A Frugal Autumn: Adapting our Routines

There is something about September that makes me want to press the reset button.  In a way it is a beginning of a new year as the harvests are starting to end, most of the food is preserved for the winter, and my household routines are slowly changing without me thinking about it.  I also need to plan to have a frugal autumn so that there will be money to pay for the increased energy costs, and to stock my winter pantry with Christmas bargains and reductions.  Some how I don’t think that there will be as  many good vegetable or meat buys this year.

The mornings are darker, the evenings are drawing in, and suddenly the summer routines that worked so well for summer don’t seem quite right anymore.   I don’t need to water every morning,  make boxes of salad, collect as much grey water, or harvest twice a day. We start making stews in the slow cooker, reaching for jumpers, putting the lights on earlier and thinking about how we’re going to keep warm through the colder months.

This year, there is another consideration too: the cost of living. With food and energy still taking a significant chunk out of many household budgets, autumn can feel like a difficult balancing act. We want to be warm and comfortable, eat nourishing meals and enjoy the season but without watching our household spending spiral.  There is Christmas to think about as well, though if you are like me you will have been spreading the cost of this over months.  I start in January.  Things like jars of mincemeat, cards, wrapping paper, Christmas puddings, and even presents can be bought at reduced prices.

For me, frugal living isn’t about going without everything we enjoy.  What is the point of living if that were the case? It’s about looking at our routines and asking: Is there a simpler, cheaper way of doing this? How can I adapt?  What can I change that will not have a big impact on the quality of my life?

Changing our routines with the season

One of the easiest ways to save money is to work with the season rather than against it.

During the summer, we naturally spend more time outside and make the most of the daylight. As autumn arrives, our routines change too. Rather than automatically turning on lights as soon as it gets gloomy, we can make the most of natural light where possible.  I also use strings of solar lights inside during the autumn when there are enough light hours to charge then.  We move activities into the brightest room which for us is the conservatory,  I open curtains as soon as it is light and get into the habit of switching lights off when we leave a room.  In fact you will often find me sitting in the dark writing on an evening as my lap top provides my light.

I also go to bed a lot earlier in winter to save electricity and keep warm.  My first job of the morning is removing condensation using a window vacuum, and some times I put the dehumidifier on.  This warms a room as well as preventing any damp.  If it is not raining outside I might open a window instead.

 We try to not have the heating on until the beginning of November. Before reaching for the thermostat, there are simple things we can do to make ourselves more comfortable: an extra layers of clothing, warm socks, a hot water bottle,  a blanket on the sofa, or a hot drink can all make a difference.  I bought Mr S an electric throw last year as he gets cold more easily than me.  He loved it and we didn’t need the heating on as often.  The thick thermal curtains go up at the end of August, and the home made draft excluders go next to the doors.  All the throws were washed during the hot summer and so are refreshed and clean.

Of course, there are times when we genuinely need the heating on, in fact I put it on an hour in the morning and an hour at night from November until the end of March.  This stops my home getting damp. We tend to spend more time in the conservatory and kitchen during the autumn as any sunshine is free heat in the conservatory, and we have a wood burning stove in the kitchen for very cold days.  We added comfy chairs in there about 6 years ago to make this more relaxing.

By leaving the internal doors open, the heat from the conservatory takes the chill off the house if we are out. I also cook and heat water on the stove to save money when the wood burner is lit. Frugal living shouldn’t mean being cold or putting our health at risk, though I know some people feel that they have no choice. The aim is to use energy thoughtfully rather than automatically.  Heating the person rather than the room works for us, but  I expect we may need more heat as we age and are not moving around as much.  The thought of that is a bit scary.

When it is really cold, as it is predicted to be this year, we will go out to warm spaces.  In the UK, councils have a list of them on their websites.  They are places that you can sit and keep warm.  A lot of these places have free hot drinks.  Some have books and games or activities. We also use the library, or take cards to play in a local pub that does refillable drinks.

If we have our grandson there is a cafe that has Duplo or a free play area and we might spend the morning there.  We sometimes go to a play group that costs £3 and we get hot drinks, and he gets drinks and a snack.  It gives him the chance to mix with other children.  It is worth researching what is available locally for free or low cost. Until I found these places I did tend to have the heating on longer in my house when I was babysitting.

