Chinese New Year

What a busy month February is!

Frugaldom's 28-day 'fight the flab' challenge, Valentine's Day, Pancake Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Chinese New Year - the year of the sheep, or year of the ram - and several others that have come along more recently, like Harry Potter Day, on February 20th! Frugal living can be fun for everyone, so celebrate in affordable style!

Valentine's Day is the midway point for our Frugal February Fitness Challenge. The sun shone, so it seemed like a good idea to get back in the saddle again... by giving the bike its first short trip of the year. I didn't go far, but stopped for photos along the way, regardless.

As you can see, the sky was blue and the loch was calm. There was a huge flock of migratory geese grazing noisily on the far shore and a number of ducks and other waterfowl on the water.

All along the lochside, through the surrounding woodlands, there were snowdrops flowering. By my front door, I have crocuses, snowdrops and a profusion of miniature irises in full bloom, adding a splash of colour to an otherwise dreary time of year.

Pancake Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, is tomorrow, 17th February 2015, and we're all set to have a super frugal use-it-up day from dawn until dusk. As February represents the first 28 days of our annual 'get fitter, not fatter' challenge, it is also fitting that this year's grocery challenge has been reduced to £5 per person per week for all meals, so zero tolerance on food waste means everything gets used up as normal, not just on Shrove Tuesdays. (This challenge is being recorded on a daily basis at www.frugalforums.co.uk to include some recipes.) I will continue the pancake blog tomorrow. In the meantime, I have my flour, eggs and milk at the ready, along with the usual lemon and sugar or syrup toppings.

Chinese New Year begins Thursday 17th February and this year is the year of the sheep, or ram. Having seen a lovely example of a willow woven sheep in a garden by the abbey on the island of Iona, I had shown the photos to resident artist. This is the result - his first willow sheep, woven from willow grown in the Thrift Cottage garden! It is very fitting that it was finished this week, just in time for the Chinese year of the sheep beginning on Thursday. Who knows how many may have joined our Frugaldom flock by this time next year. You can see how this sheep was made on our designated eco arts photo blog at www.ecoarts.co.uk

As time marches on, taking February through to March, we have been having fun finding out how far a fiver can stretch, while measuring how many pounds can be lost during this 28-day kickstart to the 'Get Fitter, Not Fatter' challenge. This fabulous little fashion watch, which is available in an assortment of colours, cost just £2.60 including postage and packaging, after using a 10% discount code on our all time favourite fashion site. Better still, you can collect loyalty points as you shop and the company ships globally.To find out more about this and thousands of other bargains that we'll be researching and reviewing, you can visit www.frugalshop.co.uk It is from there that we will be featuring all the offers, discounts, voucher codes, products and services that help to finance the running of the Frugaldom Project, along with the supporting web sites, blogs, forums and chat room.

Our next live chat will be scheduled soon, so don't forget to register a username and password via www.frugalforums so you can take part. This week, we will be discussing the 2015 monthly moneysaving challenges plus offering support to those taking part in the fitness challenge. We'll also be mapping out the other monthly challenges that will be set throughout the coming year.

Chinese New Year

How to make cut flowers last longer

Many people feel saddened to see their lovely cut flowers wither, wilt and die, making such a gift a little depressing when it ends up in the compost or, worse still, simply binned. So here's how to get the very most out of your cut flowers, no matter how cheap and cheerful they may be. Here's to frugal flowers.

Yesterday, I sorted out the flowers I got at Christmas, which are still going strong. The original small bouquet was bulked out with greenery foraged from the hedgerow around the garden and it all looked rather festive, especially with some red berries and gold-sprayed foliage among it.

There were 4 rose buds among freesia, carnations and gypsophila, so the rose buds have now been removed and are hanging heads down in the sitting room, allowing them to dry out for future use. Believe it or not, I still have roses I dried over 10 years ago and these make lovely additions to bowls of homemade pot pourri, as well as displayed in dried arrangements… Read more here

6-year-old girl asks for holiday cards for her last Christmas - Health - TODAY.com

I felt compelled to share this with my blog readers after the ‘Random Acts of Kindness Foundation’ posted this news on their social media feeds.

Apologies to anyone who may feel this sort of content isn’t what they want to read on a Frugal Living blog but, to many of us living on tight budgets, this sort of act falls within the limits of our spending and is always encouraged.

