The Diary of a Frugal Family | Living a Fabulously Frugal Family Life

How to make homemade fruit vodka…

46366Leave a CommentHow+to+make+homemade+fruit+vodka...2026-09-03+10%3A34%3A15Cassandra September 3, 2026 By Cassandra
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I walked past a blackberry bush absolutely covered in ripe blackberries last week and, rather than thinking about blackberry crumble or homemade jam, my first thought was blackberry vodka. 😂 I rarely drink these days, so when I do have a drink I want it to be something a bit more stand out than something I'd normally have. I love the idea of making something myself that I can bring out at Christmas or when we have people round, so homemade fruit vodka seemed perfect. It also helped that we had a giant bottle of vodka in the house that we weren't going to drink as it was, so I … [Read more...]

How to Work Out Your Macros Before You Change How You Shop….

46430Leave a Comment2026-09-02+20%3A28%3A31Cassandra September 2, 2026 By Cassandra
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If you’re thinking about changing the way you eat, it can be really tempting to start by changing the way you shop. You decide you’re going to eat fewer carbs and suddenly your trolley is full of almond flour, expensive low-carb bread, sugar-free everything and products you’ve never bought before simply because they have ‘keto’ written on the packaging. And that can get expensive very quickly. This is something I’ve learned quite a lot about since being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. I’ve become much more aware of the amount of carbohydrate in what I eat and, particularly at the … [Read more...]

How I Spread the Cost of Christmas All Year Round….

46251Leave a Comment2026-08-31+10%3A05%3A41Cassandra August 31, 2026 By Cassandra
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We absolutely cannot wait for Christmas this year. 🎄 It’s our first Christmas in our new house, I was poorly last Christmas and, if I’m not careful, all that excitement could very easily turn into me spending far more than I intended. Which is exactly why I've been preparing for it all year. 😁 For me, starting early isn’t about wishing the year away or filling the house with Christmas decorations while it’s still sunny outside. It’s about spreading the cost, picking things up at the right time rather than the most expensive time and making sure that when December … [Read more...]

Have you started your Christmas Cupboard? If not, now is the time….

444621 Comment2026-08-30+16%3A00%3A13Cassandra August 30, 2026 By Cassandra
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It's that time of year again when I start thinking about my Christmas Cupboard. If you don't know what I mean by my 'Christmas Cupboard' then let me tell you before we go any further. 🎄 My Christmas Cupboard is literally a cupboard that I use in the run-up to Christmas to start stashing away some of the food and treats that I know we're going to want over Christmas. I don't go out and do a big shop to fill it in one go because that would completely defeat the point. Instead, I just add something to it here and there when I'm doing our normal food shopping, usually because I've … [Read more...]

Why I Take Collagen Every Day Even Though It Hasn’t Changed My Life…

46220Leave a Comment2026-08-30+08%3A29%3A27Cassandra August 30, 2026 By Cassandra
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Collagen seems to be absolutely everywhere at the minute. Every time I scroll through Instagram or TikTok, someone seems to be adding it to their coffee, stirring it into a drink or talking about what it’s done for their hair, skin, nails or joints. They must have to sell some serious amounts of it to pay for all the celebrity endorsements, mustn't they? I take it too but not because I was influenced. 😁 I use Ancient + Brave collagen and I originally started taking it after a nurse mentioned collagen to me when I had quite a lot going on health-wise. I can’t even … [Read more...]

Five little things that have saved us money this week {28th August 2026}….

46197Leave a Comment2026-08-28+10%3A40%3A36Cassandra August 28, 2026 By Cassandra
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Every week I share five small things we’ve done to save a bit of money, make life easier or help us spend more intentionally. None of them are usually huge on their own, but that’s kind of the point. Those small choices add up over time and give us more room for the things that really matter — whether that’s days out, holidays, home projects, treats we’ll actually enjoy or just a bit more breathing space in the budget. Another week, another five little money saving things. 😊 I think sometimes when we talk about saving money, it can feel like everything needs to be a big change to … [Read more...]