I suppose it depends on the definition of 'occasionally'. For me it's every time I get up to that speed!!!
I definitely don't want one of those! From what I understand about coasting - if you're in gear, you can't be coasting. Coasting is when you are moving but not in gear.
And then you make an Occasion of it, you mean? Indeed. There must be a word for "coasting in gear", can't think what it might be though?
I am a bit surprised at how frugal some folk on here are, there are some good tips. There's only 3 of us but I daren't say what we spend on groceries, it's an awful lot more than £200 a month clueless is aiming at. Maybe it's having our teenage son at home again, he's got hollow legs and eats as much as me and Mrs JWK put together. Even so I don't think we are excessive, we certainly don't have expensive stuff like steaks all the time, so I'd find it very hard to reduce our budgets without spending a lot of time. I suppose that time is the trade off, I remember an uncle who used to time his shopping trips at the supermarket so he could get all the bargain reduced food at the end of the week. Also a penny pinching aunt who used to bring a thermos flask of hot water when she visited, saves boiling the kettle again but makes awful tea. Those older relatives came from a generation who had to make savings during the war, I suppose we are lucky and relatively wealthy compared to them but "time poor".
Good point, John Although I tend to be quite busy my timing is whatever I wish it to be. So I do my shopping at times when it's advantageous or when someone tells me there's an offer on that makes it worthwhile. I find that shopping on Monday mornings in the supermarket can be quite handy. If they haven't sold enough of the meat that they hoped to sell for peoples' Sunday joints, they then sell it off cheaply. We were brought up through times of shortages and with very little money, so it became automatic to make tasty meals on the cheap. One thing I haven't had for years is barley soup made with beef bones. We used to get the bones very cheaply from the butcher. They still had quite a bit of meat and fat on them and they gave the soup loads of flavour. The marrow also added flavour to the soup. We used to chuck in whatever veggies were available cheaply, which were usually onions, carrots, turnips, celery and some herbs from the garden. Barley was a major ingredient and, sometimes, we added potatoes. Can't get beef bones very easily nowadays.
Not for making tea, but for saving electricity consumed by the kettle for some washing up water (I'm going to sieve the ashes for unburnt lumps to put on the next fire). If we shopped like other people then we would be skint, but by making every saving possible, we can afford cars, lots of holidays, my expensive camera equipment, garden power tools, horse riding for our daughter, etc., all without either of us having to work. We keep a buffer of £1,000 in the current account, so when my pension gets paid in there's £1,000 extra in reserve to pay off the (cashback) credit card bill in full every month should there be an increase in expenditure due to stockpiling loads of cheap stuff (and/or several large bills). Anything that gradually accrues over the buffer is to spend on stuff we wouldn't otherwise be able to afford, and it's all down to trying to save every penny. That buffer is only there because of previous savings we've made, it sort of snowballs.
I surprise myself at how frugal I am sometimes. I think it is because I am very, very aware of recycling issues, being green and so on. I try to recycle, upcycle, redesign as much as possible. I also make my own household cleaners, knit dish cloths/washcloths, make soap and candles, make rag rugs, make wine, compost everything I can, old t.shirts become "Tarn" and are knitted, I turn carrier bags into "plarn" and make baskets out of them and anything else I can think of. I also grow as much fruit and veg as I can. The savings this gives me are a happy bonus and if I sell what I make it is even better. So I am an accidental frugalist in many ways.
"Frugalist". Love it, sounds much better than cheapskate! Like Scrungee, I'd rather spend as little as possible on food/housing/bills etc so I have more to spend on life-enhancing goods of various kinds, and, especially, holidays. I'll have to get up a bit earlier to be even a tenth as good at it as him, though!
Brilliant! @Lea I'd love to see some pics of your products (Mrs Scrungee crochets) We don't mind what were called, but get satisfaction from enjoying a much better lifestyle (in our opinion) than others in our street with much greater incomes, but who don't seem to be able to afford as much. About 18 months ago I bought a portable DAB radio from Halfords for £15 http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/phi...lfords-now-only-14-99-reserve-collect-1268626 and very handy it is for listening to whilst away sea fishing/at the plot, but when my daughter asked for one to take to Uni I was amazed at how much ones like that now cost - nearly £60 including shipping. So I held out and waited until another bargain turned up and got one of these yesterday, currently £50 at Maplin, but only £14.75 (reduced from £59) at Tesco yesterday.
I'll have to take some pics then. Plarn is great for crochet as is Tarn but I am a knitter myself. I'm in the middle of painting empty tin cans to make candle lanterns at the moment. A few holes and a homemade candle and they make sweet little "shabby chic" hanging lanterns and cost almost nothing to make.
I would be very interested in seeing what u make lea. This is what mum and me knitted for baby to come
