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 Kitchen Makeover.

Photo blog of a frugal kitchen makeover.

We have had wind and rain almost every day since we started painting the barn, which was the same day my old bike almost met it's untimely end. Since then, it's been stay indoors and 'try to make the house a home' weather, so the kitchen is being decorated.

I'm sure you will all remember the painting of the barn - we got one side done before bike damage and bad weather scuppered the plans. As a result, we haven't been out there for over a fortnight, despite having invested in 'Blossom', my super-cheap, pretty in pink, pedal bike.

Instead of fieldwork, I have spent some time trying to organise the long-standing chaos that is my kitchen.

Kitchen makeover - Giving a room a simple makeover needn't cost the earth. In this case, it has cost me £50.23 plus the time it took to rummage for make-do-and-mend bits and pieces and put everything together. I haven't used everything bought, so the budget is actually under £50, but I'll work out the exact costs later.

Painting the walls - Anything goes and most of us can find some magnolia paint about the house at most times. If not, why not? It is my second default colour, after white, and can be used pretty much anywhere in the house without looking out of place. So, my kitchen is the default white ceiling and magnolia walls, spare paint is one of those 'always kept in stock' items in the same way as flour or sugar.

Work space - No fancy fitted kitchen here, just a few base units bought in an Argos sale a couple of years ago plus a salvaged unit and some old work top. In order to make the most of it all, I need to be able to see it and use it without it being covered in clutter. Herein lies the reason for my love of hooks! I've found that the best way of screwing them into the wall is to add a strap of wood, so the weight is spread across the framework behind the plasterboard, so that's what I did. The strips of wood are all from scrap.

Kitchen roll dispenser - A pair of hooks saved from an old over door hanger have been turned upside down and used to suspend a smooth branch from a tree, which is now supporting the kitchen roll. Works just fine and it can be easily replaced when the time comes to do so.

Window dressings - Who needs curtains or blinds when you are looking out onto your own back garden? This is some hemmed fabric that a friend gave me several years ago; it used to hang along the front of my kitchen units at the last house we were in, hiding the state of the old units there. Now, I have simply looped it over the extending rail in the window and tied it up using ribbons that I had among my crafting supplies. I believe they arrived as a gift during the love bomb dropped on me by Frugal Queen during our participation in a previous money challenge. The jars on the windowsill contain herb cuttings and my celery stalk that is now growing me more celery.

Interior design - The most expensive purchase for this makeover was the wallpaper border, as I needed three rolls of it to go all the way around the kitchen and the adjoining (soon to be) cloakroom. The wooden wall hangings are homemade, shaped from off-cuts of board and painted by resident artist. The corner kitchen stand is of unknown age or origin, as it was purchased several years ago from a charity shop.

Culinary delights - Like most frugal cooks, I do like my favourite pans, herbs and spices kept to hand, so here is what I did with mine. Yes, it's a piece of wood with even more hooks! Most of the wood used has been reclaimed from an old wooden bed frame we dismantled. It seemed too good to use as fuel in the fire, so I'm glad we kept it. The little spice racks were bought for £1 each several years ago in, you guessed it, a pound shop. The chalk board, just visible on the top left, was homemade around 2008 and has served us well through three addresses, to date.

Designer décor - Can anyone remember this? I bought it around 2004 and it has travelled with us during our past 3 house moves. It holds about a gallon of water and we used to keep tiny tropical fish in it. I'm not sure what will go in here next, as tropical fish keeping is a bit of an expense, what with heating, lighting, filtration and the cost of the fish, especially if there's a lengthy power cut, so it may end up with nothing more than some tiny shrimps or a couple of small cold water fish. Whatever, it has now been scrubbed and set up in what I am calling my 'cosy corner café.

Cosy corner - When I say cost, I really do mean it. With no heater of any description in the kitchen, I decided to hang the 250w infra red heater from the ceiling. (Costs under 4p per hour to run.) It is one I have had for several years, meant for brooding chicks after they come out the incubator. I haven't needed it for that purpose since moving here because I haven't been breeding many hens. I have to say, the cat greatly appreciates this corner and has claimed the seat directly beneath the heat lamp! No doubt she will be even more delighted to have fish to watch swimming around, once we get some!

