Welcome back, money savers! As I write this, we are heading into day two of our second lock down in England. Other parts of the UK have already been in lock down for a while. I’m not too worried about the coming month as far as staying at home goes. It has turned very cold suddenly, so staying in and being cosy seems like a plan. We are planning on keeping costs low this month, though. There may be tough times ahead, and it’s really important to me to be as frugal as possible.
Starting our food bank collection
I am well aware that there are people who are far worse off than we are. That is why I am joining in once again with the UK Money Bloggers Food Bank Advent campaign. I wrote a post about this in the week here. Please consider making some sort of contribution to the food banks if you can possibly afford to this winter.
It doesn’t have to cost a great deal to buy basic items. Most of ours have come from Lidl or Aldi. Here’s what ours looks like at the end of week 1.
Soup, soup, glorious soup
Regular readers will know that I love home made soup! It is super cheap to make, nutritious and warms your cockles after a long dog walk.
It is also great for preventing food waste, as you can throw in any sad looking veg that needs using up.
This week I made my own stock using a couple of chicken carcasses from the freezer, which gives it added nutrition as well as a delicious flavour. I used some odds and ends of mashed potato that I had also frozen, half a head of celery that was definitely looking a little limp, and various other bits of veg from the fridge.
It was really nice. Even Archie begged for some!
Getting the snip
Talking of Archie, this week we had him neutered. I guess this wasn’t perfect timing, because as we start lock down we aren’t allowed our usual long walks. It was walking the dog that kept us both sane during the first lock down.
We really didn’t want him to have to wear a horrible cone for two weeks. So miserable! Instead we bought him a post op suit from Amazon. We had to shop around as some of them were really expensive. This one cost £12.99, which I think was money well spent. It allows him to sleep easily and walk about the house without crashing into things!
Poor Archie. Still, he seems to be bouncing back OK and has his follow up vet’s appointment later today.
Haircut 100
Mr S had a snip of a different sort, managing a very short pre-lock down hair cut, so he won’t end up looking like Dennis the Menace :). He gets his hair cut for free by his sister, so another frugal win.
I am glad I went to get mine trimmed a couple of weeks ago too, so I don’t come out of lock down with the same style as Archie….
Lidl bargain hunting
I have been so impressed with the Lidl app so far. This week it gave me £10 off our shop! If you ever shop at Lidl, it is very much worth getting the app to help you with keeping costs low when you do your grocery shop.
I went yesterday morning, pretty early. Day one of lockdown and I didn’t know if people would be back to panic buying and queueing outside. It seems that most people had done their shopping earlier in the week, as it was pretty quiet.
I was delighted to find loads of meat and fish very much reduced, so I took the opportunity to stock up the freezer. There were chicken thighs and drumsticks for 90p (I bought three packs), salmon fillets for £2 (I grabbed two of those) and one packet of smoked haddock for 90p.
I was very pleased with these reductions and a good start to my plans for keeping costs low this month.
How are you feeling at the prospect of a second lockdown? Maybe you have already been in lock down a while? I hope you are all OK and not feeling too down as the pandemic rumbles on. Have a good week.
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
Becky says
Oh how I wish I had had my hair cut pre-lockdown. I do have lot sof fab recipes on my site though too..Love a bit of homemade soup like you. Stay warm! #5frugalthngs
Carolyn says
Not allowed your usual long walks? That is crazy! Getting fresh air, sunshine and exercise boasts your immune system. Staying in the house is the worst thing for your physical and mental health. We live in a rural area, so people are not looking to sit in the house, but out and do things. That is great that Mr S’s sister is handy giving haircuts. My husband is the family barber and stylist, I take a seat every other month and my teen boys get their haircuts every three weeks. So when shops were closed, we stayed on our regular schedule with excellent results. I had a couple friends visit to grill on the deck and both asked hubby for haircuts. Both were quite pleased with the results and said they would be back if their salon closed again. My mom and best friend had been having him cut their hair for them for a few years now, so having a family member that has a knack for cutting hair is a great thing. It saves me a lot of money.
Jo says
You did very well at Lidl! I went this week and all I found reduced was one tub of coleslaw at 20p. I had been going to make some coleslaw but the cabbage will keep a few days longer until we have finished our 20p tub. Last week I found a pack of hummus reduced to 20p and was very pleased until I got home and checked my receipt. Note to self to check the receipt before I leave the shop! It was a pack of three little tubs but one was missing so only two left. The label on the outside of the pack said 20p but the lady at the till had charged me 20p for each even though there was only one price sticker and it was on the outside wrapper of the pack. After all my years of shopping at Lidl, this is the first time there has been a mistake so I am not complaining too loudly : )