Five little things that have saved us money this week {19th June 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.

Hey! 

1) This first one is a bit of an obvious one, but I’m sharing it anyway because it felt like quite a grown-up thing to do. 😁

I didn’t buy something I really, really wanted.

When we first viewed our house last year, one of the things I loved most was the staircase wall. The previous owners had created a gorgeous gallery wall made up of family photos in all different shapes and sizes of frames. It looked like something that had evolved over many years and we knew straight away that we wanted to create something similar.

I started collecting frames from charity shops and car boot sales ready for when we moved in, convinced that I’d be able to recreate the look myself.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago when we finally got around to tackling the wall and it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to be quite as straightforward as I’d imagined. There were so many nail holes left behind from the previous gallery wall and they were in such random places that no matter how we arranged our frames, we couldn’t quite make it work.

In the end, we decided to try Mixtiles. I promise this isn’t an ad but I’m a huge fan now – they’re basically a company who let you upload your photos to their site and they’ll turn them into photo tiles that stick directly to the wall with some magic magnetic sorcery and can be moved around without damaging the paintwork so if you’re like me and change your mind then you just move them in seconds. We managed to get 13 on a special offer for £99 and hoped that with some clever positioning we’d be able to cover all the holes.

We came close, but not quite close enough. 😂

After much rearranging, we managed to hide all but seven of the holes and I’ve spent the last few weeks keeping an eye out for another good offer so we could order a few more.

This week I found one – I think it was around £79 for ten tiles and I had all the photos chosen, uploaded and ready to order. I was literally at the checkout when I stopped and reminded myself how many other jobs we still need to do around the house.  As much as I wanted them, I couldn’t justify spending the money right now.

The holes aren’t getting any bigger, the wall still looks lovely and there are definitely more important things competing for our house budget at the moment.  So I closed the tab and didn’t buy them.

I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t a tiny bit disappointed, but sometimes saving money isn’t about finding a bargain. Sometimes it’s simply about recognising that now isn’t the right time to buy something, no matter how much you want it.

2) Remember when I used to have an exercise bike?

I used to love spending half an hour on an exercise bike, especially when I had the house to myself. There was something quite satisfying about sticking some music on, zoning out for a bit and seeing how far I could push myself.

Unfortunately, when I moved out, the exercise bike didn’t come with me.

Well, technically it could have done, but I left it behind initially and someone decided it would be a good idea to put it outside in the garden. By the time I eventually went back for it, it had spent so long out in the elements that it really wasn’t worth rescuing.

I’ve definitely missed it though. As much as I enjoy going out for a bike ride, it’s not quite the same as hopping on an exercise bike for half an hour without having to worry about traffic, hills or the weather.

This week we spotted a foldable exercise bike for sale locally at a bargain price because the digital display wasn’t working. Other than that, it was exactly what I was looking for and seeing as I track everything on my Apple Watch anyway, the broken display didn’t really bother me.

We brought it home, added a phone holder so I can watch rubbish TV while I’m cycling and now I have a new-to-me exercise bike for a fraction of what a new one would have cost. Considering I spend most of my time looking for second-hand bargains for the house, it was nice to find one that was actually for me for a change. 😁

3) I picked up a pack of reduced puff pastry this week and decided to use it to make barbecue chicken pizza swirls.

They were ridiculously easy to make. I let the pastry thaw for a while before spreading it with barbecue sauce and topping it with some leftover shredded chicken and a handful of sweetcorn. Once everything was on, I rolled it up like a Swiss roll, sliced it into rounds and popped the little swirls onto a baking tray before baking them in the oven.

I’d love to show you an after photo, but unfortunately Master Frugal turned up with a couple of his friends just after I took them out of the oven and they demolished all but one of them before I got chance. 😁

I’m taking that as a good sign, although I am aware that they’re growing boys and would probably eat just about anything if you put it in front of them. The jury is still out until I make another batch and actually get chance to try one myself!

4) The car was definitely overdue a clean this week so rather than paying for a car wash and valet, we got the pressure washer out and tackled it ourselves.

Between washing the outside and giving the inside a good hoover, we probably saved ourselves £15-£20 and ended up with a car that looked just as good. It was one of those jobs that we’d been putting off for ages but only took an hour or so once we actually got started and just look how clean she was when we were done!

I lost count of the amount of people who walked past and said ‘can you come and do mine next please?’ 😁

5) I’ve been updating one of my older posts this week which reminded me that I’ve been making my own homemade Febreze for years now.

It’s one of the first money-saving swaps I ever made and one that’s stuck ever since. I made another batch this week and, although it’s never going to be exactly the same as the shop-bought version, it does exactly what I need it to do for a fraction of the price.

I use Fairy Non Bio fabric softener to make mine which works out at around 15p a bottle compared to roughly £3 for the real thing. Not bad for something that takes less than a minute to make.

It takes less than a minute to make and costs pennies compared to buying the real thing.

There you go, hope you enjoyed seeing what I’ve been getting up to this week!

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