The article speaks for itself and I hope this little girl’s wish is granted. Just click the link to read all about her wish. 6-year-old girl asks for holiday cards for her last Christmas - Health - TODAY.com

Frugal Shop

Frugal Shop

In an effort to revive yet another dormant project from past frugal challenges, I rediscovered the old Frugal Shop and it came as a bit of a surprise that I still had the site. I think several of us set these up when the powers that be decided to give all new start or small businesses without web sites the opportunity to claim a free one through their ‘Get British Business Online’ challenge.

As you’ll see by the top left counter, today marks 457 days since I launched the Clan McGonk enterprise – making hairy wee Scottish McGonks that have, since, been winging their way around the globe.

So now I need to shake up this site and make it earn me a little bit of income to help financially support Frugaldom. Bargain spots will be posted on www.frugalshop.co.uk as I spot them and I won’t be posting anything that I wouldn’t buy myself, so don’t go thinking this is a sell-out.

Visit the Frugal Shop now and you can subscribe to the updates so you never miss any of our offers.

How to Recycle Jam Jars into Frosty Lanterns

Frugal, Festive Fun for all the Family - Making Snowy Lanterns as Christmas Decorations

Frosty snowman tea-light candle lantern

A photo-blog post about what I've been doing in Frugaldom this morning. (Responsible adult supervision recommended.)

What you need

• Tray, board, cloth or box
• Soda crystals, otherwise known as washing soda
• PVA glue
• Paintbrush
• Some old glass jars for recycling
• Scrap cardboard, paper, tin foil, ribbon, buttons and/or felt

Items needed for snowy lantern making

Clear a flat surface and carefully pour a layer of soda crystals into your tray, box or onto your board or cloth.

Tray of soda crystals - this will be your snow

Prepare your glue and brush, ready to decorate your first frosty jar by painting it entirely with the PVA glue.

Paint the entire jar with glue

Next, roll the jar in the soda crystals, as per the following photo. Tap it gently a few times once it is completely covered, just to dislodge any loose salt crystals.

Roll the pre-glued jar in the soda crystals

Next, tie or wrap a piece of ribbon, tin foil, string or similar around the neck of the jar, making sure it doesn't overlap the top and create a fire hazard. Congratulations! You are finished your first frosty lantern! Once the glue has fully dried, carefully sit the jar somewhere safe and light a candle inside it.

Frosty tea-light candle lantern

Now for your frosty snowman lantern.

Glue on 2 eyes, a nose and a smile. I have used a slither of leftover felt as a scarf, but you could use anything that you have available, as long as it won't melt when you light a candle inside the jar.

The start of my frosty snowman lantern

For the snowman's buttons and smile, I cut small pieces from some junk mail that came through the letterbox - it's always good for something when it's not being used to light the fire.

Scrap paper or card does equally well for faces, scarves and buttons

 Don't worry if your snowman is looking a little grim and untidy - I made such a mess with the glue that it all popped through the button holes and I had to stick little bits of paper over the top of them!

Frosty snowman tea-light lantern taking shape

I didn't have anything suitable for making my snowman a hat, so I just wrapped some black yarn around the top - remember to always leave the jar open and don't let anything overlap the opening, where it could easily catch fire! (If I get around to making him a hat, I'll update the post with another photo.)

Almost ready for his frosting

 Now it's time to paint the rest of the jar with glue. You don't need to be too particular about this as he is, after all, going to be a frosty snowman.

Paint the rest of the jar with glue

Next, you simply sprinkle the soda crystals all over the snowman or else roll it through the crystals in your tray or box.

Frosting the snowman

Finally, once the glue has dried, carefully light your candle and set your frosty snowman lantern some place safe, out of the reach of children or pets.



Frosty snowman tea-light candle lantern

Have frugal fun recycling your old jam jars this Christmas... putting together a kit for a DIY version is also a great gift and costs very little. Soda crystals are currently around £1 for a kilo bag and that's enough to make a huge number of lanterns. (I just used some from the bag I keep for my homemade laundry liquid.)

Feel free to experiment and please consider sharing photos of your finished creations on www.frugalforums.co.uk in our Arts, Crafts, Hobbies and Fun Stuff section.

Finding Free Stuff All Around Us

Making the Most of Freebies!

FREE FOR ALL!

I don't have any expensive camera equipment - my little 3x zoom digital model was 'bought' using free Buddy Points via the eBid online auctions - nor have I ever studied any form of photography, so this is the best of my abilities on a budget of zero - the full moon on 17th December 2013 at around 2am.

 

Next is the winter solstice - 21 December at 17.11, to be precise - otherwise known as the shortest day or the longest night, whichever way you choose to look at it. In reality it is both, so it's like a seasonal BOGOF (Buy One, Get One Free) bargain with the price tag reading £0.00

 

Enjoy your freebies! Even if you can't spot them this month, they are repeated like clockwork and will never become the preserve of the rich and/or famous.

