Living my Best Frugal Life

What Lockdown?

I’m loving it! I know we are living through a pandemic and I know terrible things are going on in the world but allow me to share with you a few things that are encouraging to me even as we go through these trying circumstances. You see, from the very outset I have determined that I was going to be as careful as possible, as safe as possible and as healthy as possible. Also, I chose the mindset that says I am not locked down but that I am free to enjoy all the facets associated with staying at home. It’s not too late to change to such a mindset too. I am determined to live my best frugal life.

 

Meeting Each Challenge to live your best frugal life

I’ve told myself there is nothing I can do to make any change to the circumstance of having to stay home so I might as well make my home a happy place to be. And just so I keep up with my frugal lifestyle agenda, everything that we have done so far has been done with that in mind.

This we think is a very wise move because we believe that economic challenges are on the horizon and we had better prepare ourselves for them. So many now are caught up with the allure of ordering online for almost everything, and many are not stopping to take stock that this is draining their bank balance. And to be honest, we almost got caught up in in too so we have put a pause for now on all online shopping except for food and household essentials.

Making Home a Happy Place

We have done improvements to various rooms of the house and we are proud because the look is amazing and we have not overspent. Some of the things we have done so far include:

• Pantry Makeover – you must see this video of how we turned a store room into a useful pantry that serves us much better than just a place to dump things we think we might need at some later stage. We even mixed our own paint from three used cans that we already had. The result is a soothing light blue.
• Dining room set makeover – our dining table and chairs were dark brown and looked old fashioned. We did not want to get rid of them as they were gifted and made of really good solid wood. So we developed a plan to paint them. It was a whole family affair and we are pleased with the look. What do you think? I’ve since checked and we saved almost £100 by doing the update ourselves.
• Bathroom updating – Our upstairs bathroom was re done just before the ‘lockdown’. I am so glad that it was done then because we had to share a tiny downstairs bathroom for the weeks whilst upstairs was being done and it definitely  would not have been ideal for a long term. So so grateful for that one. Anyway we have put our own personal touches in there to make the space enticing and a soothing, relaxing place to be. We have decorated bottles that now form part of the decor and used some faux flowers that we already had to brighten the space.
• Welcome Signs – We have made a number of welcome signs for various parts of our home and will continue to make more so that we can give to others too, that way spreading the love. We have been very ingenious with the making of these signs. We have a local hardware which is walking distance from home from which we are allowed to used bits of wood that would otherwise have been thrown away. So as the lockdown was eased, we collected wood and put them to good use. One of the signs was actually made from a shelf we no longer needed so it has been repurposed.
• Wreaths – We have adopted this from some other cultures where they make seasonal wreaths to adorn their front door. So far we have made one and we hope to make this a new thing that we do seasonally. The wreaths were all made from materials we already had at home. An extra frugal win is that we used packaging materials that would have been sent to the landfills.
• Plaques – with the extra time on our hands we have been able to watch more and more youtube videos of things that interest us and thing we can learn from, and as a result we have been doing much more crafting. Things on the crafting scene are getting much more interesting, let’s put it that way! So much so that we have invested in a Cricut Maker (we already have the Cricut Explore Air 2!) Well I am pleased to say that we have had a few orders since for birthdays, Fathers Day and ‘Lockdown’. We are now even using the machine to enhance the signs we have started making and have even made t shirts and hoodies. We have made the money back for the machine and have orders still coming in so that too has been another blessing.
• Gardening – Our garden this year is resplendent. I am a keen gardener but perhaps as a result of all the time we have had in lock down, I have been able to devote more time daily to gardening and now I can see the rewards. The garden looks luscious at this time of the year and we are able to use some of the produce in our kitchen, from strawberries, potatoes and spinach to herbs. Undoubtedly, this has resulted in another saving. Part of the splendour of the garden came about as a result of some free flower seeds we were able to get. So now, we spread the love by sharing the seeds and small plants to friends and neighbours. We love that we do get some exercise from tending to the garden by weeding, and cutting the lawn and hedges.

My home and surrounding has been a blessing to me as a direct result of ‘lockdown’ so I am not complaining one bit. I am safe. My family is well and honestly, I am not yet bored. That is not to say I don’t understand that others are stressed by the current state of affairs. I do understand. And if I could do anything to change things I would. And that is why I have decided to use what little control I have and make improvements to my part of the vineyard.

Many have done various things during lockdown to help keep themselves sane. That I think is a good idea and social media is full of ideas. Have a look to see if there is anything you have identified that catches your fancy.

I’ve loved watching peoples exploits on Tik Tok and whilst they are very engaging, it’s not my thing. Crafting is my thing. What’s yours? You see, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, you just need to make sure that you water your grass so that you also live your best frugal life.

 

Keep safe.

Jo and Leisa

We are linking with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.