The Joys of Cycling

Frugal living and green living aren’t always easy to combine so switching to bikes after giving up the car seemed like a good idea in 2011. Here we are, in 2014, and my £40 second hand bike has reached the point of uneconomical repair. No shame on it, after carting a variety of heavy ‘stuff’ like logs, groceries, paint and me about the place for the past few years. In the past year, I think it has done about 1,000 miles carrying extra weight.
This is what happened next – we really do live in times of plenty where everyone can pretty much have everything the need and even we of the frugal ilk can have much of what we want! Read more by clicking here…

Carbon Footprints and Planting Trees

Today I calculated the household's carbon footprint at 3.5 tonnes per year. (This is a big reduction on previous years and is well under half of the national average, but more than the ideal global average.)

I then proceeded to calculate how many trees we need to plant to offset that. Averages suggest one native broadleaf tree per tonne of CO2 per year, so I'm making an effort to catch up over my own lifetime. Are you?

Find out how to calculate your own carbon footprint then if you haven’t space to plant your own trees, we can plant them for you.

Find out more about our Frugaldom wilderness and woodland project HERE

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! :)

Easter Round-up in Frugaldom

First of all, I'd like to share the news that we have just managed to break through the £200 mark with our fundraising, trying to help raise cash towards replacing the local lifeboat. Our main challenges takes place Bank holiday weekend on 24th May, 2013, when we'll be leaving Port William and travelling to Fort William with the aim of taking members of Clan McGonk to the summit of Ben Nevis - UK's highest mountain.

Today, which also happens to be Easter Sunday, is the first day of British Summertime here in UK but our local Scottish weather wouldn't have you believe that. It's around 5 Deg C in the sunshine, the ponds are still frozen and there are still lanes blocked by snowdrifts. It is, however, dry and breezy, so frugal line drying of laundry is a boost. The roads are also clear enough to gt back out on the bikes, assuming you're careful and stick to main routes. This is the bike sitting next to the roadside on the main route into our area - still quite deep with snow, to say the least.

I took the opportunity to stop for a couple of photos to show how much had melted on the exposed areas - vast swathes of grass now showing through, but with lengthy drifts along the walls. The above was taken at lunchtime today, over a weeks since the blizzards hit us.

Yesterday, we cycled down to the local village to meet with someone who is keep to establish a project that really appeals to me - one involving a food co-operative for local growers and producers, along with a community based cafe and work space for the local artists and crafters among us.

The project revolves around the old corn mill and adjoining 16 acres of land. There are already hens, ducks and pigs there, plus the two Clydesdale horses that are being put to work, hauling out debris and ploughing the land where a heritage variety of wheat will be grown. It's hoped that the old water wheel can be restored and put back into use, powering the mill, while outdoors can be run as a self-sufficientish smallholding, providing fresh food locally. There's also a small fishing boat and scope for a wide variety of fruit and vegetable plots. And lest we forget, the favoured mode of transport could help reduce carbon emissions if work and local travel was done by horse power, on foot or by bicycle. It all sounds great, I just hope the project can get off the ground and achive success.

The bartering system may well come into play, but the project needs
to establish itself and garner the support of the locals in order that it may progress.

Spud, one of the Clydesdales, has already endeared himself to the village by being put to work during last week's power cuts, when he was out and about pulling fishcrates filled with fuel and delivering it to places that modern vehicles simply couldn't reach. Photo here is of Charlie and Spud relaxing by the side of the burn that flows alongside the mill.

Aside from visiting the old mill, we also had a stop off at the shore, where it was rather amusing to see snow lying along the edges of the slipways, right to the water's edge. Sunny it may be, but warm it is not. Who knows how or when anything can be sown in this weather but one thing's for sure - we'll be needing many more logs and pinecones before it's warm enough to do without the stove indoors and the prospect of being warm outdoors is still looking pretty distant, even in the greenhouse. Speaking of which, I wonder if there's space for a couple of fullsize polytunnels at either of the nearby frugal projects? Must ask!

Vernal Equinox Updates

When Day Equals Night

Well folks, that's us passed the worst of the winter months where daylight hours were outnumbered by those of darkness. With any luck, the weather will decide to shift in a more sunny direction and allow us to make a proper start on gardening. To date, it has either been too wet or too cold to do anything, not to mentin the place being frozen solid or, in many places, covered in snow. For many, there is the luxury of heated greenhouses but that's not so for the frugal living among us - we have trouble enough heating our homes without trying to heat glass (or plastic) houses.

