Old-fashioned frugality and freebies – five frugal things

I have been attempting to keep more on top of things this week and practising some old-fashioned frugality. As a bonus, I managed to find some freebies too! Here are five frugal things I have done this week. Don’t forget to let me know if you have managed any good old-fashioned frugality in the comments, too.

Freebies

We don’t have a charity shop in our little town, which I am sad about. However, the upside of this is that many people put out free signs alongside boxes full of items they no longer need. We frequently come back from our dog walks with amazing finds.

This week, I found this cute mirrored jewellery box alongside a couple of interesting books, a vintage Disney mug and a huge poppy mug. A jewellery box is something I really needed, and I had been looking in the charity shops for a while. I am very pleased!

I would still love a local charity shop, but the freebies will do in the meantime.

Making soup for the freezer 

Because I have been so preoccupied, as explained in this post about losing my lovely Dad, I haven’t been doing much cooking. As a result, we had loads of bits and pieces of veg hanging around, as well as some of the courgettes we have grown in the garden. I didn’t want to waste them, so had a huge soup making session this week. 

I made 15 good portions for the freezer. It tastes so much nicer than tinned, is very much cheaper, has no additives or preservatives and allows reuse of some old plastic containers. Soup is really easy to make and nutritious too, as I explained here.

Using up black bananas

I don’t buy many bananas in the summer months, as I find they get too ripe before we eat them. However, my daughter gave me some recently, plus I had a few in the freezer, so I thought whilst I was using stuff up I would make some banana muffins.

The recipe I use is a low-carb, sugar-free one from Castaway Kitchen, which you can find here. I froze half of them and we are munching our way through the others. 

This has made some space in the freezer as I will be making more soup no doubt. We have quite a lot of beetroot, so I might do some borscht. Watch this space!

Frugal finds for my dresser

A while ago I gave our dresser a makeover with some light pink paint. Since then, I have been collecting bits of cheap vintage china from charity shops and boot sales to decorate it.

Here are a few of my recent frugal finds. All were second hand and cost just one or two pounds. I am really pleased with how it looks! You don’t have to spend a lot to decorate your home.

Growing our own

This is the first year that we have been in our current house, so we have just got started on the garden. Justin dug a veggie patch at the top and made three raised beds nearer the house. The previous owners left a small plastic greenhouse behind too.

We have actually grown more than we expected to, mainly because our sister-in-law gave us a lot of small plants. We have had courgettes and squashes, a great crop of runner beans, kale, parsley, chard, beetroot, broad beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines.

I can’t believe the latter. They are only in pots and we have never successfully grown aubergines before. They are still quite small, so I am leaving them a few more weeks, then there will be ratatouille!

I hope you have had a good week of old-fashioned frugality. If you want more inspiration, don’t forget to check out my book, available from Amazon here.*

See you next time. Bye for now x

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