1) With our trip to New York fast approaching Miss Frugal has been wanting to watch more and more YouTube videos about everything from the flight to the sights and the food to the shopping. I'm taking advantage of every minute she wants to spend with me because I know that, at 14, it might not last too much longer so we've been watching YouTube instead of reading guidebooks like I remember doing about places we were travelling too when I was younger. Not only are we having fun spending time together watching them, we're saving money on guidebooks (it's OK, that's not the frugal link to this … [Read more...]

1) Did you see my post last week where I mentioned how we'd booked a cheeky little family trip to Milan for the May half term week? Don't worry, I'm not going to try and class that as something frugal (although it was an AMAZING deal costing us less than a few nights in London going on the train) but I did do something during the booking process that saved us a fair amount of money so I get to class that part as frugal, don't I? I didn't book any hold luggage as there were extra fees for that that would have bumped the price of our booking up.  Looking at the size of the cabin baggage allowed … [Read more...]

1) Don't judge me but I went to see the new Fifty Shades of Grey film last week with my lovely friend.  We could have gone to the big cinema in the next town and watched the film in comfort when the film was released but we decided to wait a bit longer and go to our local cinema which is ridiculously cheap compared to the bigger chains.It's such a pretty little family run cinema and it's had a recent refurb with new chairs so it was so comfortable and well worth the ticket price.  They do drinks and snacks from a cute little stand and the costs aren't any higher than you'd pay in a … [Read more...]

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...]