 

The Frugaldom greenhouse has stood the test of winter this far but to be fair, we get very little snow in comparison to elsewhere and the garden here is far more shetered than previous ones. Nonetheless, the lack of sunshine means there's not a lot happening out there at the moment. I had sown some spring onions and salad leaves into tubs - the spring onions are coming along slowly but the salad leaves are no further along than they were a month ago! The wormery, on the other hand, seems to have thrived in there for shelter. Each time I check, the worms seem to be more and more active. Let's hope the £2 coin savings pot proves to have been invested wisely.

 

The frugal fitness is something I'm still not entirely coninced about, despite having been wthout a car snce the end of November. The trip to the shop is now far less daunting, even on a grey day, and I must be getting fitter, as I can now manage to go for a 10-mile cycle over and above the 7 to 10 miles (depending on route taken) round trip to the village store.

 

Prices are getting to be horrendous. This morning, I cycled down to the store and bought spreading cheese (£1.19), a small block of cheddar (250g), a small pack of oatcakes, 4 bananas and a very extravagant loaf of bread, as a special treat for sandwiches. That little lot set me back almost £8!

 

As followers of a frugal living lifestyle, free from the constraints of the nine to five, the biggest pleasure we have is our ability to get out and about whenever the weather permits. I love exploring, seeking out unusual locations or ones that are a little off the beaten track, while building up a collection of associated photographs and articles relating to these places. Perhaps, one day in the future, you will visit and experience Frugaldon for yourself, and you'll already know which of these places you would like to visit for free.

This area of Scotland in littered with cairns, old forts, ruins, caves, church and chapel remains and, of course, we also have hilltops with trig points for 'bagging' - another free hobby. Yesterday, we visited the old site of Chapel Finian, where we ate a frugal packed lunch before stashing the bikes and then setting off to hike up a nearby hill in search of some cairns, ruined homesteads and ancient hut circles. The above photo shows the ruined chapel by the roadside. The trig point number to the left shows the first one we have found at ground level rather than summit - I'm guessing that's why this one has a 'G' number instead of an 'S' number.

 

We didn't have much of a climb before reaching what looked like a ruined homestead with walled fields. I haven't been able to find out any information about this particular location and we didn't have time to exploe it more fully, but its in the diary for future visits (with picnics) and further investigation.

 

A bit more climbing up a very wet and muddy trail that zigzagged up the hill through dead bracken, gorse and brambles soon led us to the biggest cairn we have visited in this area to date. It has to be over 3m high, but felt even bigger than that when I stood next to it and looked out across the bay - what a viewpoint! This particular cairn even had an extra wide base that could have been built for sitting on while keeping watch. (Over or for what, is a mystery.)

 

At this point, we'd to turn and head for home without exploring any further as a shower of sleet began to fall and we could see the cattle on the move. My fear of the bovine beasts means I give them as wide a berth as possible and avoid them completely whenever I can.

 

Back home and the frugaling continues - no further renovation work has been done to the house but I now have the dining bench set moved into the sittingroom where the pot belly stove is almost constantly on the go. The wee stove just ticks over, not quite blazing enough to boil the kettle, but warm enough that the cat is happy to sprawl in front of it for most of the day when the weather is bad. The dried pine cones are fast disappearing, so we really need a few completely dry days to get out and collect some more of those - they burn well.

 

Since giving up the car, our household carbon emissions must surely have dropped and the savings have certainly grown a little quicker. There's very little to spend on nowadays, what with no car running costs or petrol to pay. I may, however, need to invest in some new brake pads for the bike. Switching the worn back brakes for the not-so-worn front brakes will suffice until such times as I have gained sufficient Amazon gift vouchers from my Topcashback account. Since joining a few years ago, I have earned £728.35 cashback! That's a huge amount of free money for a frugaler! The other added bonus for this month is the cashback accrued from the credit card. Where some people hate credit cards, I love mine! It gets used for anything and everthing, paid off in full each month and it also pays 1% cashback on all transactions - fee free! I should manage to recoup about £50+ from that, as things like building materials and poultry feeding got paid with it, as do any online transactions.

