Five things I have done to save money this week

I have tried to do a lot of frugal things to save money this week. With the cost of living rising so unbelievably quickly, every small action helps!

We have had the most beautiful warm and sunny week here in Essex. It’s so nice to feel the sun on my skin and really improves my sense of well-being.

Talking of which, did you see my YouTube video on how I try to stay healthy on a very tight budget? It’s definitely easier to think about your health in the spring with the sun shining.

Frugal things to save money this week

First car boot

The lovely sunny weather made it easy to get up at silly o’clock on Sunday morning for my first boot sale of the season.

As you know, one of my streams of income is buying stuff to sell online at a profit, and car boots are where the best bargains are to be found.

It wasn’t huge and was full of professional traders, but I did manage a few good finds. Watch out for them on an upcoming YouTube vlog!

In a few weeks the boot sales will be rammed with people who have had a good clear out, especially over Easter. Those will be where the best bargains will be found

Fresh produce

I often take a look at the greengrocer’s stalls when I visit the boot sale. The produce is good quality and usually cheaper than the supermarket. This time I bought a massive head of broccoli for £1, a large bowl of enormous carrots and a bunch of bananas for a grand total of £3.

I also picked up a massive bag of peppers for £1 from Home Bargains when I went in to buy pet food.

I don’t often look at the food in there as they don’t have a huge range, but I will in the future. I thought that was very good value.

Sorting the garden

We have been resurrecting our vegetable garden as one of our frugal things to save money, to try to mitigate the rapidly rising price of food.

I thought I would sort through the large pile of pots that have been accumulating in the greenhouse in readiness for our tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. These were sown last week, but have yet to germinate.

We are also fighting off the bindweed on the veg patch. Mr S has been digging it over, but we have decided it needs a bit of weed killer before we can sow anything straight into the ground.

We are determined to keep on top of the bindweed this year. Otherwise it literally strangles all of our crops and is very disheartening.

Using up the bread ends

I always save the ends of a loaf of bread in the freezer. When I have enough I make some bread pudding – Mr S’s favourite!

This time I decided to try a chocolate bread cake as a change.

It was quite nice, but not as good as my usual recipe. Still a good way to use up food that might otherwise be wasted though!

Experimenting with keto

Mr S ate most of the bread cake, as I decided to look at low carb/keto eating again.

To be honest, although I have felt the benefits of this sort of diet in the past. I find it hard to stick to long term. Not because the food doesn’t taste good, but because a) it costs more and b) it’s hard to do when you are out and about or eating with other people.

I think that cooking from scratch and baking my own alternatives to bread regularly will help me.

This week I tried making keto bagels, from the Diet Doctor website. I am also going to make their keto bread. If I like it, I will make a batch to put in the freezer. This will help me with lunches, which is where I struggle!

I will be sharing my progress on here and my YouTube channel in the coming weeks so you can see if I manage to stick to it.

Have you tried eating the keto/low carb way? Hit me up with your fave recipes if you have any.

What frugal things to save money have you done this week?

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