 

NYK, Frugaldom

Preparing for Sharing the Fun and Frugal Festivities

One Month until Christmas!

2014 is fast approaching and we can now look forward to the final throws of 2013, all prepared for festive feasting and frugal fun, safe in the knowledge that the Christmas shopping is all done, dinner is planned and paid for, all the fabulous gifts you bought for others have been wrapped, cards written, the Christmas cake baked and not a penny of debt incurred. All that remains is to put up the tree and get the decorations hung!

No? Not sound like your household? Phew! Because it certainly doesn't sound like mine and I'd hate to be alone with my wild seasonal thoughts!

What stage have you reached in the proceedings? I do know that I've had the best part of 50 years to get accustomed to the fact that Christmas happens every December, followed a week later by the arrival of the new year, but why am I always in such a chaotic state of non-preparedness?

What have I been doing with all my time in Frugaldom?

1. I made two dozen Ozzy Blackbeard Knitted Christmas Puddings (that's one of them in the photo at the top) using scraps of wool from my stash. I used a tiny bead as a berry on the first one but then decided it was easier to simply sew a couple of stitches of red wool on top. I had a little bit of green felt, but you could also knit the leaves, if you followed Fibrefable's free pattern. These will be used to gift wrap individual chocolates, meaning that one box can be split among friends and family as cute little gifts or Christmas table favours. Ferrero Rocher, anyone? (Sadly, our local store doesn't have Ferrero Rocher, so I'll need to try and source these from elsewhere.)
2. I used up some oddments of red and white wool to knit little Santa hats, making up the very basic pattern as I went along by knitting a row of plain then a row of purl and decreasing to create the size needed. The small will be used to cover bottle tops on the homemade 'pink champagne' and the larger one is for covering a chocolate orange. (Sadly, our local store doesn't have any Terry's Chocolate Oranges, so I'll need to try and source these from elsewhere.)
3. I tried first knitting and then crocheting little owls for hanging in the tree, as I love what's known as amigurumi and want to make a load of these for the younger members of the family. Next, I'm going to make the mini hedgehog, using the simple to follow, free patterns posted on the Knitted Toy Box blog. The free crochet patterns are on the Romansock blog, which I also love - fluffy bunny, anyone? So many things to knit with such a dwindling supply of DK! (Sadly, our local store doesn't sell yarn, so I need to replenish from elsewhere.)
4. Cinnamon Sticks - I have treated myself invested in a pack so I can make cinnamon candles, scent some winter spiced potpourri and spruce up a homemade Christmas wreath for the door. I opted for the eBay offer of 20 x 8cm for £2 including postage and packaging. At 10p each, that's about the best price I could find and there are also the Nectar Points I collect while shopping there. In fact, I think this was a double points weekend. (Sadly, our local store doesn't sock anything as exotic as cinnamon sticks, so I needed to source these from elsewhere.)
5. Christmas Holly Wreath - I splashed out £2.45 for  5 x 10" wire wreath hoops, again via eBay,  taking advantage of free delivery and double Nectar points this weekend. We have plenty of foliage in the garden, including holly, plus I have a box of assorted ribbons, bows and shiny baubles in my crafting stash. Add to this some dried cones, the cinnamon sticks, some fine plastic coated garden wire and anything else I can lay my hands on that represents itself with a hint of festive colour or texture, I will have a very frugal, homemade holly wreath for my front door.
6. Christmas shopping! It hasn't been much, so far, but I seem to take a somewhat different view to the current belief by many that Christmas is nothing more than a hyped-up, consumerist-driven spend fest. Yes, I agree that it can be, especially when people go crazy, making rash, OTT decisions about how much money to spend regardless of how little they can really afford. or worse still, when that competitive spirit suffocates the festive spirit. I mean, really! What is that all about? If someone in a family earns £50k a year and another earns £5k, who in their right mind would expect similar value gifts to be exchanged? In fact, who expects reciprocation in the first place, if one tells the other that there will be no gift exchange this year? The gift of giving is a great one, so if any of your nearest and dearest state that they don't want to 'do' Christmas, it needn't stop you - just give their gift away to charity if they insist they want nothing. My shopping, so far, amounts to various smaller pieces of cumulative presents that will be put together by way of homemade hampers - made up in recycled cardboard boxes, not fancy wicker baskets!
7. Planning the meal - I took the opportunity of buying fresh turkey while I had the chance of paying for it with free points. It's now in the freezer. My friend always makes braised red cabbage for us both and, by way of exchange, I give her a bottle of my homemade pink 'champagne'. This year, it's raspberry, blackberry and rhubarb.
8. Bargain bagging with cash back, buy one get one free, free delivery and voucher codes. I splurged in the online Thornton's store! I think the normal price should have been much closer to £100 but with the *Topcashback voucher for free box of chocolates, a half price daily deal, a superb buy one get one free offer, the clearance bargains, the free delivery and the cash back from site and credit card, it came in at approximately £35 and enough luxury chocolates to share among the entire family. Christmas is about affording luxuries that you wouldn't normally even contemplate at any other time of year. Christmas is for frugalers doing what they do best - celebrating their financial achievements and savvy shopping in some most impressive ways.
9. Preparing for the onslaught of a long and possibly harsh winter. I have all my candles to hand, the wind-up torch, the rechargeable clock radio, the stack of logs and the cupboards packed with some emergency supplies. I have practiced cooking most things on the stove top, so a period without electricity similar to last winter's shouldn't affect us too much. New woolly blankets are draped over beds and settee, fleece blinds in the windows, hot water bottle checked for leaks, matches to hand and the electricity meter topped up to the maximum in the hope of delaying the inevitable price hike that comes into play from 6th December. I have not fallen for the ridiculous posts that are circulating with the news that you can heat a room for 8p per day because this 'tale' is simply NOT TRUE! If you doubt my word, light a tealight candle and time how long it burns, then work out how many candles you'd need and at what cost, to last you a full day. The absolute cheapest cost at least 1p per hour to burn and produces sufficient heat to warm a cupboard.
10. Preparing for next year's Frugal Living Challenge, which is run through www.frugalforums.co.uk but still has a subsidiary thread running in the Moneysavingexpert.com forums. 2014 will be year 7 of this challenge being open to the general moneysaving, budget-conscious public, so don't forget to join us soon.

