Low Cost Living, The Frugal Self Sufficient Home

Live Better, Spend Less

Being frugal? Being thrifty? Being cost-effective? Being green?

Or just being sensible & self-sufficient?

The Good Life

You Can Live The Good Life in Country or Town

Times are tough for most of us. Jobs aren’t easy to find, unless you count zero-hour contracts that seem like a throw back to a bygone age where men queued each day in the hope of work. By the time you’ve paid the rent or the mortgage, there’s not a lot left for everything else.

That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a great quality of life and a good standard of living. Our income has been so low at times we were below the poverty line. Yet we have never felt poor – In fact, we’ve felt rich.

That’s because we are frugal, cost-effective and self-sufficient.

It’s a philosophy of life that has served us well over the years. The three main legs of this way of life are:

  • Being frugal or thrifty is not being mean, it’s just sensible. Why spend on things you do not need and that will not add to your quality of life?
  • Being cost-effective means we look for value for money or effort. Don’t forget your time has a value! Buying cheap can often mean buying twice, but why spend more if you don’t need to?
  • Being self-sufficient means we do as much for ourselves as we are able to and enjoy doing. Paying others to do jobs doesn’t make sense if we can do it ourselves. We grow much of our own and enjoy great food at low cost.

A Practical Green Way of Life

Our lifestyle is not about theoretical and impractical ‘green’ ideas that make little sense and cost a fortune. It’s about real things that real people can do. People like us, living in a normal house, whether in city, town or country. Being frugal is a more sustainable, greener way of living.

We’re not eco-warriors but we have reduced our carbon footprint and we recycle as much as anybody reasonably can in our western society. For example, we grow much of our own food and cook efficiently, which reduces food miles and our energy use.

It doesn’t stop there, we’ve reduced our energy usage dramatically, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy modern conveniences, we do.

Live Better for Less

So, we hope this web site helps you to enjoy life, get off the treadmill a bit more and maybe even wave the rat race goodbye. Below we explain what the different sections of the site are about, do delve further and find great ideas to help you live better for less.


If you’re on LPG (Calor, Flogas etc.) Check this page to save serious money – Save Money On LPG – How we saved over ÂŁ1,000 on our gas supply.


The Frugal Home

The Frugal HomeHere we cover how to have a frugal home:- saving money, saving energy and making better use of your resources like the garden to grow your own or provide extra living space.

Practical help, based on experience not theory. Things you can do to live better for less. You really don’t need a lot of money to enjoy the good life.

Frugal Food

Frugal FoodHere we show how how to eat better for less and share our tips and frugal recipes. You’ll be surprised how well you can eat and on how little money.

That doesn’t mean living on cheap, unhealthy stodge. Frugal food is about tasty, healthy foods that even a toddler will enjoy – and we all know how fussy children can be!

Home Brewing

Home BrewingFrugal living doesn’t mean joyless living. If you enjoy a drink or two then why not make your own? Not just money saving, home brewing is a fascinating hobby. It’s far easier than you may have thought.

You’ll love our country wine recipes, as good as anything to come from the vineyard.

The Home Dairy

Cheese Making in Home DairyWe’ve had a lot of interest in our home dairy hobby so we gave it a section to itself. Making butter at home is a great way to use bargain cream buys and delicious home-made ice cream costs less than shop-bought.

Home hard cheesemaking does require equipment and practice but start with a cottage cheese that you can make in your kitchen with no special equipment.

Home Chickens, Ducks and other Poultry

Keeping ChickensWe look at poultry keeping as a way of sustainably and ethically providing high quality meat and eggs rather than pets. In truth the hardest thing is not making pets of livestock.

We cover a range from the economics of back garden chicken keeping to help on caring for chickens and other poultry along with common ailments and problems.

Our BooksSpecial Offer on Our Books

Do check out our books – from home growing to storing and preserving home grown foods, keeping poultry and, of course, low cost living.

They’re all written to be practical, easy to follow guides and, we hope, enjoyable as well as informative. Available from our website Allotment Garden

  Vegetable Growing Month by Month How to Store Your Home Grown Produce low cost living 2 Easy Jams, Chutneys and Preserves Backgarden Chickens and Other Poultry The Essential Allotment Guide Vegetables Fruit and Herb Growing in Small Spaces

Low Cost Living – The Book

Low Cost Living

Live Better &
Spend Less!

You can be happy living a more frugal sustainable life

Simple tried and tested methods that you can follow

2nd Edition Now Available!

Check the Special Offer Here