Words and Herbs

Hello friends and followers of the frugal ways. I hope you are well and that life is treating you fairly during these uncertain times. The cost of living is still escalating but I think it's fair to say that it always will, unless we have a complete change of direction, habits and lifestyle.

One big question that is often asked is, 'Where do I start?' This daunting conundrum csn become completely overwhelming. It can lead to confusion, procrastination, frustration, despair, inaction and even complete exhaustion. My best answer is simply to start by writing one word. It can be any word to describe what you want to change, make, do or achieve. What is your word? My word is a combination of two words - FRUGAL and FREEDOM. Therein lie the origins of what has become my life's work -  FRUGALDOM. Words can mean so much to so many and there is no rule book stating that you cannot mix and match to come up with something that fits the bill, no pun intended. 😊

Every day is a new day and a new start. April, in our little corner of southwest Scotland, is looking like rhubarb month. I have fabulous thoughts of growing all my own fruit, vegetables and herbs, rearing chickens and ducks, making, mending, bartering, sharing, living sustainably... I do my best. I fail often. I start again. Hope and despair go hand in hand but achievements are always made - we just need to step back and look for them. Make up your own word for what you are doing.

HERBERY - My efforts to achieve a HERB NURSERY. Yes, rhubarb is a herb. It's a medicinal herb known in Chinese medicine. The roots and tuber are used for some things, the stalks and even the leaves are used for others. Herbal medicine is not my subject  so I won't go into that but as a frugal living officianado, rhubarb means crumbles, jam and even a crunchy snack when, dare I say it, dipped in sugar. It is interesting to note that as the rhubarb grows, so does the nearby Sweet Cicely. 

I wonder if there is a connection to be made there, seeing as nature has presented these two herbs simultaneously? It may just be coincidence but these are the things we need to look out for in life. With coincidence can come opportunity but we need to recognise that when it appears. 

This herbery was created during lockdown with most of the seeds and plants gifted and appreciated. Emily brought agrimony, Lisa sent seeds, I say and Eva brought mugwort. All have had time to develop, thanks to the help of visitors and volunteers. Hilary (Lily) brought a load of strawberry runners and planted them. (Strawberries are herbs.) Janice brought several plants along, including a type of lungwort, which now has  pretty pink flowers. There is also a bed of assorted sedums, planted with the thought in my head that, one day, we could have a sedum roof. The roof has never materialised but do you know what? The sedums are growing every year, ready for thinning out and reporting to grow someone in the future a sedum roof.

Never give up. If things get you down then study life at ground level. Find your passion and start from there.

Make a plan in small increments - today I plan to plant a sprouted potato. If I plant more than one, I have excelled my own expectations. If I plant none, the day is as a week and it ain't over yet. 😆  

Writing, Tree Planting and Money Saving Entrepreneurs

I suspect November is going to be a very busy month, possibly the busiest month of my life! Frugal living, as a lifestyle, is quite time consuming, what with money challenges, gardens, cooking from scratch, DIY, taking up to 10 times longer to get anywhere when cycling or walking and let's not overlook many hours at the computer, eeking out a living. So what's so different about November?


Image design by Elizabeth Doyle


First of all, November is NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - and it has been running since NYK was publishing 'Now You Know', which makes this challenge 15 years old! It is literally a challenge in which anyone interested can attempt to write a novel of 50,000 words within the month of November. I have registered to take part!

Next, we are expecting to take delivery of 420 mixed native species trees that the Frugaldom Project has been awarded as part of the Woodland Trust's nationwide World War I Centenary. The saplings are being delivered to Thrift Cottage during the first week in November, along with canes and protection spirals. We will be having a Frugaldom planting event on site to create a brand new harvest woodland to commemorate the outbreak of the Great War of 1914-18.  This is quoted as being, "a once-in-a-generation tribute for those who lived and served, by creating a growing legacy that will stand tall for centuries to come." More than 16 million people, not to mention countless animals, died during the conflicts. Throughout Britain, people will be planting trees out of respect. We hope to have all our trees planted in time for 11th November and then continue developing this project in any way possible.

Fast approaching the 13th and 14th of November and the Scottish Business Exhibition, which is another event I hope to be attending. It's for all budding entrepreneurs and frugaleurs, an opportunity to learn from some experts. Tickets can be claimed free, you just need to register through The Scottish Business Exhibition (http://www.thescottishbusinessexhibition.com) or New Start Scotland (http://newstartscotland.com) web sites.