Food preparation areas - Few people even notice that I don't have an actual cooker. I have a twin hot plate that fits nicely into a shelf on the corner kitchen stand for storage. Along with this, I have a microwave, slow cooker, steamer, toaster, bread-maker and the mini oven rescued from a charity fair back in 2008. I am no cordon bleu chef, so this lot does me just fine. The old work top has the stainless steel worktop saver bought via eBay on top, providing an excellent cutting and food prep surface that is easy to keep hygienically clean.

Cloakroom - Adjoining the kitchen is a small hallway, so this has now been painted and decorated to match the kitchen. The freezer has been moved in there and I am currently hanging shelves and coat hooks to make this into a walk through storage cloakroom. It isn't quite finished yet, but it should be soon. I've now found a suitable length of wood to attach to the wall for adding a load more hooks.

Here endeth my wet weather interior design exploits - for now!

Eco Arts - Meanwhile, out in the studio, resident artist completed the commissioned driftwood heron and it has now been delivered to its delighted new owner, with visiting rights agreed.

October Challenge Round-up - This has been a rather spendy month, even although our challenge was to have an austere October, buying only what we really needed and charting every single penny spent. Results for these challenges can all be found in www.frugalforums.co.uk, where you can also follow the November challenges. Hopefully, I may be able to entice a few more of you to start posting there and taking part, as we have some fabulous plans for future projects and, as always, these are all free to join.

NYK, Frugal Blog

Day 17 of Extremely Frugal February - Arty Vegetables

Day 17 - Phone Bills, Furniture Fun and Curious Cabbage.

Fabulous purple patterns, designed by nature.

There's one thing that none of us here can get away from and that is the fact that Internet access needs to be paid for, unless we are fortunate enough to live practically next door to a library and can keep our online activities to a minimum. We need unlimited access as this household derives much of its income from Internet-based sources, but I seldom use the telephone. Today was monthly bill day - 66p for 2 phone calls, both to the feed merchant! Who knows how many hours the computers are online, so it is just as well we now have unlimited, fixed fee access rather than having to pay by the minute! I pay line rental as a lump sum for 12 months, so the monthly part stays under £20.

Monday is meter-reading day for electricity and this week we have leapt up to 80 kWh units just by having a tiny, 400w oil-filled radiator set on low upstairs. The stove is eating logs at a rate of around £2 per day and the fire, when lit, gets through 10kg of coal to heat the radiators and a tank of water, so it's getting back to the whole conundrum of what is most affordable when you need to heat a house that has no wall cavities or lift to insulate. At this time of year it can easily cost £45 per week just to keep from freezing! Can you imagine what it might cost to warm the house to the Government's suggested 18C? I can't even contemplate it!

Sorting out the book collection

Today was shelf-moving day, as we started moving the huge book collection into the 'new' living room. It will take some time to move all the books but the shelves are now in place and they don't look too bad, all things considered. I've used the third set of free curtains to cover some and had to move the frugal mini-bar to the other side of the room, but it looks OK to me.

Red cabbage experiment

Dinner was the 'slow mince' after a very late porridge breakfast and an even later lunch of homemade bread, leftover pasta and hot dogs! Cheap and cheerful! The last one of the tiny red cabbages has now been cut and ready to cook tomorrow, but I'm thinking that I'd quite like to pickle it. I wonder if the remaining part will grow me any new cabbage? I'll let you know!

NYK, Frugaldom

How to Make Cardboard Firesticks

It's Just a Plain, Brown Cardboard Box.

In a previous post recently I mentioned what I did with my plain cardboard boxes and it brought several requests for 'how to make fire sticks'. I would never even have thought to include such details, so many thanks to those of you who asked.

My cardboard boxes get used for many things - weed suppressant, storage, compost, packaging and I'll admit that some have even had to be binned when I simply couldn't warrant another inch of space being turned over to clutter. But it's winter now and I need to both keep warm and declutter. This needy combination leads me to sourcing fire fodder from anywhere possible and it helps more if it can also provide energy for cooking.

As you can see, EVERY box that gets emptied in the Frugaldom household needs to be investigated before the cat will 'allow' me to dispose of it, so this box was no different from any other.

STEP 1

Tear the folds off your box and lay these aside, then split the box down its seam and begin tearing it into strips across the corrugated design. My strips are usually approximately 15cm in width.