 

Now I need to take stock of how the winter has gone and prepare for spring organising and summer fun, including getting some serious crafting done. The McGonks project needs to be cranked up a notch, there's some fndraising to be done for the Ben Nevis hostelling holiday and I'm wanting to make a nice, multi-cloured wooly blanket for over the back of the sofa bed so that there's a cosy, multi-purpose bedsit available for guests brave enough to sample real frugal living.

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.

Frugal Living - the Good, the Bad and the Gruesome!

When it Rains, it Pours!

 

Trying to live a frugal life on a tight budget while attempting to renovate a house, develop a microholding in your back garden and earn a living from home is a bit of a juggling act, to say the least. Taking the good with bad, I am happy to say that there normally is some form of silver lining to the passing clouds, even if it takes an exploration team a lengthy time to find it.

 

Getting the week's 'bad' stuff out of the way first, as this is only Wednesday and there's plenty of time for more to arrive. (Sigh).

 

On Monday, some marauding animal invaded the garden and killed little 'Bunty', the runty duck. The murderous 'whatever' was neither seen nor heard, so we aren't ruling out a return visit from the mink. Nothing was seen or heard until the gruesome discovery of a decapitated pile of feathers was made, when going to see why all the ducks had run for shelter. (Hoping to borrow a mink trap this afternoon!)

 

It was last October, the day before my dad's funeral, that the horrid mink paid its first visit and massacred 7 of the hens, including cute little 'Dumbledorf', the miniature Silkie. 

 

Earlier this year, we lost a couple of ducks.

 

Worse still, earlier this year we also lost dear Floppity, my big, lop-eared rabbit.

 

This morning, Scruffy cat, our frugal mouser, point blank refused to go outside the door. Mind you, that could have been because ofthe thick frost. Even the big duck pond is frozen today.

 

So enough is enough - the varmint HAS to be trapped and disposed of as quickly (and humanely) as possible. With this in mind, I have 'tweeted' a friend who is visiting this afternoon, asking that they brng their mink trap for a (hopefully short) vacation.

 

Yesterday, after delivering the frugmobile to the garage for it's winter check, MOT and investigation of more clunks and squeaks, we received the bad news - as well as all the 'little things needing done, the back axle's 'gone' (I'm assuming they mean it's broken and not, literally vanished!?) and major motor surgery is just too uneconomical. So, absolute, frugal resolution, I have taken the decision to have the car put to sleep.

 

Working from home means no commuting, but the nearest village store and post office is over 3 miles from here. We aren't on a bus route and there are no taxis. However, a friend had loaned me her bike and this will now give me the impetus to attempt to cycle. It will also give me the kickstart I need to pursue a car-sharing project for our tiny street, although it manly comprises of semi-vacant holiday homes. But nevertheless, I am finding it rather exciting thinking of all the preparations that need to be in place before winter proper reaches our corner of Scotland. The re-payment meter will definitely need to go, as there's no sure-fire way of reaching the post office in a hurry in the event of another 'key' failure. Perhaps the recent one was sent as a pre-warning, reminding me that it's sometimes better to release the stubbornness handbrake and pay to go with the flow. (But I'm still loath to pay Scottish POwer £60 to remove a meter I never asked for in the first place!)

 

OK, less of the doom and gloom, let's get on to the good stuff.

 

Without having a car, I'll save on road tax, insurance, garage bills, fuel bills and further reduce the carbon footprint of the Frugaldom household. That is excellent! It will free up and estimated £150 every month, which soon mounts up towards renovation work. It will also encourage me to get out there and walk more, perhaps even affording me the luxury of real walking boots!

 

On the subject of boots, and carbon footpints, our local council is showing signs of edging closer to recycling, planning the introduction of 5 new bins in 2014 (but still no green waste bin). Instead, we will gain individual, smaller bins for:

cardboard
paper
food waste (outdoor bin)
glass, plastics and metals
food waste (indoor caddy)

 

In addition to the above, they already offer subsidised compost bins, of which I have two, and a brand new entry this year is their introduction of subsidised wormeries. (Info can be found at www.getcomposting.co.uk) Being of a frugal extremist nature, I had to do a price comparison and ask about for other suppliers and recommendation... and that brought results!

 

I'll need to write a second post today, again, because the exploits of what happened next are rather fun but a little long to include here.

