Five frugal things I've done this week: 1.  Not massively money saving but this morning we walked into town instead of taking the car - only about a mile and a half each way but we saved petrol and car parking and even more importantly, we had a lovely catch up while we were walking.2. We decided to make some homemade bracelets using the beads we bought off a lovely lady on our local Facebook selling site.  The beads were a massive bargain at just £12 for two big bags of them - there are literally hundreds, all as pretty as these:We've now got some last minute Birthday gifts ready … [Read more...]

It's been a massively busy week this week and it feels like I haven't had time to do anything, let alone anything frugal but I've had a good think and managed to come up with five.... Five frugal things I've done this week: 1.  Miss Frugal is very particular about the style of her school skirt as she doesn't like it too short (I'm sure that won't last), she doesn't like it too tight and she certainly doesn't want a flarey style as she worries it'll blow up in the wind!  She loves the skirt she has now though so when I saw them on sale this week in New Look, I bought an extra one in her … [Read more...]

Five frugal things I've done this week: 1.  I bought some lovely cushions on sale a few weeks ago from Dunelm Mill.  They were reduced to £2 each and they were so pretty that I bought them intending to use them in my little living room makeover.  As pretty as they were though, they just didn't go with anything else so I gave them to Miss Frugal to use on her bed as she loves girly cushions.  The only problem is that the cushions she has have started taking over her bed so she ends up throwing them all on the floor every night and I end up nagging at her to pick them up again the next day. … [Read more...]

Five frugal things I've done this week: 1.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but Miss Frugal has a junior gym membership to our local gym which allows her to use all the facilities of the five leisure centres in the area.  I initially dismissed the idea of a gym membership as too expensive but when I looked into it, it's actually really good value for money.  She used to go swimming at least once a week at £2.25 a time so swimming alone cost £9 a month whereas now, for just £6 more she goes to a gym session a couple of times a week and fits in extra swimming whenever she fancies it. … [Read more...]

OK, I know that leftover wine is a rare occurrence but it does happen (or so I've been told).So if you ever find yourself with leftover wine, there here's a handy list of what you can do with it to save it going to waste.1.  Drink it! ;-)2.  You can freeze it in ice cube trays to add to the same type of wine next time you drink it.  It keeps it cool without diluting it like an ice cube would.3.  As above, you can freeze it into ice cubes ready to add to your favourite recipes.  White wine goes lovely in risottos and reds are great in beef casseroles and stews.4.  It … [Read more...]

I thought I'd struggle to write a Five Frugal Things post this week because it feels like it's been an expensive week but actually, on reflection it hasn't been as expensive as it could have been.... Five frugal things I've done this week: 1.  I went out for a meal and on to the pictures with the girls this week.  Not very frugal, I know but it was a lot of fun and not as expensive as it could have been as we timed it for happy hour at the restaurant we were going to (2 courses for £8.95), went to the local cinema rather than one of the big chain cinemas (£4 a ticket instead of £9 ish) and … [Read more...]