How to live like a millionaire on a retirement budget

I've been reading "How to live like a millionaire on a retirement budget: Priceless strategies for living as if money were no object" by Elizabeth Dunkel.   Many of the ideas in it will be very familiar to frugal bloggers but they bear repeating.

Her basic philosophy is that creative, stylish thinking, feeling and living is the way to celebrate a life in retirement.  Or to quote Coco Chanel, "There are people who have money and people who are rich".  Her hacks are not so much about money saving as about rethinking how to look at money and luxury.  Simple ideas like eating outdoors (or lighting a candle if indoors) to make a meal into occasion even if it is eaten alone.  Or a single flower in a slender vase.

I hate it when my environment reminds me that I am careful with money.  Actually I'm glad (and maybe a little proud) when I look at my accounts that I am careful with money but I don't want to feel cheapskate when I walk around my house.  So, as a contribution to luxurious stinginess I am offering just one idea.

Like many people I cut open tubes to make sure I get the last smidgen of a product out, even if the product was itself super value.  Some people just pop one end of the cut tube over the other and continue to use it but when I see a tube like that in my bathroom or on my dressing table it looks a little bleak.   Instead I save old face cream pots and when I've cut the bottom off a hand cream tube I scoop the remaining hand-cream into a de-labelled pot.  Hand-cream budget range from Wilko, face-cream budget range from Lidl (or maybe Aldi, can't remember which).  

Luxury method

Quick method

Re-using

There can't be many homes where "disposable" plastic food packaging gets disposed of automatically - I hope!  It's too easy to think that recycling is enough - it's not.  Stuff put in the recycling bin still takes energy to be recycled even though it is not bulking out landfill.  Don't miss out the "reuse" part of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" - please.

Most people, I think, use (disposable) plastic containers with lids in the store cupboard and freezer.  I think butter or margarine tubs are great for single portions of soup, for example.  An old ice cream tub corrals my spice jars and another keeps the jams etc tidy in the fridge.  Craft supplies are neatly hoarded in hummus pots which are transparent and so I can see at a glance what's in each.

Old milk cartons often get cut in half, the top section making a handy scoop (with handle) if the cap is screwed back in or it will make a funnel if there is no cap on it.  The bottom half gets used to keep pencils neat and I roll my tights putting one pair in each bottom half so they can stay reasonably neat in the drawer.  Being square the pots sit together well.

Large circular plastic dishes make great microwave covers.  I rarely need to use clingfilm as these are much easier to use.  Smaller dishes are great plant pots and also get used for growing seeds which can then get potted on into yoghurt or cream pots.

Anybody got more ideas as to how more plastics can be reused?

Proud? Ashamed? Which?

I tackled the Dyson!  I feel proud about that.  It wasn't easy.  (Can you tell that I'm talking myself up?)

When I got it up on the table there were three screws which needed removing in order to get the soleplate off.  Two came out easily.  One didn't.  

Feeling resourceful I looked on line and found that the technical name for my problem is "a screw with a stripped head".  If nothing else this experience has expanded my vocabulary.  Sole plate.  Screw with stripped head.  

The recommended method for removing said screws is to get a large rubber band and lay it over the screw in the hope that the rubber will fill the gaps and allow extraction.

So I way-laid the postie.  Fortunately I feed him ice lollies in the summer so we get on very well.  He gave me a band and one extra for luck.  

Even my lucky band didn't work.  The screw remained firmly in place.  I was feeling like a helpless woman, a feeling which I deeply resent.

I also worked out how to use my new camera!

But then I had an idea and raided my crafting stuff for some long nose pliers.  Using those I managed to grip the screw and turn it.  Off came the soleplate and from then on it was a doddle to clear the blockage.  I've ordered new screws which will be delivered tomorrow.  I hope I still feel proud when I can finally use The Thing.

Because I also feel ashamed at how much I managed to get out of my blocked machine.

