Five frugal things for a busy week

And another week has just flown by. Is it me, or does time suddenly speed up in the run up to Christmas? It has been quite a busy week. I have finished and wrapped all of my presents, the cards are posted, and the Christmas menu is planned. I feel quite in control, which is a nice change! It’s hard to feel frugal when you are deep into the Christmas spending. Fortunately, we always budget for it, and are currently under budget. All good. So onto this week’s five frugal things summary.

A place to chat

This week has been quite exciting, as I finally bit the bullet and started a new Facebook group. This was partly to document and exchange ideas for my 2021 challenge to buy only second hand, but also as a place to chat in a way you can’t really do in the comments section of the blog.

I was a bit nervous I would be talking to myself, but the response has been brilliant and I already have a lot of engaged and enthused group members.

If you would like to be part of a frugal community, with a focus on second hand, please come over and join. There are three simple questions to answer to make sure you are a real person and will be polite and supportive.

Digging out my granny boots

I have been walking too much in my wellies I think. As a result, I have a pain across one foot and end up limping back from our twice daily dog walks.

It’s a shame, as it’s so wet that wellies are the most practical form of footwear. However, I can’t hobble around!

I was looking on eBay and in the charity shops for some comfortable, waterproof walking boots, but couldn’t see anything suitable. Then I was searching the shed for something else and found the granny boots I picked up last year second hand. 

They are perfect! So warm and waterproof too. As I only paid a couple of pounds for them, I won’t mind if they get wet and muddy either. Can’t believe I forgot about them!

Plants from cuttings

Some time ago, I made some cuttings from our large money plant (I wish it actually did produce money, but hey-ho ….). Now they are turning into nice big plants, my intention is to repot them into much nicer pots and use them for gifts during my second hand year. 

I will get some more cuttings going, both from the money plant and also from my spider plants.

To make them nice gifts, I will keep my eyes open for fancy pots from now on. I still think the gifting part of my second hand year is going to be the most challenging!

Charity shop bargains

I have hit the charity shops a lot in recent weeks. This is because it looks increasingly likely that we will have a lock down after Christmas, so I am trying to stock up.

Here is a selection of my favourite finds.

On the £1 rail in our local Sense shop, was this jumper I picked up for Mr S. It is pure wool with 10% yak’s wool. I can’t believe it was only £1 and he really likes it.

I also found a pair of genuine Moon Boots, which are very expensive new. Sadly, they don’t fit me, so they will be going on eBay. They were £6.

I got these brand new shirts in their packaging for only £1 each. As I said, I am a bit nervous about gifts during my second hand year, so these might do for someone at some point. OK, they are new, but new with tags items are allowed if they have been discarded.

I also found this very cute vintage tea set – a tea cup, saucer and side plate. Again, a potential gift for somebody. There should have been two sets for £8, but one had already been sold, so I paid £4.

Cutest Shoestring dog

Ok, so this isn’t frugal really, but I had to share this cute pic of Archie. It was his 1st birthday this week, and my daughter bought him a bright yellow raincoat. How ridiculously gorgeous does he look?

We do tend to make him wear a coat over winter. Otherwise he gets completely soaked and muddy. A coat means less bathing is necessary. This one is wipe clean too, which will save on the washing.

So, those are my five frugal things for this week. Only one more until Christmas! I hope you are enjoying the run up to the festive period and feeling in control. Let me know if you have managed five frugal things in the comments below.

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