That almost takes us up to the 17th November and the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week (www.gew.co/) which is when we start our 2014 moneymaking challenge in the Frugal Forums at www.frugalforums.co.uk This year, once again, we are working with a budget of £10 start-up capital to see how far we can take, or how much further we can develop, our business ideas.

I think that's enough to be going on with for now. In the money savings stakes, I have been fortunate enough to bag myself some of that super-duper, ultra cheap sugar that Pound stretcher is currently selling ay an incredible 49p per kilo. This is thanks to someone in the family who is coming to stay for a few days and asked the question, "Is there anything you need from the shops?" Not sure they expected me to ask for a load of sugar, mind you, but the same bag costs over £1 in the village store and a visit there involves a 7-mile round walk or cycle!

NYK in Frugaldom

The Real Good Life

LIFE IS GOOD WHEN THE SUN SHINES

Cash-paying work has been a bit thin on the ground recently, so I've been able to get out and about whenever the sun shines, researching for articles and writing what I want rather than what I'm paid to write. Renovations can wait - we're almost water tight, we have logs and coal, and there's plenty of food in the half-completed kitchen.

Working from home and frugal living while having no rent to pay and no car to run has many major advantages. I'm not denying there can be disadvantages but, when the sun shines, folks like us can just take off and do as we please. I can clock up more miles on my trusty two-wheeled steed - the secondhand bike. Mine is a mountain bike and H's is a hybrid meant for road use, but it's been behaving very well over the farm tracks, forest tracks, fields and cattle grids. As you can see in the photo, my bike now goes nowhere without the black cool-bag, (a freebie from several years ago) which normally holds lunch and emergency supplies or else basic groceries from the local store. (You can pack quite a lot in there when you have to do so.)

The weather, although bitingly cold, has been fair, meaning it's warmer out than in when living in a house with no proper central heating. Sitting at the computer and reading the screen through your own breath cloud isn't a good look, so getting warm means light the fire, light the stove or exercise. You'd think I'd lose weight doing this, but I never do!

This post is a run through of what March has brough, so far: it came in like a lamb, let's hope it doesn't go out like a lion!

01 March 2013 - We decided to head out to the highest point in our area. The Machars is an area of lowland in southwest Scotland, within the Dumfries and Galloway region. We're on a peninsula that has no large hills or mountains, only a few fells, Mochrum Fell being the highest, at 197m / 646ft. We left the bikes at the foot of the hill and walked up a route that took us past two shepherds' cairns and then to the summit trig point, where there's a cist, trig point and remains of a much larger cairn. Cost for this outing - FREE.

02 March 2013 - Grandaughter was visiting and, although it wasn't all that sunny, it was dry and bright enough to get out for a picnic. (She'd brought her bike with her.) We cycled out to the old church ruins at Barhobble, where we left the bikes and climbed Changue Fell, which is right next to Mochrum Fell. We ate our picnic while sitting at the church ruins and then cycled home, stopping off for a walk along the edge of Elrig Loch to see all the Greylag geese that are visiting for winter. Cost for this outing - FREE.

03 March 2013 - Glorious sunny Sunday so we packed another picnic and went off-roading through the forest on the bikes. It always amazes me that we seldom see another person during our travels. We have all of this around us and yet few take the time to enjoy it. However, whispers of an impending windfarm being built in the neighbourhood has many locals up in arms about the destruction of the countryside, devaluation of properties and several alleged health risks associated with working turbines. I'll reserve judgement. Cost for this outing - FREE.

 

06 March 2013 - After peering at maps and searching online, we agreed on a circular route that meant a shortcut home cross-country. This proved to be very eventful, as I have a bit of a fear of cattle and don't like to find myself too close to them. Let's just say that today's route gave me a free lesson in hard, fast and furious pedaling over very rough terrain whilst dinging my bell and screeching at cows that didn't seem best pleased to see us on our bikes! Thankfully, no calves and no bull! Cost for this outing (other than the few pounds possibly lost during my frenzied escape from galloping cows) - FREE!

