Hey and welcome to my Five Frugal Things round up for the week. It has been quite a busy one as I have been making extra money doing some election work for the local council.
I have managed to spend some money too – after all, I still haven’t got over being starved of charity shops over lock down. Now that they are open, I regularly pop in.
Making extra money
I have done this for the past four or five elections, including the last general election, as I explained here. It’s interesting to witness and be part of the democratic process. Also, as I work on my own a lot at home, I enjoy getting out and talking to some different people.
Because of the pandemic, a lot of people have voted by post, myself included. That’s why I have been working already, doing two days making extra money and counting the first of the postal votes. I have a couple more days next week, one of which is overnight. This will be tiring, but it feels like worthwhile work.
The count is fairly menial and repetitive, but I don’t mind it.
Charity shop bargain hunting
I popped in to a charity shop in the week to donate the last of the bags from my lock down declutter. This particular shop if the £1 outlet store for the local hospice. I think they have four shops in all in my area.
Of course, as I was in there I had to have a look. It’s the kind of shop that you really have to search through. There is lots of rubbish, but the odd gem often makes it worth the effort.
I found a pair of amazing quality, heavy lined cream curtains – really huge -and another nice quality pair that were a cottage style. They charge £1 for each curtain, so £4 for the two. What an absolute bargain!
I also picked up a new body butter (obviously an unwanted gift), which I needed, and a couple of bits for my gift box. As I am only buying second hand during 2021 I pick things up as I see them. Even if they are likely to end up being Christmas presents!
A new frock
We have a few occasions coming up in the summer. I was just saying to Mr S that I needed something smart-ish to wear, when I realised I already had the perfect dress.
I picked it up a few weeks ago at the Cat Rescue shop, but wasn’t sure it was my style so was going to sell it on eBay (hence why it’s on a mannequin). But when I tried it on it fitted perfectly and looks really nice, so I am keeping it.
This is a bit like shopping from your wardrobe I guess – when you complain you have nothing to wear and have forgotten half of what you own! That’s why I do a regular wardrobe declutter.
I hardly have any reason to wear anything but jeans and lounge ware these days. It feels odd dressing up!
Using it up
I really fancied a glass of wine the other night but we didn’t have any. Instead, I found a can of cider that had been hanging around a while. I think I bought it in a 4 pack and used the others in some pork dishes.
I had one glass but couldn’t manage a whole can – yes, I am a light weight! Anyhow, I clingfilmed it and put it in the fridge, then a couple of days later used it in a slow cooker chicken casserole. I was surprised to find that apple cider isn’t only nice cooked with pork.
It was so delicious, I will use it with chicken again I think.
Natural cleaning
Did you see my post 10 cleaning products you don’t need to buy? This week I continued buying just the basics, rather than loads of different chemical laden things. I needed to order some more citric acid, as we had run out. I like this as it is good for those of us who live in a hard water area. It’s great at preventing and removing limescale.
I used some of the new batch to clean the dishwasher. You can buy products specifically for this job, but I like using the Dri-Pak citric acid*. It comes in cardboard rather than plastic and isn’t very expensive.
I used it to clean the dishwasher and to remove some of the limescale from the shower head. It works well with fewer nasty chemicals than some products.
Anyway, that’s another frugal week and some of the ways I have been making extra money and saving it too. I hope you had a good week. Let me know what you have been up to in the comments.
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I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
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