Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 4

This post my Frugal Fails have been pretty minor ones compared to my last post, but they are fails none the less. The first one being that I bought a multipack of Seaweed Crisps, lured by the ridiculously low number of calories each pack contains. (i.e. 22).  

I had tried an individual pack of these snacks some months back, but had forgotten why I didn't repurchase them, namely because I didn't really like them.  They taste a bit too much of the sea for my liking, so unfortunately that was £2 wasted. To soften the blow I donated them to the Food Bank as someone may be partial to them who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford them.

The second Frugal Fail was that I cancelled a gym class the day before we went away to Crete, as I didn't have the car to get there and it would have taken 2.5 hours to get there and back and do the class. As I had too many other things to do such as packing, etc. I decided to cancel.  The problem was, I didn't give at least 5 hours notice, so was hit with a £3 fee for late cancellation.  I wasn't pleased at this taxation on my gym membership, especially when my place was most likely taken by someone else anyway. I won't be doing it again, you can be sure of that.

The third Frugal Fail occurred when I did my weekly shop last week.  I bought  3 packs of coffee for OH as he had run out and wanted some from LIDL. When I got home I realised I'd been charged for 4 instead of three and it was too late to point out their error, so another £3 lost.  Very annoying.

On to the Freebies and Frugal Measures:

1) I've received a few dividend payments from the shares I bought the other month. They weren't for large sums, but every little helps. I'm intending to reinvest any dividends eventually when they total a sufficient amount with which to do so.

2)  The first issue of my new free magazine subscription came the other week.  I'm hoping it will help me make wiser financial decisions in the future.  I had a good read through and there's lots of interesting articles in there.

3) I received another 4 free packets of seeds with my Kitchen Garden monthly magazine subscription.  Choy Sum, Pak Choi, Mizuna and an edible wild flower mix.

4) I almost managed to keep within my total allocated budget for the month of April, bar about a £10 overspend.  I just hope I can do as well in future months.

5) Our holiday turned out to be a real bargain.  Our self catering apartment accommodation in Crete was lovely, the best we've had so far in Europe, and cost only £300 for a week, plus £375 for flights for the 3 of us. With reasonably careful spending, it turned out to be one of our cheapest holidays yet and we had super weather into the bargain.  Definite result here.  Thank you booking.com.

6) I got to the end of April having only spent £13 of my £75 M&S voucher, which means there's plenty left to help me through next month and hopefully beyond. This was great news, as it is such a relief to have something to fall back on at the end of the month when things get tight.

7) Finally, through Money Saving Expert, I managed to bag some free tickets to a Spin Cycling Festival at Olympia the week before OH's birthday and I'm hoping he can take a day off to go.  If I go with him, I could potentially buy him a birthday present there and it would be a nice day out for us.