Frugal Living Tips: October 2014 Edition

October is only just beginning and I’m already excited. How come?

Firstly, last month was an expensive one.

What with two major birthdays (my sister and my girlfriend) and my old laptop giving up on life I’ve spent far more this month than I wanted. I’m also still waiting for that tax money that I mentioned some months ago!

So while September wasn’t disastrous, I didn’t manage to save as much as I’d like.

The fact that Christmas will be here before we know it is scary in itself. I normally take November off any kind of budgeting, and “loosen my grip” so to speak. I do all my Christmas shopping nice and early and then get back to budgeting in December.

Seeing as I get paid at the end of each month, that means that I have just two more pay packets left to add to my savings before 2015 rolls around! That’s a rather sobering thought! But I’m so up for this. I’m fired up and ready to make the last few months the most productive ever.

I Hope We Don’t Go Off Butternut Squash

Normally at about this time each year I’m putting the vegetable plot to bed. I then pretty much ignore it over winter, and get started afresh in the spring. But this year I’m going to try something a little different; we’re going to try growing some winter crops and see how we get on.

Having picked up a gardening magazine a few weeks back (because it came with free seeds worth more than the magazine!) I learned that some people plant onions at this time of year. They overwinter fine (apparently) and mean earlier crops and larger onions next summer. Sounds great to me! Even better, I found a supplier that is offering free red onion sets if you cover the cost of postage so I find myself with 100+ onions to go in over the next few weeks.

Last week I spent a backbreaking few hours sorting out my strawberry bed. I started off with literally about half a dozen plants a few years ago, yet at this time every year they put out “runners” with several baby plants on each one.

This year I’ve been over-run and reckon (conservatively) that we’ve got about 40+ new baby strawberry plants (for free!). So I spent a backbreaking few hours carefully removing them and setting up a brand new strawberry patch! There are so many they wouldn’t all fit in the old space!

All this means that unless something goes hideously wrong, in 2015 I should have enough strawberries to sink a battleship! Now I do love strawberries, but when you consider I still have home-made jam from last year, let alone what we made this year, well – we’ll see!

Lastly, I finally got around to harvesting our butternut squashes. Out of the six plants that we grew this year, we ended up with a total of 14 good sized squashes. Who am I kidding, most of them are monsters – seriously they’re bigger than my head!

Just have a look at this snap! Firstly, this isn’t a camera trick – our squashes really are that big! Secondly (potential claim to fame here!) am I the only person who has ever taken a selfie with a squash?! If not, please leave your link in the comment section at the bottom of the page!

Either way I’m calling shotgun on the phrase “squelfie” – defined as a selfie taken with a squash 🙂 Lol!

Big Up Hayley!

The ever-fabulous Hayley over at Disease Called Debt was kind enough nominate me for a Versatile Blogger award. Don’t worry Haylay – my post about that will be coming up shortly. Thanks so much for mentioning me! Oh, and I couldn’t agree more with you about not being great at sleeping! At least I’m not the only one…

Family Visit

This month I’m taking a week off to spend some quality time with the family so I might be a little slower than normal responding to comments etc. I’m pretty excited about spending some time with “the fam” and hopefully the beautiful sunny weather will continue on just a little bit longer.

Top Frugal Living Tips From The Blogosphere

While it’s been a busy few weeks, and I must admit that I’ve got behind on my reading, I’ve still managed to stumble across some truly awesome personal finance articles. So, in the interests of “sharing the love” here are the posts that grabbed my attention over the last month…

Living Lean Without Being an Outcast

If you live a frugal life like me then you’ve no doubt experienced that uncomfortable feeling when your friends suggest doing something that you consider financially foolhardy.

How do you manage to balance your frugal lifestyle with an active social life? Some interesting tips and observations here.

Making Extra Income An Interview with Michelle Schroeder

Once again Hayley provides some top quality advice. Here she interviews Michelle Schroeder of Diversified Finances fame, about how she’s been able to transition from a paid employee to a self-employed business owner earning just shy of $15,000 a month. Go Michelle! 🙂

How I Graduated College With $100k in Savings

We all know that going to university is expensive and that every year it seems students are completing their degree with more debt than ever before.

I think that’s one reason why some people are starting to go staright into the workplace now; they’d rather get earning from day one than start several years later than their peers, and with more debt than they know what to do with.

But what if there was an alternative? What if you could come out of university in profit – if only you knew what you were doing? Fortunately, you can, if you follow Will Lipovsky’s advice.

5 Simple Reasons A Guaranteed Paycheck Makes Us Poor

Wow – now this article from Monica really got me thinking (always a good sign, I find). She claims (with some validation) that knowing we’ve got money coming in on a regular basis can make us lazy and disorganized. If you get paid regularly, read Monica’s article and ask yourself if you need to make some changes to your own financial life.

Debt Fatigue: Getting Out of a Debt Payoff Funk

Like losing weight, starting a new job or meeting a new partner, there’s always an exciting “honeymoon period” when you first start paying off debt. It’s exciting that you’ve finally stopped spending money unnecessarily, you’ve started to budget and save money and now you’re watching your debt disappear.

But hang on there just a second. That honeymoon period doesn’t last. It never does. And if you’re not careful, you’ll be cramming your face with donuts in no time. Don’t worry though, help is at hand from Stephanie who reveals her own strategies for staying focused when paying off debt.

The 10 Habits of Frugal People

I won’t give you any hints here from this awesome run-down – all I will do is encourage you to check out the list, answer honestly just how many habits you can tick off and which ones you need to work a little harder on from now on!

Quit Trying to Save Money

Are you struggling to save money? If so then this super-simple yet devilishly effective tip from Jackie will get your savings account growing in no time.

Why Its Vital to Learn to Grow and Preserve Your Own Food

I think we’ve already established multiple times here on the blog just how much I enjoy growing my own vegetables. So it should come as no surprise that Laurie’s excellent article caught my eye. The thing is, even if you don’t grow your own food, it is still worth learning how to preserve it. Don’t believe me? Read on to find out why.

How to Prevent Freezer Burn 

I haven’t yet plucked up the courage to buy a pressure canner. Most of my fresh produce gets frozen, ready for the winter. But if you’re freezing fresh fruit and vegetables you’ll find one of your greatest enemies is freezer burn, which can ruin your carefully-stored supplies. Here the ever-inspirational Mavis gives tips for avoiding it. Mavis, if only I had your garden…

Pushing the Button: What It Feels Like to Quit Your Job

Over the years I’ve cycled from employed to self employed and back again on several occasions. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but oe of the most heady feelings is that of actually quitting your job. The mixture of nervousness and excitement is heady stuff, and here Jefferson does a magnificent job of explaining how it really feels to quit your job.

Ten Steps To Turn Financial Disaster Into Financial Independence

Do you long for financial freedom? I know I do. Packed into this one article – and it’s 10 simple steps – you’ll find a veritable goldmine of tips and advice on achieving it. I’d rate it as one of the very best articles on financial independence I’ve ever read – high praise indeed from a grump like me! 🙂

Living on Only $460 a Month? Really?

You know the fastest way to achieve financial freedom? Basically, it’s to reduce your expenses down to virtually nothing. Because if it costs you almost nothing to live each month, you don’t need too much coming in from investments and side hustles to make ends meet.

Of course, while the concept is a lovely one, nobody can reduce their expenses too much and still maintain our Western living standards can they? Actually, Derek says you can. Read on to find out in what gets my award for the most motivational personal finance article of last month 🙂

How was your September? Did you hit your financial goals? What are you doing to hit your end-of-year goals? Please leave a comment below with your thoughts….