 

We do try to get out most days for either a walk or a cycle but I won't boar you with the more mundane trips to the post office, village store or walk up the hill with my 'get fitter' walking buddy. There's so much to see and so many places to explore that it's difficult knowing which, if any, will be of interest to frugalers. On the whole, I visit only places that are free, so I'm hoping that's enough to interest anyone who reads this blog. Frugal living means frugal fun.

10th March 2013 - This was a good trip, barring the sad state the old farm steading was in with the remains of several dead sheep scattered about the fields plus discarded veterinary-type containers and general rubbish! This building belongs to the Marquis of Bute and was formerly an agricultural school of some description. It's dated 1890, so not all that old, and sits on farmland that's also home to the trig point we wanted to visit, at Craigeach Fell. We cycled to Craigeach and left the bikes in one of the derelict outbuildings, where they'd be kept dry in the event the rain or snow arrived. All around us seems to be getting snow at the moment but we have been luck, so far, with none. Cost of this outing - FREE.

 

11th March 2013 - Pulled on the walking boots and decided to find out if the ground was frozen enough to allow us to walk a circuit cross-country by following the footpaths. It was very soggy and still flooded in parts. We almost made it, until coming face to face with some horned, hairy beasts while cutting down onto the shore road. These 'friendly' critturs weren't showing any signs of taking off in the opposite direction, so, rather than make a run for it and land over an embankment, we back-tracked and completed the walk along the main farm track. Cost of this outing - FREE.

 

12th March 2013 - Today I cycled to the agricultural merchants to settle my monthly poultry feed account. Normally I would just telephone and pay by card, but the sun was shining and the 17-mile trip on the bike didn't seem so daunting. Once there, I even treated myself to some luxury 'CoolMax' walking socks for the trip up Ben Nevis in May - they were cheaper in the agri-store than I'd seen them online for the exact same make. Lovely day turned to lovely evening, so friend and I did our regular 4 miles over a nearby steepish hill to the next village and back. We always see something while out there, whether it's birds, deer, snow on the peaks of Snaefell across the water on the Isle of Man or the flashing of the Mull of Galloway lighthouse across the other side of the bay. Tonight's sunset was worthy of a photo. Total cost of outings - FREE.

 

13th March 2013 - The day began as normal, I needed a few items from the shop and the shop, depending on which route I take, is at least 7 miles round trip. Yesterday I took the bike and H accompanied me, as we had a little research to do for some written articles. The entire trip spanned out to just under 15 miles, but I did remember to buy the fruit, cheese and sugar. In fact, I was really rash and spent about £3 extra on lunch stuff, when we decided to do three exploratory trips in the one outing!

 

We climbed the steps to the site of the ancient Barsalloch Fort, where we demolished the most of lunch. Cost of visit - FREE

 

Next, we headed further along the shore to the Gavin Maxwell Memorial, on the road to St Medan Golf Club - Scotland's most southerly golf club. This impressive bronze otter stands looking out over the bay at Monreith. Gavin Maxwell, author of 'Ring of Bright Water', was born in Elrig House, about which he wrote in his slightly less famous novel, 'The House of Elrig'. It is from this book that I have learned quite a bit about our area. Cost of visit - FREE

 

There are several beautiful picnic spots around Monreith, many with seating provided, but we continued on our way to explore our next target - Kirkmaiden. This is one of Scotland's oldest churches. It has a small graveyard and some fantastic stories attached to it. Tradition has it that the original bell was removed and sailed across the bay to be placed in another church of exact same name, but the boat sank before it reached the other side.

The little red stone building is the burial chapel of the Maxwell family, who still own the nearby estate. As far as I'm aware, Sir Michael, who considers himself frugal, is the only Maxwell who now resides there. He seems to be a bit of a character, as I'm sure anyone who saw him on the TV series 'Country House Rescue' will agree.

Cost of this excursion - FREE.

So there you have it - a peak into the life of a Frugaldom dweller. None of the above are all-day affairs, so it leaves plenty of time for the more mundane things in life, like housekeeping, cooking and earning a small income. Perhaps it isn't the perfect life for a gregarious socialite with a penchant for foreign holidays, glamour and glitz. All of tese things can be put together on a miniscule budget, so it isn't like we couldn't afford to set ourselves another challenge. I think I prefer simple living.

Frugaldom.

When Potentially Good Sites go Bad!

Some People Just don't want to be Helped!