STEP 2

Take each of your strips and tear them into rectangles measuring approximately 20cm in length

 

STEP 3

 

One piece at a time, begin rolling them up tightly, following the lines of the corrugated design going horizontally.

 

 

STEP 4

 

Once rolled, give the 'sticks a good twist to hold them firmly in shape. If long enough, a couple of twists might be managed.

 

 

STEP 5

 

You get quicker as you go, so pretty soon you'll have an entire box worth of fire sticks prepared and ready for burning.

 

STEP 6

 

Store your sticks somewhere dry but not too close to the stove. I just drop mine into the basket of twigs that sits by the logs. The cardboard sticks are great for rekindling a dwindling fire, starting a new one, fast burning to help take any dampness out of the logs and hot enough while burning to quickly bring a kettle of water to the boil.

 

 

A WORD OF WARNING

 

Cardboard burns like tinder-dry wood, so it goes up in flames hot and fast! Never fill the stove or fireplace with it if there is any chance of a chimney fire or any major backdraft. I always close the dampers on the stove before using these and seldom, if ever, burn them on the open fire unless it's to supplement the kindling sticks before adding wood or coal. They create quite a bit of ash but can also smoulder for a very long time in the same way a book would - looking like dead embers but actually still alight. I don't use them as regular fuel, just to give an extra 'boost' when needed.

 

IT'S JUST MY WAY

 

I appreciate that burning anything may not sound particularly environmentally friendly but when living in a cold house with no other form of central heating, any safe flammable material is fuel for the fire. It should also be noted that this only applies to the plain brown, unbleached cardboard boxes and not to anything glossy or plasticized,

 

This is not a recommendation for how to make fuel, this is simply my way of making some extra that prevents having to bin the boxes that can't be used elsewhere. I like to think of it as recycling it into useable and affordable energy. With coal costing anything from £14 per bag upwards and a small load of logs costing £40, cardboard kindling may be the only free option left for some.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

 

 

Day 8 of Extremely Frugal February - Burnt Biscuits and Leftovers

Cardboard Cooking Skills, Frugal Fried Food and Carbon Flavoured Biscuits

Frugal Fuel for Wilbur, the Pot Belly (Pig) Stove

In my never-ending quest for frugal living and to combat the problem of surplus waste, I have found plain brown cardboard to be excellent for many things - packaging, composting, weed suppressing, feeding to the worms in the Frugaldom wormery or simply for turning into cooker fuel. Once alight, it can boil a kettle of water in no time and caramelise onions within minutes.

What a cold and wet day it has been, today! I've barely wandered further than the kitchen, other than to take another peek through the living room door to admire my frugal sofa, homemade crafty footstool and my latest acquisition - a beautiful antique, carved wooden fireside box, which, as it transpires, originated from the north east of Scotland. It came to me after being salvaged by a little family business known as 'DL and Sons' in Lincolnshire, so it has done a bit of traveling in its time. Who knows what stories it could tell! This wonderful old box has now taken pride of place by the Frugaldom fireplace and holds kindling sticks, firelighters, matches and newspapers. It's meant for coal, but I consider it quite an awesome feature piece within our eco-renovation and want it to last.


Meanwhile, back on the frugal food train... my biscuit baking mostly gets done in the mini-oven, which works pretty well most times. Except today I got distracted on Facebook, forgetting to rescue said biscuits before they acquired that familiar flavour we all know as carbon. Don't get me wrong, they weren't charred black, but they had gone past the stage of 'well done'. No matter, they won't be wasted! Crunchy they may be but with raisins the price they are, wasting any is not an option. Another cup of tea to wash them down, anyone?

I didn't bother to light the coal fire, so dinner got cooked on the stove tonight again. Having taken delivery of my precious wooden treasure last night, I had a lovely big cardboard box to recycle today, so it got made into fire sticks!

Burning these along with a few logs provides ultra fast heat, high temperature and, despite some extra ash, plenty of cooking time when there's a full box to use just for that purpose.

So, what culinary delight did we feast upon this evening?



I don't think this has a proper name but if it does, please let me know. It's another one of those frugal 'bowl food' concoctions that gets thrown together in the cast iron pan. This one tasted kind of southern fried, as I had cooked the diced chicken breast in some fajita-type seasoning and then added in the leftover white and red cabbage plus the rest of last night's swede. It made for a colourful, nutritious meal and tasted lovely into the bargain.

