Frugal Living

[jansman]

I’ll put it here,’cos obviously the frugal bit is about money.

So ,we’ve been through a dear year. Everything is expensive now,but this is not a whinging session. Born in the early 60’s ( like many here and earlier too) and the decades have all pretty much been inflationary. In fact the millennials - understandably- and dare I say some older folks ,are not used to what is quite a normal situation. The brief couple of ‘cheap’ decades are gone. Here we are now.

Due to illness,my income has crashed dramatically.Therefore we had to go over to our ‘emergency economy’ which my wife has always ran alongside our normal ( old fashioned) ledger. We’ve had up and downs over the years,but always coped. Right now ,our frugality is mainly towards dealing with power and food. And quite successfully too.I suspect that’s many other peoples priorities.

So how have you dealt with extra expenses? Is life particularly frugal?

[Yorkshire Andy]

Walking more especially since the weather is good

Doing more intensive shopping about .... Many get sucked in by the big chain bargain shops realised over winter they are not bargains in many instances... But cleverly stickered up and displayed

For example deicer was £1 a can dearer in BM over out local car shop for the same stuff

BM had some pretty solar garden lights 3x pack £15.. identical loose ones in another shop £2.99 each (and by I identical case down to the printed circuit board)



Currently maximizing the solar systems and kicking the backside out of the free electric as much as possible

Took the battery mulch mower to the allotment last night and went round the trees and bushes cut the back grass 3 batteries all charged on solar ..

Tonight the battery lights round the house will be charged by the solar system to top them up

Got some new solar wall lights to replace the aging one which had dropped a few led chips got 2 one each side the back door .. plan in winter Is to work one against the other


Solar pendant lights are holding up well I used them as security lighting when on holiday dusk to dawn style lighting inside

And I got a few bottles of my favourite tipple at the duty free at the airport for £13 a bottle. Usually £40+ don't drink a lot of it but it's nice

[Vitamin c]

How many of us have a phone with Internet plus home Internet in a big family that could be 4to 6 phones.

If you must have a phone have a pay as you go one and never use it and let folk ring you and Internet at home .

All that's happened is we have got used to having instant Internet access and unlimited call and tex on phones
Their was a time we coped just fine without that.

[Yorkshire Andy]

How many of us have a phone with Internet plus home Internet in a big family that could be 4to 6 phones.

If you must have a phone have a pay as you go one and never use it and let folk ring you and Internet at home .

All that's happened is we have got used to having instant Internet access and unlimited call and tex on phones
Their was a time we coped just fine without that.

Think our SIM only family bundle works out about £10 per phone per month .. I'm lucky if I use 2gb of mobile data per month .. need a phone for life these days school seems to like their own text / parent pal type software ",little Jonny has a electronic bump note " message almost every other day , mobile banking app ... I'm one that compares prices in shops with it too ...

True a phone Is a luxury but gets you cheaper access to the internet than buying a laptop or pc my phone is a £80 special it works ..


There was a time that we didn't have TV/s or sky automatic washing machines, dishwashers or centeral heating and we coped fine but no one wants to dive back to the dark ages ..

Comparing phone plans saving a few quid a month soon adds up

Car/home insurance comparisons but beware of the really cheap quotes and search for reviews of them some are cheap for a reason

[jansman]

Our BT job will be up for a change soon. We’ll save a copper or two there! Regarding phones though. 10 years ago I never bothered,hardly picked mine up. Then jobs changed,and the smart phone became ‘modernly’ vital. Now I can stay in touch easy with family,doctors and it has a superb ‘prescription’ taking alarm set up. My wife and family can locate me too. Regarding frugal living,the Apple phone I bought two years ago is now out of contract. I don’t need a new one at all ,this is fine, so I can get coverage for a fiver a month! Just like Yorkshire Andy,a couple of Gigs is more than sufficient. A bit of modern kit for next to nowt!

