Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 2018 - March

Over the course of time, I am gradually getting better at spending less, although some months are better than others.  Working almost two full weeks during March helped this somewhat, as it kept me out of shops other than one splurge visit to TKMAXX and the CS itself, of course, but I haven't really seen much in the shop lately that has tempted me. Getting outside and working on the allotment and garden has also helped minimise spending this month too.

I'm trying hard not to be repetitive in these posts, repeating things I post on my Earn/Save £2018 in 2018 challenge, so I'm not posting actual money saving measures here that I post in that challenge, instead I'll be concentrating on other frugal measures here that maybe didn't earn me money, but stopped me spending any.

Freebies and Frugal Measures

1) OH and I bagged up lots of free compost from the park to put on the allotment to enrich the soil.

2) I managed to fully sow the raised beds in the garden with seeds I already had, so didn't need to go out and buy any this spring, save for one pack of bean seeds.

3) I received some more money off weekly shop vouchers from Tesco, to help with next month's food budget.

4) I bagged up all the fallen leaves on the decking in the garden, to rot down into leaf mould over the remainder of the year.  I use these once broken down to enrich the soil in our raised beds and borders over the winter.  I've done this for the past couple of years and it all helps to make the soil more productive and costs nothing.

5) I acquired a pallet from my next door neighbours, to make a small decking area at the allotment.  This will save buying more pavers to do the same job.

6) I found a big black plastic plant tub on the street whilst out on a dog walk this month, which came home with me and will be very useful to pot on plants into at some point.  It even has handles to facilitate moving it around when it's full of compost, which is a bonus.


Frugal Fails

1) I bought lots of bulbs to put in the garden late last year, as I wanted to enjoy some colour this spring.  However, due to all the inclement weather and just being generally busy at work, I never got around to planting them and when I got them out of the cupboard this month, some of them had just rotted away to dust. What a waste!  Anyway, I did plant the ones that seemed okay, but the proof will be in the growing.

2) I did the same as above with my potato seeds and they sent off great long shoots that have probably diminished their productiveness, so I ended up buying some fresh ones to sow in the allotment.  I may try growing the old ones in some sort of containers in the back garden, rather than throw them away.