That about wraps up today's frugal living. Other than some hot glue sticks I needed to replace, which are immaterial to the cost of running the household, I have, once again, spent no actual cash.

The kettle has just come to the boil again for making a pot of tea and we have the last slice of apple and sultana pie to eat, then it will be time to relax and pick up my knitting needles for the final stages of the latest fluffy blanket. I have vowed to complete this before doing any more of my rag rug!

NYK, Frugaldom

Day 3 of Extremely Frugal February - Toasting my Buns

28 Days of Extreme Frugal Living

Day 3 of 28, I have spent £4.28 of my household budget

Free Hot Cross Buns

After a very blustery but mainly dry night, the temperature was a sweltering 8 degrees C in here this morning. Stove got lit and the fire's cleaned out ready for kindling if it gets too cold. It's wet and windy out now and we've had intermittent power cuts. A neighbour popped in with some hot cross buns, so they made a fine, tasty accompaniment when spread with homemade hedgerow jelly and a steaming mug of hot tea. (I'll allow 24p per day for all the tea/coffee we drink.)

Monday is meter reading day for those who follow the Frugaldom energy saving challenge. I have been logging my meter readings for several years but decided to delete previous address and stick with just this one, seeing as this is meant to be my permanent home for the foreseeable future.

Driving down the reliance on electricity has been a bugbear of mine, so 2014 is about halving our consumption and keeping costs to below £10 per week. This is how my chart is looking right now:

Charting power consumption since moving here in June 2011

As you can see, electricity consumption has reached some fairly lofty peaks over the past two winters, reaching an astounding 275 kWh. Last winter we had the pot belly stove fitted. The open fire had to be ripped out to replace the backboiler and then we'd to have a new fireplace built, so electricity was our only option. As you can see by my chart, October to April over the past two winters has shown massive increases on summer figures, but look at October onwards for this winter... we're still driving down the power usage and are now at one fifth of our top winter use. Today's reading shows 55 units for the past week, 10 of these for an electric oil-filled radiator running in the outbuilding that will become our 'ecoarts' studio this summer.

Breakfast was the usual 12p porridge and I thought it best to mention that we eat Scottish porridge in this household and we have greatly reduced the sugar used to the point that I sometimes don't bother with any at all. We use 2 x 50g scoops of oats (7.5p) with 5 scoops water and a pinch of salt, which is enough for two, then serve this with a splash of milk and, if preferred, a little sprinkle of sugar. By reducing or omitting sugar, this becomes an extremely frugal meal that can be eaten at any time of day. I am pleased to say that the cost of this is cheaper now than last year owing to cooking for less time and allowing it to stand for a minute or two to complete the cooking process on its own.

Intermittent power cuts today meant stove top cooking and kettle boiling. When we boil the kettle of water for coffee or tea, whatever is left goes into flasks for later use. It means there's always some spare for rinsing dishes, mixing up a cuppa soup or making instant custard. Tea is made by the pot and kept warm on the stove. I keep my mug warm using a USB mug warmer - a novelty gift I got several years ago. It doesn't keep the contents hot, just slows down the cooling process. We also have USB heated slippers and an assortment of rechargers for torch, radio, Kindles and iPods! Anything to save using electricity. The laptops are run on battery power until such times as the warning signals flash up to save work and recharge or switch to alterative power. Apparently, this also helps prolong the life of the batteries.

Lunch was beans (heated on the stove) on toast - almost a luxury now that beans cost 33p per tin! I used the outside slices of the bread and now need to make another loaf. We'll call lunch 39p. I have bargain, bulk bought flour and plenty of yeast that was part of a gift from someone. I love that my visitors bring practical gifts rather then cut flowers! My vase is still filled with winter greenery in the form of holly and conifers, but through summer, it gets filled with garden herbs or wild flowers of the most common varieties.

Dinner was a carb fest! Baked potato with lasagne mince and grated cheese, costing 82p for two, plus yet another pudding of 21p rhubarb crumble and custard. (Did I mention that we eat dessert or pudding most days in this house?) Cheese is now becoming a luxury item, so I always grate it fine to make it go further. Slicing, dicing and grating is a great way of making most things go further.

Total spend on meals for two for the day = £1.78

Just out of interest, I took a look back at 2012's menu list for a fabulously frugal February. You can visit it here, although you may need to register to read the posts, as we get targeted by spam if that's not in place. Quite a few price changes since then, too!

