The 1000th Post and Goodbye !

So I've been blogging for just under three years and this is the 1000th published post ! Phew, a thousand posts about frugal living and saving to enjoy some good times !

I have very much enjoyed writing here but now I think I have said all I have to say about frugal living and would be in danger of repeating myself if I carry on !

A big thanks to everyone who has been reading and for all the lovely comments, I shall miss you but also think that this year is going to be a busy one and that I will have less time to think about what to write.

When I started the blog we had three children still living at home and now have only one and he's in the 6th Form. When I started both MrShoestring and I were working full time, very long hours as teachers. Now I am in the final year of an accredited counselling and psychotherapy course with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and MrShoestring only teaches 3 days a week most of the year.

All these changes have been helped along by frugal living and we've been able to give the children a hand in starting out as well !

I'm going to leave the blog up as a help and encouragement to others and in future you can find me lurking over at the 'Old Fashioned Thrift' forum at Moneysaving Expert.

Good luck to you and yours on your frugal journey and many thanks for reading over the years !

Blue and White Plates

In the frugal round up last week I happened to mention that we need to replace our blue and white plates but that I did not want to pay £16.50 a plate, which was the new cost !

Well I spent a bit of time looking around the local charity shops with no luck. Then yesterday it was warm weather and I did not fancy tackling my university assignment, so off I went to a town about 10 miles away which I know has good charity shops !

I struck 'gold' in the first shop, an antique Royal Worcester blue and white plate, it was a bit expensive at £6 but seemed a bargain compared to new and I have been looking for several weeks, so I snapped it up! Then in the 4th shop along I found 2 more, what a lucky day. I had brought along a measuring tape but even so when I got home I discovered that one of the plates is just slightly too large for the dishwasher. Never mind I'll just wash that one by hand and at an average coast of just under £3 a plate I can't complain, as the final two plates cost £2 and 50p !

Waiting and searching around really does pay and I got my daily walk in as well !

September Reckoning

September was an expensive month for us and we spent over the usual budget of £1500. Some of this was planned spending, like the £295 on car insurance but some was not, like new clothes for 6th Form and buying textbooks !

One area I was pleased about was that the petrol spend was about half what it had been before I said that I would only be seeing tutoring pupils at the house, instead of travelling to people. Not only has this saved lots of petrol but quite a bit of time as well, so that was good.

We also stayed under budget in the Food column, which was a big achievement as I have had to put up MasterShoestring's lunch allowance to £15 a week. This effectively means that I have just over £100 a month for the rest of the meals for the three of us !

Spending also increased because quite a few utilities went up in price and MrShoestring's union dues went up from the introductory rate to the normal one. With all these increases I'm having to keep a close watch on what we spend and I've also sent off a couple of packets of books to Ziffit. Every little bit counts !

We need some new plates, the old ones lasted 13 years but now they are chipped I  have to re-purpose them for something else. However, when I looked at the cost of replacing them, £16.95 a plate, I decided that I'll just keep an eye out round the charity shops over the next few months. Waiting almost always saves money !

Book Review

I saw this book reviewed by Gina over at 'Home Joys' and thought that it looked interesting. It is short essays written by Amish and Mennonite women but the themes are universal, grief, hospitality, wonder etc.

All the essays are grouped into thematic sections but the writing within them is all unique with each woman having a clear voice. The writing is very strong and in fact I shall use a quote from one piece for my next university essay ! 

I was left wanting to know more about each author and was glad that there was a little biography and further details about each one at the back of the book.

I enjoyed this book and was glad that I was able to get it for free using my earnings from YouGov surveys !

Growing Your Blog

Right now if you go to the following link:-

https://ultimatebundles.com/sale/tgbtk2018-download-ebook?a_aid=a40&a_bid=621f991f

you can download a free ebook on how 40 successful bloggers grew their blogs. They are all real life stories and the book answers lots of questions about which strategies work and which do not. It also makes clear that growing your blog takes lots of work and quite a bit of new learning !

A long time ago I decided not to monetize my blog as somehow it doesn't seem quite right to be making money out of people looking for frugal advice. However, others do not feel the same way and have been able to be a great blessing to others through their blog earning money, so I guess it's just a question of what you feel most comfortable doing !

Have a look at the ebook and see what you think ?

After lots of outdoor work yesterday and a play about St Michael and the Dragon, today we are going to rather more sedate Michaelmas celebration with a couple of lectures and a concert.

