With all the technology at our fingertips these days, it's really easy to forget about the old fashioned fun that can be had without the help of electronics. So, much like the I'm bored sticks we made for when the kids tell me that they're bored, I've made a checklist for us grown ups for when we're thinking about what to do with the kids...What's your favourite thing to do together that doesn't involve electronics? … [Read more...]

 We won the lottery last week!Not enough that we can give up work or anything but the £5.90 we won is better in our pocket than someone elses isn't it?It did get us thinking though about what we would do if we did win a larger amount.  What if we won, say £10,000, would we use it to pay off debts, mortgage and grown up stuff or would be go our and splurge on treats?I know that the best thing to do would be to use all of it to be sensible but as I said to Mr Frugal when we were talking about it, I think I'd use some of it to go on holiday and maybe buy a new car and some … [Read more...]

I'm pretty sure that our school must be of the opinion that I have a money tree in my back garden!Since the kids went back to school less than a month ago it seems to be a never ending stream of letters home - the majority of which require money from me!We've had the letter about the Year 6 residential that cost me £20 as a deposit, the school trip for last week which was £13, the school trip for next week which is costing £10 plus I need specific clothes as listed on the form so they can dress up a second World War refugee.  And that's just for Miss Frugal.Master Frugal is doing … [Read more...]

<div align="center"><a href="https://www.frugalfamily.co.uk/" title="The Diary of a Frugal Family"><img src="https://www.frugalfamily.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/instagram-image-badge1.png" alt="The Diary of a Frugal Family" style="border:none;" /></a></div> Over the last few weeks we've been having a bit of a budget living room makeover - so far I've bought a new sideboard from Argos reduced from £90 to £30 and a huge rug for the bargain price of £25 but I still needed some new curtains so yesterday we popped to the shop to get some. We didn't find what I … [Read more...]

As much as I enjoy watching the X Factor (I know you all do secretly), I tend to find that it can take up most of our Saturday night because by the time we've watched it, it's bedtime for the kids and usually too late for us to watch a film or anything as Mr Frugal is usually up early for work on Sunday.So this year, we're not going to watch X Factor or Strictly (or if we do we're going to Sky Plus it and watch it through the week together) and we're not even going to have a Saturday night movie night with popcorn like we usually do when X Factor isn't on.  We're going to do something … [Read more...]

I know I've written a few times about pay day loan companies before but they make me so mad that I'm going to write about them again. To be honest, I'd write about them once a week or more if I thought it would stop people from taking them out!The thing that I hate about these companies is that they prey on people who are often too desperate for money to consider the consequences of taking out a loan like this and the very nature of the way the loans work means that it's all too easy for debt to spiral out of control very quickly.Not only do am I subjected to the advertising on TV … [Read more...]