[Arzosah]

I own my own phone, and I have 8G of data a month, for a tenner - its *so* useful, needed even OTP numbers. Texts from doctors. Purchases. And a few family WhatsApp groups - everyone can keep in touch, send photos etc, no charge.

Other frugalities: I've always been pretty frugal, but there are some extra things I do now.

- I switch off the tv at the mains now, during the day as well as overnight.

- I try to have supermarket deliveries once a month - costs me £2, or even £1.50 if I'm later in the afternoon. I can't do evening deliveries, it stresses me.

- here's a stupid one: I use gluten free pasta from Asda. Normal fusilli (quicker to cook than, for instance, penne, and doesn't stick) is £1.20 per 500g. Tricolore is 95p per 500g, that's 20% cheaper, something like that. And the colouring (I've just checked again) is tomato powder and spinach powder!

- I don't heat the water regularly, only when I want a shower - and I use the alarm clock on my phone to tell me when to switch it off.

- washing is dried on the line. I don't have a drier in winter, I confess, I sometimes drape it all in the bathroom and switch the heating on with the bathroom window open and the door to the rest of the house closed. Cheaper than getting a drier, as I only do that half a dozen times a year or so.

- never used: laundry conditioner. Also never used wipes till the pandemic, still don't use them regularly.

- I still have a landline, and it has unlimited minutes BUT it limits calls to an hour, after which it charges you a *lot* - I've been charged £5 for 20 minutes over the cut off point. So now I keep an eye on the starting time of the call, and when it gets to 50 minutes, I start making noises about calling back.

- I got a £125 bribe for opening the current account I have right now there's a charge of £2 a month, but they reimburse you that £2 (and call it a reward ) if you put in £1500 a month. I only have my state pension going in regularly, so I do what's called the money shuffle (on moneysavingexpert): send £800 from my current account to my easy access account with another company, and a few days later send it back again

- then they offered £1 a month simply for looking at the app. I haven't really trusted banking apps, but I'm okay with using this one, and they really do give me £1 for looking at it. It's quicker to use, for regular transactions.

[GeeGee]

Same as jansman illness loses you two incomes really for all the time you care for someone you cant work
We have got rid of the TV package and watching the pretty rubbish freeview and gone back to dvds if we are desperate the mobile phones cost around £9 a month no contract just sim only ..no landline at all
We used to shop more or pop into supermarket and think oh ill have that ..dont do it any more ..I dont plan meals as such but I'm definitely more aware I used to think nothing of going through drive through for a coffee but at nearly 2 quid a pop its once a week now
Grandkids used to get money at Easter now its a egg like it or not its cheaper and they still have something
I realised how we used to say . Oh well have this that or the other ..when we were out .. now we dont do any of that
The only thing we havent stopped is having a drive out as where we are five mins up road we are straight to the open moors and its lovely just to sit and look at the views .. but again we don't go as far due to price of diesel
We dont put the lights on until necessary and showers are much shorter now ..havent noticed a bad smell..yet
And of course the too good to go app when you find the places that are good for you its good value

[Vitamin c]

Light a fire..yes in this weather...free wood...free hot water.
About every 3 days.

[Ara]

The latest thing we did was to get rid of one of the cars. We kept two at our last house as we were in the middle of nowhere and didn't fancy being stuck if we only had one and it was off the road. Now that there is a regular bus that goes past the front gate and it's only a mile to the nearest Co op we can easily manage with one. If we get desperate for food (but being good preppers we won't will we?) there's a surprisingly well stocked shop in the village.
Mr A also changed his big "Chelsea tractor" (useful for towing the livestock trailer) for a smaller, much more economical car.

[jansman]

Current frugality is recharging power packs via solar. The power packs recharge the tablets/ phones. Also the USB approach lighting in the house. Not massive amounts of saving,but some nonetheless. It’s training my wife to use that system too.Every penny helps.

I found out today ,when my friend and me went for a cup of tea at the local church hall,that my disability allows me to claim from their food bank! As I politely said, thanks ,but I don’t need it. Keep it for those who do. Frugal living is one thing ,but scavenging another…