Upcycling furniture to save money and other frugal stuff!

It’s been a busy old week. I didn’t get any opportunity to write anything for the blog, so apologies that there has been a whole week between posts. I usually try to post at least twice a week. But I have been busy upcycling furniture and doing some freelance work, so it has been all go.

Here is some frugal stuff we have done this week.

Cooling down the mutt

What a warm week it has been here in the UK. A bit too hot for me, and certainly too warm for poor Archie. He really needed a groom as he had got quite shaggy. However, our usual groomer has gone AWOL for personal reasons. I was planning to book him in elsewhere, but in the end Mr Shoestring decided to have a go at clipping him. We bought a second hand pair of clippers a while back – from a reader, actually! However, we hadn’t been brave enough to try them on him.

Mr S went in a bit gung ho across his back, and poor Archie looks a bit scalped! I am planning to have a go on his legs later as they are still shaggy, but will be a little more cautious. Bit nervous about doing his head though! I am sure it will make him feel a lot cooler, even if it doesn’t look as professional as usual :).

When I popped into town yesterday, I spotted a gel cooling mat in Wilko. As it was only £6, I decided to invest. However, up to now, Archie has mostly just laid next to it! Tonight I am going to put it in his basket with a thin scarf over the top, so hopefully he will use it.

The final cheap thing I have done to cool down the mutt is make ice cubes from sodium free beef stock. Like his very own beefy ice pop. He is fussy, of course, so prefers the chicken ones I made previously…

Upcycling furniture for the bedroom

My next DIY project – and sorely needed as it hasn’t been done in ten years – is our bedroom. The only thing I like in there is the view over the garden. Oh, and the bed. We picked that up second hand on Facebook Marketplace. 

The furniture is mismatched and old. I am bored with the plain pine colour, so I have decided to paint it in pastels. After much changing of my mind, I decided on a pale blue for the bedside tables, pink for the chair and another small chest of drawers, and white for the wardrobe and large chest of drawers.

I think the walls, ceiling and paintwork will all be white too. 

I chose two pieces of furniture to start with, and filmed my efforts for YouTube, as an upcycling collaboration with Frugal Queen in France. Head over to my YouTube channel to have a look if you want to see my process. This particular video will be going live on Sunday 26th in the afternoon.

The photo above is the pieces almost finished. I am just waiting for some second hand porcelain knobs to arrive from eBay.

Upcycling furniture may be a bit time consuming, but it is fun and saves loads of money.

Continuing my plant based efforts

I mentioned in last week’s meal plan that I am trying to stop eating processed food, cut back on the meat and dairy and eat a more plant based diet. This is going well and is cheaper too. We are sticking mainly to stir fries and salads as it has been so warm. They are straightforward to make and very healthy.

We have been spending about £25 for each of us on food for a week, which I think is pretty good. I haven’t had a bag of crisps, biscuit or chocolate bar for two weeks. It’s a miracle! 

It’s amazing how many of the shelves you simply whizz by when you eat this way. It makes the shop quicker as well as keeping the cost down.

Searching out the bargains

If you belong to my Facebook group (My Second Hand & Frugal Life, you can join here), you will know that I have been bargain hunting. I have found some great things in the charity shops and also got up early for the boot sale on Sunday. 

As well as bits of clothing for me and Mr Shoestring, I have also found some nice bits for the house and for my gift box too.  Shown above is a big bath towel in excellent condition (£1), some pyjamas for me (£3), a brand new T shirt, also for me, £1 and some Adidas leggings as a gift for my daughter, £4.

As ever, buying second hand is saving me so much money!

Sorting the shed

We have been meaning to tackle our small shed for almost a year. This week, Mr S finally grabbed the bull by the horns and braved the clutter, cobwebs and mice nests to do it.

He cleared the whole lot out. Fortunately, as we had already sorted out the two large sheds earlier in the year, there was space for some of the stuff worth keeping.

The shed itself was in a sorry state, though. The roof was damp and rotten and you could see daylight through the side panels. 

Nevertheless, sheds are expensive, so Mr S has decided to replace the roof with some boards he already has and line the inside areas so that it will be strong and watertight. 

This is where his hoarding tendencies come in handy. He hasn’t bought anything for this so far, although he will have to invest in some roof felt when it is ready.

So, that’s my week of furniture upcycling and general frugality. I hope you have had a great week!

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