We have just returned from a lovely couple of days in Brighton. What a great place! I will write a separate blog post about that. Going away can be expensive, though, so did we still manage this week’s five frugal things?
A bargain break
Mr S found us a bargain break in Brighton for my birthday via Booking.com. It’s so much cheaper to use companies like this, Groupon or BuyaGift.com if you want to get away. We looked at the prices of our hotel online and it was way more expensive to book directly with the hotel.
We were lucky as they upgraded us to an apartment free of charge. I will write a separate post about our trip to Brighton and all the fun things we found to do. It is a city we plan to visit again. We whizzed round and did a lot, so we are both shattered now.
Packing our own refreshments
Mr Shoestring and I rarely go anywhere without our trusty flask and refillable water bottles. We took the flask for the journey to Brighton and filled it up again at our apartment for day two.
We also took lots of snacks. To save money we usually take a picnic, but this time we had already planned chips on the beach as it was a fine day. As Katy Kicker said in her guest post last week, it saves a lot of cash if you get organised in advance and take food and drink with you. This is one of the five frugal things we did this week that I would recommend to anyone looking to stick to a budget.
Parking
Parking in Brighton is astronomically expensive! We went in the Lanes car park when we arrived as it was very close to the hotel and we got a discount. However, we drove to Brighton University where my daughter is studying on day two and parked in her car park for nothing. Otherwise it would have been £5 an hour!! Daylight robbery. We could have searched to find a cheaper place but you can’t get cheaper than free …
You can have your cake and eat it too
I am still eating mainly gluten free. There wasn’t much time over the Easter weekend to bake though and we had family coming for a bank holiday roast. I nipped into Asda and bought a Betty Crocker gluten free chocolate cake mix. It was only £1.89 and made a moist, dark cake that served 8 of us with some to spare.
Everybody agreed that you wouldn’t have known it was gluten free. I love to cut the odd corner when I am short on time and this was a bargain!
Tough on trainers
I finally walked my old trainers into the ground this week. We did 8.5 miles on Sunday and the sole started to come away.
These were a good quality pair of trainers that I bought in the sale years and years ago (about 15 I think) for £28. Obviously, I am no athlete so that helped them to last too, but they did well. However….I haven’t accepted they are lost and have super glued the sole back on. I will do a test walk on them tomorrow to check they don’t just fall apart again.
In the meantime, I bought a cheap pair from Primark for £8. They are so comfy but I doubt they will last 15 years!!
How has your week been? Have you managed five frugal things or more?
I’m linking up with CassEmma and Becky in this week’s Five Frugal things I’ve done this week linky.
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Margaret Powling says
Oh, a few days in Brighton, how lovely! And, of course, it makes sense to take much of your own food with you on such a trip. We have always done this, it’s not frugal for us, it’s just normal behaviour, ha ha!
What a shame about your old trainers. I similarly had an inexpensive pair of leather shoes (made in Spain , I think) that I wore for the best part of 25 years! They were trendy brogues with two bars and buckles across the vamp and I loved them, wonderful with a long skirt or with jeans, but they eventually simply fell apart, not just the soles (I’d had them re-soled so many times, they couldn’t be repaired any more!) My favourite pair of ankle boots, too, lasted for much the same length of time and they were a freebie: my sister in law bought them in a Sale and found they were too tight for her and they were just my size, black leather lace ups with soft knitted ‘cuffs’, and by Bally.
That looked a lovely cake, and before I go, Belated Birthday Greetings, Jane! Hope you got to see inside the Royal Pavilion.
I’ve not managed anything frugal this week but neither have I spent wildly.
Margaret P
Susan says
Have you tried using Shoo Goo which is a cobbler’s glue? We have fixed lots of shoes and boots with it. Bought it from Amazon.
Susan says
Forgot to say Happy Birthday. Cake looks scrummy!!!
Margaret Powling says
Husband repaired a pair of my shoes where the uppers had parted company with the soles with Araldite, and that worked.
Margaret P
Kirrie says
Hit the co op at the right time!.. Went for a bottle of wine came home with huge amount of bargains!. Our co op sends all food normally to charity that is on use by date apart from a Saturday evening as charities don,t collect then!.Everthing was 10p chickens, ready meals, fish, salmon fruit n veg. Spent £2.10 to fill the freezer to the top fridge too!. Ok wine was £6.00. So £8.10 so glad i wanted wine!.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
That’s brilliant! It’s so hard to find the best time but I have found great reductions in the Coop too
ratnamurti says
Belated birthday greetings, Jane & am so impressed with Mr Shoestring’s thoughtful present.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Thanks
Becky says
oh I love Brighton and yay for your cheap car parking! #5frugalthings