Frugal fails and a few wins too #fivefrugalthings

It’s been another of those weeks where I have spent a bit too much money. However, amongst the frugal fails there were a few successes. Here is this week’s five frugal things round up.

Life’s a gas

We had a gas leak this week. I kept thinking I could smell something, then thought it was me as Mr S couldn’t smell it at all. Then we had family round at the weekend and a couple of them mentioned it.

This isn’t exactly a frugal fail, as you can’t ignore a gas leak. However, it did entail getting British Gas out first (no charge for them to confirm there was definitely a leak) then a gas engineer pretty quickly after. It was a redundant gas pipe under the kitchen floor that should have been disconnected but wasn’t. The people who lived here before us  cut so many corners doing DIY I am surprised the house is still standing! But anyway, it wasn’t major and the floor didn’t need digging up. He managed to cap the supply to the pipe and all was well. £120 bill though!

Family dinner

We had a lovely time in the garden on Sunday. Mr S’s family all came over for lunch. My frugal fail here wasn’t the lunch itself, but the fact that I made too much food! I always do – I never want anyone to go home hungry.

So, there was enough coq au vin and pork with apples to feed a small army, as well as too much rice. Everybody brought booze so we didn’t need half of what we had got. I made a chocolate cake and then one of the guests brought one along as well!

This was a frugal fail, as I clearly didn’t need to buy as much food and drink as I had done. However, none of it was wasted and we have been eating leftovers all week. I made everyone take cake home as I can’t eat it (still on Slimming World).

This meant that last week’s meal plan went out of the window, so I have shifted everything along a bit and will still use up everything in the fridge. I hate food waste!

Eco-friendly packaging

I have mentioned in previous posts that I have been trying to make the packaging for my eBay business as eco-friendly as possible. I have compostable potato starch mailing bags that I am trialling and also found some really nice recycled tissue paper. This is because I like to wrap garments in tissue first to keep them flat in transit and so they arrive looking like a little present and not a crumpled rag!

Previously I used bog standard pink paper, but wanted recycled paper particularly. I found some on eBay, which also encourages the recipient to recycle it after use! Perfect and it wasn’t too expensive either, although dearer than the one I used previously. So, this may be a frugal fail because of the cost, but it’s minimal and I believe it is important to make a difference wherever I possibly can.

Making the most of the harvest

We had our first courgettes this week. Despite me getting the pumpkin seedlings mixed up with the courgettes and giving most of them away! The runner beans are also looking promising and I can’t wait for those to be ready. I love them!

We have been eating chard at practically every meal as there is so much of it. I need to chop up and freeze some I think.

This is the first year that we have had a really decent crop of raspberries too, so have been having these on our porridge every morning. I have picked the last of the redcurrants as well and put them in the freezer. These will be mostly used to make redcurrant jelly when I get the time.

Some frugal wins from the garden. My favourite is the sweet peas. I have a little vase of them on my desk as I type this, which looks so pretty and smells wonderful.

Hitting the £1 rail

Yes, you can’t keep me out of the charity shops these days. When you start looking, there are a surprising number of £1 rails popping up in them. Maybe they have realised that they are charging way too much? I am all for charities making as much as possible from their donations, but it has got silly. They are driving people towards cheap Primark type fashion rather than encouraging them to buy decent second hand pieces, I think. I know somebody who works in a charity shop, and she agrees with me. She says the rag man often takes good items away for practically nothing that could have been turned over quickly in the shop if they had a more realistic pricing strategy. This is bad for the environment!

I found a good £1 rail in a charity shop in town and have been in twice this week. Both times I found some really good items in excellent condition. It takes time to do this but is really worth while. Another frugal win.

So, those are my frugal fails and successes this week. How has yours been?

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

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