Five frugal things I’ve done this week:
1. I’m very excited because my new (to me) writing bureau that I bought off our local Facebook selling group has just been delivered and I LOVE it. I’ve wanted one for so long but rarely see them in my price range anywhere so when I saw this one still up for sale after a few days for £65 I thought it was worth putting a cheeky offer in. £50 and it was mine and the lovely man even offered to deliver it for me for no extra charge. I was planning to paint it in a creamy white but now it’s here, I’m not so sure.
2. I keep hearing about how B&Q are selling tester pots of Valspar paint for £1 – this paint is ideal for furniture projects according to someone I work with who is a bit of an expert and the tester pots are much larger than normal at just under 250ml and you can have any colour mixed from the hundreds available. The poor man behind the counter was looking a bit fed up at all the requests and said he’d been at it all day ‘thanks to the bloody internet’ but I just smiled nicely and bought the maximum I could buy which was three pots. Mr Frugal bought another three so I have six pots ready for my future projects – mostly in neutral shades but I did get some bright colours as I had plans to paint up a boring shelving unit for Miss Frugal.
Here’s the unit that I ended up painting for Miss Frugal, it’s a really poor picture but it’s pink on the outside and aqua on the inside.
3. I now have an actual spreadsheet with what’s in the freezer in the garage and when I do my meal plan, I’ll get Mr Frugal to bring everything in from outside to put in the freezer in the house so it’s all to hand. So I did a HUGE freezer shop (from Iceland which was great value I thought) and have enough food in the both freezers to feed an army.
4. I’ve opened an account for Miss Frugal and started paying her pocket money directly in to her account which has a debit card attached to it. It’s a special internet account but I’ll go into more detail about the actual account another time if we get away with it. I think at her age, she would benefit from a bit more control of her own money and so far she’s doing well, although it’s only been a week. 😉
5. I’ve taken my lunch to work every day this week AND stuck to our meal plan completely AND managed to be creative with packed lunches when the kids had friends around and ate half the packed lunch things. A quick batch of packed lunch cake and I was sorted!
What frugal or thrifty things have you done this week?
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oh i am needing paint for some furniture so will have to check that out! .. thanks for the heads up 🙂
Brilliant tips! I'll definitely be making a list of things in my freezer. I'm always forgetting and buying double!
That bureau is absolutely gorgeous….I wouldn't paint it, it's so beautiful as it is.
I think you’re right – I decided against painting it x x
Ooh I LOVE that bureau – I have always fancied one too – will have to keep my eyes peeled for a bargain!
My hubby works for homebase and is forever picking up bargains – keep an eye on your local one, most are having Argos sites put in and so are clearing stock xx
such a fab idea re the paint pot samples (even if the B&Q man not so keen!).. Can't wait to see how your bureau turns out! x
Wow, that writing bureau is GORGEOUS!! Painting it, I think would take away the old feel of it, I would keep it the way it is! x
Ive made a huge attempt to use up what we have in the freezer which is a huge achievement for me x
I'm shopping every day in town town making most of the greengrocers reduced section.If it's not going to get eaten on the day, I freeze it.
Well done on the freezer lists – that's a job I keep putting off here!
And I LOVE your bureau. I wanted one for years and when my Gran died and left me some money I decided that that's what I'd spend it on so that I would have something that reminded me of her. It took a bit of finding but I completely love my bureau. My little space where I can use all the little spaces inside to store nice stationery bits and bobs.
What some great frugal things to have done across the week. I am loving the look of that cake! x
I love your bureau, what a bargain. I have made a load of burrito's that I bulk cook and freeze for the next few weeks. The kids eat them as snacks.
Love love love that bureau!
I keep making the list of what's in the freezer… and then not updating it! I always underestimate how tired I am when I come home with the kids from grocery shopping and I always make a meal when we get home (because I just bought groceries!) but obviously that system needs tweaking, LOL.