Amidst all of this, of course, we are still progressing with the frugal renovation plans and the garden work. Just yesterday, the garden path was completed and I think it is looking great! It stretches all the way from the patio to the stream at the bottom of the garden. In place of weed suppressant, we have recycled builders' tote bags and in place of path edgings, we have logs. The logs worked out at approximately £1 per 3m length from the Forestry Commission. The gravel was our biggest extravagance, as we needed 6 huge bags of the stuff (with another 6 free tote bags, cut and laid beneath said gravel), but we are hoping that it will last a very long time and prove its worth, even if the lower section of path ends up under flood water!

Indoors, we almost had a living room but then plans changed again. The new backboiler is so good at heating the water that I've decided to incorporate another two radiators into the system, with one of those in the living room. Folks have asked why I would even need a radiator in my living room when that's where the open fireplace is, but when all that heat is roaring around a triple pass boiler and then up the chimney, I want as much of it circulating around the house as possible. This thing is hearing water at a rate enough to power 10 radiators and still heat a tank of water, so I'm now looking for a bath, rather than waste any hot water!

I'll tell you the story of the living room door in a later post!

Back on the Christmas trail, check out a few of the links at the bottom for recipes that include snowman soup, handmade chocolates and truffles, clootie dumpling, shortbread, homemade rhubarb champagne and other homemade gifts that we have tried over the years. I hope you can find something that catches your attention and brings a smile to someone's face over the coming weeks.

For those of you who like to make your own clootie dumpling and short read, we still have some of the exclusive November Challenge Frugaldom Fun and Food card sets available for sale. (All profits from November sales are for charity.) These include recipes for both of the above plus the instructions for making your very own papier mache, ready to begin the next year of frugal living, cost-cutting, budget stretching and debt busting.

On a sadder note, we have now learned that our nearest village post office is gearing down for closure soon. We'll still have postal service available in the village, by way of a counter in the general store, but to add to my woes, one of the two little general stores is closing. This is very sad but reflects how difficult it is for local shops to survive when most who can afford to prefer to jump into their cars and drive 40+ miles to the nearest big name supermarket. As a result, next year's grocery budget has had to be increased to £975 for the Frugaldom household to allow for the extra price increases that have already started to appear in the sole-surviving general store! I did promise to add in local store prices for the items I listed in last week's post about food prices, I will endeavour to do just that over the coming week. I can tell you now that a 2 litre carton of semi-skimmed milk cost me £1.62 this weekend. That's equivalent to 8.1p per 100ml. Checking on the 'mysupermarket' website, I see it costs 4.4p per 100ml in supermarkets, or £1 for 4 pints (2.27 litres).

I wonder if less food would be thrown away if everyone had to pay village store prices? Any thoughts on that, anyone?