 

Back soon,

 

Frugaldom

 

PS: Second post of the day is a much happier state of affairs, I promise! :)

Never Mind the Winter Weather, What about Cold Fusion

Going all high-brow on frugal energy supplies

My mini-bomb site that's being cleared to reveal a lovely big space in the Frugaldom garden has been the subject of much debate. The area has almost been completely cleared, revealing a fantastic 8m x 3m of new space.

As energy supply is of key importance to us frugalers, all sorts of suggestions have been discussed, from a new wood store to a small poly tunnel, a bird aviary (I know!) to a bunker. Yes, I really did say a bunker!

Now, I know that when thinking of bunkers we may automatically think nuclear fall out shelters rather than cellars for storage or shelter from tornadoes, but I was thinking of neither.

Tomorrow, according to some reports, there might be a very important scientific experiment carried out at the University of Bologna in Italy! If this proves to be true and one Professor Rossi really can prove his theory works, any remote possibility of success could herald a new dawn in energy production.

I'm no scientist, least of all a nuclear physicist, but I am aware of the terms 'Cold Fusion' and 'LENR' (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions).  I watch 'The Big Bang Theory' and have a Scottish Higher in Biology, if that counts? I've even heard of the E-Cat. (No it isn't like a Tamagotchi, I don't think?)

Anyhow, tomorrow is meant to be the start of this latest great test, where they're going to bombard a metal medicine ball with computerised electronic impulses at such a rate as to compress the entire contents to produce new energy. At least that's how I like to think of it.

My coal I bought a fortnight ago cost me £108.00 for half a tonne.

I spend approximately £15 per week on electricity

Logs are £50 per trailer load delivered

I get through £25 worth of petrol each month despite working from home

What this all adds up to is the fact that over the period of a single year, our average energy and fuel costs amount to at least £125 every month! That is ridiculous when we are such a frugal household of waste not, want not people.

But back to my new space cleared in the back garden - IF Prof. Rossi's invention, known as the E-Cat (Energy Catalyser) really does work, proven without a shadow of a doubt, the future of clean energy will dawn by this weekend and it will herald a new beginning, the greatest invention ever that could solve the global warming problem while stopping the melt of the polar icecaps mid-flow. Let's say it could be some kind of miracle

Never mind the Mayan calander, the 2012/2013 predictions, the age of aquarius or the New World Order, the cold fusion war may be about to erupt!

Clean energy, cheap energy, renewable energy with supposedly little or no carbon footprint - could I fit a frugal e-cat or LEN reactor into the space we've just cleared in our back garden? I mean, how difficult can they be to build? They sound like big batteries with the power to squeeze out enough power to fuel the whole of Frugaldom indefinitely. What a thought that is! Too good to be true? Who knows!

I wonder if there would be enough space next to my frugal e-cat for a heated greenhouse? That would really help the veggies along during the cold, Scottish winter months!

I'm not holding my breath awaiting results from the October 6th tests - it may all be nothing more than an elaborate hoax. But then again, there are those who questioned the 1969 moon landings and just as many believe in the Loch Ness monster, aliens at Roswell and human cloning - we choose our own truths, sometimes carelessly.

I'll keep an open mind on this and hope there's just a bit of a news blackout on the e-cat discovery. That would explain all the claok and dagger stuff and the lack of global awareness. As I love to say, he who controls the media, controls the general public. Guess it would be a bit like proving you could run your car on water alone - think how well received that news would be!

Frugaldom.
www.scottishmultimedi.co.uk

Moneysaving and Frugal Keep Fit!

Sometimes, I am astounded by my own stupidity!

Working from home in a small, rural commuity means that all the work post needs to be ferried to the nearest village post office, which is three miles from here.

In true frugal fashion, I try to limit post office visits to four trips each week, so I've been thinking about ways of cutting these associated costs by any means possible.

The obvious solution is to walk to the post office, but I can be lazy and I hate to get soaked through when there's nowhere indoors here for drying wet clothes. I might try the walking option next summer, but it's dependent on time of day for traffic, as the narrow lanes aren't all that safe when there are tractors trundling up and down towing all sorts of lethal looking machinery, plus there's no pavement running along the main shore road once I reach it, an 'A' route that's like a free for all as far as speed driving is concerned. I had all but given up hope and couldn't see the obvious choice I should be making!

