Five frugal things for Friday

I hope you have had a good week. We have been busy as ever, doing some DIY, decluttering and bargain hunting.  Here are my five frugal things for Friday.

Painting furniture

So, I said last week that I had prepped our old hall dresser, ready to repaint it. The paint arrived a few days ago, so I have done it! It took three coats of Frenchic dusky pink, but it looks so much nicer.

I totally recommend this paint. It goes on really nicely, doesn’t smell and is made with an environmentally friendly, toxin free formula.

Because I have pledged to buy only second hand during 2021, I found some vintage knobs on eBay, which hopefully will arrive soon. I also made use of a wicker basket my daughter gave me, spraying it white. This will collect hats, gloves, dog leads etc to keep the area tidy.

I cleared lots of china and dog food that fussy Archie will never eat out of the cupboard. Mr S’s brother took the dog food and I have a pile of bits to give away on Freegle when I get a minute. The pens and letter rack that cluttered the cupboard top have also gone. I sorted the drawers so that we can actually see what is in them!

I have also relocated the printer to my office (another room that needs sorting out…)

More decluttering

I am determined to paint and reorganise the hallway generally, as it is crying out for a revamp. However, I only have a small budget, so it will be done on a shoestring. 

I started the woodwork this week too. Because there is so much of it, I am tackling it little and often. The plan is to do the downstairs area, and gradually move upstairs. 

There are two large built in cupboards in the hall that are useful spaces but have never been painted inside. I decluttered the worst one yesterday. This was packed with tools, screws nails and bits and bobs. We could rarely locate anything in there and most of it should have been stored in the shed anyway.

I painted the external doors and then had a really good clear out. Next time I paint I will do the inside before anything else, but this will be easy now there is so much less in there. 

I forgot to do a before photo, but it was heaving. This is what it looks like now. Pretty empty at the moment!

Buried treasure

I see an awful lot of rubbish carelessly discarded on my walks. It makes me cross that people are so ignorant of the environmental impact of littering.

However, I was surprised to find treasure thrown under some shrubs on my walk with the dog yesterday. There was a full box of Brita water filters (which I have added to my Freegle pile) and a brand new mini food processor! The latter was still in its box, and clearly unopened and unused. 

Very odd! I wonder if they were stolen and discarded or someone had dropped their shopping or something. Anyway, I had a bag with me, so brought them home. 

I have tried the food processor and it works perfectly. We don’t need it, so I am giving it to a friend. 

Frugal exercise

Mr S bought me a Fitbit* for Christmas. It has been interesting to see how far I walk each day. It’s easy to do the recommended 10,000 steps when you have a dog, but I sometimes don’t realise how far we have travelled. Yesterday we apparently walked almost 12 km!

It should have cost £89, which is quite a lot I think. However, Mr S got it as a Black Friday deal for around £50. Either way, it does encourage you to move, and will work out a lot cheaper than a gym membership. If I sit still for too long, it tells me off!

I also practice yoga for about 30 minutes each morning, which is another frugal form of exercise (as well as being a total life saver).

Shopmium

Inspired by a Channel 5 programme I watched last week, Bargain Brits on Benefits, I finally joined Shopmium*. A woman featured on the programme used several similar apps to get free products as well as discounts and saved so much money. 

She was more organised about it than I am likely to be, but this week I can get a free bag of Maltesers, Lactofree milk for 50p, cat food reduced from £5 to £3, brie bakes reduced from £2.50-£1, a free Rachel’s Organic pot of yogurt and a free Lactofree yogurt too.

If you want to give it a try, my referral code is j64se3. If you sign up and then refer your friends you earn £3 each time your new referee gets their first cash back.

So those are my five frugal things for Friday. What money saving wins have you had this week?

Don’t forget, if you looking to be more frugal, come and join the community on my Facebook group, My Second Hand Life.

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

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