NYK, Frugaldom

* My friend referral link

Sample Frugal Food and Fun for Less than a Fiver! Limited Offer, Free UK Delivery

We’ve done it!

Frugal Cards about Frugal Recipes and Frugal Fun

As part of our ‘Novus Frugalus’ money challenge in the frugal forums, I have teamed up with the Deki Tenner Tournament to help raise funds for frugal entrepreneurs (frugaleurs, to you and me) on a global scale.

Every year we run money challenges involving cottage crafts and working from home for our frugal entrepreneurs. It’s usually in November, as this allows us to start preparing for Christmas while hand-making gifts for friends and family. November is also the month during which Global Entrepreneurship Week takes place, so it’s a good month to begin any new enterprise.

We’ve now launched the first ever set of Frugaldom Food and Fun Card Sets to include a special, introductory fridge magnet showing Murray, our flying pig. All this and free delivery within UK for well under a fiver!

These frugaldom sets are a basic ‘how to…’ about frugal living, with this first set including recipes and tips about how to make soup, assorted cookies, lemon curd, traditional Scottish clootie dumpling, shortbread, micro-meringues and even a fabulous, fun activity that all the family can enjoy…

Read more here

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

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

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

But what about this for a handy wee gadget?

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

Read more here…

Bringing the Frugal Budget up to Date!

My Year so Far!



McGonks

End of the tax year has been and gone, my annual tax return is staring at me in pity and the annual statement of interest from the ISA is barely worth the paper, ink and postage it cost to get it here. In all honesty, the new financial year is already a disaster.

 

The business bank account, which is run in true frugal fashion without an overdraft facility, states credit interest = 0.00% while the possibility of running into an unauthorised overdraft would incur a 23% pa interest charge. It is all wrong! I don't blame anyone for charging through the teeth for unauthorised borrowing - it's a bit like stealing, isn't it? But not being able to earn interest on savings while the financial institutions are using our money is a disgrace!

 

The interest rates may have held for a ridiculously long time at their ridiculously low 0.5% historic low, but borrowing is NOT cheap! In fact, it has become so bad that many more, sadly, are turning to 'pay day' loans attracting phenomenal interest rates, rather than simply calling a halt to their own spending and reassessing their own spending patterns.

 

It's beyond me why anyone would want to have those sort of debts hanging over their heads rather than do without luxuries. I scratch my head so often that folks must think I have lice!

 

At the beginning of 2013, I listed all my personal challenges on here, but feel compelled to remind myself so I can take stock of the situation and see if I am making any real progress. Here goes!

 

1. Live on £4,000 for the year (2013 will be year 7 for this)
2. Grocery Challenge - included within the above total - increased to £1.25/person/day
3. Frugaleur Challenge - Establish a new micro-business
4. Get fitter, not fatter - always trying!
5. Hand make gifts for friends and family
6. Save all loose change
7. Eco-renovate the house without incurring any debt - this is a 5-year challenge, started in 2011
8. EEK - Everything Else Kitty - all other spending must be cost or cash neutral
9. Do without a car - cycle, walk or lift share for the full year
10. Tick off a few more items from the 'to do before 50' list.

Best to work through this numerically, but I can already see where I am failing and where my priorities for the second half of the year must lie.

