1) I made Slimming World Quiche for tea for Mr Frugal and I the other night and it was delicious!  The recipe is here if you want to have a go at making your own but it's pretty flexible as far as ingredients go - what you can see here is the last of the gammon from Sunday dinner, a pepper left over from fajitas, some tomatoes that have seen better days and some boiled potatoes I saved from tea.I make it without the pastry crust as that's better for Slimming World (it also means it's much easier to make) but you could make it with if you prefer.2) We had a lovely wander around our … [Read more...]

1) My best buy of the week is a book of vouchers that I've been hearing about for ages now in our local area.  The book costs £24.99 and is basically filled with over 400 vouchers for local businesses (mainly foodie, days out and activities but with some health and beauty too) offering buy one get one free or 50% off.  I bought it from our local shop but I've seen them around in lots of local businesses - I've just never taken the time to actually look at a copy because of the initial price.Each company has three vouchers in the book that can be used anytime up until the end of January … [Read more...]

Whatever being frugal means to you and whatever your reasons are for trying to live a more frugal life, there are certain habits you can adopt that will help you along the way.  Here's just a few of them....Make sure you know what your monthly budget is and review it regularly and keep a close eye on your bank balance so you know there are no nasty surprises and you can check that you're still within your budget - the earlier you find out about any problems or overspends, the more time you have to put it right before it impacts you.Regularly check to make sure you're on the best … [Read more...]

1) Remember a couple of week's ago, I saved money by spending some vouchers I had on something practical rather than the expensive pair of sunglasses that I had my eye on?  I regretted my decision as soon as I pressed buy on the grown up purchases but the cost of the Ray Bans I was lusting after was way too high for me for something I wouldn't get that much use out of.  But now, fast forward two weeks and look what I have in my hand....Now the man who sold me them in Cyprus assured me that they were original and promised me on his life that they weren't fake but I have a sneaking … [Read more...]

This is a special edition of 5 frugal things because it's coming to you live (ish) from the beach where Miss Frugal and I are currently sunning ourselves on holiday....Holidays are certainly not moneysaving but there are lots of ways to book, pay and plan your holiday before you go that will save you some money so I thought today I'd just share with you some of the ways that we've saved money on our holiday.(I'm not even going to count the shopping around that I did to make sure we had the best deals for the holiday itself, for our travel insurance and for our foreign currency.)1) … [Read more...]

Do you ever find that you have no money left at the end of the month?  If so, you're not the only one!But more often than not, the reason for this isn't because you can't afford to pay your bills or that you don't have enough money coming in.  It's because you have a few bad habits that are making it hard for you to stick to your budget.Let;s ha a look at a few of them, Starting with the most important one of all.... Not knowing what your monthly budget actually is! It’s surprising how many people don’t have a monthly budget at all let alone reassess it on a monthly basis to allow … [Read more...]