Welcome to this week’s five frugal things round up. I hope you are all safe and well, and not too stir crazy. Mostly, I have been staying home and not spending money!
The way I see it, having so much time on our hands can go one of two ways. We either save loads of money because we aren’t going out shopping, to restaurants, for coffee, etc or we spend loads online. It is too easy to buy things at the click of a switch!
If the former is you, make sure you put some of it away for a rainy day (you can get a free £10 bonus here if you sign up with Chip to help you achieve your savings goals*).
If you find you are being drawn in to buy unnecessary items, there are a couple of things you can do. Firstly, unsubscribe from newsletters telling you about all the bargains to be had. Secondly, do something else instead! I wrote a post here with some ideas for free things to do on lock down.
I have bought a few things this week, but only a few inexpensive bits of make up that I was running out of and some items for the dog. Amazingly, I also managed to get an online Tesco slot for Mr S’s mum, so did a shop for both of us. That wasn’t frugal! Tesco’s is much more expensive than Aldi, but it can’t be helped at the moment.
More puppy training
Because we can’t get out to puppy training classes I have been watching You Tube videos to learn some techniques, as I mentioned in last week’s round up. However, I really need a more systematic approach, so I purchased a book on Amazon.
Despite the terrible name, which almost put me off buying it, the book I chose had very good reviews. It was Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy: Your simple step-by-step guide to raising and training a happy puppy or dog*
Also, adorable as Archie is, he jumps up, chases the cats and ties you up in his lead whilst out for a walk. More training is required!
Home made crackers
After really enjoying the bread I made last week, and eating too much chocolate generally, I decided to go back to low carb eating. I have had a fibromyalgia flare up and have been feeling so achy and exhausted. It definitely relates to my diet, as I was feeling so much better eating low carb.
When I am eating low carb, I do miss something crunchy and crispy to snack on. I eat a lot of nuts, but sometimes fancy a cracker with cheese on.
The price of ready made low carb/keto snacks is outrageous! I am not spending money on them. So I decided to make my own keto crackers using a recipe in a book my daughter got me for my birthday. They were delicious! Really moreish, so I will be making some more of those today.
If you are interested, the book is Quick Keto Meals in 30 Minutes or Less: 100 Easy Prep-and-Cook Low-Carb Recipes for Maximum Weight Loss and Improved Health*.
Keeping my hands clean
As is everyone I am sure, I am still washing my hands a lot and using hand sanitiser. Fortunately, I have a hand cream stash for some reason. My hands are getting really dry.
Anyway, the stocks of hand sanitiser were getting low, so I made some more this week. If you want to do the same, the instructions are here. I haven’t tried to buy any more, but I assume supplies are still scarce. Since I have the ingredients for home made, I am not spending money buying any more anyway.
I will give some to Mr S, some to my daughter as well as keeping a bottle in my car and another in my hand bag. you can’t be too careful at the moment!
Free stuff
I was bemoaning the lack of boot sales and being unable to get to the charity shops to some friends and they very kindly gave me some bags of clothing they had recently cleared out.
Everyone is having a declutter, but no one has anywhere to take it. I was delighted to have them. We had to do a contactless handover of course! I took my granny trolley with me when I went for a dog walk so that I could pick them up.
Listing them on eBay will give me something to do, as well as earn some extra money. The sitting room looks like a dress shop as I have been busy ironing everything! *
If you want to sell your old stuff on eBay, I wrote a post about it here. You could be earning and not spending money!
Going potty
Despite Archie’s best efforts to eat any empty plant pots he comes across in the garden, I managed to find enough to start to pot on my seedlings.
Everything is coming up! It is so satisfying to see. I potted on the runner beans, which are currently in the greenhouse but really need to go in the ground next week.
The courgettes and sunflowers have also been done. We only have five courgette plants as some of them didn’t germinate for some reason. This would be fine, but I said I would give a couple to Mr S’s brother. Let’s hope they are more productive than they were last year, when we had a disappointing crop overall.
I also potted on the lettuce seedlings and planted some more. I would like to try to keep a steady supply coming through the summer.
What have you been up to this week in your splendid isolation? Have you given into crazy online shopping or are you saving the pennies?
I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.
This post contains paid and affiliate links, marked with *. If you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission to help support site. Many thanks!
Julia says
My seedlings are between 3-4 weeks only and disappointingly small – barely poking their heads out of the seed trays despite them being in one of Wilko’s plastic greenhouses in the sunniest part of the garden, and the parsley on the kitchen window sil hasn’t germinated at all!
Just as well I can still get to the shop for food!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
There is still time! Some folk are just starting now