The Diary of a Frugal Family

A day out with National Express….

280592 CommentsA+day+out+with+National+Express....2018-04-08+09%3A26%3A42Cassandra April 8, 2018 By Cassandra
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What do you honestly think of when you think of a journey on a National Express coach?Until this week, I pictured a stuffy coach with people crammed in like sardines. I thought that even short journeys would take forever as the coach stopped at every town along the way to your destination just like the coach on the way back from a work's Christmas party dropping everyone off at their houses. ;-)I couldn't have been more wrong though as I found out this week when National Express invited us to travel with them on one of their routes - Middlesbrough to Leeds.We were spoilt for … [Read more...]

Spring declutter and home makeover…

280895 CommentsSpring+declutter+and+home+makeover...2018-04-07+12%3A09%3A38Cassandra April 7, 2018 By Cassandra
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I don't know what it is about this time of year but as soon as the sun starts to shine and the skies look blue again, I just want to de-clutter everywhere and give the house a little bit of a mini-makeover.The de-cluttering has been going on in earnest for the last few weeks and as long as the weather holds, I'll be at the car boot sale tomorrow selling everything I've been decluttering and making enough money (hopefully) to pay for the replacement shower that we need.I generally have a good de-clutter once or twice a year and every time I do, I'm amazed at the amount of 'stuff' that … [Read more...]

20 ways to love your leftovers….

277943 Comments20+ways+to+love+your+leftovers....2018-04-07+09%3A00%3A28Cassandra April 7, 2018 By Cassandra
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Using up your leftover food can save you money as well as time so for today's round up post I thought I'd share 20 ways to turn your leftovers into a whole new meal....One of the things that makes me smile when I think about my lovely old Nana was how she could whip up a meal in the kitchen from practially nothing. There was nothing wasted and anything she didn't use for one meal was incorporated into the next one - she really knew how to work those leftovers.For years, I didn't even think about leftovers - if it wasn't eaten then it went in the bin (I know, I'm hanging my head in … [Read more...]

Five Frugal Things I’ve done this week {6 April 2018}….

278814 Comments2018-04-06+09%3A00%3A37Cassandra April 6, 2018 By Cassandra
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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.1) Mr Frugal and the kids have season tickets for our local football club and every year they have an early bird deal on where you get it cheaper if you renew by the end of March which as you may know is waaaaay before this season even ends, never mind the next one starting. It's such a saving that it's as if we were getting one of the kids' tickets free so we've made sure that we … [Read more...]

The Ultimate Stain Removal Guide….

28063Leave a CommentThe+Ultimate+Stain+Removal+Guide....2018-04-05+08%3A00%3A31Cassandra April 5, 2018 By Cassandra
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When they were younger, my children would always be the messiest kids in the street. Not because I didn't take pride in the way they looked or that I didn't pay attention to their hygiene habits but because I really feel that letting children get messy encourages everything from creativity to confidence.The problem with mess though, is that it comes hand in hand with stains and no matter how much I wanted to encourage the kids to explore and create, I didn't want them to be ruining clothes on a regular basis. Rather than stop them from doing what kids do best, I just became a master … [Read more...]

Would you pay to pre-book a sun lounger on holiday?

278311 Comment2018-04-04+09%3A00%3A39Cassandra April 4, 2018 By Cassandra
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I save all year round for the holidays that we have throughout the year so I want them to be perfect when we get there! Even so, I'm not sure I agree with the latest holiday 'extra' that you can now buy with some holidays!Over the last few years, tour operators and airlines have started to add sneaky little extras on to the cost of a holiday.It started with the option to pre-book seats together which on the face of it seems like an OK added extra but then some tour operators started to charge for meals on the flights as well as transfers between the airport and your hotel.Next … [Read more...]