Staying busy & healthy during lock down #fivefrugalthings

I hope you are managing to stay sane and healthy during lockdown, if you are in the UK anyway. We don’t seem to be doing as well as other countries, with the number of deaths at an all time high this week.

It’s scary if you let yourself dwell on it too much. We are trying to get on with things and keep ourselves busy. To be fair, there is always plenty to do, with work, DIY and dog walking.

I would say it is easy to live a frugal life when most of the shops are shut, but then again, you can buy pretty  much anything you want online with a click of your mouse! I haven’t gone overboard but had to make a few DIY related purchases in the past few days.

Here are five frugal things I have done this week.

Dresser prep

One of my goals for 2021 is to redecorate the hallway, which was tatty anyway but has been destroyed by Archie (aka ‘the beast’). Inspired by some brilliant examples of upcycled furniture on my Facebook group, I started to rub down the free standing cupboard that sits near the front door. It is actually the bottom end of a Welsh dresser, purchased at an auction by my parents many moons ago.

It was last painted with a cream gloss, but this is very chipped and dirty now. I chose a shade called dusky blush, as the walls will be a pale green and I like this combination of colours. Ages ago, I bought some ceramic knobs for when I got round to doing this, but I have put them ‘somewhere safe’. I need to locate them!!

I bought the paint online from Frenchic, as their furniture paint was recommended to me. Check out the upcycling transformations on their website. Stunning!

Hopefully, I can show you the after pic once the paint arrives.

Cutting my hair

I have been known to cut my own hair, but not for a while. However, my much needed hair appointment has been cancelled due to the Covid restrictions and was looking flat and tatty. I have been growing the layers out but had decided that this was a mistake, so took the plunge and had a go at cutting some back in.

It is surprisingly easy to do this. I just gathered the top section of my hair and tied it tight against my scalp, then pulled the resultant pony tail upwards and cut it across (pretty much as I did in this post from a few years ago). If I hadn’t just been for a dog walk in the rain, I would show you the finished result 🙂

Talking of hair, I am going to try a so-called ‘no poo’ method of keeping it clean. I watched Fairy Land Cottage using chick pea flour to wash hers, followed by a lemon juice and cider vinegar rinse. Shampoo can be expensive and full of chemical nasties, so I am going to give it a try. I have used a lot of shampoo bars in the past, but have found many of them to be quite drying over time. This should help my super frugal year along nicely  if it works.

Using up the turkey bones

I finally got round to taking the turkey carcass out of the freezer to make into stock. Before I could make up my mind what kind of soup to make with it, my daughter stepped in and made it into a kid of spicy turkey noodle soup. It was absolutely delicious!

She loosely based it on this pho recipe. Something like this makes a change from my usual ‘chuck everything in the pan and whizz it up’ method of soup making!

Propagated some plants

As regular readers will know, I am buying only second hand and trying to be as frugal as I possibly can during 2021. This includes gift giving. Part of my plan for this is to grow some plants and put them into nice pots I find in charity shops and boot sales. I might even decorate some if I am feeling arty.

I  have already grown some cuttings from my money tree and have a cutting from my daughter’s cheese plant on the go. I have snipped off some bits from some other plants this week and stuck them in water to see if they take. Hopefully they will!

I want plenty to give as presents and also more plants in the house generally, as I love them! They improve the air quality of a home so you can be more healthy during lockdown and beyond.

When I popped into the local shop I also found this little plant with yellow and red berries on it, reduced to 50p. It is unlabelled – anyone know what it is?

Some post Christmas cheer

When I did our grocery shopping in Aldi at the beginning of the week, they had some amazing reductions on Christmas food stuff.  I couldn’t resist a couple of boxes of mince pies for 9p each, along with some stollen. We are trying not to eat too much sweet stuff now that the festivities are over, but they all had really long dates, so are in the cupboard for when we need a sweet fix.

Mr S loves mince pies and would happily eat them all year round. Me too, actually, but I want to cut the sugar out again going forward. We still have some chocolate left, so I have hidden that in the cupboard upstairs for emergency use. We all get the odd crisis where chocolate is required, right?

Out and about

We have been getting lots of exercise as usual. Having a dog really forces you off your backside! Mr S bought me a Fitbit for Christmas, and it has been interesting to see how many steps I take in a day – usually between 10 and 15,000, no problem!

I have also been tracking my sleep, which has definitely improved in recent months, and my resting heart rate. This tends to be around 60 BPM, which is apparently very healthy, so all good!

I hope you are keeping healthy in lockdown, and aren’t getting too down in the dumps. Soon be spring!

I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.