Michaelmas time, Michaelmas time!
Time is turning under the plough,
Under the stars, under the signs,
The ploughman toils with deep furrowed brow.
He turns his thoughts against the cold,
Buries his fears 'neath the Earth's deep mould.
Frost, like fire, burns white on the blade,
Of his iron share that red fire made.

Michaelmas time, Michaelmas time!
Time is bending over the scales,
Over the bread, over the wine,
The ploughman bows his head at the rail.
He turns his thoughts towrads the flame,
Raises his eyes to the thanksgiven grain.
Stars, like spears, gleam over the tower,
Of the house of God in Michael's hour.

Michaelmas time, Michaelmas time!
Time is changing the guard of the world.
Deep in his heart, dauntless in mind,
The ploughman guards against time growing old.
He stands and studies the star-patterned sky,
Fixes each spark in his wishing-well eyes.
Stars, like seeds, strewn over the land
And under the plough by Michael's hand.

I love this song as I think it captures so well that slow slide from the end of Summer, when you are not sure whether Autumn has arrived to the frost that is sure to arrive by November !

credits

Frugal Friday

Just a quick run down of the frugal things we did this week as the final year of my counselling course has started and as suspected, that means I'm getting pretty busy !

We picked butternut squash and sweetcorn and both were delicious but that is the end of the plants now as it got close to freezing at the start of the week. We ate the corn off the cob and used the squash for soup. Now I have lots of them in the utility room where it is cool and dry. I even found 2 more when I pulled out the vines !

I improvised a final cold frame using the guide we use for planting square foot beds and a large piece of plastic from a bulk order of toilet rolls. Once the beds were cleared of the sweetcorn and the butternut vines I planted spring onions, radishes and spinach in the hope they would sprout before it gets cold.

We ate a chicken on Sunday and then used the carcass to make stock. We also made pizza, chocolate cake, chapattis and pancakes. The menu plan and shopping plan have been made for October and I'll go shopping for it this weekend as I am much busier during the week now.

I got 2 free packets of seeds with the 'Kitchen Garden' magazine and made a final shopping list of what is left to buy and make for Christmas. I was delighted to see that the cotton flannel I am currently knitting can be paired with a delightful handmade soap I was given to make a gift for a god child. So that was one less thing to buy. Now I only need chocolate and some baking ingredients for some homemade gifts and my list is finished !

Martin Lewis Money Show

This was shown on ITV on Tuesday night and is still available on catch-up at the ITV hub. The main theme was saving for Christmas. Hannukah etc. and the show is well worth watching if you have resolved not to over spend !

I learned a few new things, including you are not automatically entitled to refunds on damaged gifts, only the purchaser is ! However, the most moving thing was in the middle of the show where Martin Lewis just sat in a chair and spoke directly to the camera about the harm that overspending does to people and how unhelpful the feeling of having to reciprocate is ! I have certainly struggled with this in the past. Then they showed a couple of small segments where families in Northern Ireland had chosen to do things differently, it was great ! 

It might seem too early to be talking about the holidays but as the show said, it's only 90 days away and even fewer working days ! Most of my stash is already put away and I'm not going to feel bad closer to the time that the gifts, even for family are only small. The most important thing is the love that comes with them !

Free Cookbook

Amazon currently has this book free to download for the Kindle. It is very worthwhile and I would recommend getting it if you want a few new ideas about how to curb the grocery spend.

It contains lots of family recipes with interesting history behind them, for instance the Macaroni Salad is from Aunt Eva and the recipe starts with some memories about visiting her on her farm and helping with storing vegetables for the winter.

All the recipes are straight forward and use cheap ingredients, but it is fairly traditional fare, so you won't find much for vegans here.

The recipes are divided into sections such as: Breakfast; Mains and Sides and there is even a section called Extra Tight Budget with six recipes for when you really need to keep costs down. The recipes are all easy to make and my family would eat them, so I'm glad to have a copy of this and am looking forward to trying a few new things, like Cabbage Rolls and Slow Cooker Bean Burritos.

There are only three pudding recipes in the book, so I guess it would be quite good for weight loss as well !

Competition !

Moneywise October's  magazine has a competition to win a copy of this helpful book. Now in its second edition it is written by Andy Bell who is the chief executive of an investment platform. It aims to show you how to build a long term investment strategy using low cost, tax efficient strategies. We certainly need this sort of advice when savings rates are so low.

If you fancy a copy of the book Moneywise have 10 to give away and I have won a competition with them before so it's worth a go.

