1) Remember when I made frugal french dip sandwiches a couple of weeks ago?  They were totally amazing and highly recommended but my first frugal thing is to do with the leftover meat than the sandwiches themselves.One joint of brisket made more than enough for our sandwiches with plenty of leftovers so I popped the meat we didn't eat into a freezer bag (the IKEA ones are brilliant - cheap, strong and reusable) and popped it in the freezer.  Last weekend, we thought we'd get the brisket out and see what it was like heated up for our Sunday Dinner and it was so delicious.   I love the … [Read more...]

1) This is less frugal and more sensible I think but let's go with it! I went to pay some cheques in to the bank this week and out of interest, asked when they would be cleared. In no way did I indicate that I needed the money or that I was desperate for the funds to clear but the lady typed a few things into her little computer and then said 'Not until next Wednesday but I can increase your overdraft by £2000 for you no problem at all'.Really??? I just laughed and said no thank you at the time which I'm proud of as I do like the security of having an overdraft and in the past I would have … [Read more...]

1) This week we've saved some money on our broadband and TV package just by ringing and asking if there was a better deal available for us.  I've written a separate post on this but basically we're stuck with the same provider as they're the only ones who do the superfast broadband which is pretty much an essential with a teen, a tween, a gamer and a blogger in the house.  The company know they're the only ones who supply this at the moment so it does hamper our negotiating ability a little. ;-)We have the smallest TV package available so that kind of counteracts the price of the broadband … [Read more...]

1) Last weekend the kids (and us if I'm honest) really fancied a cheeky takeaway but we managed to resist the temptation by making homemade pizza. ;-)I'm sure I've shared my recipe for pizza dough before but it's basically 500g bread flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 300ml warm water and 7g dried yeast.  We've always made this by hand before but I've been making it in the breadmaker since I got that for Christmas and it's just as nice.  The tomato base is my homemade tomato sauce but I blend it down some more for pizza sauce when I'm making it for the kids as they're not keen … [Read more...]

1) We're still saving to replace our living room, hall, stairs and landing carpet which was the first thing I wanted to tick off my house to do list this year but when I popped into TKMaxx last weekend with Miss Frugal I found some lovely Orla Kiely bathroom accessories which were so much cheaper than the ones I've been drooling over online.  They had some great orla Kiely towels too which matched the accessories so I thought I'd do a mini makeover on our en suite bathroom which still looks almost the same as it did the day we moved in.I got a big towel for £12.99, a smaller one for … [Read more...]

Do you always have some month left over at the end of your money?(I've loved that phrase ever since I saw it on a fridge magnet in Blackpool a few years ago)If, like lots of us, your money seems to run out before the end of the month but you know that you should still have some money left according to your monthly budget, then you need to figure out where your money is actually going.For me, it used to be things like my weekly treat at Costa when I did my food shopping and the odd magazine here and there that I never thought much of.  When I was trying to figure out why I didn't … [Read more...]