I thought long and hard about this before posting, as it actually involves a string of potential civil or criminal offences along the way, mainly the following:

• Misuse of personal information
• Defamation
• Fraudulent impersonation and deceit
• Copyright infringement
• Impersonating a business

So, readers of Frugaldom blog, I am going to quietly slip back into journalistic mode and am presenting this article to you as a factual report, rather than a factually based blog post. Seriously, we cannot take such things lightly and although I have almost dismissed any thoughts of pursuing the matter, I would very much appreciate some feedback.

Here in Frugaldom, we work from home, as you all know, witing, crafting and offering an assortmnent of art-related works, virtual admin and publishing services. We use sites like O-Desk, E-Lance and People Per Hour. So, it comes as no surprise that we occasionally get paid by others to post in forums, while having the benefit of knowing who else is involved in the set up and running of such sites. That's how we found DS and his forum site - when he was advertising to hire posters for his new forum.

Personally, I was not hired to post on the above forums, but I did offer my services free to help out a business partner, who was being paid to post. However, all was not well and things on the site just didn't appear to me to be run in a sufficiently professional manner to warrant any more of my free help. Indeed, one incidence forced me to withdraw my services completely, including removing many of my previous posts. That's when the site administrator decided to log into MY POST and rewrite it!

My typing is not great, of that I shall freely admit, but I do know the difference between 'i' and 'I'. Likewise, I know the difference between 'lose' and 'loose', so the mere fact that he chose to include the phrase, 'saw looser', which I think is supposed to mean 'sore loser', makes this all the more laughable. For the purposes of  providing police evidence, should the need arise, I have screen printed the relevant posts, which include the following proof positive of when the illegal act took place:

"Last edited by djs on Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:08 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Frugaldom leaving That Forum Site and removing/changing posts out of spite. The other users require an explanation to this."

I would like to let it be known, in no uncertain terms, that I did NOT leave 'That Forum Site' out of spite, nor did I write the ridiculous comments in that blog post - I left the site to dissociate myself from what I deemed to be a very unsuitable and unprofessional organisation. Nothing more, nothing less. For Mr Shackleton (I presume) to have felt the petty need to doctor one of my posts in such a despicable manner, reflecting so negatively on my character, I feel no guilt in publishing this report to alert others to the abuse they lay themselves open to when registering to use a forum. I hope DJS's mum and other associated forum members are proud of his achievements. I wish them every success with their project but people need to play be the rules, keep it fair and represent honesty.

I'm trusting the forum owner will have the good grace to remove the incriminating posts from www.thatforumsite.com but also hope he is aware of the fact that the pages are now cached by search engines and logged as evidence.

Frugaldom.

For anyone interested, here is the link to the post that alleges to be written by Frugaldom/NYK Media

A Look Back Over the Frugal Years

2013 is LOOMING LARGE! 

I can't believe how quickly time is marching on and that we're a mere four days from December 2012! Preparing for 2013 seems a bit 'pie in the sky', yet here we are... pies, shortbread, clootie dumplings and anything else you can think of begging to be baked or boiled!

Everyone's talking in Christmas-speak, Yule-speak and winter festivities-speak, so it's high time that I got to work on the new Frugaldom moneymaking challenge, before drifting off into fluffy-cloud-land to dream of Santa, roaring log fires, hot chocolate and marshmallows.

As most people know, a frugal lifestyle allows little in the budget for anything outside the cost of living, especially while trying to renovate an 1805 cottage that sucks every breath of warmth from you as soon as you walk in the door. 'Sausage dog' draught excluders, fleece curtain linings, winter woolies and extra quilts are all at the ready, having been rudely awakened from their summer slumbers. But that won't halt the ever-increasing cost of living. No way.

Beating inflation is about staying ahead of the game and, for those of us who are self-employed, that means one of two things... increasing the income or reducing the overheads. Well my overheads are as close to zero as I can possibly bring them without imposing hypothermia or malnutrition on anyone who ventures near, so that leaves income.

Frugal living means frugal working, so another new challenge has been launched for 2013. We've been doing these for years. Nobody has ever got rich yet, but they are such immense fun that it would be sad to stop trying now.

The premise is that you 'invest' a fixed amount, say £10, and then work towards growing your money to show profit. This year, I invested in some egg cartons and began selling frugal gourmet quail eggs. A fellow frugaler developed her skills in making jewellery items, while another bought fabric and sold cushion-sized squares.