Simply go to  

moneywise.co.uk/competitions 

enter your name and address and keep your fingers crossed ! BUT don't do it until October arrives as the competition is in the October magazine which I just got through the post. If you go right now though you can still enter September's competition to win some nights in Edinburgh and also register for a free book about an investment trust. ( I think the above is more useful, so I'll be making a note on the calendar to enter on 1st October !)

A Windy Outing

A windy outing to the Whipsnade Downs yesterday and we saw this extraordinary sculpture. Do you know what it is ?

No, I didn't either but it is the intake pipe for the ventilation system in the visitor centre. Apparently the wind bows through the gaps in the sculpture and is funnelled underground to blow into the centre to keep it cool. I thought it was very ingenious !

We had a lovely walk from the Tree Cathedral to the Chiltern Gateway Centre and I can thoroughly recommend a visit up there. We saw lots of kite flying and a glider coming into land, very exciting !

Lighting the Woodstove

So we lit the wood stove, ideal for feeling more cheery on a cold, wet weekend ! It got me thinking about the other pleasures which Autumn brings !

1) Stomping through crisp leaves on the ground.

2) Picking apples.

3) Picking and eating sweetcorn.

4) Picking and eating tomatoes.

5) Sowing bulbs for next Spring.

6) Baking bread for harvest festivals.

7) Going to Harvest Festivals.

8) Making soups and stews to eat.

9) Cuddling up with a good book.

10) Getting into a warm bed.

What do you enjoy about this time of year ?

Corn on the Cob

The wind over the past few days knocked over all but one of the corn plants so we went out to salvage what we could.

I ended up with far more sweetcorn than we have ever had before, normally it's just 1 cob each, so I was quite excited to cook some !

Cooking a whole cob is easy.

Find your largest lidded pan and fill it with salted water. Bring to the boil and once it's boiling add the corn cobs. Put on the lid, turn off the heat and wait for 10 minutes. Then eat the perfectly cooked corn without burning your fingers !

Ours without delicious and we actually preferred it without butter ! The hot summer clearly suited the plants !

Frugal Friday

Lots of frugal living happening this week, firstly in the garden. I cleared two beds of their old produce and planted lettuce and spinach seeds. I put a cold frame over them and so far have remembered to water them every day and the little seeds are showing through now, very exciting and with a bit of luck should keep us in salad for a few months more. We also picked more tomatoes and apples and as the sweetcorn got blown down in the wind we'll be eating some of that over the weekend. I made more apple juice as well but it was a bit sour to begin with, so I added a tablespoon of sugar and then it was fine !

In the kitchen I made bread, tortillas, chapattis, pizza, roast chicken and roast potatoes, vegetable curry, slow cooker bolognaise, butternut squash soup using squash from the garden and homemade chicken stock and an apple crumble. I also made some homemade curry powder and some mixed herbs. Next week I'm planning an 'eat it up' challenge with what we already have in the garden and freezer, so that I don't have too much leftover from September's groceries.

I was delighted to see that the supermarket had 5 litres of sunflower oil and 10kg of wholemeal chapatti flour on special offer. So I bought 1 of each, bringing the price of the oil down to 70p a litre and the price of a kilogram of flour down to 35p. That should make bread making pretty cheap for some time to come. I also got a free supermarket magazine with some good recipes in it. It has been interesting to see that my closest supermarket now rarely has 'yellow-stickered' bargains and if they do, you really have to search for them or they turn out not to be a bargain because an own brand would be cheaper anyway.

Over the weekend we enjoyed two free outings and a free Sunday paper. All this week we have been enjoying our books from the library and I also sold some books to Ziffit and a violin on Gumtree. Just as well to have a little extra, as my course fees are due next week and it looks as though I'll have to pay full price for the residential, whereas last year I got a 50% discount.

Another bonus this week was getting a £50 payout from Yougov surveys and another £5 Love2Shop voucher from the postal survey. The Yougov payout went towards the textbook fund and the Love2Shop voucher has been added to the rest for spending in the January sales to get presents for Christmas 2019. Planning ahead helps to keep the cost down !!

Hope you had a great frugal week too !

A Good Read

I'm reading this epic book at the moment, at 850 pages it should keep me busy for a while. I was reading something else and asked MrShoestring whether it was any good, as he has just finished it. He said it was excellent and I liked "Pillars of the Earth" so I thought I would give it a go, as my other book was boring. Well I'm hooked !

