Every week I share five frugal things that I’ve done during that week just to show you that the small things you do all add up to a great frugal lifestyle where you can learn to live a fabulously frugal life.
Hey! 👐
1) I’m kind of disappointed with this first one but it is what it is I guess – I bought a tumble drier after 10 years+ of managing without one.
We got rid of our tumble drier when we moved house as it wasn’t the most energy-efficient model even back then and I just felt like it was unnecessary so we popped it on Freecycle and a very happy lady came and took it away within the hour.
And I’ve managed over the years and loved being able to throw the odd ‘I manage without a tumble drier to save energy’ (usually accompanied by a slightly smug smile) into conversations. After all, what’s more frugal than not having a tumble drier? 😇
But it’s not easy with two teenagers who NEED things washed and dried urgently because they couldn’t possibly wear something other than the clothes that have been festering away in the corner of their room for the last week. So I gave in this week and spent some of my hard-earned overtime on a tumble drier.
But, I did do some research before I started as I wanted a balance between a reasonably priced model and efficient running costs. If I’d just gone straight to the shop and bought one then I would have probably picked the cheapest one there, got it home and been horrified at the running costs.
I narrowed it down to two in the shop and the guy serving me happened to mention that one was out of stock so if I wanted that one, I’d either have to wait for delivery or take the display model – naturally, I went for the display model and negotiated 20% off the price. They then couldn’t find the instructions which led to an extra £20 off and made no difference to me as (a) it was self-explanatory and (b) you can Google them in about two seconds.
I think it helped that it was 20 minutes before closing to be fair but £70 off £250 tumble drier isn’t too shabby, is it?
2) Did you see my new favourite recipe on Monday? It’s a gammon, potato and sweetcorn chowder that I make in the Instant Pot and it tastes even better the next day as leftovers which is exactly what I had for tea on Monday night.
Check out the chives on top though – they’re my own homegrown ones that are still flourishing on my kitchen windowsill. I’ve really missed not having a herb garden this Summer but after the wind killed my DIY herb garden and my back door broke meaning I had to walk around the side of the house to get to the garden, I just lost interest in growing them this year which was a real shame.
But this last month or so, I’ve had this little chive plant on my windowsill and it’s been doing so well that I think I’m ready to expand my kitchen windowsill garden. Mint for Mojitos and homemade mint lemonade, here we come!
3) Have I mentioned before that I HATE red peppers? Probably not but I really do hate the taste of them which is odd as I love green peppers and I’m told they’re quite similar in taste (although I really can’t taste the similarity myself).
I can buy a bag of mixed peppers easily enough but they’re usually made up of a mix of red, yellow and green which means I’m wasting at least the red ones straight away. Last week though, when I went to the shop, there were loads of bags of wonky green peppers for a pound so I bought a couple and brought them home specifically to freeze.
I chopped them up as I normally would and froze them ready for when I need them so now I don’t have to get angry at the lack of green peppers in the mixed peppers bags anymore. 😂
4) Oh my goodness, I made the most amazing pomegranate muffins on Sunday to use up some pomegranate seeds that I bought from the reduced section when I went shopping. I made them on Sunday night when it was a bit grey outside so the lighting for the photos is terrible and I promise you that they don’t do them justice at all but they genuinely tasted amazing!
5) And yes, you guessed what I’m going to say for the last one, didn’t you?
I’m still working hard with the overtime at work but I think it’s going to be reduced from next week so you never know, I might manage to do more money-saving things again. Honestly though, the overtime has been amazing over the last four months and it’s not too much of a chore as I do enjoy my job.
I’ve managed to buy Miss Frugal a nice little car (a little Vauxhall Adam), get some bits that I’ve been after around the house for a good while, put money aside for Christmas and save for a few other little bits so it’s been well worth the hard work – especially at a time when the world felt like a crazy place and I needed to focus on something other than COVID-19.
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As always, we’d love you to join in with us by sharing anything you’ve done that’s been thrifty or frugal from your week – whether it’s an Instagram picture (#5frugalthings), a blog post or even a video. Just add your link to the Frugal Friday linky at the bottom of this post.
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I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
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