Frugal websites advice. Hah! I have done this all my life!

Frugal website(s) advice. Hah! Do me a favour,

I have done this all my life!

As I have recently retired, I have lately been looking at frugal living websites, as one does, in order to get some hints and tips to reduce expenditure and enhance my living experience on this fantastic planet of ours. To say that I have been amazed would certainly be true. Astounded, yes. Incredulous also. Impressed, not one bit dear reader! Oh no, not one bit!

Nearly all of the so called "tips and hints" that I have seen listed on numerous sites visited, (I say nearly, as there may be one or two tips or hints  that I have missed, I'm being generous here, dear reader)  I have been doing for all of my life, or for as long as I can remember at least,  thinking that this is the norm, so to speak, at least in my world. Don't forget, I am  a child of the very early 1950's, bananas were only just becoming available again, a real luxury, sweet rationing and all other rationing was still in force, (a dolly mixture a day from your Dad, if you were lucky) but thankfully gradually coming to an end. I can still see in my minds eye, my beautiful Mum, queueing just to get  the chance to buy very poor quality meat, perhaps having less on her plate in order to feed my brother and myself. I remember my Father and uncles hammering old reclaimed nails straight(ish) again because you could not buy new ones at that time.  Everything you could think of was re-used. To think of buying something new was almost unheard of, except of course, for the privileged few. A Fridge? Freezer? Washing machine? Microwave? Central heating? Cars? Now you are really having a laugh chum.

My beautiful sons have always made a joke of any wood that I buy. First, it is used for the intention for which it was purchased, be it shelves, cupboards or the like. When they have become tired and outlived, it gets consigned to shelves or other requirements in the workshop, garden, greenhouse, or somewhere else. After that, build nest boxes for birds, they are not fussy about the look, just as long as it is functional. (More on this at a later blog). When they pass their "sell by date" it gets chopped/cut up for firewood. Either kindling or bigger pieces for use as "logs". I hope that you are keeping up with this? So...this wood has been recycled at least three to four times, has been of benefit on various projects and ends up by keeping my family warm at the last. By the way, if you use the wood in a home built rocket stove in the garden it lasts for ages, it will keep you warm in the cooling evenings, when you are sitting out looking at the stars, (despite  the light pollution that mars our towns and cities nowadays) probably for a whole winter. Read on and learn dear reader, please read on......... To be continued.......Comment!!