Every week I share five frugal things that I’ve done during that 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.
1) We’re back in the game with bargain flowers! Just look at these amazing daffodils that cost 50p a bunch…
The bunch in the vase behind only lasted until midweek for some reason but the flowers in the vase at the front are still going strong. They’ve made me smile all week as I love having fresh flowers in my house whenever I can.
2) These two guys were in desperate need of a hair cut, as you can see from this photo…
Monty has a huge fear of dog groomers and the only person he’s OK with giving him a trim is me! Yeay.
We invested in some good dog clippers when we realised it wasn’t worth putting him through the trauma of continuing to try him at the local dog groomers and a couple of YouTube videos later, I was a DIY dog groomer. I’m not good at it by any means but I get by which means that he’s spared the trauma of a trip to the doggy salon and my bank balance is spared the £30+ a go of taking him. Once I’d got the hang of cutting Monty, I started to do Buddy too which is another big saving as their cuts aren’t cheap with them being the type of dogs they are.
In case you’re wondering, there’s no after picture to save poor Monty and Buddy the embarrassment of being seen in public with their new hair cuts. 😉
3) OK, this is an odd one when you consider I’m writing a post about the things I did to save money but I bought an Omelette Maker. It’s an absolute game-changer and the reason I bought it was so that the kids can quickly and safely whip up a meal when I’m working late.
You basically just whip up two eggs and add in any ‘extras that you want in there like a bit of cheese, some ham, chopped tomatoes etc. Then it’s just a case of pouring it into the mould and leaving it to cook for a few minutes – no mess, no fuss and an easy meal when you pop it with a salad which they can easily make.
Both kids are OK in the kitchen but if it’s not quick and easy, I know they’ll go for something that’s not as healthy or worse, they’ll just not bother and wait till I come in from work. This way, they feed themselves and there’s no mess for them to ‘forget’ to tidy up before I get home. Also, as much as I usually hate paper plates, we had some given to us after a family party so there are not even any pots to wash. 😉
(This is my Amazon Affiliate link to the machine I bought if you’re interested – Omelette Maker)
4) I’ve been pretty good at packed lunches this week which is a good thing because, on the days when I forget to take it, it not costs me a fortune but also means that I struggle to find something Slimming World friendly. 😉
This is what I’ve had his week:
- Pasta salad
- Leftover corned beef pie (made with pease pudding instead of pastry which was OK but won’t be repeated)
- Homemade meatballs with a dip made from natural yoghurt, mustard and lemon.
- Pasta salad… again
- And in my bag for today I have leftover shredded chicken and rice
On Sunday, I put a Mug Shot Mighty in my boot which is basically an upper-class Pot Noodle so if I did forget or even have to work late and get hungry then I’d just have to pop out to the car and get it and I’d have a super quick, filling snack. I’ve also been making overnight oats to work for my breakfast too so I’m not starving by the time I get home.
5) Master Frugal is off skiing with the school in a couple of weeks and I’ve managed to buy everything on his kit list without spending as much as I thought I was going to.
The school were going to charge £35 to hire the salopettes and ski jacket but I managed to get ours from Aldi for the same price and this way, we get to keep them at the end, rather than hand them back and have nothing to show for it. The ones we bought are great quality and just what we were looking for.
We also went to a local ski shop where the loveliest older lady seemed to really take a shine to us – maybe because she was having a cup of tea and a biscuit when we walked in and we told her we were happy to wait while she finished it off.
She fixed us up with everything on our list and gave us some great discounts off a couple of things. His hat, for example, was £20 but he really liked it whereas I wasn’t sure – she said it suited him so he could have it for £10 which sealed the deal for us both.
Then she discounted the special sunscreen because she wanted to make sure he had the good stuff as she said he’d get sunburnt if he didn’t have the Factor 50. And finally, she discounted £7 off the bill to round it down!
It just shows that it pays to be nice sometimes!
Come over and join our fab Facebook group – Spend Less, Live Better!
As always, we’d love you to join in with us by sharing anything you’ve done that’s been thrifty or frugal from your week – whether it’s an Instagram picture (#5frugalthings), a blog post or even a video. Just add your link to the Frugal Friday linky at the bottom of this post.
You’re more than welcome to copy and paste the badge above but it would be even better if you could let your readers know that you’re linking up with the five frugal things linky by adding a little line to the bottom of your post like this one:
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
Don’t miss out on future posts like this – receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address here and hitting subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter, BlogLovin or Networked Blogs and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram.
