Frugal Things W/E 30th July 2022

I didn't post a Frugal Things post last week, as most of the frugal things I did were already covered in my weekly post and it would have just been too repetitive. This week, however, I've not actually posted a weekly blog post, so instead, here's what I've done to keep life simple and keep costs down:

I placed a large order with Big Green Smile for eco toiletry/household products that we needed. It was expensive at nearly £60, but included 2 x 5l bottles (of toilet cleaner and washing up liquid), 2 x facial serums, citric acid, bicarb of soda, dental floss, degradable bin liners and an XL 100 pack of dishwasher tabs.  Two of these larger items were 20% off, so I saved £6 on these alone and I also qualified for free delivery and two free skincare samples, which are not to be sniffed at. These items should keep us going for a while. I make a large order such as this maybe twice per year, but I think it does save us money and definitely saves on plastic waste in relation to the 5l bottles at least.

I cut up a couple of t-shirts into dish cloths. I was going to give them to the Charity shop, but decided that they would probably only recycle them, so I decided to do so myself and benefit from them.

As mentioned in another post, I tried to concentrate on using up what we had in the cupboards and the freezer this week. This helped to keep the shopping list shorter than usual, and the cost of the weekly shop to a minimum.

I had another £10 voucher to spend at Lidl this week, via LidlPlus, on account of shopping there every week and having spent £200 so far this month.  I find this scheme does truly reward loyalty as you don't have to spend a certain amount to use the voucher. This helped me to stretch the budget this week, which was useful, as it was the last week of the month and there was very little money left.  In the end, the shop cost me just £31, which is the least it has cost me in I really don't know how long. 

I went to two over 50's sessions at the local Leisure Centre this week, both costing just £2, one was a gym session and one an aerobics class, which meant I did two sessions for half the cost of my previous one weekly class. The Free classes have finished now until September, so I'll continue to go and pay £2 each time, which is great value, until they resume. I'm really enjoying doing different types of exercise too, with more emphasis on core and strength work.

I mended one of a pair of Ralph Lauren earrings that I'd bought LB for her birthday, as the stone had fallen out. They should be perfectly fine again now. 

I picked another bag of brambles or blackberries on a dog walk this week. I didn't make jam out of these, they were frozen and will be used for smoothies or puddings as and when. I also froze lots of surplus tomatoes and courgettes this week. The freezer is fast filling up.

I didn't visit any shops where I'd be tempted to spend money. I'm getting much better at this as time goes on. I can't say I miss buying things, as we seem to have everything we need already.