Making the kitchen work harder

Autumn is also a wonderful time to rethink the way we cook. As the weather gets colder, hearty meals become much more appealing and many of them can be incredibly economical. Soups, stews, casseroles, curries, pasta dishes and jacket potatoes are all good examples of meals where inexpensive ingredients can be turned into something filling and comforting. Pulses and beans can pad them out and add protein for very little expense.  They will often double the amount of my slow cooked stew or soup whilst only costing pennies.  I grow my own beans but cans of different kinds of beans are still quite cheap.

A few vegetables that are past their best can become soup. Leftover cooked vegetables can go into a frittata, pasties,  bubble and squeak, or curry. A small amount of meat can stretch much further when combined with beans, lentils, vegetables or grains, as I suggested above.  I made a stew today that will give both of us two nice meals but I only had 4oz of meat.  I just cut it small so that more mouthfuls will contain some meat.  The stews are so tasty that we honestly don’t miss the meat. A soup or stew can be made special when entertaining with just the addition of pumpkin shaped spread.

Some people also find that autumn is a good time to return to batch cooking.  I don’t have freezer space to do this due to all my crops and foraged items crammed in there.   I do tend to food prep on a weekend and store things in the fridge. It doesn’t have to mean spending an entire Sunday preparing dozens of meals. Even making a double portion of a meal and freezing half can save both money and effort later. We eat the same meal twice in a week but change it into another dish eg. a pie.

I tend to make ingredients like wraps, yoghurt, pesto, roasted vegetables, or winter salads when meal prepping.  These can be used throughout the week. We then add what I already have in the freezer or cupboards most weeks. Using what we already have before buying more is one of the simplest forms of frugality.

Shop the cupboards before the shops

When food prices are high, it’s tempting to look for bargains every time we shop.  I do only buy things when on offer now, or we do without. However I think the best bargain is the food that we already own or ones we can get for free from community, or on apps like Olio. I rarely buy yellow sticker items now, though.  They need eating straight away or when defrosted. A quick check of the apps, freezer, fridge, and cupboards can reveal the ingredients for many meals. That forgotten packet of lentils, tin of tomatoes, or bag of rice might be the starting point for dinner.

It doesn’t take a lot of ingredients to make a meal.  Today I made a wrap quiche with 1oz of cheese, a stale wrap, 3 eggs, 2 small home grown tomatoes, a splash of milk, and 1 one cooked sausage.  We will have it with homegrown potatoes and salad later, and there will be some left for a lunch for me.

Having a few “use it up” meals in our repertoire can make a surprisingly big difference to the food budget.  Almost anything can be thrown into the slow cooker to make a meal.  We use what ever is seasonal and in the fridge and garden.  Some times it has meat, but often it doesn’t.  I call it Pauper’s stew and it is how our ancestors used to feed themselves, except it was a pot over the fire.  I stop it becoming boring by using different spices each week.  Some weeks it is Moroccan, or it may be Indian, Chinese, a Hungarian Goulash, a ratatouille, Greek, or just a simple English stew.

 Using things like potato skins for crisps, stale bread for bread crumbs, carrot tops for pesto, also reduces food waste which means we’re getting more value from the money we’ve already spent.  Things like bubble and squeak or pasties from cooked left overs also helps with this.

Autumn doesn’t have to be expensive

There is a tendency to think that making our homes cosy requires buying things. These might be candles, throws, new mugs, seasonal decorations, or new clothes.  I use my home grown pumpkins for decorations, and also have autumn decorations that I have had for years.   Sometimes I will make some with natural materials that I find outside like acorns and fir cones.  I do have winter and summer curtains and cushions and change these during autumn.  This stops me getting fed up of them and allows me to wash them during the summer.

Autumn has plenty of free ways to make life feel special. A walk through the changing leaves, collecting conkers with the children (for detergent as well as fun), getting out for some fresh air, reading a library book with a blanket, autumn (or Christmas) crafts, baking something simple, or having a board-game evening can all give us that lovely autumn feeling without requiring a shopping trip.  To be honest, I just love to sit in candle light or watch the flames dance in the wood burner.