1. £4,000.00 - I began the year with a household account balance of £4,000 and have tried my best to spend accordingly. After deducting approximately 25% of this for Council Tax, £145.50 for the TV licence (a luxury) and £165 for home insurance, I was left with £2,728.46 to 'live' for the full year. That's an average of £52 per week for the household. Winter was long and harsh, we were snowed in for about a week, lost power on numerous occasions and spent a small fortune on electricity trying to heat the place. Now, as of 14th June, I have £1,192.53 remaining to last until 31st December 2013. With 200 days remaining, if I am to succeed in this year's challenge, I have only £41.73 per week, on average, to spend!
2. GROCERY CHALLENGE - Since we're one less in our shared household this year, I thought I would be rash and increase the budget from £1 per person per day to £1.25, giving me a grand total of £912.50 to last the year. This includes toiletries, cleaning products and laundry products, so it's still quite a tight budget, but I know that it's part of my job to make it work - and work it must! I have £458.20 remaining and have just spent £32 via a Groupon offer - 135 luxury 3-ply toilet rolls with free delivery. Sorted in that department for the next year, at least, and I'm sure I can stretch the balance over the next 6 months by supplementing it with garden produce, even if we do need to eat copious amounts of salad leaves, rhubarb and blackcurrants, not to mention all the eggs produced by the hens ducks and quail. The homemade laundry 'detergent' is a must, as is bulk buying, batch cooking, preserving and taking advantage of bargains anywhere available.
3. FRUGALEUR CHALLENGE - This is really difficult because I had planned on making some spare cash from a craft-related project but then ended up selling the items to raise funds for a local charity. On the plus side, the new 'McGonks' (www.mcgonks.com) project paid for itself quickly, based on the fact that everything being used was either given to me or bought cheaply as offcuts or surplus. A serious effort will now be made to try and make it financially sustainable while also helping fundraise for charity. Besides that, it ties in well with items 4, 5 and 10 of my personal challenges list. (£675 cash for charity raised to date.)
4. GET FITTER, NOT FATTER - We don't need expensive gym memberships here in the frugal living sector. We live in a fairly rural location within easy reach of lochs and seashore. We can walk, cycle and swim without it costing us a penny and any cut back on food consumption can only mean further savings on the grocery budget. A frugal diet is fairly healthy anyway, as it means cooking everything from scratch and growing whatever fresh produce you can either in pots or in the garden. Making the McGonks has helped this challenge as we now have a photographic diary of where they go, a fundraising challenge and even a frugal trip to the top of Ben Nevis, which was fabulous! Tied in nicely with item 10 on my list!
5. HANDMAKE GIFTS - I'm notoriously bad at this as I am not very artistic and don't really have any real talent for crafting. I can do the basics of knitting, sewing, embroidery, crocheting and other stuff like that but actually getting my head down and concentrating on it for any length of time seems beyond me - I talk too much! If there's no company, I get easily distracted and lose focus on what's supposed to be getting done. Must try harder - I wonder if the nieces and grandchildren would like McGonks for Christmas? I doubt it very much! :)
6. SAVE ALL LOOSE CHANGE - Still saving it religiously, dropping it into the appropriate jars for coppers or silver but spending so little cash means there's seldom much left over by way of change. Still, it mounts up into pounds eventually, then can be spent on something more substantial.
7. ECO-RENOVATION - That's now two full years since we came here and we have managed to save quicker than we spend while doing little bits about the property. The new roof is on the back of the house, we now have proper windows in kitchen and bathroom, we have running water, electricity, a multi-fuel stove, the main hallway refloored, new cupboards in the temporary kitchen and the outbuilding has been rebuilt. The house still looks like a bombsite to the uninitiated, what with no plaster on walls, no ceiling in living-room and the old fireplace currently ripped out to leave a hole in the wall, but progress is slowly being made without too much waste. Indeed, the old fireplace has already been turned into another spiral herb bed in the garden.
8. EVERYTHING ELSE KITTY (EEK) - This has taken a bit of a battering, as I'm aiming for a cash neutral year. Things that get paid from this include keeping the poultry, reclaiming and rebuilding the garden, National Insurance contributions and all manner of things not included in a basic household budget. The weekend holiday trip to Fort William, for example, had to come from this, as had several items of necessary clothing for the walk up Ben Nevis. It's the 'everything else' things that mount up and can kill a budget stone dead before we've even had time to notice. When you look at it from the point of view of having £8.75 per person per week to spend on groceries, toiletries and cleaning products, you can see the massively negative impact the likes of a takeaway meal might make, or the fact that the poultry may stop laying for a month but they still need feeding and bedding. Unexpected events crop up, charities need supporting, a pet needs a vet, a car needs repairs... the list is endless. Thankfully, we no longer have a car to drain funds but the extras still mount up, especially when things in the household need replacing. Year to date I have spent £445.29 but have only accrued £340.08 in extra income, generated from cash-back sites, sales of surplus eggs and, lest we forget, the whopping great £108 compensation from the power company after the 4-day power cut during the snow storms. The amount of interest generated from my meagre ISA savings is negligible, amounting to a ridiculous £1.50 per £1,000 per month! It's an absolute joke! As for the Premium Bonds, (I kept a few) they have won me nothing for the past 2 years! My free Lotto tickets, on the other hand, have given me three wins! Such a pity that the £5 or so had to be split twenty ways in the syndicate! Bottom line is that my 'EEK' is currently running in deficit at a rate of £105.21 This needs to be remedied soon, as the next load of poultry feed is due this month! Oh, and I also bought a tent! (Don't even ask!)
9. DO WITHOUT A CAR - So far, so good! Working from home helps, as there's no commute anywhere, but as the sunny weather approaches, the urge to wander is creeping back in again. The shortest route to the local village store is just over 7 miles round trip, so cycling is much faster than walking and I'm limited by what I can carry on a bike, so spending is capped. However, getting further afield is going to be a challenge. I have several places I'd like to visit but each involves at least a 20 to 30 mile trip, so this challenge is being tied in with numbers 3 and 4 of my challenge list. I should get fitter cycling and I can thoroughly research my Frugaleur project by bike. One day, I may even invest in a newer bike.
10. THE BUCKET LIST - Well, it's kind of a bucket list, it's my list of things to do before I'm 50, developed from my list of things to do before 40, which eventually became my list of thing to do before 45. One of those things was to go up Ben Nevis, so that was happily achieved on 25th May, at the same time as promoting the McGonks and fundraising for the local lifeboat. Also, I'd never been hostelling before, so that was another new experience. I found it a little expensive compared to camping, so bought a friend's tent when she was decluttering. I am sure 'tales of the tent' will be forthcoming in the not so distant future.

