Hogmanay reflections

 

It's Hogmanay here and time to reflect on the year 2024.  I don't make new year resolutions but set some open ended goals that I try to live by.

I named 2024 'My year of positive changes' and outlined 4 goals.

1.  Live more frugally and simply - ✅yep, I'm definitely doing that.  I no longer have the safety net of savings and now live on my pension of £772 a month and have majorly adjusted my lifestyle to do that.

2.  Downsize my house - ✅yep, sold my big house and bought a small house.

3.  Buy no unnecessary clothes or house items - ✅ I bought 2 dresses (both were reduced in a sale) for a wedding but no other clothes, not even underwear!  But it does mean I'll need new knickers in 2025 at some point!!!  House wise I think I spent wisely to ensure a quick sale of my old house.  And in my new one, I've researched the best deals for my new kitchen appliances.  I haven't bought anything else that wasn't DIY related.  I've reused as many of my furnishings as I could.

4.  Grow as much food as I can - ❌ Sadly this one was a fail as my allotment was basically abandoned due to the timing of the move and the fact that Luna just wasn't safe when we were there.  I have made the decision to give up my plot in 2025 but I do have an alternative plan 😉

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An unexpected bonus of 2024 was that I started a YouTube channel.  It become monetised within 3 and a half weeks and I can now call it my part time job.  Money earned will be going into my emergency/savings fund starting in January plus I can regularly donate money to good causes.

All in all I do think 2024 was a year of positive change for me and I hope 2025 continues to be as positive 💕

How to become consciously frugal part 1

 

I was asked recently on my YT channel how can you become frugal, stop overspending and actually save money.  So I gave it some thought and reflected on my past circumstances.  Thanks to the internet there is a ton of good information out there now so my first suggestion would be to identify why you want or need to become frugal.  What is your goal?

Becoming frugal due to an unforeseen event is an entirely different scenario so the following advice applies to being in a position of choice, although it's still a good habit to develop.  You may want to save money to pay off debt (mortgage/car repayments/medical bills/student loans etc) or save for a special event (wedding/holiday) or like me, save for early retirement.

So, this is what I did and what worked for me.  I shared examples in the vlog.

1.  Make a list of your monthly fixed costs.  Some might be annual or one off but still make a note of these (you can either keep an annual list or divide it by 12 to give you a monthly average.)  This should include housing costs (mortgage or rent), car repayments, loan repayments, energy, phone, internet, car tax, insurances, subscriptions and so on.  Basically anything that would result in legal action if you didn't pay!

2.. Once you know your your monthly fixed costs, subtract that from your monthly income.  That's how much you have left to spend on food, clothes, entertainment/socialising, travel, pets etc

3.  For the month of January write down every single penny you spend either in a book, a spreadsheet or a note app on your phone.  

If your circumstances mean you have no choice in becoming more frugal, this can still work as it shows where the money is being spent.

If you are consciously trying to become more frugal, you don't need to go cold turkey.  Scientific evidence has shown that changing a habit takes time and you're more successful if you observe the changes slowly.

As I've said, this is what works for me.  

In part 2, using my examples I'll go over identifying where the money is leaking!

It's my part time job!

 

In today's Money Monday vlog I'm talking about how my YT channel will progress in 2025.  I'm going to treat it like my part time job and I'll pay myself from the ad revenue.  I'll continue to donate to small local charities and sadly, I have to pay tax on it as well!

I hope I've explained it clearly enough (there's bound to be someone who jumps on any mistake I've made 🙄) but this is my plan.  Each month I'll put 20% in an account to pay the tax man.  I'll donate 30% to charities.  And pay myself 50% which will go into my emergency/savings fund.  I'll continue to live on my £772 a month pension.

So for every £100 I earn, £20 goes to tax, £30 goes to donations and £50 goes into my savings.

I'm aiming to continue the 2 vlogs per week plus a few extra to show some of the money saving projects I'm working on 😊

Oatcakes and potted cheese

 

In today's Foodie Friday vlog I'm making oatcakes and potted cheese.  Cheap, delicious and much nicer than shop bought!

Oatcakes:

• 200g porridge oats (100g of the oats blitzed until fine)
• 3tbsp oil
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1/4tsp black pepper
• boiling water

Mix oats, oil, salt and pepper then add enough boiling water to make a stiff but rollable dough.

Cut into circles and bake in the oven at 170C for 15 mins.  Then turn them over and bake for another 5 mins.  Cool on a rack.

Cost: 24p for 200g oats and 3 tbsp oil 21p (Tesco prices)

Potted cheese:

• 50g softened butter
• 50g finely grated mature cheddar 
• salt/pepper to taste

Mix well together and chill.

Cost: 37p for butter and 27p for cheese (Lidl prices)

Yum! 😋

Tattie scones

 

I made a vlog on cooking tattie scones.  They can be made from just 2 ingredients and are cheap, filling and delicious.  And they freeze beautifully!