It's amazing how much fun you can have with £10 but, for 2013, we are upping the stakes to a whopping £50! The challenge launched recently during Gobal Entrepreneurship Week with one frugaler setting up a secondhand clothes business, catering for larger ladies, while another is looking into room rental. Me? I have set up 'Clan McGonk' as part of my long-standing eco-arts project.

Eco-art is about creating one thing from another using, wherever possibe, what would otherwise be treated as surplus to requirement.

With this in mind, I thought it would be rather fun to recap on some of the past challenges, products and ideas. For a start, it may tempt a few of you to consider joining our 2013 challenge

My garden logman bird feeder was built from off cuts left by the treefeller when a neighbour had a conifer felled in her garden last year.

'Cash cow', along with several other characters, was made from papier mache. We simply recycled old newspapers and turned them into banks - and all other forms of sealed pots - for yet another savings challenge.

The pebble and shell 'pets', as you can easily see, were made from pebbles and shells. (I think that was the 2005/6 challenge - we've been doing this for some time.) With investment made into tiny 'googly eyes', they, in turn, began finding their way onto everything! We sold some really, really crazy items via eBid.

Does anyone remember any of the other recycled items that Frugaldom produced over the years? What about the famous 'willitfit'? The wooden postal measuring slots were made from offcuts salvaged from a local picture framer. I got all manner of offcuts, mostly thin hardboard of the type used to back prints for framing. Those were great days! The smaller pieces of wood were turned into wooden savings 'bricks' and the bits sliced from the postal slots were made into keyrings. A small investment was made into the rings and hoops for creating the keychains. And then, along came the offcuts from plywood - how fantastic was that? Free plywood and a friend with a fancy shmancy cutting tool that meant we could draw shapes, then he could cut them accordingly.

All manner of creatures appeared on the doorstep, as we turned them into hand-painted planters.

Perhaps the days of larger free offcuts will return, but the recession is surely here to stay - nobody wants to part with free wood nowadays, not when it can go on a stove to help fend off the cold and boil a kettle for a cuppa. So, it's time to move on and attempt to make something from whatever people are finding themselves getting rid of to the bin man. Pity I can't recycle plastics. Hmm...

To hand, I have old clothing, household textiles and shredded paper! With this in mind, plus the fact that sis had the job of creating furry toys for tombola stall prizes, she gave me the idea of how I could adapt a previous project (1999, so few if any of you will remember it!) to bring it online and into production.

My 2013 Frugaleur Challenge is to make recycled furry friends, otherwise known as my clan of McGonks! The initial start-up capital will be invested in such things as website creation, felt, fur, ribbon, little pompoms, big googly eyes and any variety of sewing and replenishing the sewing box with toymaking related items. (I love homemade Christmas presents, don't you?) At the moment, I am unravelling an old jumper to free up some wool for knitting little scarves and crocheting mini-blankets, but I still need to source chunky knitting needles and a crochet hook - soon it will be gonks galore!

During a previous challenge - shell & pebble pets - I managed to grow my investment enough to invest in a lovely new glue gun, so that will help somewhere along the way. During the wood craze, I afforded to invest in a pyrography iron and I already have an office shredder, so that will help make the stuffing! Eco-arts, eco-gonks, eco-fun, who needs a Furby?!

I'm really excited about getting my new frugaleur project off the ground, having already invested in domain names for the new website and dusted down many of the files containing the photos and exploits of my previous character.

Not only will Clan McGonk exist, it will also have its own series of mini ebooks and a selection of collectable furry friends from which to choose. You'll can follow the stories online, take part and generally have some frugal fun. There's even a McGonks page ready to be developed on Facebook - how cool (and free) is that? Now that I come to think about it, perhaps I shouldn't have give away the sewing machine, afterall! I'm going to have to stitch up these furry little critturs by hand.

If you would like to take part in the 2013 challenge, check out the site at www.frugaleur.com and let's get making, baking, creating and crafting for the new year. It's frugal fun all round and we are always interested in trading with like-minded others.

Frugaldom.

Needs and Wants - What Does it Mean to 'Earn a Living'?

How Much is 'a Living'?

The Raven
By Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this and nothing more."