That's it, my 1 to 10 of challenges and the current state of the budget. I'd like to become more pro-active in the moneymaking side of things but creating the microholding and developing the McGonks project now is my job, so where do I draw the line? I have no more binding contracts - last one was paid up to March - so now it's time to take the bull by the horns and go it alone, so to speak, in the self-sustainable living stakes. How difficult can it be? :)

Please feel free to ask any questions and join me in the forum at http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org if you'd like to discuss any of the items mentioned in this blog.

I Got Love-Bombed!

Festive Love Bombs and All That Stuff...

 

There's no other way of saying it, I got love-bombed last week! I'm still in shock, over-awed by what happened when someone detonated the love bomb. I was completely taken by surprise, totally unprepared and at the mercy of the postman and all he could carry to my mailbox!

 

During November, I set up the 2013 Frugaleur Challenge, launching it to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week. It allows us to establish the ground rules and get a head's start before 1st January 2013.

 

This year's challenge, as I explained in a previous post, has been grossly increased to a whopping great £50 start-up budget and a 13 month period to plan, start-up, develop and grow a micro-business from home.

 

We of the frugal living brigade need to earn our income somewhere and there just never seems to be enough of it to go around, hence the continual series of mini-challenges going on throughout the year. Priorities are things like paying off any debts, overpaying motgages, saving loose change in sealed pots, shopping via cashback sites and pursuing all manner of activities in order to succeed at decluttering, making do, reducing, reusing and recycling.  For some, it is still a case of trying to keep up with the rent and monthly bills! Becoming, and staying debt free is the ultimate goal. Anything more than that is an absolute bonus.

 

So, for 2013, McGonks are my thing! I now have a website, Facebook page, blog, an adoption centre for rehoming my furry little friends and, this weekend, the launch of Kindle subscriptions to their stories, available via Amazon both here in UK and in USA.

 

Back to the love bomb - I have been talking McGonks non-stop for nearly a month now, while I scour Frugaldom and send out search parties to family and friends, looking for all sorts of bits and pieces suitable for my latest project. There had to be some spending, it was unavoidable - especially when I make treasure trove finds on places like eBid!

 

Well! While I have been busy beavering away at putting together a unique secret santa gift and creating my McGonk empire, I have been inundated with gifts of all shapes and sizes, replenishing my diminished crafting stocks and ensuring that the McGonk project gets off the ground.  Fellow frugal and crafting bloggers, I salute you! In the true spirit of the love-bomb, I shall, of course, 'pay it forward' at every opportunity and in any way possible.

 

Now I would like to mention a Christmas Crafting Competition, again being hosted by our friends over at Moneysupermarket.com. This should appeal to even the youngest crafters, as it's a Christmas card making contest. I think the McGonks might be able to pull a few bits and pieces together in order for Thrift Cottage to submit an entry, don't you? Details can be found here.

 

It's been another busy day here, what with all the McGonk challenge preparations, but I'm glad to say that they now have their own 'Clan McGonk' blog. (Feel free to follow, subscribe, read and share.) This is where all their news and great adventures will be recorded in 2013, as I don't want to swamp the frugal living blog with cute, furry, frugal gonks.

 

Finally, today is the last day of the stirring of the pink champagne-style fizz! It smells delicious and is just starting to bubble and ferment. It's ready for filtering and bottling, so that is tomorrow's job. I'll drain off the liquid through the jelly bag and then pour it through a paper coffee filter, just to ensure all the 'bits' are out of it. The colour is very rich, much more like a sparkling red wine than a pink champagne. At 15p per bottle, it's frugal fruity fizz no matter what colour it becomes. I may even transfer the strained fruit to the big pan and boil what's left of it into a jar of festive, gourmet jelly! After that, there probably won't be much fruit left for the compost or the worms.

