You are going to love the ways we have managed to save some money this week! We have been a little lax on sharing what we have been doing. Not that we have not been doing things to consciously save money but we have been really busy with filming (it’s really the travelling to and from the different locations that is time consuming).
According to the Nationa Trust, there are lots of activities we could do as families over Easter. For us, this year we do have a few meetups planned but we are on the lookout for money-saving deals that will allow us to save towards our holiday. The little ones are getting bigger and have exams after Easter so not many outings this side.
Well, it is just before Easter and I am sharing with you five ways that we saved money. This week, we are linking with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky.
Chair refurbishment
This one is my absolute favourite. Recently I told you about how we were redecorating the living room and doing as much of it ourselves as possible. You can see the photos here when you finish reading this post.
One of the pieces we wanted to update was a lovely chair that was a red/burgundy colour that didn’t quite fit in with the colour scheme in the living room.
We had gotten a couple of quotes to do the job of reupholstering the chair but they were quite high and we were convinced that we could do it ourselves. So off we went to the Bullring market in Birmingham and got a piece of fabric and some studs and a staple gun with staples.
The chair turned out really well, considering we did it ourselves. So grateful for the time in my life when we learnt how to use a sewing machine.
Using the old seat cushion, we were able to make a pattern on paper and then use that to cut out the new grey fabric. Can you see that we couldn’t even find the correct pins?
There is a little bit of a negative as the staple gun only worked for the first 2 staples and then refused to work after that! Not only that, but the staples are now stuck in there and won’t budge! I wonder what that vendor will say when we go back to try to return it.
The photo above is of the old chair and the one below shows our new refurbished chair that fits better with the rest of the room.
We also painted the legs white but managed to damage a bit of the paint so will need to fix that later. What do you think? I am sure we are not experts yet but it sure was a fun project and saved us at least £150.
Vegetables from the allotment
We have been recipients of two large bags of spring greens and spinach from a friend who got them from a friend who has an allotment. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving as we gave half of it to another friend before using up the rest with other vegetables and salted codfish for breakfast. Our meal plans and ideas for this week will certainly get a boost.
This was a saving of at least £4 or so.
Low carb breakfast…
Garlic oil
One of the frugal living tips we shared on Shop Smart Save Money last night was about making your own garlic oil. It is quite expensive in the shops. All you really need to do is to put the peeled garlic cloves into a jar with olive oil. It’s that simple but so useful in so many delicious fish, meat and vegetable dishes.
When there is a glut of garlic at a really good price, it makes sense to do this. If you then need garlic for a recipe, just take what you need from the jar. Otherwise, the garlic goes stale and loses its weight and flavour.
Home sewing
We will need to come up with 7 more outfits for the live show so we have been jazzing up some outfits to give them a new look. I guess you will have to keep watching on Thursdays at 8 pm to see if you can figure out which outfits have been jazzed up and or adjusted.
When you have skills like these, they do come in handy and can save you a fortune. We do really believe that these are valuable skills that children need to learn too.
Gardening
Have I told you already? Leisa has a green thumb and loves gardening while Jo is the opposite. The garden looks better after an hour or two of weeding, planting new plants and rearranging pots.
And when we consider that it would cost money to pay someone to do all that, it is smiles all around. And the added benefit of enjoying the sunshine is also a plus.
What have you been doing to save money recently? Do share with us in the comments section below.
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I’m impressed with your chair. It must be wonderful to have sewing skills! I’m jealous 😁💚
Tx
The chair looks great, I can imagine you chillin’ and watching Judge Judy! I think the allotment vegetables are one the frugal things I aspire to most – I won’t be getting an allotment but I’m still hoping to get into gear with growing food by next year 🙂
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I really liked the idea of the chair, and this dish looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Love the Garlic oil . I would never have thought of that.
It’s something we’ve been doing for a long time now and it has worked well. Glad you’ve found it useful.