Free Food: October 2020 and the start of a new challenge at Frugaldom. This autumn, I am attempting to create a forest food garden on the edge of our 'Legacy Woodland' tree planting project, which borders marshland and is flanked by a small river. The plan is to do this at zero cost so it provides us with free food in the future.

REMINDER: Today we are making raw apple cider vinegar. It's been quite some time since we picked our apples and the harvest, although not yet including much from the new orchard, was plentiful. Many apples were given to friends and relatives, many more were stewed for sauce, crumbles and pies and yet more were turned into jelly with a combination of foraged berries and blackcurrants. The remaining apples are stored in black bags outside, chilled by the good old Scottish, winter weather. 

MUDDY WELLIES WEEKENDS! Escape to the country this Autumn and take advantage of one of our great FRUGAL BREAKS. Official 'Friends of Frugaldom' members can benefit from additional discounts.

I wouldn't say I am living a particularly frugal lifestyle and to be perfectly honest, I wasn't even entirely sure how to start. However, after a couple of hours research and reading about other people's experiences, I realised that, for me, frugal living wouldn't just be beneficial but necessary.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be so single-minded and focussed on your goals that you actually achieve them all, one by one, consistently? Or do you go about things in a half-baked manner wondering where all your time has gone, forgetting half of what you should have done?

Mothering Sunday in the UK is 31st March 2019, the same date the clocks spring forward into British summertime. Mother's Day gifts can include anything from home grown flowers to handmade cards and freshly baked goods but if you would prefer to splash out a bit, there are plenty of other options. My suggestion for this year is a weekend break for mum.

We're more than half way through February and despite the continuing winter weather, temperatures are starting to get above 6 Degrees C - this means the grass will begin growing and with that, everything else, too. It's time for me to plan the food gardens, prepare the growing spaces and  start sowing seeds!

Going on holiday may be a pipe dream for those battling debts or juggling over-stretched budgets, but we all need a break sometimes, if only to help preserve our own sanity! That's why, here at Frugaldom HQ, we are developing bolt holes - specially tailored options to help make your escape affordable, even on the tightest of budgets. Come and learn more about frugal living, experience the lifestyle for yourself and crunch the numbers needed to set yourself on the path to debt freedom.

Frugal living in the countryside means no mains sewers, sometimes no mains water and certainly no ‘nipping to the shop’ to buy an individual item if you run out of it, so it is always handy to know how to make your own products, such as laundry cleaner.

What is the difference between a pullet egg and a hen egg?

2018 is going to be about concentrating on the little things to enable us to get more of the big things done! Like they say, if you take care of the pennies, then the pounds will take care of themselves. So, our first port of call is the chicken shack, where the Frugaldom hens reside. Last summer, we hatched out some chicks in the incubator - from a dozen eggs, we had 9 chicks but of those, only 8 survived the first 24 hours and 5 of them were cockerels!