Five Frugal Things we did this week {6th September 2025}….

Every week I share five frugal things that I’ve done during the previous week just to show you that the small things you do all add up to a great frugal lifestyle where you can learn to live a fabulously frugal life.  

Hey!

1) Let’s start with the basics!

The weather lately has been perfect for drying clothes outside (as long as I’m willing to run out and grab it fast when the heavens open suddenly)…

We do have a tumble drier but it’s not been switched on in months!

I don’t think I could be without a tumble drier in the Winter but I’d much rather dry clothes outside as I feel like they’re fresher in some way when they’re dried outside. 🌞

We worked out that our drier costs around 50p an hour to run which isn’t a huge amount but it can quickly mount up so if I can dry outside then I’m absolutely going to.

2) We needed a new hoover this week and decided to buy a reconditioned one rather than a brand new one.

The one we bought cost us £79 and is for sale now on the Shark website for £299 so we got a real bargain and the man we bought it from has a brilliant reputation selling reconditioned hoovers as we know a good few people who have bought from him. 

We went for a reconditioned one for a couple of reasons – first up, we’re hoping to move house which means that the next few months (and beyond if we get the house we want) will be costly so every penny counts but also, we have a Dyson and we just weren’t that impressed with it. It’s never really matched the hype of a Dyson and years ago, I had a Shark that I loved so we wanted to try a Shark again but after being underwhelmed by the Dyson, we didn’t want to spend a fortune. 

There’s also the fact that buying second hand where possible is much better for the environment so we did a good thing for the world while saving money. 

And if you’re interested, the hoover is brilliant! So so much better than our Dyson. 

3) I haven’t been on my bike in months but last weekend, we dusted off our bikes to go for a bike ride together and since then, I’ve used mine twice to nip to the shop instead of taking the car which saves on petrol and also means that I can literally only buy what I need to buy as I need to carry it back in a small rucksack.

I also stop at one of my favourite spots in the village to have a break sit down, enjoy the scenery and relax for a bit.

We’ve got a lot going on right now (in a good way) so a bit of reflection time did me good. 😁

4) I have a chilli. 

Just the one but it’s a chilli and this week, it was ready to be picked.

I don’t use chilli to cook with very often but I do like to use it to spice up soups and to turn leftover bolognaise into chilli so I picked my one lonely chilli and chopped it up super finely and it’s now sitting in the freezer waiting for me when I need it. 

5) I got an email from Octopus last Saturday to tell me that there would be free electricity for an hour on Sunday so during that hour, I cooked a gammon joint, hoovered the house, used the washing machine and the tumble drier and if the heavens hadn’t opened then the grass would have been cut too. 😁

It was probably less than a fiver saved but it adds up and it motivated me to have a busy hour getting lots done. I don’t know if any other energy suppliers do this but I think it’s a great initiative so if they don’t, they absolutely should. 

If you want to sign up for Octopus yourself then you can use my sign up link and we get £50 each. 😁

Hope you’ve had a successful money saving week too. See you next week.

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