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! 👐
1) A while ago, I shared how I’d painted my lovely old dining room table white.
A couple of people at the time asked me why I’d chosen white to paint the table as white isn’t the most practical colour for a dining room table – a fact I totally get! I went for white because, at the time, I was on a mission to paint all of the walls in my house white and the white table just seemed like a good idea and at the time, I absolutely loved it as it really freshened up the table and the room as a whole.
I painted over a LOT of magnolia paint, some interesting wallpaper that made me doubt my own personal taste and a couple of feature walls. In the process, I also got rid of some of the art on the walls and some photos that I had up here and there so it feels a lot more streamlined.
I’m pretty much done with my white walls mission (other than the main bathroom and the wall behind my bed which has definite issues) so I want to try and inject some colour, drama and personality back into the house because my intention was never to make it boring or minimal – I just wanted to start fresh.
Anyway, one of the first jobs on my list was to give my Dining Room table the makeover it deserved. 😁
I decided to give it a treat with some Farrow and Ball gloss paint in their infamous Hague Blue shade and I can’t believe how much I love it!
You can see the before and after pictures from my first table makeover here.
Also, here’s how I recover my chairs which I do all the time to match my moods. 😂
2) I also decided to pep up a couple of plant pots while I had the paint out so I could tie everything in together.
See the little one at the front? That’s the cap of one of the standy-up tubes of toothpaste painted up as I needed a super small vase for a cutting. I was searching on Amazon for something when it just occurred to me that I must have something at home that I could just paint to match the others I was painting.
Who needs new accessories? 😂
3) This one isn’t anywhere near as exciting as my shiny new table and plant pots but…
The company I work for has a really good Sharesave scheme and last year I split about 10% of my monthly pay between that and a separate Share Purchase scheme. With everything that’s been going on in the world this year, the option price for the shares at the end of the five year period is around 30p lower than the option price for last year’s scheme so I’ve cancelled the one I was paying into and joined this year’s scheme instead.
I basically got back what I’d paid in for the scheme I joined last year which is the beauty of Sharesave schemes (or at least the one I’m in) as you can get to the end of the three, five or seven years and simply get your money back if the shares have lost value from the purchase price at the start of the scheme.
4) Not exactly rocket science (I know, none of my ideas ever are) but we had a leaky toilet that I tried to fix myself but even YouTube wasn’t helping me so I needed to find a plumber to come and help me out. I got three quotes rather than just going for the first person who we contacted. I was a bit surprised when the difference between the lowest and the highest quote was £30 which is pretty significant considering the size of the job itself.
I know they normally say to get three quotes and go for the middle one but genuinely, the guy who quoted us the cheaper price just seemed so nice as well as being professional so we went with him. I think the main thing that made us choose him was the fact that he loved Monty who can be a bit over-enthusiastic when he first meets someone but he just loved him.
5) I know it’s only just the start of September but I’m really trying to be organised Christmas which I know is all about family and not gifts but the fact is, with two teenagers, I really want to be able to treat them to some nice treats this year more than ever. I have no idea what my financial situation will be in December so I’m making sure I’m organised well in advance and don’t end up stressing at the last minute.
My Boots points, for example, will mean a nice bottle of perfume for Miss Frugal without me having to spend a penny.
My Swagbucks Amazon vouchers were over £100 but I spent some on some kitchen organising things (worth EVERY single penny) so now they’re at around £50 which is still enough to buy the Xbox game that Master Frugal will no doubt ask for.
I also have a savings account that I’ve been transferring money into and that’s looking reasonably healthy at the moment too and I’ve started buying things each week to make into hampers for gifts.
Come over and join our fab Facebook group – Spend Less, Live Better! We’ve almost hit 35,000 members in the group now so it’s a great place to be
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.
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