Frugal wins and maybe selling our house!

Welcome to my weekly round up, where I talk to you about my frugal wins for the week.

Maximising our profits

Firstly, apologies for the lack of a post last week. We have been frantically getting our house ready for an open day (tomorrow!). The house is on the market, although we have seen very little in our price range to purchase. It could be that we will stay, but the house looks great anyway! If you want to see it, head over to my YouTube channel, where I have done a little tour.

We want to get the most money possible for our house in order to buy our next one. So we have spent weeks painting, tidying and decluttering, plus making sure the garden looks pretty with lots of flowers around. 

We haven’t spend a great deal of money, but I think everywhere looks so much nicer. There has been a lot of interest so far, so we might get a satisfactory offer next week! Exciting times.

Eating in instead of going out

At the weekend I had a group of girlfriends round for our regular catch up. We take it in turns to cook instead of all having to pay to eat in a restaurant. 

Although my ingredients cost the same as a meal out for myself would be, I will soon receive some return invitations which will cost me nothing. 

Incidentally, I made these teriyaki salmon parcels from the BBC Good Food website, with stir fried pak choi and  coconut rice. Dessert was Eton Mess, as strawberries are at their best and cheapest right now. If I say so myself, it was a delicious meal!

Growing our own

We haven’t grown too much on the vegetable plot this year. If we are going to be moving, there’s not much point. We do have a few summer veggies going though. I looked at the courgettes earlier and we have a couple that should be ready to eat within a couple of days.

This is great, as with costs rising, any small savings we can make to our food bill will be welcome. I don’t think the peppers are going to come to much as they went in too late. However, the tomatoes and runner beans look promising.

We have been eating our own salad too – I have been growing it in a large pot in the greenhouse.

Eating from the pantry

Speaking of saving money on food, this week we have been eating out of the pantry. I just popped to Lidl for milk, butter and some snacks. I was shocked to find that the butter had gone up 18p and my lactose free milk was up 10p since my last visit. Every time I blink petrol is more expensive too! We need to eat as frugally as possible.

I find the things left at the back of the pantry tend to be items I bought but don’t like much. So the challenge is to find acceptable ways to use them up!

I have also been making simple things, like this pasta dish with tomatoes, peppers and cheese. It cost very little to make and we had it for dinner and then lunch the next day. This kind of food is a frugal win.

Simple living

We have been making the most of the beautiful summer weather to take some long walks locally. On one of our regular routes, there is currently this stunning field of poppies. What a treat they are to behold!

We have also been sitting under the gazebo in the garden a lot. It’s such a peaceful spot. 

I find these simple things keep me happy!

How has your week been? Are you struggling with price hikes too? Have you had any frugal wins to keep your finances healthy?

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