No other spends from the household budget today other than £2.50 for the logs. No coal used and no cash spent, so an overall spend of £4.28 plus the unseen costs.

NYK, Frugaldom

Day 1 of Extremely Frugal February - A Daily Diary for a Short Month

28 Days of Extreme Frugal Living

Day 1 of 28 and I've spent almost £8.50 of my household budget.

Often, I am accused of being 'extreme' in my pursuit of frugal living. I can (and do) live without many things that others see as essentials, but my needs, just as my wants, differ from theirs.

Having been reading, once again, about the escalating need for food banks, the arrests of squat-living, skip-diving, Freegans and even more proposed cuts in local government spending, I couldn't help but compare my supposed extremism to how others live their lives. I am nowhere near extreme - I actually consider myself to be no more than moderately frugal, sufficient to maintain my own solvency, despite earning less than half the UK national minimum wage.

DAY 1

Spending:

A friend was visiting after a trip into town, so I afforded myself the luxury of spending £1.00 on two bottles of washing up liquid, as Morrisons supermarket had them on special offer.

Heating:

Both the multifuel stove and the open fire got lit - one for providing us with a warm room and the other to warm the water and radiators to keep the chill and dampness off the other rooms. This probably cost about £5.00 for a day, judging by the number of logs we get through and the 10kg or so of coal. On the plus side, the washing has all dried on airers over the radiators and we've got plenty of hot water, including what has been getting boiled on the stove top for hot drinks, instant custard and flask-filling. There's certainly enough to fill a couple of hot water bottles and this is something I need to get used to doing during the cold winter months.

Eating:

Porridge for breakfast, cooked in a 700w microwave for 5 minutes, now costs 12p for 2 people. Electricity is costing us 17p per kWh after factoring in the weekly standing charge.

Lunch was homemade bread toasted and served with spaghetti, at a total cost of around 36p for two of us.

Dinner was a single chicken breast, which now costs £1, diced and stir fried with a large onion (10p), a pepper and a few mushrooms, all dowsed in some cheap (5p) sauce. The pepper and mushrooms came to me free via a neighbour who handed them in to save binning them. This was all served with noodles, which cost me less than 10p.

Not content with that, I also made a large fruit crumble using a tub of garden-grown rhubarb (I stew it then freeze it) and a sachet of sponge mix crumbed with margarine. Counting in all the stewing and baking times plus ingredients, the fruit crumble cost just under 40p and will provide 6 servings (13p for 2). Add on another 8p for some instant custard and there you have it... total cost for dinner for two, including electricity for cooking, amounted to £1.46 so that's only 73p per person for a two course main meal.

The above prices all include the cost of cooking, which could be done cheaper using the stove top and provided us with three hot meals each at an overall cost of just £1.94

This was the extent of today's spending - £7.94

I'll allow some extra for switching on lights (max 5w LED bulbs), running two laptops and for milk and tea - let's call it £8.50 for everything, except the unseen overheads. Even at this amount, I could split today's spending into needs and wants.

The following things were not essential:

Washing up liquid £1
Coal to warm the entire house £3
Noodles with the chicken and vegetable stir fry 10p
Rhubarb crumble with custard 21p
Electricity for stir frying when I could have cooked on the stove top 6p

If I was in dire need of cutting my spending to the bone, I could easily have halved my spends and let's not forget that this is for two adults, not just for me.

My 'normal' budget for everything including household insurance, clothing, transport and luxuries like a TV licence, pets, a home phone, internet access, socialising, entertainment, travel and gift-giving is £10.95 per day or £13.70 including Council Tax. We have no rent or mortgage to pay but if we did, that could easily double the living costs.

I don't think I am extreme in the least. On the contrary, I can afford everything I need while also saving for whatever I want. As long as I can earn my share of that £13.70 per day and call where I live my home, that should suffice for now.

NYK, Frugaldom

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

2014 Annual Frugal Living Challenge

Happy 15th Anniversary to our Published Frugal Challenges.

Christmas Day walk

 

It was March 1999 when the first edition of 'Now You Know' came off the press as a monthly newspaper, as opposed to just being online or as part of a page in someone else's publication, so I'm planning on making 2014 extra special in as many ways as I possibly can, to celebrate out 15th anniversary without it costing extra money or incurring any debts.

