Five little things that have saved us money this week {16th October 2026}….

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.

It’s been one of those weeks where the money-saving things have been a bit of a mixture. Some were very deliberate, like making a bargain chicken stretch over a few meals, and others were just nice little wins that happened without much effort at all.

1. We picked some sloes

We spotted some sloes when we were out for a walk a couple of weeks ago but, very helpfully, we had absolutely nothing with us to carry them home in. 😂 So we went back the next day with a container and picked a load with a vague plan to make some sloe gin.

I didn’t have any gin in the house at the time and I wanted to wait until I spotted a decent deal on a good quality bottle, so I popped the sloes in the freezer in the meantime as I have no idea how long they last for. That actually worked out really well though because freezing them bursts the skins, which means you don’t have to sit and prick every single one before you use them which is what I did last time I made Sloe gin if I remember rightly as it apparently helps release the flavour.

I’ve found a good deal on some gin last weekend so the sloes are all in a jar (actually a repurposed cycling water bottle) doing their thing and hopefully it will be ready for Christmas. They’ll be joining the blackberry vodka and the rhubarb and ginger vodka that I’ve already made this year, so our little homemade drinks collection is coming along nicely.

2. We got a new cabinet for free

A friend was getting rid of a cabinet and offered it to us for free.

I did initially say no as I thought it was a bit big compared to what we had in place at the time (and I also felt it was a bit like something my Nana would have had in her house) but I was talked around to giving it a go by my partner. 😁

My brain then went into overtime thinking about the fact that because it hadn’t cost us anything, I could turn it into a bit of a project and give it a more modern makeover using some of the paint we had leftover from when I painted our fireplace.  I feel like I justified it in my head that if it went wrong, it didn’t matter as much because it was free to start with.

That idea didn’t last long though because my partner absolutely loved it as soon as we moved it into the house and my painting plan was vetoed very quickly.  Although, to be fair to him, it is a lovely piece of furniture and it looks really nice where we’ve put it, so I’m quite glad I left it alone. And to be even fairer to him, he has said that if I live with it for a few months and still want to paint it then I can. 

It’s grown on me massively though and I can’t picture it looking like anything other than it looks now so I’m definitely just going to leave it as it is and try to ignore my partner’s smug face as he tells me that he knew I would do this. 😂

And as an added bonus, it replaced a smaller sideboard that we already had, which we managed to sell for £75. So we ended up with a lovely bigger piece of furniture for free and £75 extra in our pocket too.

3. We made three meals from one chicken

I picked up a bargain chicken this week and managed to turn it into three meals for us, which is always a good thing!

The first night we had a proper roast chicken dinner with stuffing, roasties, veg and Yorkshires and then the next day, I used the leftover chicken to make chicken fried rice for tea.

Once we’d taken pretty much all of the meat off, I put the carcass in the slow cooker overnight to make stock and used that for soup with some veggies and the last little bits of chicken.

A roast chicken definitely doesn’t stretch as far as it used to now everyone is older, and I’d never serve smaller portions just for the sake of making a chicken last another day, but getting three meals from one bargain chicken still feels like a really good win.

4. I made a beef casserole that gave us easy leftovers

I made a beef casserole in the slow cooker this week using a nice pack of good quality beef and some potatoes and carrots from the farm shop. It wasn’t a particularly cheap meal and, unlike the chicken above, I wasn’t purposely trying to bulk it out or make it stretch as far as possible.

We had it in giant Yorkshire puddings for tea one night and it tasted amazing — proper easy comfort food.

There was enough left for a big lunch for my partner the next day and a smaller lunch for me at work, plus I’ve still got another portion in the freezer that will do me for lunch one day next week.

So while the initial meal wasn’t especially cheap, the price per portion ended up being pretty good. And this was much more about making use of leftovers than deliberately trying to stretch a meal — cook once, then a couple of really easy reheats afterwards.

5. We made our own custom artwork

As much as I love the idea of a gorgeous William Morris print on the dining room wall, it’s just not really us. What I actually wanted was something a bit more personal so I decided I wanted prints of mine and my partner’s favourite cars instead.

I had a look on Etsy but everything I found was much more expensive than I wanted to pay, especially when I wanted three prints that all looked like they belonged together. So I asked Master Frugal to work his magic and use AI to create them for me instead.

I know, don’t hate me if you’re not a fan of AI, but I thought it was worth a try. 😂

I was really specific about what I wanted and gave him the exact cars, colours and settings so they’d all feel co-ordinated. I asked for an old Mini in racing green in a country village setting, a red VW Beetle in a glamorous lakeside setting and a green Land Rover in the countryside.

About ten minutes later he’d emailed me over three print-quality images and I absolutely loved them.

I then had a Google and found a brilliant Snapfish deal so I could get them printed in A3 for £3.49 each, which made the whole thing so much cheaper than buying ready-made prints online. 

And honestly, I love love love them.

I love to find ways to incorporate my partner’s love of cars into the house in a way that makes me feel like they have a bit of me in them too and this felt like an easy way to do just that. The cars are obviously the start of the show but the style of the prints and the background makes them fit my style too. 

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