Some one in my online group today posted that buying ready meals was now cheaper than cooking from  scratch. With the high cost of living we are all trying to save money, aren't we?   However, [...]

Do you ever look at something you’re being charged for today and think, “Hang on… wasn’t this free once?” Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but lately I’ve found myself remembering all the little things [...]

When we think about decluttering, we often think about the money we can make from selling things we no longer need. That can be a lovely bonus and it can be put towards something that [...]

Mr S loves burgers, especially on the days that he has worked.  He would eat them every day if he could.  I obviously can't afford to give him meat ones every day and so I [...]

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 [...]

There is a strange contradiction at the heart of modern frugality. We are constantly surrounded by advice about how to spend less, yet so much of that advice still involves buying something. We are told [...]

One of the unexpected things about becoming more frugal is that you may discover it costs you something you hadn't put in the budget.  Sometimes, it costs you friendships.  At the very least, it changes [...]

I don't want to live like a pauper. This blog is aimed at people who are new to the frugal journey, mainly. A lot of folks are having to stretch the purse strings due to [...]

I make my own baked beans sometimes, but always have a tin of baked beans in the cupboard.  They have quite a lot of sugar in them and so I try to make meals or [...]

This is the third in a series of blogs about what to do with cheap 'essentials' cans of food to make them more appetising. I wrote one about a tin of tuna, and one about [...]

I have people saying to me that they are scared about feeding themselves this winter if prices go up. Worry is just wasted imagination. The thing to do is to use that creative mind and [...]

I always make sure that I have some tins of tuna in my pantry. Once upon a time I only used it in a sandwich, or on the side with a salad, which I still [...]

We have a wood burning stove. I have been meaning to make some briquettes out of waste items for a while, to complement the wood that we forage. Today we finally got round to it [...]

Radish pods are a very under rated vegetable, and I didn't know about them until about 3 years ago. However, they are so versatile, and at this time of year I let a few rows [...]

Every ingredient is precious to me and I often stretch it to enhance several meals, or courses. That is how I keep my food budget at £750 a year. Last year I bought a tin [...]

I like to make the most of the free resources around me before I even think about doing anything that costs money. At the moment I am making the most of the sun as that [...]

At this time of year it is easy to feed ourselves using ingredients  mainly from our garden. I grow a variety of crops so that our meals don't feel restrictive, and are not boring. It [...]

A bag of red lentils is surprisingly versatile. I have plenty stored in my pantry as they are cheap and I can use them in a variety of ways. They also store foor years. I [...]

I reached into my hessian onion sack yesterday and found 3 stored onions that had started sprouting. Instead of throwing them away and feeling disappointed, I plant them as a source of tasty food, pollinating [...]

People who have followed me for a while know that I keep my food budget low by buying items when they are on offer, bulk buying, and, also preserving home grown or foraged food. Buying [...]

Keeping children happy and engaged during the school holidays doesn't need to cost a lot of money. If you do a quick search on line,  you can often find free places to visit, or free [...]

Knowing how to make simple, tasty meals from cupboard staples is a life saver. It saves on shopping as there are no expensive ingredients, and keeping it simple means no technical cooking methods. A few [...]

I made myself an omelette today. Before I added the eggs, I sauted some radish tops with garlic and onion leaves, and added a bit of spinach. There are so many second crops that we [...]

Everything is going up, except our incomes. Most people are having to tighten their belts. I find that reducing household spending works best when you target the few categories that usually consume most of a [...]