The question of earning a living sprang to mind while discussing the differences between town and country life, mainly in the context of earnings and self-employed income. Being a follower of frugal living, I seldom dwell on the prospect of counting my millions, or any other such trivialities for that matter, it is simply a case of survival in a manner found to be acceptable to the society in which we live.

The latter may seem irrelevant but, on closer investigation, it is indeed very relevant.

The United Kingdom is made up of four countries, each consisting of four completely different social dynamics. Seldom are these differences highlighted when we listen to the idle chit chat and false promises of politicians based in London; what they say can become fairly meaningless to some of us. Some of these people have never been into the countryside, other than for their own political gain or pleasure, protected from what's around them by cash, blinkers and spin. So, without further ado, let us take a closer look at what we all call 'earning a living'.

Edgar Allan Poe, in my opinion a fairly dubious character, is said to have been the first 'well-known' American writer to try to earn a living through only writing. This resulted in many financial difficulties, most of which I can fully understand. But cast aside any notion that I should ever compare my own scribblings to those of such famous names. (I have never relied on alcohol, nor have I ever married my 13 year-old cousin, so the comparisons are null and void from the start.) Still, I do wonder how much he needed to earn and what sort of life he was able to afford to lead on his meagre earnings?

Living a frugal lifestyle is perfectly normal for me - I know how much I need each month, therefore I need to live within those means to avoid debt, malnutrition and destitution. It's perfectly simple to me, one of the most obvious 'things' to grasp. But we are all different. The villages, towns, cities, counties and countries are all different.

"One man's loss is another man's gain. One man's pleasure is another man's pain."

In order to earn a living, I need to afford a roof over my head. After years of saving, that roof is bought and paid for, so there's no need to worry about rent or a mortgage. But there's always the council tax. It's compulsory!
Let's call it £1,000.00

We need heat and light. I live in a fairly chilly part of the UK (Scotland), albeit probably the warmest part of Scotland (deep southwest), but it still rains and it still freezes or gets frosty for at least six months of the year.
Let's call it £1,000.00

Without food, water and clothing, we would perish. All these things cost money, even if we are tending the garden, microholding or smallholding to grow our own 'edibles'. Preparation and storage costs money. All the extras cost money.
Let's call it £1,000.00

Living in a rural location with no shops, post office, bank, entertainment/recreational facilities or public transport, we need to take all of that into account and keep a car on the road.
Let's call it £1,000.00

We do have TV (£145 for a licence), telephone (£120 line rental) and unlimited Broadband (£240) but all of these cost money.
Let's call it £500.00

We have a fairly large garden that's home to several hens, ducks, quail and the rabbit. These all cost money to feed and house.
Let's call it £500.00

As you can see, the cost of living soon mounts up before we even factor in the more luxurious items. It is our understanding of the differences between our needs and our wants that determines how happy we are with what we earn. Bowing under peer pressure isn't really anything to worry about when there are no nearby Jones families with which to 'keep up' and the local school has less than 30 pupils.

We ruralites can often be stuck for choice. As far as grocery shopping is concerned, our biggest choice in the local corner store is take it or leave it, or we could travel to the nearest town to see what the supermarket has to offer. But now we have the Internet, in many cases we have Broadband, albeit slow, and we have delivery companies trekking miles off the main roads to reach us. We have access to the world of commerce, department stores, online banking, shares trading, cashback, savings and investments and all of these things can be fun! Why would someone like me opt to travel 200 miles each week for the sake of attending a dead-end job that paid minimum wage of £6.08 per hour when I need only £100 each week to 'live' my current, happy-go-lucky lifestyle?

A trip into the 'big town' is a full day's event for us, whereas those who care not for reviewing their spending habits (then moan that they are skint) fail to see the domino effect caused by continually fuelling up the car to make a 150-mile round trip for the sake of saving a few pounds on a pair of shoes. Travel costs, including car running costs, amount to around £25. Postage & packaging costs online are around £5. It's a no-brainer!

Downsizing isn't always the easy option. Selling up your 3-bed town or city dwelling for a packet to pack up and relocate to a cheap, cash purchased fixy-up cottage in the country may not be what you are expecting. Self sufficiency is an urban myth, 'The Good Life' was nothing more than a hit comedy on BBC and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall still has a job to earn him the kind of income he needs to live his fairly affluent, possibly extravagant, lifestyle.