All you need is leftover mashed potatoes and self raising flour.  I add black pepper to mine but that's completely optional.  The ratio is always 4 parts mashed potato to 1 part self raising flour.

I used a hot frying pan but traditionally they would have been made on a girdle like this one HERE.

Ingredients:

• 400g seasoned mashed potatoes (skins on or off)
• 100g SR flour
• black pepper (optional)

Warm the potatoes and mix with the flour to form a dough.  If (like mine) your potatoes have a lot of butter in them then you might need to add extra flour to stop them sticking.

Divide the dough into 3 and roll out to form a circle about 1/2 cm thick then cut into to quarters.

Dry fry them in a pan until golden brown on each side.

Traditional tattie scones are triangular but I've made circular ones in the past too.

I find they're best served warm.  They can be fried, toasted or warmed up in the microwave.  They're extra tasty in a fry up with eggs and bacon 😋

Halfway through my no spend December

 

So far I haven't spent a penny in December as planned.  I have plenty of food in my storecupboard and both my freezers.   Even though I think I'm organised, it was still good to take everything out and have a good look!!  I did find a few things I'd forgotten about!

The above shows lots of veggies, cooked chicken, raw turkey slices, beef stew and minced beef.  I still have a banana loaf and some carrot cake as well as lots of lemons 🍋

My second freezer has plenty of soup and fruit!

There's more than enough food to last me well into January and create lots of healthy balanced meals with what I also have in the storecupboard (rice/pasta/noodles/flour/oats.)

In today's Foodie Friday vlog I mentioned I'd leave the link to the freezer tubs I use HERE.  I've had mine for a few years now so they were worth the investment.

I've not needed to spend money on anything else as I'm organised for Christmas which is always the biggest expense for December anyway.  So I might even be able to SAVE money this month!!! 

My friend Sarah

 

Last week I heard that an old friend passed away and I've found myself surprisingly unsettled by her loss.  I first knew Sarah (or MrsL as she was known as online) many years ago when she was a moderator on the River Cottage forum.  She had a wealth of knowledge about growing and producing your own food.  She grew tired of the in fighting and set up her own forum Creative Living that encompassed all her passions including knitting, spinning, growing, cooking, foraging, wine making and much more.

Remember this was pre Pinterest and YouTube was just a fledging thing.  Finding a place where there was a collective knowledge of things I was interested in was fabulous as I had no one in real life who shared my interests. Over the years we became good friends and she came to visit me one Summer.  We went for a walk and within 10 mins she had pointed out a treasure trove of foraged items that could be eaten or used in some way.

We didn't always agree on things (eg politics) but somehow our friendship stayed the course through our respective divorces and new beginnings.  She was an avid prepper and was always reminding me to be prepared for WTSHTF!!

She had some health challenges in recent years but I'm still shocked that she's no longer here.  She was just in her early 60s.

I'm still in touch with some friends from the CL days and we're all feeling the same way.  She was an extraordinary force of nature and was a huge inspiration for many of us.  I hope she knew how much she meant to us and how much we'll miss her.

Rest well Sarah, a true one of a kind 💖

Caramelised onion chutney

 

Today's Foodie Friday vlog is up.  I had a surplus of onions that I wanted to use up so I decided to make some chutney with them.  I found an amazing recipe that had a slowcooker method so I decided to have a go.  I started by slicing up the onions the night before.  It took me half an hour!!!  And the whole house stank of raw onions until the next morning!🧅

I added butter, oil and bay leaves and set the slowcooker to low.  They simmered gently for 3 and a half hours.

Then I added the sugar, vinegar, salt and chilli flakes and set it to High (with the lid wedged open a little) for 7 hours in the end!

It was nice and sticky after simmering all day!  And the house smelled a bit nicer 😋

This is what 2kg of onions looks like after all that!!  The labels are leftovers from my Etsy shop days.

Ingredients:

• 2kg of red or brown onions (before peeling)
• 50ml oil
• 50g butter
• 2 bay leaves
• 300g dark soft brown sugar
• 200ml apple cider vinegar
• 200ml Balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chilli flakes

Method:

See HERE for the original recipe.  It has fab detailed instructions for both methods.

Money Monday: November Spending

 

In today's Money Monday video I'm talking about my November spending and how/why I deliberately overspent from my savings.  This is so I don't need to go near a shop or supermarket in the run up to Christmas.  I have enough food, dog food etc to last into January so the plan is for a No Spend December.  Eeek!!

Once I've repaid the overspend, I'll have £186.61 available for the whole month.  I might be able to stock up on the bargain veg deals and maybe a few yellow sticker bargains.  But I'm not stressing about them.  I have enough in my freezers to last for ages.