Fun Filled Frugal Flinging February

I do like a bit of alliteration!

But it is February.

I need to be careful with the cash.

And the house needs to lose weight.

And I want to have fun.

So that's the agenda for the month.  

My first frugal challenge is to try and avoid flinging my vacuum cleaner.  This is one of the areas where I miss Jack, my gardener, handyman and friend who is currently waiting for a knee replacement.  I have a twenty year old Dyson DC01.  The DC01 was the original upright vacuum cleaner which Dyson made, and mine has been a real workhorse.  It's had to have its wheels replaced as I once had a wonderful cleaning lady who was very rough with vacuum cleaners and Dyson suffered.  It occasionally gets blocked because I expect too much of it.   However, Jack has always ticked me off and then sorted the problems.  It's now no longer cleaning, just re-arranging the dirt.

Now it's down to me.  I've found Youtube videos and I've found instructions on line.

I may be some time.  But I may save some money.

Sugru again

String is One Of Those Things.  It should be a nice well-behaved product which lives in a drawer and waits until it can be useful.  However, any string which comes into this house seems to have a mind of its own.  It doesn't stay in the drawer, preferring to go exploring all areas of the house and garden.  What's more, like the fairy tale children leaving a trail of crumbs, string leaves a trail behind it as it unravels from its ball and goes out to play.

I have been tempted by "things" to put string in but so far I have resisted little pots like this one.  Spending £5.80 or even more would give my string even more ideas of its own importance.  String is to be kept in its place in every sense of the phrase.

So I made my own string tin and I have to say that I'm rather proud of it.  I used a pretty tin and some of the Sugru which I received as a freebie some time ago from Amazon.  I've pierced a hole in the lid and moulded the Sugru into a holder for a small pair of scissors.  Actually I think its better than the fancy jobbie shown above, as mine has a place for scissors

Note for UK readers.  Amazon has Sugru as a "Deal of the Day" for today only.  

Sugru

Some time ago as the result of an error on their part Amazon gave me a pack of Sugru.  It's brilliant stuff!  It's mouldable glue but according to the pack it can be used to fix, bond, cushion, replace, create and seal almost anything.It has to be kept in the fridge and it doesn't last for ever before use, so I decided to have a go at a couple of things which had been bugging me.

First of all the kitchen dustpan.  It's a really useful bit of kit as I can use it as a door stop as well as what it was really intended for but the handle fell off the pan.  I put a small piece of dowelling inside and lined up the two parts together before creating a new join with Sugru.  It's wonderful!

Then crochet hooks.  Crochet hooks don't wear out but sadly the joints in my hands aren't as flexible as they were and these days I like a crochet hook with a grip.  I've now made one for just one of my "gripless" hooks, making a custom designed grip and it seems great.  If this works out I shall use up some more of the spare packs on other hooks.  It needs to air-cure for a day but then I'm hoping that once again my hook will be good to go.

Sometimes I quite like Amazon

Actually, my life would be a lot more difficult if it were not for Amazon but it's not really my favourite company.

A couple of weeks ago I received a parcel of stuff I hadn't ordered.  The address label was correct for me but I hadn't ordered the stuff and when I checked my account I hadn't been charged for it either.  So, grumbling under my breath at the necessity of wasting my time contacting the company, I started an on-line chat.  I won't go into details but the result was that I was asked just to keep the things or donate them to charity.  I think the total value of the things would have been about £30.

Two items went to the charity shop but with a big "Whoo Hoo" I kept the third.  It was a pack of Sugru.  Sugru is mouldable silicone which sets just by being exposed to the air.  I'd heard about it and wanted to try it and now I could do so at no cost.  The pack I got would have cost £12.99.

It is fantastic!  I mended the handle of the bowl of my Magimix.  I was making do with a bowl with a broken handle as a new bowl would have cost £42.12.  I had a lovely play with the sugru (it's just like playdoh!) and I've saved myself £42.12,  This is the handle with the repair - you may have to look extra hard to see it.  It has been through the dishwasher several times since it was repaired.