Don't laugh, but I had one of those 'Eureka' moments down in the village earlier this afternoon. My moneysaving solution is so simple that I have astounded myself!

Normally, the journey to the post office or local store is a 6 mile round trip in the car. I have a budget of £25 per month for petrol costs, so that doesn't really allow for many trips further afield. I also try to fit in one trip per month to the nearest town, which is almost 20 miles away, so my £25 worth of petrol does't take me far.

By making this one incredibly simple change, I should be able to save myself one sixth of my regular weekly petrol costs and get a little bit fitter into the bargain. Have you worked it out yet?

If I park the car in the layby half a mile this side of the post office, I can walk the remaining distance, thus shaving a mile off my driving costs each trip and reducing carbon emissions. On top of that, the mile walked while carrying the mail will burn nearly 100 calories extra on each trip. That's only 17.5 (best call it 18) trips to the post office to burn off the equivalent of an extra half pound of fat! Coincidentally, 18 is the approximate number of times I need to visit the post office each month! How ingenously simple is that? Better still, if it's raining, I can simply take my huge golf umbrella, bought free with my eBid buddy points!

But there's more! There are other lay-bys, so it needn't be restricted to a one mile walk each trip. There's a much larger parking area on the shore about a mile from the post office. I plan on using this one for dry trips when the mail bag isn't too heavy. Who knows, by next summer I could be a frugal, slender 'green goddess'!

Frugal fun, frugal fitness, frugal moneysaving to help make owning the car more affordable.

The tax avoidance debacle - what about inheritance tax?

TAX AVOIDANCE and TREES

After reading about the situation that has arisen between The Hub and the Forestry Commission, it got me thinking a bit more about the billions of tax pounds that don't reach the Treasury because of all the avoidance loopholes. It suddenly highlighted the next potential 'loophole' that will be flooding the rich list marketplace - Forestry and woodland.

As we all should know, there is no inheritance tax liability on forestry or woodland, so it makes it a fairly lucrative asset, especially if it's generating an income in the meantime. But it's also one that's quite difficult to find at the right price at the right time. I know - I have been trying to find a little square of land for many years, but there's always something gets in the way. (Usually someone with a great deal more money.) Soon, however, there could be a huge sell off of up to 150,000 hectares of Forestry Commission land in England and I can't help but wonder if the Government has timed this nicely to coincide with a possible tightening of the existing tax avoidance 'schemes', especially in the wake of their capping the pension investments limits. Could we see multi-national companies and individuals with huge annual dividends shelling out their dosh on wood? Perhaps money really does grow on trees. It's certainly a very lucrative (and IHT avoiding) investment if we can afford it. It also puts the some capital back into the public purse. Sounds a bit of a 'quick fix' solution to budget deficits, albeit on a tiny scale, but the land they'll probably sell will be based on commercial viability. If it doesn't pay, get rid of it. Good theory if you haven't the readies to develop something - cut and run, let someone else do it, then tax them somewhere along the line.

What I don't quite understand is how the sell-off will contribute to the current green policies and how virtually privatising forests will help the Government to achieve the unrealistic carbon emissions reduction targets. Surely, by selling the woodland & forests into the private sector, it can only result in commercialisation of that land and I wouldn't bet on it all being for eco-friendly biomass. I realise that one man and a chainsaw cannot manage a huge forest, but nor can he take up residence to earn his living from that land, even if he owns it outright. So the 150,000 hectares that's set to flood the market will surely become the property of the chosen few. No word of a similar sell off here in Scotland, yet, but let's hope the day never comes when we see the break up of the great Galloway Forest.

My suggestion would be to contact your local Forestry Commission and stake your claim on whatever you can. Ask friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances, set up a co-operative, do whatever it takes to keep the forests and woodlands from being ruined. At worst, you can cultivate part of it, apply for a holding number and follow a frugal lifestyle whilst planning your retirement. Your kids won't be liable for inheritance tax but neither will they ever be able to live there. Nor can you. But if they ever abolish those rules, there'll be plenty of commercial entities out there waiting to snap up your land when given half the chance.

Money may not grow on trees but without trees and the associated plant and animal life, what good is money? I'd venture as far as to suggest that our entire existence has relied on them.