I have been trying to get a bit organised this week and have given the house a good deep clean. The thing about doing DIY and being generally busy with work is that housework tends to fall by the wayside. I always feel much better when I tidy up and sort out niggly jobs too, so have also done a bit of that sort of thing. Getting organised makes me feel much calmer and more in control.
Frugal cleaning
I have been working my way through the miscellaneous cleaning products that I no longer want to use. Despite not having purchased any of the well-known commercial products for a couple of years in favour of simpler, lower chemical alternatives, we still had some sitting around. Rather than throw them out, I felt it was better to actually use them.
Generally I use vinegar for a lot of cleaning jobs. I ran out of my lemon vinegar spray, so a few weeks ago made some with orange peels instead. This seems just as good. In fact, oranges seem to cancel out the strong smell of vinegar more than lemons!
If you want to know how to make some of your own cleaning spray, check my recipe out here. For other ideas on cleaning with fewer chemicals, you might like this post.
I bought the glass spray bottles quite some time ago from Amazon, but they are now popping up in pound shops and the like, so check out your local retailers before you pay more than you need to. Amazon is often a more expensive option than other places, I find. I guess we are paying for Jeff Bezos to go into space….
Second hand doggie attire
Whilst we were having dinner with my daughter the other evening, Archie was cunningly chewing through the strap on his harness! Our fault, as we did leave it on the floor!
As you know, I am buying only second hand this year, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to find a pre-owned replacement. I needn’t have worried, as I popped into my cat rescue charity shop, and found two!
The staff in there are lovely and allow dogs in, so I could try a few on him to check they fitted. They even helped me work out how to do them up and gave Archie a gravy bone for being good. Sweet!
These cost me £3 each – much cheaper than buying new! The black one is for the car. You really can find pretty much anything second hand if you know where to look.
Second hand Christmas
I have been getting organised for Christmas for some time now, as I am trying to buy as much as I can second hand. However, I didn’t think I would find second hand Christmas crackers! These were in the same charity shop as Archie’s harness, at £2 a box.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to bother with Christmas crackers at all this year. They are hugely wasteful and full of plastic tat, in my view. However, one of these is completely plastic free and contains magic tricks, so I thought that might be fun at the table. The other one contains metal gifts, including things that are actually useful like nail clippers.
I wouldn’t have bought either from new, but since they were someone’s cast offs, I thought why not?
I have updated a few of my frugal Christmas posts recently, so if you are looking for ways to save money this festive season, check out How to do Christmas when you are skint and Cheaper Christmas: budget not to save your bank balance.
Keeping warm this winter
So many scary stories about our energy supplies on the news at the moment. First we were told that prices for heating and lighting would be going through the roof. Then this week Mr S heard a report that we might run out of gas before spring arrives!
It reminds me of my childhood in the 70s, when there was a crisis of similar proportions and we had constant power cuts to conserve electricity. I thought it was quite fun then to go to bed with a candle, but not so much these days!!
Anyway, we are fortunate to have a wood burner to use as a back up and plan to use it to try to keep out bills lower. When I was in Home Bargains this week, I found they had packs of ten compressed sawdust logs for just £2.99 each. This is a really good price. They burn very slowly, so you don’t have to constantly get up to add fuel, plus they are easy to stack and store. I picked up ten lots! They should keep us going for a bit.
If you are worried about how you are going to manage with your bills this winter, you might find this video of interest on my YouTube channel, Dealing with energy price hikes.
Sober October update
We have made it to the middle of the month without caving into a glass of wine! I have really missed my white wine habit at points. It’s not like I drink much in terms of quantity, but I do drink regularly. It’s a habit rather than an addiction, but it certainly won’t do me any harms to stop it and will save money too.
I found a good alternative, though, for when I fancy something cold and refreshing – again in Home Bargains. They had bottles of alcohol free Heineken lager for 29p each! I thought this was a brilliant price, so I stocked up. These actually taste exactly the same as the alcoholic version, unlike a red wine we bought that tastes like sour grape juice.
So that’s me for this week? Are you getting organised for Christmas?
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
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