 

In 1998, one of my first personal money challenges was featured in the Scottish Daily Record and then, not long after that, the FT.com inadvertently sent investors streaming our way when Cyberdosh (another of my online money 'games') got a mention within the pages of their prestigious online publication. So much has happened over the years that I do tend to discount the true origins of Frugaldom and relate back just as far as 2007, when I first took NYK's frugal living challenges into the Moneysavingexpert forums. We're still there, for anyone who prefers the vast anonymity of that version, otherwise join us in the www.frugalforums.co.uk

 

What's in Store for 2014?

 

My annual frugal living budget has, once again, been set at £4,000 for the year to cover all the essentials like food, toiletries, cleaning products, electricity, coal, logs, TV, telephone, Internet, travel, clothing and footwear, gifts and donations, household pet supplies, home insurance and any other routine expenses that can be controlled by strict budgeting.

 

After so many years of doing such challenges, we are fortunate to now be living in our own bought-and-paid-for fixy-up, the result of yet another challenge to buy a house without a mortgage. This puts us in the lucky position of not having to worry about rent or mortgage repayments.

 

Council Tax is something that can no longer be shaved, since the councils saw fit to abolish the annual 'pay it all up front' discounts. No savings to be made there, so they get their £100 (or whatever) each month, instead. Being rural, we do save a little bit by way of not having to pay the sewage charges - we have septic tank - and there are no separate water rates here in Scotland.

 

Over the years, we have learned continually what we can and cannot live without - distinguishing between absolute needs and basic wants has been paramount to the success of our moneysaving, cost-cutting campaigns for a simple lifestyle. Many of the items in my budget are non-essentials and I could live without them if I had to, but being self-employed while working from home does bring with it the need for communication with the outside world and that necessitates a telephone line, Internet and yes, even television, as part of the household income is derived from broadcast media related work.

 

What's nearby? Deer!

Many people who skim read my posts fail to grasp the concept of rural living combined with frugal living. Frugal living in a rural location is totally different from living a frugal life elsewhere - we have added expenses, we can't rely on power supplies, we have no public transport, no amenities within easy reach, very little by way of regular employment opportunities, no diverse range of shops, no supermarkets and I choose to live without the added expense of a car, so no popping out for a pint of milk if we run out or a hot food takeaway, if the notion takes us.

 

We don't get yellow sticker bargains for pennies, we can't pop into the pub, library, museum or local hall for a free heat and we certainly can't traipse around the high street looking for bargains. We need to make do and mend plus make the absolute most of any opportunity that takes us away from home. I would love to 'shop local' for everything, but it is impossible while frugal living without transport in a rural location. We need to turn to our gardens, friends, neighbours and yes, even the Internet.

 

I hope to keep the blog updated regularly to reflect how each and every pound of my £4,000 gets spent over the coming year and to share with you some of the other things that are made possible by this simple lifestyle, one that relies heavily on living within my means.

 

Here's what I have done, so far, that will impact on my 2014 spending and the household budget:

• Got a meat order for the freezer, making the most of some discount codes and free delivery from MuscleFood* (This link is a friend referral link that offers new customers free chicken fillets with their first order.)
• Topped up the electricity pre-payment meter by as much as possible to reduce the number of to-ups needed over the coming year. The meter was in the house when we came here and I hope to have it removed as soon as I have reduced the 2014 spends against previous years by at least the cost of removing it.
• Bought a couple of bags of coal
• Paid for a full year's BT line rental, which cost £141, rather than pay £15.99 per month - an overall saving of £50.88
• Got two new bunnies - completely NOT frugal but who can refuse such a fabulous present when it also includes housing, food and bedding for the cuddle-bunnies?
• Umm... this is a very tricky one, so I will attempt to explain it first. My previous 'expensive habit' was smoking - I published my challenge about quitting and practised exactly what I preached, making a point of saving every penny I'd normally have spent on cigarettes. At today's shocking prices, this now equates to over £700 over a year. That's a huge amount of money for a frugaler so I opted to split it among the following: a tax free savings bond with life assurance, fun money and the garden. My previous 'expensive hobby' was horses. I have not been able to save the equivalent of what I used to spend on them because it is impossible for me now. This year, to celebrate, commiserate or commemorate the above, I bought a small share in a racehorse. If any of you out there have ever been bitten by the horse bug, you'll know it is not something you can simply shake off and forget - it's in your blood for life. This is my indulgence for 2014.