No, frugal living is certainly not for everyone. It's either a way of life you have grown accustomed to through a weak financial situation or it is a learning curve forced upon you by circumstances beyond your control. It may be a lifestyle choice you choose in pursuit of your 'dream', but that's where money helps initially. It may cost you more money than you'll save trying to launch yourself into this because of some quaint, fairytale notion that country living without the security of guaranteed income looks fun and stress-free.

Some of the people who have, in the past, been part of the Frugaldom forums have become classic examples of how not to do it and it is a simple fact that they just didn't understand the concept of earning a living while isolated from old friends and family, then living within their means after their security blanket incomes had gone.

Then again, given the choice, I'd buy as close to my dream 'forever' home and do whatever was needed to keep it, safe in the knowledge that I'd worked for it and, therefor, deserved it. The bottom line will forever be the bottom line. £100 per week could be seven days of gardening, scraping out chicken poop, attending LETS meetings, sharing bulk bargains with friends and typing frantically in the hope of being paid by someone who will publish your words, but if it all goes to pot, it's still only 16 hours per week for one person earning minimum UK wage.

There's truth in my madness and it's only mad if you can't see the bigger picture.

Happy living with everything you need does not cost a fortune. It's those rogue 'wants' that mess up that system. :)

Comments appreciated.

NYK Media
http://www.scottishmultimedia.co.uk/

SOCIAL NETWORKING, SPREADING THE WORD, THINK ABOUT IT…

The world's gone Gaga!

Everyone seems to like numbers - statistical analysis, percentages, ratios, conversion rates, the price of cheese... so I've looked at a few more. Before discussing them, I'd like you to take a quick think about these popular websites - with Apps!

I don't really 'do' Facebook, as far as social media and business networking is concerned. I do find it extremely handy for keeping up to date with friends and family, arranging social events and, in general, doing anything except work. We can share photos, reminisce, poke fun at one another and pick up from wherever we left off, even if we haven't seen one another for years.

Facebook is fun, it's where we hang out with familiar faces, it's where we go to skive, or to sit down at the end of a frustrating day and relax. OK, so our photos have probably all been digitally scanned for facial recognition, profiled, logged and listed in some Government funded, global database but, on the whole, we don't care. It's Facebook

Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
You wanna go where people know, people are all the same,
You wanna go where everybody knows your name.


Theme song lyrics from 'Cheers'
"Where Everybody Knows Your Name"
by Gary Portnoy & Judy Hart Angelo

To me, that's Facebook!

Twitter, on the other hand, is about a hard and fast game. It's about the hard sell, the attention grabbing, the in your face, fast driven media. It's a digital revolution that combined the Internet with mobile phones on every level and is now threatening to outpace the national news networks and revolutionise the 'text all' facility on our mobile phones. On Twitter, there is no 10 second delay - it's out there for all to see and it's what's happening now.


In my opinion, the Twitter + Facebook combination doesn't work very well for the 'man on the street'. You just wouldn't take Wall Street, CNN and The Whitehouse staff to meet your friends at Cheers. Twitter is far too fast moving for such a cheerful, jaunty tune. Twitter, by comparison, is Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee!


Facebook's social network was launched around 2004, the brain child of college students. Within seven years, it reportedly welcomed 600 million active users worldwide. The there was a book about it's origins and now we have a film (due for release February 2011, here in UK, already released in USA).


Twitter appeared on the scene a couple of years later, in 2006. It's more of a micro-blogging site, based on the 140 characters allowed within a standard mobile phone text message. To date, it's said to have around 190 million users.


Curiously, individuals, companies, charities and other groups appear to be using Twitter as a source of gathering customers, members or participants in all manner of things, including using it as an introductory gateway to... you got it, Facebook! But the two, allegedly, have no affiliation to one another - unless you count the vested interests of Marc Andreessen. Indeed, it was reported that Twitter declined an offer worth around $500 million from Facebook. Astonishingly, the Twitter founders still don't sound sure of which direction their company is heading, other than up.


It's all very strange and beyond my comprehension. Everywhere we look we see signs, suggestions or hints of big names, but they are no longer those of tobacco, alcohol, drug or oil companies. Instead, they belong to the 21st Century World Wide Web - eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook and now Twitter.

