Catching up with work, sunshine and rain #fivefrugalthings

As you will  know if you read last week’s post or follow me on Instagram, we have had the most wonderful time away in Norfolk. As I type this, I am looking out onto very damp and dark weather, so we were incredibly lucky. We had sunshine every single day. Now I am catching up with work and jobs and back to reality.

We found an absolute gem of a place to stay, 2 minutes from the sea at Winterton. Archie loved his beach walks every day – and so did we. We walked our socks off and I found calf muscles I never knew I had. Great exercise!

We even saw seals close up on the beach at Horsey Gap. This was the highlight of our trip and well worth a look if you are ever in the county.

This proved what I always say. You don’t have to spend a fortune to go on holiday (as my frugal holidays post explains). We stayed in budget accommodation, basic but cosy, and the location was perfect.

Back home and to work, but I am determined to keep the holiday feeling going for as long as possible. I am making time to read for a start, as I do a lot of that when we are away but much less at home. 

We walk a lot obviously, having a dog, but are going to try to get to the coast every couple of weeks for a jaunt. Essex has plenty of beautiful coastline and we are only half an hour away. 

When the sun shines, I will try to get out in it. This morning I managed a lovely walk in between showers.

Anyway, onto this week’s five frugal things.

1# Cooking at home

We visited some pubs on our travels, which was lovely, but cooked in the chalet most nights. To be honest, at the moment we are not desperate to spend lots of time close to other people, so this suited us!

We also chose super easy things, such as lamb chops and veg, but bought some nice desserts and had wine and beer. Of course, we had takeaway fish and chips too – you have to when you are on holiday. It wasn’t easy to eat super low carb whilst out and about, so I tried to just avoided bread and sugar as much as possible.

We took our trusty flask, picnics and some snacks out with us too, which always saves loads of money.

2# Catching up on the laundry

This is always the most boring thing about going away – all the laundry that needs doing when you get back!

Annoyingly, it has been too wet to dry it outside on the line, so I have been hanging it up in the spare room with the dehumidifier on.

This was a brilliant investment from a few years ago. It costs much less to run than a tumble dryer and is more eco-friendly too.

It sucks moisture out of the air, so you don’t get lots of condensation in the house as the laundry dries. Our model actually has a setting for drying clothes too. 

Ours is a Meaco DD8L, but this looks like it has been superceded by models such as this MeacoDry*. They seem to have moved on and become smaller and quieter since we purchased ours. We must have had it for 8 or 9 years and it’s still going strong.

I know not everyone has space for clothes drying in the house, but if you want to get it dry as quickly as possible without a tumble dryer, a dehumidifier is the way to go. If you have trouble with condensation and damp, they will sort it out pretty fast too.

3# ‘Shopping’ from the fridge and freezer

Fortunately, we tend to have plenty of food in most of the time. As my daughter was here looking after things whilst we were away, there was also some fresh stuff in the fridge.

I didn’t want to get home and have to hit the supermarket straight away, so decided to get creative and use what we had already, along with some tomatoes and kale from the garden.

Over the weekend, I will pop out for some basics such as milk and eggs, but otherwise will put off a bit shop until Monday. I like to do it when it is quiet.

4# Not buying it

I have been looking around for a decent pair of waterproof walking shoes. Just something light and comfortable that I don’t mind getting muddy and will keep my feet dry walking Archie. They are quite expensive new if you want a quality pair.

I thought I had found the perfect pair second hand, but they turned out to be a bit short and rubbed on my toes, so I sold them on eBay (for a profit, LOL).

Then I realised my daughter had given me a cheap pair of trainers from Primark.  They are some kind of plastic and completely waterproof. In the spirit of making do and using what I have, I have been wearing those or my old wellies in damp weather and they do the job perfectly well for now.

5# Lodger update

We came home to find our new lodger had slotted in very nicely. She is a lovely girl, hard working and busy, so we have only seen her for the odd chat.

If you want to earn extra money and have a spare room, I highly recommend getting a lodger. You can be picky about the sort of person you want – after all, you are living with them! This is our fourth so far, and we have got on well with them all.

She mentioned that she wanted a bike to get around more easily, so I pointed her in the direction of Facebook Marketplace. Within a couple of days, she had got herself the perfect bike for £30! You can’t go wrong with transport at that price.

There is guidance on what you can earn on the government website, here.

Whatever you were up to, I hope you had a great week. I am off to continue catching up with work!

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