Welcome to this week’s five frugal things round up. I have had a bit of a fibromyalgia flare up this week, feeling exhausted and achy a lot of the time. This has meant I have flopped on the sofa and barely moved after the afternoon dog walk, and have done very little in the day apart from write a few blog posts and list stuff on eBay. I have, however, managed a good haul of freebies this week!
Just when I should have been cooking decent food, I just haven’t felt like making anything. Instead, I have kept meals as simple, quick and easy as I could. Last week’s meal plan went out the window a bit. Mr S hates cooking and is rubbish at it, so he isn’t much help unless you want something on toast. He has been keeping the dog occupied and they walked 10 miles one day, so we were all in an exhausted heap that evening.
I am feeling a bit better today, so let’s hope I perk up a bit over the weekend. Anyway, this is what I got up to this week and onto my haul of freebies.
A Christmas freebie and a chance for you to win one too
I received an excellent freebie this week from the Christmas Shop – one of their mystery boxes. The one I received would usually cost £20, and contained £30 worth of Christmas bits and bobs. In fact, you can buy a £10, £20 or a £30 one.
I requested one with as little plastic as possible and more natural looking items, and received a pair of Christmas mugs along with some nice wooden decorations. It’s nice that you can state your likes and dislikes when you order.
They are sending me another one to give as a prize on Instagram, so head on over if you fancy a chance to win this. All you have to do is follow me, like the post and leave a comment.
Revamping our dining room chairs
I kept seeing stretchy chair covers popping up on my Insta feed, and finally bought some for our dining chairs. The original chair seats are a rather impractical cream colour. This means we are constantly having to scrub stuff off them, either what we have accidentally spilled or muck from the cats. Then we can’t sit on them until they are dry, which is a pain.
As the total cost of four covers was only £21, I wasn’t convinced how great they would be. In fact, I am quite pleased with them. They have brightened up the chairs and I can wash them when they get grubby.
Freebies
When I was resting on the sofa one day, I thought I would have a look at some of the freebie sites. I used to go on them a lot a few years ago, but hadn’t looked for ages.
In the end, for the cost of the postage, I got a couple of potential Christmas presents. Some Svarowski stud earrings, apparently worth £40, and an eight piece minerals make up set, also worth £40. They haven’t arrived yet, so I will let you know if they were worth the £8 postage I actually paid for the two.
If you want to investigate some potential freebies, latestdeals.co.uk is worth a look.
Free food
Talking of freebies, a while ago I downloaded the Olio app, but there was never anything in my area so I had deleted it. In case you haven’t heard of Olio, it is a free sharing app, mainly for unwanted food but for an increasing number of other items too.
A friend told me that there was much more locally now, with a large cash and carry plus Tesco’s joining. So I have signed up again. Her partner is a volunteer, who collects and lists some of the food. She took the photo above.
Anyway, I am keeping an eye on it now to see if there is anything worth requesting. It is all completely free, so saves money and prevents food waste.
Listing like a mad woman
Even though I haven’t had a lot of energy, I still managed to smash my eBay listing target for October with 125 listings. I try to put on 100 new items each month, although I don’t always achieve this.
I guess when there isn’t really much to do and the weather is rubbish, sitting and working with an audio book on in the background is actually quite productive!
So, it’s been a pretty good low spend week, and I am pleased with my haul of freebies. I hope you have had a happy and productive week. Please share any freebies or bargains you have managed to find in the comments below.
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
Julia says
Oh well done! Looks like you turned a potentially miserable week into a winner!
Hope you’re feeling better again soon. xx
Emma says
Where are the chair covers from? Our cat has scratched two of our faux leather dining chairs they look terrible. Chairs are so expensive so these could be a solution.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
They were from https://easyfitslipcover.com
KATHLEEN CROSS says
Oh, I’ve been looking at these chair covers, my chairs have a slightly raised rounded top, do you think they would still fit???
My daughter has been struggling this week with her Fibromyalgia , rest as much as you can. Take care & stay safe.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
They might as they are pretty stretchy. I think there are two sizes