 

Frugaldom

www.frugaldom.com

 

The Secret Santa Competition

SECRET SANTA COMPETITION

How can I possibly NOT write about #MSMSecretSanta challenge? I mean, Frugaldom is taking part in the challenge! It has been so difficult trying not to talk, post or blog about anything that could possibly give away any of the secrets!

So here goes with the first of a couple of posts for today, as this is the day I finally get to put my Secret Santa gift together to send it out to my allocated 'partner' in all of this, Frugal Queen in Cornwall.

I guess the first thing you have to think about when exchanging gifts with a stranger is, let's try to get to know a bit about the other person. So, I went back to the start of her frugal journey to get up to speed on the Cornish frugal situation and then tried to put myself into that self-same situation, wondering what I would really like from a Secret Santa. £25 is a fairly hefty budget in any frugaler's eyes, so this was going to be like a major gift of indulgence and luxury.

There are so many things one could do with £25. For a start, it's more than my entire weekly grocery budget, so careful planning had to go into even the minutest detail. There couldn't be waste. Posting the gift means packaging it and sending it off by courier. Mine hasn't been collected from here yet, but Frugal Queen's has already arrived - and I love it! Thank you! It really ws like Christmas here yesterday! (Can't say what it is until next week.)

[At this point I should explain that we live in a fairly rural location, I have no car and the nearest post office is a 7 mile round trip on foot. There is no pavement or footpath once you get to the main 'A' road, and it's bitterly cold & slippery. Walking to the post office with the secret santa gift isn't an option, so mine is being couriered. It also means we are at the mercy of the van drivers, if they have sufficient time to reach us before evening then they will, but it may end up being Monday collection for Tuesday delivery. We can't really get guaranteed overnight delivery here.]

Back to the present (another pun)!
Packaging - minimal waste, so it's recycled in a very frugal way. Having been fortunate enough to have already received my parcel from Cornwall, I am doing a cheeky return, popping my gift to 'Froogs' in the packaging that arrived here, from there. The actual gift itself is inside the posh, reuseable chocolate box that I requesitioned, complete with these beautiful ribbons! (Sacrilege to even consider binning such a box!) I think we're allowed to show the parcels, just not divulge what's inside!

"But what's in the parcel?"

Well, we actually called a meeting about this in Frugaldom, because where I live isn't exactly known for its abundance of shops. We have two small grocery stores and a post office down in the village; that is it, as far as general shopping goes! (NOte to readers, I like it this way as the less I spend, the more I can afford.)

Frugaldom isn't on a bus route, so jumping on a bus and travelling the 20 miles or so into Stranraer or Newton Stewart, our nearest shopping towns, isn't a quick option, either. For starters, it's a mile walk to the main road to flag down the bus - hoping that it sees you and stops.

But we frugaling types from small communities do have a feather in our caps when it comes to gift buying and shopping locally... We have craft fayres and exhibitions, plus an abundance of very talented people!

So, my frugal gift from southwest Scotland to southwest England is not only a Secret Santa gift that I think Frugal Queen will absolutely adore, it is also what I consider to be a true represetation of the spirit of Galloway, and Scotland on the whole. (Minus the whisky made by our local distillery at Bladnoch, sorry.) The gift represents friendship and wanting to share the best of what we have to offer. This is a very user-friendly, non-alcoholic (sorry, again), luxury gift that will last all year round. It will be absolutely unique, in that it's not something you can buy in any mainstream store, and it will be absolutely frugal, in that there should be no waste - even the packaging is reuseable.

We all like to be able to keep warm through winter and cool through summer. When they talk about '50 Shades of Grey', I see life as fairly black and white, just like right and wrong, rich and poor or, even, trial and error. We all like to feel good about something and indulge ourselves now and again with a little luxury, we need a bit of fun in life to keep us smiling and, I guess most importantly, we need to be able to appreciate what we see, even if we sometimes forget to look for the littler things. As one frugal blogging lady (you know who you are) once said,

 

"Every time I look out of this window and see the trees, the park and the houses on the hillside, I spend just a moment being very grateful for what I have."

To 'Froogs',

I hope I have managed to find something to make you feel good and that you'll love your Secret Santa parcel as much as I loved putting it all together. Many thanks for being such a great partnering blogger in all of this and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas early, when this parcel arrives on your doorstep.

Best wishes from the other 'Froogs'

And finally, many thanks to moneysupermarket.com for putting this fabulous challenge together and inviting me to become a part of it.

Frugaldom
www.frugaldom.com