Here we are again! Another week gone in a flash. As usual, I am sharing five frugal things that I have achieved this week. As I said in my last post, the little things all add up. Saving money and a frugal lifestyle can help you achieve your debt busting and savings goals.
A pot of soup
Although the weather has improved a lot, it is still very cold. I find a nice mug of soup every day at work is warming and comforting.
It’s so easy to make soup as well and very economical. I decided on carrot and coriander. So spicy and delicious that I plan on making more this weekend. I used a bag of carrots (49p) and a pot of coriander (68p) from Aldi. I added a couple of medium potatoes, a head of celery (you could use onions), some vegetable stock, along with some ground coriander, cumin and turmeric to add some nice spice.
This made 8 really big portions and helped me with saving money on lunches.
Banana bread
We went for a walk into town last weekend. On the way back we passed a Tesco Express and Mr Shoestring spotted some bananas in the window. They looked a bit the worse for wear, but perfect for banana bread. He chatted up the shop assistant and negotiated a drop from 21p a banana to 20p for five!
I made Nigella’s yummy banana loaf with these, a gluten free version. I replaced the wheat flour with 75% gluten free and 25% ground almonds. This always seems to work well. I am not eating entirely gluten free, but find a lower gluten diet beneficial for my sensitive tummy.
Home made bread
In last week’s Five Frugal Things I mentioned that we bought some spelt bread from Waitrose. This was expensive at £2.50 for a small loaf. In truth, it wasn’t as nice as the one I made the previous week. It costs me about £1.60 a loaf to make it at home so I had another go.
The bread maker decided that this was a good time to die, so I had to make the dough by hand and cook it in the oven. What a revelation! It was so easy I don’t know why I had never tried before. I won’t be replacing the bread maker.
My next challenge is to find a cheaper supplier of spelt flour than the local health food shop. I need to research online.
Saving money on home furnishings
Now that we have completed our budget DIY lounge makeover, we wanted to find a decent nest of tables. We had been looking around but new ones were so expensive and not necessarily great quality either. This week I finally spotted some nice ones on Facebook Marketplace for just £35.
Mr S drove to get them in the week and they are perfect.
We also spotted some art nouveau style cushion covers on eBay and they arrived this week. They were a bargain at only £3 a cover. We don’t have the budget for a new sofa at the moment so these perked up the old one. You don’t have to spend a small fortune to furnish your house. There are plenty of opportunities for saving money.
Making some money for the oldies
Talking of Facebook Marketplace, we went to see my parents at a table top sale where they were selling a few things. It was rather quiet and they had quite a lot of stuff leftover. I took a few photos and listed them on Marketplace. Within an hour I had sold one item and had queries on 3 others.
It really is a great place to sell larger items for local collection. You don’t have to pay any eBay or Paypal fees or worry about packing and posting. My next step is to teach my mum how to do it!
I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Fabulously Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky. Click the links to see other ideas for saving money.
Jo says
Also now sell spelt flour 🙂
Jo says
ALDI, I hate predictive text!!
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Lol, sadly not in my branch. If I see it I will buy a ton of it
Julia says
How do you prove your bread – is that the right word for getting it to rise?
Mostly people say to use the airing cupboard, but I don’t have one, nor anywhere else warm enough.
Can you use the oven on its lowest setting, or is that still too hot?
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Well, I stuck it in the airing cupboard but the recipe just said a room free of draughts. I am no expert still, having only made two loaves. I the past everyone made bread but didn’t have an airing cupboard so I’m sure it’s not essential
Margaret Powling says
The banana bread (as well as the soup) looked good. If I haven’t the energy to bake banana bread when the fruit is going brown, I make banana milk shakes for us instead of a cup of tea or coffee.
The cushion covers look great, Jane! Love ’em, and the style will ‘go’ with the fireplace tiles, which if I remember, are Art Nouveau-style.
I will soon be making chicken curry (left over meat from the roast) and perhaps a vat of veggie soup from what I can find in the fridge (none of it’s really old, though; good soup is made with good veg.)
Happy Mothering Sunday to you!
Margaret P