Frugal DIY and living cheap #fivefrugalthings

Welcome to my weekly round up of money saving, sustainable and frugal activities. It’s not about penny pinching necessarily, but making good choices to stretch our budget and keep life simple. Let’s start with a frugal DIY update….

Frugal DIY

It’s been a quiet week here at Shoestring Cottage. I have been finishing the last bits and bobs in the newly decorated hallway, which I am super pleased with for a bit of frugal DIY. In an ideal world, we would have had the wallpaper stripped and the walls and ceiling re-plastered, as well as splashing out on a new carpet. However, it’s amazing what a lick of paint will do.

I am still awaiting the paint for the bottom stairs, which I ordered online from Frenchic (their paint is brilliant!). I also have an ivy wall sticker that I want to put round the window. Other than that, it is now fresh and bright and I will no longer be embarrassed when I invite guests in. Although, who knows how much longer we will need to wait before we are allowed to have friends round?

I used the last of my Frenchic dusky pink to paint this slightly tatty old laundry basket. I picked it up at a boot sale last summer for £2, and when I got it home I realised I had also inadvertently been given a huge old fashioned sweet jar hiding inside it! I am going to be using that for something – not sure what yet. Anyway, it adds a pop of pink to the upstairs landing.

Plastic free loo roll

One of my shopping habits that I was truly grateful for at the start of the pandemic was buying our loo roll on line. We get ours from Who Gives a Crap and it is delivered every four months.

It is recycled and plastic free, and I find it excellent value.  Although it is more expensive than cheap supermarket stuff initially, each roll lasts a lot longer. I think it is still a lot cheaper than the expensive branded varieties, and it looks really pretty with its colourful wrapping!

The company also use part of their profits to build toilets in the developing world, so it’s a win-win all round I think.

If you want to give Who Gives a Crap a try, you can get £5 off using my refer a friend link here*. ( newsletter too) 

Yellow stickers

My weekly round up wouldn’t be the same without some reduced food! Because I have been busy, I keep missing the free food on my Olio app. You need to be quick off the mark, particularly with the fresh stuff. I did, however,  pick up a kilo of huge, ripe tomatoes, so will be building them into my meal plan when for this week.

I always look out for reduced items in our small local shops, and often find some bargains. This week I spotted two packs of kippers reduced to 75p each. Great for getting our healthy omega 3s.

We ate one pack for lunch with some eggs and tomatoes, and I will make the other pack into kedgeree in this week’s meal plan.

No poo update

I have mentioned a few times that I have stopped using commercial shampoo and conditioner over the past few weeks.

Initially I intended to use chick pea flour to wash my hair, as I have heard it is quite effective at keeping it clean. However, the large pack I ordered through Amazon never arrived, so I decided to use the soap nuts* I bought for the laundry.

I simply boiled up about a cup of them with 6 cups of water for 30 minutes, then cooked and strained it into an old plastic bottle. This is also a frugal DIY mix for washing the dishes!

It doesn’t lather up like normal shampoo because it doesn’t contain sodium laurel sulphate. However, as I soon discovered, it does sting your eyes if you let it get into them!

Week one was OK. My hair felt a bit greasier than usual, but nothing major. Week two was a challenge! It felt thick and odd, but I persevered. Now, going into week three, my hair feels stronger and less flyaway. It desperately needs a proper cut though, so I will be making an appointment the minute I hear the hairdressers are allowed to reopen.

I will do a full post on my no poo experience after a couple of months.

DIY moisturiser

Still on my mission to make more of my own toiletries and cosmetics (see this post), my project for the weekend is a home made facial moisturiser. I usually buy one from Jason Organics, which I really like and is good value.

However, if I make my own, I will know exactly what is in it and can reuse the plastic containers my old products have arrived in. 

I am going for Root and Revel’s 3-ingredient natural moisturiser. The ingredients I have purchased cost me just over £10, but should make a couple of pots, plus have leftover coconut oil and essential oil for another project. I will let you know how it turns out!

Ideally, I want to source the ingredients plastic free, so if this works out that’s what I will focus on next time. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know in the comments.

I hope you have had a good week and that you and your families remain safe and well. Don’t forget to come and join the chat in my Facebook group, a great resource for all things second hand and frugal.

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

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