Many TV shows, including news programmes, flash up a Twitter username for audience interaction or participation. 'Tweet us @whatever!' In fact, I've even noticed a trend toward small print simply saying @whatever, without any reference to Twitter! Only those 'in the know' understand it, though.

Mobile phone networks seem to fit more comfortably with social networking than, say, retailers or service providers, although they are all begining to interact. URL shortening drives countless streams of traffic to countless websites and probably about 1% of those visitors convert to customers. But how do the numbers crunch for small players in this fast-flowing game of digital networking? Is success a dead cert or are the odds stacked against us?

With a UK population of almost 62 million, the BBC can reach over two thirds of us every week. Programmes like Eastenders can attract viewer figures far in excess of 10 million. A major event, like the funeral of Princess Diana, attracted over 30 million viewers. (So did the 1966 World Cup!) That's just UK.

Now let's go global, which is what WikiLeaks does when it hits the headlines throughout the International mass media network. I haven't looked at global figures, so I haven't a clue how many individuals on this planet have access to such things as TV, radio or Internet, but I do know that it's many, many millions and that the stakes are high when it comes to communicatioln with them all.

WikiLeaks has been mentioned several times over the past months. What fantastic publicity! Almost every newspaper, TV station and news broadcaster has uttered the name. Just like eBay, YouTube, Amazon, Google and Facebook, WikiLeaks momentarily became a household 'name'. So, how well are they doing in the publicity stakes compared to others? Keep in mind that there's no income generated just from seeing a name. (All figures correct at time of writing.)

How many people like eBay on Facebook? 411,320
How many usernames follow eBay on Twitter? 23,131

How many people like the main BBC World News on Facebook? 521,551

How many usernames follow BBC World News on Twitter? 448,671

How many people like Amazon on Facebook? 525,467

How many usernames follow Amazon on Twitter? 58,948

How many people like the WikiLeaks Facebook page? 1,557,588

How many usernames follow WikiLeaks on Twitter? 679,918

How many people like the main CNN on Facebook? 1,691,464

How many usernames follow CNN Breaking News on Twitter? 3,754,210

How many people like iPhone on Facebook? 1,872,655

How many usernames follow iPhone on Twitter? Can't find their official account!

How many people like Google on Facebook? 2,499,468

How many usernames follow Google on Twitter? 2,714,933 INTERESTING

How many people like iTunes on Facebook? 10,218,408
How many usernames follow iTunes on Twitter? They have several categories:
iTunes Trailers - 1,578, 784 : Music - 619,188 : Movies - 53,048 : TV - 45,312 : Pod casts - 43,725

How many people like YouTube on Facebook? 26,257,028

How many usernames follow YouTube on Twitter? 1,556,061

How many people like the Lady Gaga page on Facebook? 26,932,157
How many usernames follow Lady Gaga on Twitter? 7,869,076
How many like the Lady Gaga page on Amazon?

I think this tells us that virtual social networking, blogging and micro-blogging is more about negative escapism for the masses. We cannot accurately analyse the global reach of such platforms when they are subject to Government legislation, even banned in some countries, but we can begin to understand the enormity of the Internet and all the associated problems that brings with it. What I can see is that communication is key. Apple's iPhone, alone, boasts 62,949,864 monthly active users, so how many Internet users might there be?

Next, in this comedy sketch, come the big guns, those who profit from providing the masses with an assortment of negative escape routes from the harsh realities of their lives – whether they be virtual, actual, medical or psychological. Their wingmen are the financial institutions and the major drugs, food, drink, alcohol and tobacco industries.

Following them, there are the general money-makers, chasing along in an effort to entice the masses to part with their cash. Many don't care how, why, where or what for, it only matters that they succeed in generating wealth. The further down the line we go, the fewer stragglers there are with cash left over to spend. That's where we find the micro-loan companies springing up, in their hope of earning from those who have fallen by the wayside.

So what does this all mean for a budding entrepreneur, frugal or otherwise? Where, next, should our enterprising minds and spare investment capital be heading? What might be, the next 'big thing'?


Perhaps we should hold onto our hats, harness our dreams and be prepared for the ride of our lives. It could be fact, fiction and fantasy all rolled into one. It does not have to be within eyesight for us to see it, nor within earshot for us to hear it. Perhaps, even, the Mayans knew much more then than we do now.

Think about it…

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