Quick update.  I've just had to contact Amazon about something marked as delivered but not actually received by me (the reverse of the above situation) and they have refunded my money and given me an extra month Prime membership in compensation.  The non delivered goods were worth £8 and an extra month prime is worth over £6 and I get my stuff anyway.  Thanks Amazon!

Frugal hero(ines) 6

No prizes for guessing the last frugal heroine in this short series - Mother.

Sometimes I resented the frugality of the fifties, the decade in which I spent my childhood.  One economy which I really resented was "sides to middling".  If a sheet from their double bed got worn out the two sides would be joined together, the worn out middle bit would be cut away and the new sides hemmed to form a "new" single sheet - very economical.  The trouble was that the French seam used to join the old sides was right up the middle of my bed and not very comfortable.  I longed for new sheets (but I liked the super-soft hankies made from the remains of the worn out middles).

Christmas was a time of more extravagance but the phrase "stocking filler" was not to arrive in our language for many years.  We had a single present from our parents and maybe something small from the various aunts and uncles.  Selfish little horrors that we were we took it for granted that adults didn't get presents - I think we believed they had everything they could possibly want anyway.  However, I remember that as a small child I was not allowed to unwrap my presents until a grown-up had removed all the sellotape for me - the paper had to be saved for next year.

Mother never went out to work but she worked very hard at home.  She made all clothes for my sister and me and she even learnt shirt making but I think she decided that making shirts for my father was not successful.  However she would unpick the collars and cuffs from his worn work shirts and "turn" them, extending the life of the garment considerably.  She was always knitting or darning, unless the garden needed her attention.

In many ways I had quite a privileged childhood.  My father was a white collar worker, mother was always at home when I got home from school and I was always loved and cared for.  I had properly fitting shoes (always bought new, even if quite a lot of clothes were had-me-downs from various cousins) and I could always go on any school trip.  In retrospect I know that much of that security came from Mother's hard work.

But Mother often said No to demands from my sister and me.  No new sheets, no ripping off wrapping paper, no cheap clothes from the shops.  I suspect that sometimes I sulked and was "a little Madam" in the face of many noes, but because of her constancy in making everything last there I was aware of no hardship and there was no debt.

Thanks, Mummy.

It's how you look at it

Yesterday I had a little smile at a comment Rivulet wrote on my post “It’s tradition, Jim, but not as we know it”.  She’d had a go at making Bubble and Squeak but her husband wouldn’t believe that it was a real name for a meal.  

It got me thinking though.  Bubble and Squeak IS a cool name for a dish, just as she said.  It sounds much more exciting than Refried Leftovers.  Refried Leftovers sounds like a dreary, penny pinching dish. Bubble and Squeak sounds fun.  It’s how you look at it. 

Having lots of bottles marked Basics or Everyday Value doesn’t make a bathroom look like a sanctuary for pampering but decant the products into plain white dispenser bottles with smart labels makes my bathroom into a place of personalised luxury.  It’s how you look at it.

Calling my needle case a hand-me-down would make it a dull, functional item but say it’s a family heirloom makes it into something to be treasured.  It’s how you look at it.

That seems to me to be the way to pursue joyful frugality.

A bit of post-war frugality

I had to do a little bit of mending this morning so out came the needle case which used to be my Mother’s.  For some reason I looked at it anew and suddenly I felt very proud of it.

While she was still at primary school my sister made this for our Mother.  I think the stitchery is quite good for a ten year old to have done.  Mother’s initial was N hence the central design.

What makes this extra special is that it was made sometime around 1953 using recycled materials.  The tapestry thread was from pulled-down old garments and the pages are from old shirts.  I think the tapestry canvas must have been new, but that’s it.  This means that I am using something made from recycled stuff around sixty years ago and it is still going strong.  And it is still helping me to make do and mend.