It's a saga set just before and after the First World War but it takes an international perspective and looks at how things were changing in the UK, the USA, Russia and German as well as other parts of the world. It is very well researched and deals with the lives of ordinary people as well as the 'movers and shakers'. I love a book that teaches me more about history.

The great thing is that it cost nothing as we got it from the library and there are two other books in the series ! All the books are very long and engrossing, so ideal for whiling away a blustery afternoon or a dark evening. Better than watching TV or surfing the internet ! Even better the next two are also available from the library, so I'm off to fetch book number 2 for MrShoestring. Only hope he reads fast enough that I can get the next one as soon as I'm finished with this one !!

Have you any books you would recommend ?

Competition !

Jack Munroe over at "Cooking on a Bootstrap" has  got a great competition going on to win a copy of her new book, also called "Cooking on a Bootstrap", and a £10 Aldi voucher. It's all in aid of promoting her "Essential Student List of Food" which comes from Aldi rather than Waitrose and only costs £10.

Do go over and have a look at :

https://cookingonabootstrap.com

Even if you don't win, the piece about Freshers' Week food is good and it gets you thinking about what you would buy with £10. I think I'd go for a whole bag of rice rather than a sachet of the instant stuff !

Free Cookbook

The wonderful Steph over at www.cheapskatecook.com has just published an ebook called "Dinner for a Dollar".

It is full of cheap recipes which cost less than $1 a serving or much less, depending on where you shop for ingredients. The best news is that you can get it for free over the next few days. Just go to Amazon to download. Do a search for "Dinner for a Dollar" and watch it pop up ! If you like it then leave a review.

There is also a great website called Dinner for a Dollar which you can find at :-

https://dinnerforadollar.co/home/

Cutting down on the grocery spend is a good way to free up some extra cash for other areas, like the gift budget or the 6th Form textbook fund !

Selling on Gumtree v Giving Away on Freegle

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to get rid of some of the clutter left in the garage by the oldest two. I started off with trying to sell the items on Gumtree.

I had a boy's bike, a desk, a kitchen bin, a dismantled wardrobe, a red wall unit and a violin. Only the violin sold on Gumtree and even then I and to arrange and pay for courier transport. I did get the asking price and two people were interested but I didn't think that was very good. I then posted all the items left as FREE on Gumtree and got some interest for the bike. Same problem though they couldn't collect, could we bring it to the station ? We agreed and went off to the station with the bike in the back of the car at 9pm on a Friday night ! No-one arrived to collect it and then they called and asked where we were ? They had gone to the wrong station ! So that was a bust !

After that I posted all the items that were left on Freegle. I got lots of interest for the bin and the dismantled wardrobe, so they went quickly ! Eventually the bike and the desk went after a few days waiting for transport to be organised !

So now I only have the red wall unit to get rid of and I am going to see if the British Heart Foundation furniture collection service will come and get it and they can try and sell it in one of their shops.

My conclusion, Freegle beats Gumtree as it is local and mostly people will come and collect. But if you want no hassle then you might just be better off arranging a furniture collection from a charity. We were surprised that no-one wanted the wall unit but that lots of people wanted a wardrobe they would have to put together themselves. I guess even with free furniture there are fashion considerations !

Off Out Again!

Thanks to the Heritage Open Days we are off out again today. This time to the weekend cottage of Baron de Rothschild called Halton House. Normally you can't get inside as it is used as the officers' mess for RAF Halton but one weekend a year they open it up, although you still can't go upstairs as that is where all the officers have their rooms !

This year because it is a special anniversary for the RAF and the 100th anniversary of the ending of the First World War they have also laid on some special events including a trip to some trenches which were dug close by so that soldiers could practice trench warfare before they went abroad. Apparently trench warfare was something new and previously they would have made charges and fought hand to hand on a battlefield.

Sounds like we are in for an interesting day and the usual picnic and flasks will be coming along to make sure the cost stays at free !

I hope you are having a great weekend too !

Another Day Out !

We're off out today using the wonderful Heritage Open Days to get a free visit to Claydon House. This is a National Trust property associated with Florence Nightingale. Normal entrance would cost us £8.40 each plus an additional £5 each to go in the gardens which do not belong to the National Trust ! So I hope we will have a wonderful day !

As well as saving money on the entrance fees we have packed up a picnic and packed a flask each, so no need to queue for the tea rooms ! Even the weather appears to be co-operating !

Hope you have a lovely day too !