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.
1) I bought a little wicker basket from one of the charity shops in our village a while ago and I’ve been using it in our utility room to store my many microfibre cloths. It was a bargain at £3 and it looked like it was in great condition so I was pretty pleased with my bargain. 😁
The handle was a bit fragile when I bought it, and last week it finally snapped completely at one end, taking a chunk of the wicker with it. My first thought was that it was beyond saving because the metal fixings had nothing left to attach to, but the basket is the perfect size for our kitchen counter, so I thought it was worth giving it a go.
Several attempts later, some superglue, a bit of string and a precariously balanced bottle of fabric conditioner acting as a weight and I’d managed a repair that was good enough. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s sturdy enough to sit back on the counter looking like it belongs there again. 😁
2) We have a random door in our downstairs hall that leads to a room we call the overflow.
It used to be a courtyard out the back of the house but then it had a roof built over the top and some double doors added to link it to our garage so it’s a really odd space.
We’ve considered all sorts – taking the roof off and using it as a courtyard again, closing up the doors to the garage and sorting the room out so it was a proper room which we could use as a games room and I even tried to persuade my partner to make it a hot tub room at one point. 😂
For now though, it’s just being used as a garage extension and a storage room for our bikes and all sorts of other stuff.
The door between the hall and this little room is floor to (very high) ceiling and since we moved in, it has an ugly pink velvet curtain that’s about 10ft in length. It didn’t need a wash as such as it wasn’t looking dirty but I wanted to give it a wash as it felt like it was due one so last week, it came down for a wash.
I didn’t want to pay a fortune to get it dry cleaned as the instruction label told me to though.
I decided I could do just as good a job for a fraction of the price so in our washing machine it went on a 30 degrees short wash. I got it out and because of it’s length, had nowhere to dry it – so I laid it over our dining room table for a day.
It did look quite creased when it dried and with it being velvet, it looked really obvious so I decided to get brave and put it in the tumble drier. I just put it in for long enough for it to get warm and then I took it out and hung it straight away.
It looks exactly the same as it did before now – I don’t know what I expected but I thought I’d at least be able to see a difference after all the hard work taking down, washing and hanging back up a heavy 10ft velvet curtain but never mind.
At least it didn’t cost me a fortune and I know it’s cleaner than it was even though it looks exactly the same. 😁
3) We had to fill our tank up last weekend ready for a long drive so we did our usual check using the Petrol Prices app and found the cheapest price near us and then remembered that we also had an Asda voucher that got us 5p off per litre which on a full tank for our Kodiaq is a decent saving.
We saved about £8 which is a nice saving for literally 10 seconds effort checking the app.
4) We’re away this week so last weekend, we took the kids out for tea as I wasn’t going to see them for a bit. We were quite late going out by time everyone was done with work so we ended up just going to the Toby Carvery.
We had a lovely meal and then used a 25% off voucher that we got from the Octopus app to reduce our bill by about £11 and then used a gift voucher that we’d bought using the Sprive app to pay the bill which earned us just under £5 to pay off our mortgage. And, we used the Toby app to scan our loyalty card which took us up to three stamps meaning we get a free meal next time we go. 
This is an example of where we don’t cut down on treats, but we do get the best deal on any treats.
5) Last weekend, we had to drive just over 300 miles to get to where we were staying on holiday.
The afternoon before our road trip, I spent time making the perfect playlist for the journey while my partner spent his time checking the oil, tyre pressures and whatever else it is you’re supposed to check before a long journey. I feel like my job was the more important one in this situation but he disagreed. 😁
On the drive down, with the best holiday playlist ever keeping us entertained, we took it slow and steady and ended up averaging around 53mpg, which I was pretty impressed with.
Now, I know 53mpg is pretty decent, but it got me wondering just how much difference driving style actually makes. What about things like cruise control, air conditioning or even having the windows open? As it turns out, those little decisions can make more difference than you might think.
| Tip | Estimated saving on 333 miles |
|---|---|
| Drive at 65mph instead of 70mph | £4–£6 |
| Drive at 60mph instead of 70mph | £7–£10 |
| Check and correct tyre pressures | £1–£3 |
| Smooth acceleration and braking | £2–£5 |
| Use cruise control on flatter motorway sections | £1–£3 |
| Remove roof bars/roof box if not needed | £2–£8 |
| Empty unnecessary heavy items from the boot | Up to £1–£2 |
| Keep windows closed at motorway speeds | Up to £1–£2 |
| Plan the journey to avoid heavy traffic | £2–£5 (by avoiding stop-start driving) |
We didn’t go slow and steady for the purpose of saving money but it’s interesting to see how much my partner’s natural driving style saves us on a drive like we did without even thinking. We could be looking at anywhere between £10 and £20 without even thinking about it.
When I drive, I don’t drive slow and steady and I’m definitely not one for smooth acceleration or braking so it’s a good job I wasn’t driving!
Wish us luck!
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