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.
Hey! 👐
Well, it’s been a while since I shared a ‘five frugal things’ post and you know what? I’ve missed writing these posts more than anything else I missed during my little blogging hiatus these last few months.
For years now, these posts have kept me accountable to myself and to saving money and it’s become a habit to file my little money-saving actions away in a corner of my brain until I get to my laptop to pop them down in a blog post. I’ve taken hundreds of photos over the years to show you what money-saving things I’ve been doing and it’s just become part of my life.
So when I wasn’t posting regularly, it felt a bit like something was missing which is a very hard thing to understand unless you understand if that makes sense. 🙂
I have a shiny new laptop now though and I feel ready to come back and start to share parts of my life with you again so here we are, the first Five Frugal Things post of 2023…
1) I read online (I think it might have been HotUKDeals as I have their app set with notifications on and I’m sure it was a notification on my phone – see how rusty I am at this blogging lark?) that there were lots of prize draws going on to win a family pass for National Trust properties. Because I forgot where I read it, I ended up just googling ‘free national trust passes’ and finding loads of newspapers running the same prize draw with thousands up for grabs.
After entering by answering the easiest question ever, I am now the proud owner of a National Trust family pass which I’ll be using next week for some half-term fun.
(Also, I’m pretty sure these offers have ended now but I did used to share anything I find that’s time-sensitive over on my Instagram stories so if you want to follow me over there then I plan to start doing that again – I shared this last Sunday.)
I’ve saved so much money and got so many amazing bargains from the apps that I have on my phone. One of these days I’m going to get around to writing an updated post about all my favourite apps but in the meantime, I’ll share this post which has a list of some pretty good apps that I think you’ll enjoy.
2) I still haven’t managed to give up the Pepsi Max but I have found a way to buy it cheaper following the recent price increases across pretty much everything I buy!
I buy it in bulk from Farm Foods so I get four crates for the price of what I’d pay for it anywhere else which is a good deal if you ask me. They do all sorts of different cans of pop in the same deal so if it’s something you buy anyway then it’s going to save you money to buy in bulk.
3) I’ve put weight on in the last couple of months! Not as much as I lost and not a huge amount but enough to make me realise that I want to get back to trying to lose weight and be generally fitter all around. I want to lose the extra few pounds that I’ve put back on and then the rest of the weight that I was needing to lose anyway so I’ve started to try and eat healthier again and to get out and do more exercise.
I did consider joining the gym for some real motivation for a couple of months as it’s pretty much dark when I get up at the moment and dark when I finish work. My plan was to join the gym until the weather gets nice enough to be out and about more and the nights are light enough to be able to get out after work to do something but I changed my mind when I realised how much money I would save by just wrapping up and getting out there.
So, I’ve got together with some lovely people and we’ve decided to do a walk together once a week, taking it in turns to choose where we walk.
Last week we walked up to Captain Cooks Monument which is a lovely (didn’t feel lovely on the way up) walk uphill. It’s not a long walk and it’s not super steep but it was definitely a challenge and I did feel like I’d really exercised when we’d finished.
It cost me nothing and I had a great time so if that’s keeping fit then I’m all for it. 😉
4) We’ve also booked this year’s Summer holiday which is going to be a week of camping in the Lake District using the tent we bought from Facebook Marketplace last year for £100. The tent sleeps eight and we have the porch too for extra space along with the gazebo we took with us which was used as a kitchen/dining room for even more space so we have more than enough space between us.
It’s a cheaper option for a holiday but one that I really enjoyed last year and saving so much on a holiday means that we don’t need to struggle to afford it or go without which I know lots will be doing this year. There’s so much to see in the Lake District area that I’ve already started to plan the things we’re going to do and we’ll be putting money aside each month until we go so we can just have a lovely week away.
5) Remember my car being stolen last year? Well, it’s been written off by the insurance company finally this week (don’t ask – it was stolen, it was found, it had an accident at the place it was taken to… I could go on but it was all so ridiculous that I don’t think you’d believe me) which has saved me on what I was paying monthly for my little Audi as well as the obvious extras like the car tax and the insurance. At the moment, I’m driving Master Frugal’s Fiesta as he’s not been well lately so his lessons have stalled temporarily.
It’s old but I love it and it cost me practically nothing thanks to someone being in the right place at the right time and then spending time fixing it up for us.
The saving by not replacing my Audi is substantial and has literally saved me hundreds each month at a time when extra money is something we could all do with. I know I’m going to have to give this back to Master Frugal at some point but I’m happy with it at the moment and I have no intention of buying a new car again at any point in the near future.
And that’s that – the first five frugal things post of 2023!
Same time next week? 🙂
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