The heat wave left us for a bit. What a relief it was to get some rain. However, the sunshine is back. I don’t mind as the garden is looking so relieved for the rain. We have had a busy week with all three of the daughters around for much of the time. This meant more noise and mess but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The weekend is looking quite busy too. But as we are saving to get the back patio doors replaced, our entertainment will have to be cheap. Here are my five frugal things for the week.
Packing a picnic
Mr S wants to go to Helmingham Hall in Suffolk for their Festival of Classic and Sports Cars. I absolutely love Helmingham Hall. The gardens are stunning. Mr S is a sucker for a classic or vintage car too. It looks as if it will be a beautiful day, so we will take a flask and picnic. We hopefully won’t have to pay any more than the entry price of £9 each. I don’t resent paying this. A lot of money from the event goes to EACH – East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice, which is a charity doing very good work for children with life threatening conditions. It should be a good day and not an expensive day, so one of our five frugal things.
Dusting off my bike
I spent four months at the beginning of the year feeling terrible, just absolutely exhausted. This is so unlike me. I am a healthy sort and rarely get ill. The GP referred me to a rheumatologist to see if I have fibromyalgia. The appointment is next week, but I have felt so much better over the past few weeks I think I am OK! Let’s hope so. I will go have a chat with him anyway, but I am blaming the menopause and not fibromyalgia. However, I am doing a lot of self care: meditation, yoga, walking and a good diet with lots of fruit and vegetables.
I am at the point where I feel I can up my exercise now, so I am dusting off my bike. You don’t have to spend a lot of money getting fit and I plan to start cycling, which is free!
Updating my room advert
Our lovely lodger, Jess, will be finishing her masters and leaving us in mid-September. We will really miss her! But, sentiment aside, this means it is time to update our advert on-line. I will be doing this over the next few days.
Renting out our spare room makes a huge difference to our income. For guidance on how you can do this see the Gov.UK website.
Getting quotes for work
We would like to replace the patio doors in our back room. They are old aluminium ones and don’t have good insulating properties. We have been saving up for this and are at the point where we can get some quotations.
As ever, we will get several and have a few tradesmen coming, recommended by friends on Facebook. We want the best value for our money!
New throws
We would love to buy new sofas for the living room. However, as the cats tend to rip the sofas to pieces the moment our backs are turned, it just isn’t worth it. When we do get around to replacing them we will buy second-hand for sure. So, to smarten them up, I bought a new throw from eBay. When it arrived, I was so pleased with it I bought a second one. At only £14 each, I thing these are a great thrifty alternative to a new suite.
How have you got on with your five frugal things this week? Have you managed to avoid spending money unnecessarily. Please share your achievements in the comments!
As ever, I am linking up with Cass , Emma and Becky in this week’s Five Frugal Things I have done this Week linky.
Margaret Powling says
Great frugal things this weekend, and those throws are a real bargain, Jane; what is more, they look good with your cushions.
Right, listen up. I’ve done something Very Frugal! When my Talk Talk bill arrived today, it had shot up from around £42 a month to £50.50 and I couldn’t understand why. So I got onto the website and managed – eventually – to find the freephone number to actually speak to someone. The upshot of all this is that I’ve now negotiated a new 18-month-package for broadband, landline phone, and TV (to include several channels that one might otherwise have to pay for, such as Sky Sport, Sky 1, Sky 2, Fox News, TV Gold etc, but not my mobile which is very old and a pay-as-you-go phone) for £39 a month. So I’ve saved us over £10 a month(at their new price sent to me this morning) but believe me it took a long phone conversation, 31 minutes and 42 seconds (thank goodness it was free!) and I was getting rather tired by the end of it (any longer and I’ve said Yes to almost anything, just to end the conversation!)
So that is my Frugal bit for this weekend! Great, eh?
Margaret P
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Well done that woman!
Tree says
Love the throws, and I love a picnic too!
Enjoy your day out.
Tx