Buying second hand & taming the mutt #5frugalthings

Here we are at the end of another week. I have been spending money this week, but I think I got good value on all my purchases. I have been buying second hand. Good for my wallet and good for the planet!

Sometimes being frugal means not spending anything at all. I am quite good at stopping altogether when necessary, as you will know if you joined me on my no spend January. However, sometimes purchases are essential, which is when I try to get the best price possible.

Anyway, here is what I have been up to this week.

I need frothy coffee

As you  may know, I link up with other bloggers for my weekly five frugal things round up. One of them is Cass from Diary of a Frugal Family, and I nicked this idea from her.  My daughters bought me a milk frother for my birthday this year, and I was loving it.

I only drink one coffee a day, but I really enjoy it frothy, like you get in Costa. However, when I put my little frother in the drawer the other day, I managed to slam it half way in and broke it. I saw that Cass had found a Bodum Milk Frother*on Amazon to buy two Bodum frothers for £5.99, which is an amazing price. I would happily have paid that for just one!

They arrived a couple of days ago and I have tucked the second one in my present box. Very pleased with this deal.

Tackling the chewing

If you follow me on Instagram or read my monthly round up post a couple of days ago, you will have seen the destruction that Archie the pup has been wreaking around the house.

He has chewed a huge lump off one of the banister spindles, ripped off some wallpaper and pulled up the carpet – all in the hallway. Fortunately this is the next room we plan to redecorate, but it will have to stay looking tatty until he has calmed down.

So, it felt like a good investment to go out and buy lots of new toys and chews for him this week, as well as some deterrent spray, which I have sprayed on the banisters and skirting boards. Let’s hope it works!

However, even though I looked in Poundland then the Range, none of this was cheap overall. I spent about £35! Still, this is cheaper than replacing the fixtures and fittings that he chews up.

Eating from the veg patch

We have been eating mostly our own fruit and veg this week, which has saved a bit of money. At the moment, things are trickling through. Once the bounty starts to come through in earnest, I will have to start chopping and freezing some of it.

The runner beans are still being attacked by the dreaded black fly, sadly. This is going to negatively impact our crop if we don’t get a handle on it. All week I have been spraying water and washing up liquid onto the plants, but it doesn’t appear to have had much of an effect. It looks as if we will have to pop along to the garden centre for something a little stronger.

I hate using chemicals as I like our produce to be organic, so will try to find something that is naturally effective. 

New storage

A while back we bought a Kallax cube storage unit from Ikea. However, we didn’t like the front opening cupboards that came with it, so they are going back.

I really wanted some fabric boxes that I had seen with a Cath Kidston design, but they are no longer available new. Luckily I managed to find some in very good second hand condition on ebay.

The seller only had 6 of them and we have 8 cubes, but we have put some white plastic boxes that we already owned in the bottom two. Really pleased with this as it fits neatly into a dead space at the top of the stairs and gives a handy bit of extra storage.

New (to me) trainers

As I am doing so much walking now we have a puppy, I really needed some decent trainers. The ones I already had were from Primark and had been very good value. I think they cost around £10 and had lasted 2 years.

However, I really liked a black Adidas pair my daughter wears. When I looked online, they would have been around £40 with postage. Instead I found a lightly used pair, again on ebay, for £11! Much more my sort of price and very comfortable.

I love finding good second hand bargains! In fact, I resent having to pay full price for anything and know that if I look around long enough I can usually find something I need in used condition.

So, that was my week of buying second hand and attempting to tame the beast. How has yours been?

I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.

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