Looking forward to watching the progress of 'Winnie' this summer

 

Tried to teach the frugaldom bunnies why they shouldn't try typing, but fail..lkshavsi\l luHK.EN8xm z,///////Ncj....ed

 

Hmemade decorations now all gone for another year, but hoping the horseshoe brings us more luck, rather than more horses





So far, this year's meals have all been from food in stock and, while the log-burner is lit, I am making the most of it by cooking whatever I can on top of it - right now, it has a pot of chicken stock simmering away after I defrosted a chicken, made a slow roast dinner over the stove and am now preparing a nice stir fry: leftovers will go in a casserole with the meat that comes off the bones in the stock pot and then I'll get a pot of soup from the rest of it. The actual carcase can be boiled down further, or possibly even slow-cooked overnight, and then blended to make into cat food.

 

I should probably add that we did not succeed in completing any of the rooms in the house, although most of the 'big stuff' has been done. We're without an actual cooker in the long-term temporary kitchen, but I do have all the mod cons essential to cooking without one - electric hot plate, mini grill, slow cooker, microwave, steamer, bread maker, toaster, kettles, coffee maker... we are quite civilised here, despite what some seem to think. :)

 

We don't have central heating so, in winter, the house is only warm when the fire is lit. This, in turn, heats a few radiators and the tank of hot water - as long as we have electricity to power the pump that circulates the hot water. Electric blankets, huge woolly blankets and hot water bottles are great during winter. The persistence of power cuts is one of the main reasons I chose to have the stand alone stove, lovingly known as Wilbur, my pot bellied 'pig'. He is probably the hardest worked object in the Frugaldom household, unless we count 'H', who has to chop all the logs Wilbur consumes on a daily, even hourly, basis.

 

Extra note here - 'Wilbur' was an eBay buy and cost about £100 including delivery. The more expensive part of this project was having the old chimney lined before being able to install the multi-fuel stove. 2014 will be my first full year of using this to save on electricity, so the bicycle will be back out of hibernation soon so I can get out there and start collecting more sticks and I am still faithfully filling in my www.imeasure.org.uk stats every Monday.

 

What do we do for frugal fun? Well, so far...

• Went out walking on Christmas day.
• Had relative staying between Christmas and New Year, so we visited a local historical site that's within walking distance - weather was lovely.
• Had several neighbours round for drinks on Hogmanay then
• We all went out first footing one another until the 'wee small hours'.
• Visited the newest neighbours (en masse) to handsel their house on New Year's day

I really cannot see anything sub-standard in this lifestyle of what some perceive as self-inflicted poverty. Yes, it is certainly living well below the breadline and we probably would spend much more than 10% of our annual income if we'd to even attempt to heat our homes to what the Government states is an acceptable level but so what? We aren't cold, we aren't hungry, we aren't living off the state and we own the roof over our heads. 

 

I promise to do my best to keep you all up to date with how I stretch our pennies into pounds throughout 2014, so feel free to join me on board my debt free wagon as I bump along and fight to stay on there. If you fall off, be sure there'll be a virtual friend ready with outstretched hand to help you back on again.

 

As I always love to say - the less I spend, the more I can afford and, with this simple life costing so little, it leaves huge scope for finding better things to do with my time (and money) than waste it on money worries.

 

|Frugaldom Plans for 2014:

1. Keep on beating the budget by focussing on needs and saving for wants.
2. Grow more fruit and vegetables.
3. Complete the living room, kitchen and bathroom.
4. Create a 'secret garden' complete with 'tiny house'.
5. Watch the progress of 'Winnie' in the hope she makes it onto the racetrack
6. Enjoy having the rabbits, hens, ducks, quail and wormery while seeing them all 'help' cultivate the garden.
7. Meet up with friends for another frugal expedition - it's looking like Schiehallion will be the 'big hill of the year' but I'm sure we can fit in several other trips. It's not like walking costs money, is it?
8. Take eldest grand daughter on another big adventure.
9. Encourage more friends and relatives to visit Frugaldom.
10. Knit, sew, craft, bake, make, mend, reduce, reuse and recycle more.

I hope you'll all join me for yet another epic, roller coaster ride into Frugaldom.

 

NYK, Frugaldom.