Six Frugal Things We’ve Done This Week

No spend week

So we decided last week to make the week a no spend week. This is just so we can keep our spending in check. You know, sometimes you go out to the shops for something in particular and you come home with so much other stuff! Sometimes it’s because they seem cheaper than normal but also sometimes they are just impulse purchases. But we find that when we deliberately plan a no spend week, we are more conscious of our spending habits and we also remind each other about it. 

Meal out with friends 

Well, my friend Jane is going off to Vietnam to teach English and we decided to meet up with her, have a meal and a laugh and just build memories as friends. Luckily, one of my friends who is also frugal, searched online to see if there were vouchers for the place we were eating at and, sure enough, there was a 33% off voucher for Pizza Hut. She found this just by doing a search online on her phone.So we actually only paid for two-thirds of what we ate. I will remember to search online for vouchers now. 

I took along a game of Uno which they hadn’t played before so that was quite fun too. I’ always pleasantly surprised when I reach for my Uno game and people express that it’s so fun, yet it’s the first time they were using it. It was just over £4 on Amazon.

We finished off the night with some fun selfies which Jane then shared in our little Whatsapp group.

Check out the post for some other fun and cheap ideas for meetups with girlfriends. 

Booked a man with a van

Big sigh! My son goes off to university next week and, because I hate driving long distances, I booked a taxi to take us there with his stuff. His university is a little over an hour from home and I booked the taxi for £140!

Well, the more we are packing his essential stuff to take to university, the more we are realising that a regular car would not be big enough. 

My girlfriends suggested that I search Shpock, Gumtree, and eBay for A MAN WITH A VAN. Sure enough, I found one who would do the job for £70. Not only that, he would help us to unpack and wait for one hour, then take me back to Birmingham! I can testify that shopping around is actually a good thing to do before deciding.

Meal planning

In order to cut down on food waste, we decided that we would not send any money on groceries this week and next week. Instead, we are eating from what we already have in the fridge, freezer, and cupboards. I usually find that some of the best meals are made with odd bits of what we already have in. For example, a little cooked rice in the fridge can be used with a few other ingredients to make an awesome and delicious egg fried rice or chicken fried rice

. 

This is one of the meals e have planned and will shop for on the next episode of the channel 5 show we are on. Hope you get a chance to see Shop Smart, Save Money.

We are learning a lot too, from Kelly of Reduced Grub and money-saving expert Andy Webb.

So next time you have some leftover cooked rice, remember to cool it down properly and freeze or refrigerate it.

Warning: cooked rice is a high-risk food that can cause food poisoning if not stored appropriately so do be careful.

Set up my eBay account

I’ve been seeing so many posts about people selling on eBay recently! I figure I must be missing out, especially since my move, and my son going off to university, we have so much to declutter. 

I have donated a lot to the High street charity shops but I’ve kept some back to try to sell on eBay. 

I’m expecting some challenges as I start out but I think I know enough people who are selling on eBay so I should be okay to get some help. My aim is to use the money from any eBay sale to clear off my mortgage so that I will become totally debt-free.

I’ll make sure to update you on my progress.

Free stuff

The postman/woman must be wondering what we are up to as they deliver so much free stuff to us every day! We get so much by just signing up to websites online and doing online surveys. 

Recently I got two £5 vouchers from Amazon for just uploading my food shop receipt to an app called SHOP MY EATS.

My best survey sites continue to be QMEE and Prolific where I’ve earned close to £100 which I transfer straight to my PayPal account as soon as I get it.

My biggest freebies came this week from my goody bag I got at the BlogonToys conference I attended in Manchester last week. I have lots to give away and won’t need to buy any little child’s toy in a while!

 

So, the next time you hear from me, I shall have an empty nest, I would have finished filming in Leeds and York, and hopefully, have some eBay sales to tell you about. Whatever we do, it will still be with our frugal agenda in mind.

I’m linking up with  Cass, Emma, and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky.

What do you do to keep up with the frugal agenda? Any decluttering? How about starting to sell your unwanted stuff on eBay or Shpock? If you have some experience and can give me some tips, I’d be only too happy to hear them. Do let me know your thoughts in the comment box below.