will be enough to wash away the acres of snow we still have around this area, but it's a start. Take a look at the photo - that's me standing next to one of the drifts that still blocks a local lane. Time to light the stove, I think, as I can see my breath in here again!

The prolonged cold spell hasn't done anyone any favours, that's for sure. The garden has barely been touched this year, other than some basic tidying and clipping the straggling brambles that nothing seems to stop from growing. There are buds on many of the trees and fruit bushes, so they must sense something better coming our way soon.

Indoors can be much colder than outdoors when the sun shines during winter here, so there have been quite a few extra miles of walking and cycling done, carrying with me my trusty basket and taking the opportunity to fill it with firewood. I'm mostly taking advantage of all the fallen sticks that have dried to tinder and become perfect for lighting the stove.

Alternative energy that's helping to reduce our overall carbon emissions! Dry firewood, hand collected, brought home by bike.

You don't need to walk or cycle very far to find an abundance of free fuel lying by the roadsides. Around this area, there's not even the need to venture into the forests or woodlands, as there's so much lying by the roadsides that can be salvaged. Most of these crushed, fallen branches are now so dry that they ignite instantly and are soon burning hot enough to boil the kettle within minutes - a warning, indeed, to landowners, farmers and gamekeepers of the dangers of wildfires spreading during moor burnings! We have collected quite a few bags filled with already charred gorse wood and this seems to burn with frightening ferocity!

Free heat is never something to be scoffed at, especially when we consider the cost of electricity, and is always welcome during the cold months here in Frugaldom. Some also say it's carbon neutral, so a bit of a benefit to be had in that department, too - no fossil fuels used in cars to collect or move these sticks, as we're walking and cycling nowadays. It also gives us far more opportunities to take the time to photogrph the wildlife that lives all around us.

Having to adapt to not having a car has been quite a smooth transition, I have to admit. It certainly
makes you think more about how far you are going and how heavy the load will be that needs carrying home. I have now switched to a wicker basket on the back of the bike for collecting sticks, as it's far easier to just lift that off and sit it by the stove.

In the greenhouse, which is unheated barring any sunshine, the wormery has been safely under cover and its occupants are thriving. Last week, while feeding the wrigglers, we spotted several babies wiggling about the place, so it may well be tme to start tapping off that lovely 'worm juice' soon and preparing the raised beds for this year's veg-growing. Just send us a little more sunshine and a lot less frost to arm the ground enough to sow something soon.

On the 'working from home' side of things, the new googly eyes have arrived to complete the next batch of McGonks and we have just published the first ebook of the year:

"What if the Famous had Allotments? A quirky guide to vegetable gardeners of fame and fantasy." It was written by 'Northsider Dave', whose blog you may already read. The new ebook should, hopefully, be available to download to your Kindle by this evening. I'll post the link here as soon as it becomes available.

Good luck with the new book, Dave! :)