A vaguely money saving week #fivefrugalthings

Spending a bit during our vaguely money saving week

Happy Easter! It is Good Friday here in the UK so we have a long weekend. Even better, the forecast is for very warm, sunny weather. I am hoping for a frugal weekend as I haven’t been hugely money saving week. But I know that my version of splashing out isn’t really too drastic compared to most folk anyway!

Here is my weekly round up of vaguely money saving stuff.

A bargain fish dinner

I love fish, but had never tried eating sea bream. When I saw it in the freezer section at Lidl I was intrigued. It was reduced from 4.99 for two to £3.99. Not the cheapest of dinners, but it was really delicious and a little more luxurious than our usual fish in breadcrumbs.

Some people just can’t do fish with the heads on, but I’m not squeamish!

Dinner at the Toby

Last night we went out with friends from work for a cheap Toby carvery. The queue was ridiculous, though, and they were so understaffed. However, at £8.99 for a big (and very delicious) roast dinner, I suppose it was worth the wait. I had the nut roast but Mr S went for the meat.

They work their staff so hard and were plainly overstaffed. I know the food is cheap, but people were grumbling at the wait. We were in the queue for 40 minutes! I would go more often if this didn’t always seem to be the case.

A house guest

Before I realised it was Easter weekend, I agreed to have a language student for the week. Luckily, I actually got the group leader, a teacher, so she should be fairly self sufficient and they are due to be out every day.  She arrives tomorrow evening.

This is an interesting way to make money from your spare room. You can find out more about how to do it in this post.

Buying second hand

It was such a beautiful morning we thought we would try a new boot sale at Horsley Cross in Essex. Although it was busy with lots of stalls, most of them were traders selling cheap tat. I did, however, find this fantastically ugly vintage St Michael dress for £1. You are either going to love it or hate it!

I also found a lovely solid book case in the charity shop this week for £20. We needed a tall, thin one for a particular spot in the dining room and this fits perfectly. As you can see, it is full of my tut for sewing, ironing, etc already!

I love a second hand bargain for so many reasons, partly money saving and partly because buying second hand is more environmentally friendly. (This post explains why I always buy second hand if I can.)

Buying in bulk

A while ago I told you about a new zero waste shop that had opened in Colchester. Unfortunately it only lasted a few months and mysteriously disappeared. Nobody seems to quite know why and there are rumours that they are looking for a better site. I had been buying refills of various products such as fabric softener from them to save on the plastic. Since that is no longer an option, I decided to buy this 5 litre container of Comfort from Home Bargains. It was only £4.99. I will reuse the container I am sure and in the meantime I am refilling my litre bottle to keep under the sink. The 5 litre one is a bit big.

So that is my vaguely money saving week. How has yours been? Here’s wishing you a lovely Easter and I hope you get time off work to chill.

I am linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in their ‘Five Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky so check out their frugal achievements.