I think that cosy is a feeling rather than a product.

Preparing before winter arrives

Autumn is also a useful time to do a little preparation. Rather than waiting for a problem to appear, we can spend some time looking around our homes and seeing where we might be wasting energy or money. Check for draughts. Make sure doors and windows are closing properly. Look at whether radiators are blocked by furniture. Bleed the radiators if they have air in them.  Check that the heating is working before it gets cold. Wash your throws on a sunny day if they have come out of storage.

Check what food is already stored away, and how nutritional it is.  Look out for seasonal bargains like pumpkins around Halloween to bulk out meals. It is important to stay healthy over the winter and the immune system needs nutrition.  Maybe you could make a fire cider, some elderberry syrup, or even some rosehip syrup after the first frost (or by putting them in the freezer first). These will help you get through the winter but are low cost.

It’s also a good opportunity to look at our habits.

Are we putting the heating on because we’re cold, or simply because it’s a certain time of day?  Do we need to go to the supermarket because it is Friday or can we stretch what we have for a few more days? Are there things that we can make in 15 minutes to eat when we get home from work so that we don’t grab a takeaway? Do we have things that we can pack easily for lunch rather than getting a meal deal?  Are we buying new things because we genuinely need them, or because the change of season makes us feel that we should?

There is no judgement in any of these questions. They’re simply opportunities for us all  to pause and reconsider.

A gentler kind of frugality

Perhaps the biggest thing I’m trying to remember this autumn is that frugal living doesn’t have to become another source of pressure. We don’t need to make every meal from scratch.  It is ok to have things like fish fingers or chicken strips in the freezer to make a quick meal with a wrap. We don’t need to have a perfect budget as long as we try to do the best we can.  Some times we get frugal fatigue and just want a treat. That is ok.  We all need a treat now and again.  Yesterday we bought an ice cream when out for a walk.

We don’t need to spend absolutely nothing and deprive ourselves (though I find that having no spend days does help stretch my budget).  We all have different priorities and values. I save on things that are not important to me like hair cuts, make up, toiletries, but spend on things like days out or breaks away that will seem like a waste of money to some one else.

Please remember that there is no need to feel guilty when we spend money on something that genuinely improves our quality of life. I bought some preserving jars this year, and a jacket that I absolutely love.  I will get so much joy every time I wear it, and I had the money to pay for it rather than putting it on the credit card..,

We can all make small changes where they make sense.  I have grown a few more winter crops this year as I am usually a fair weather gardener.  As well as the usual potatoes, spinach, and chard, I have grown more pak choi, radishes, and carrots this winter.  I have also foraged more and preserved more.

 The small changes are nothing new and we all know them.  It is just about adapting what we do even more.  I didn’t think that I could cut back my spending any further, but this year I had to.  Mr S was ill for 6 months and our income was cut by about a third.  When we had to, we did it, and our quality of life hasn’t felt any worse.  We have still had treats, we have still had days away when able, I have still met friends, and we have still eaten well.  Luckily there were only two months when we had to have the heating on.

One change that we made is that we are eating smaller portions, and less often, ie we just have 2 meals a day and intermittently fast.  However, this has been so good for both of our health and we have both lost weight, which was much needed. The bonus was that I could also still eat my puddings! I am hoping to keep my food budget down to £550 for the year because of the change in eating pattern, the food we have foraged and grown, and the extra food I have grown. The extra £200 left will be a back up for energy or fuel increases.

I will continue to look at my good habits and try to improve them further.

Use what we have.

Make do and mend

Waste less.

Make things last.

Cook simply.

Use energy thoughtfully.

Enjoy free pleasures.

And prepare rather than panic.

Autumn is a season of change, so perhaps it’s the perfect time to change our routines too.  This is not to make life harder, but to make our homes, food, and finances work a little better for us. Sometimes, the simplest life really can be the richest one.

Other blogs that you may find useful

Getting ready for Autumn

Making an Autumn bucket List

Autumn meal plan

21 Garden jobs in Autumn