Blogger awards
Finally the SHOMOS have arrived and I am writing this on the train to London. I am so excited to meet lots of blogger friends!
In case you don’t know, the SHOMOS are the annual awards of the UK Money Bloggers. This group are very supportive and friendly. I have learned so much since I joined them.
Shoestring Cottage is up for Best Money Saving Blog, Best Frugal Food Blog and I made it through to the last six for the People’s Choice Award. I have to thank you for the latter as this is decided on votes from readers.
A frugal trip
One of my frugal things was booking my train ticket a few weeks ago, which made it much cheaper.
Another is to bring my water bottle and some snacks.
I also have my bamboo coffee cup with me. It won’t save any money but will avoid any disposable cups.
Tea
I have mentioned my efforts to reduce waste at Shoestring Cottage and to live a more sustainable life before. To this end we are switching from teabags, which contain plastic, back to loose tea. It tastes so much better! How did we all fall for the whole teabag thing?
I found loose PG Tips in a cardboard box with no plastic, which was great. Cheaper too.
As I drink decaf much of the time, a reader on Instagram recommended the Brew Tea Company. I ordered decaf black tea as well as some ginger and lemon.
This wasn’t as cheap as the PG Tips but seems a quality product. I will let you know how I get on but it does taste lovely!
Chocolate
How is it that I have three grown up girls who feel I should still buy them advent calendars? I relented this year because there were some Cadbury’s ones for £1.99 each.
Last time! If they ever produce grandkids I will get them reusable cloth ones.
Grape liqueur
We finally bottled up the grape liqueur that has been brewing nicely for a couple of months.
It smells of strong vodka, so I wasn’t hopeful. However, it tastes really nice! It didn’t cost much to make and used up some of our grape harvest.
Crafts
I love hand crafted presents. You get a unique product without all the usual packaging and support local makers.
A colleague’s husband makes all kinds of things as his side hustle. I brought a lovely bright knitted bag for Christmas for a little girl I know. I think she will love it and it was only £8. I think this was a bargain.
Anyway, I will let you know how I get on at the SHOMOS. Have a great weekend!
What frugal things have you achieved? Have you had an eco-friendly week too? As ever, I am linking up with Cass , Emma and Becky in their Five Frugal Things linky.
Julia says
Good luck with the SHOMOS!
Mine aren’t getting advent calendars or stockings for the first time this year – well they are 17-24!! Only my daughter really appreciated what was in them, even though I tried to provide only edibles/consumables for them all!
Instead they’re all getting something small to open – mostly clothes (one a t-shirt from a charity shop for £2.99!), a fluffy covered hot water bottle for DD who at uni in frozen Aberystwyth etc, but all for under £10.
All they really want is money now. So I’m virtually done! 😀
Tania says
I don’t buy Sweetie calendars anymore. The other nannie buys them and their mummy’s buy one for my grandchildren. So I’m not providing a 3rd one !
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Advent calendars are a lot of nonsense really so not sure why I gave into the impulse purchase. All that packaging for the smallest amount of chocolate!
Julia says
I used to buy myself a Lindor advent calendar, but at £6 for 24-25 chocolates it seemed such a waste of money so a couple of years ago I started buying myself a box of my favourite kind instead for £2, taking one out each day!
This year I couldn’t decide which was my favourite as there are so many yummy options so I bought a box of each!! Six boxes! 😀
Dumped them all out and put 4 of each flavour into one box for my Yule Countdown and the rest will go into a pretty bowl to share with everyone else over the season! 🙂
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
How do you stick to one a day? That would be my challenge
Julia says
Willpower! Same as an advent calendar really – what’s to stop you opening all the windows on the 1st?!
My kids usually forget about them and scoff the lot towards the end. If I forget a day with my little box of choccies I don’t realise until I find an excess on Christmas Day, so then I get to carry on enjoying them for longer!
Dianne says
Great stuff with your efforts in reducing waste. My problem at the moment is makeup I only wear a little but would like to make my own tinted moisturiser and blush, there are a few tips for using coconut, cornflour and spices but I’m worried about upsetting my skin balance. Any thoughts?
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Never tried it to be honest but a lot of zero wasters do. Would love to know if you give it a go!