Drinks cartons vs bottles

I worked out recently that I was spending about £67 per year on drinks cartons for my children packed lunches. I was buying a value brand so compared to the cost of some cartons this was probably cheap.  However I decided to 'splash out' on 2 small bottles of fizz. The children were happy as we don't often have fizzy drinks and I was able to re-use the bottles in their lunch boxes. I either refill them with water or squash which costs pennies, saving myself a few £s in the process.

Spending money...if you have to!

There are times, of course when money has to be spent. On birthdays, household appliances etc etc. try using quidco.com . It has saved our family around £250 since we started using it on things we had to buy anyway. It is so nice when they pay money into your bank account!

Frugal postage

When I needed to post a letter or card the old me used to grab a book of stamps at the supermarket.  This used to cost me an arm and a leg, particularly as 2nd class stamps are now 50p each.  What I do now is walk to the local Post Office and buy 1 stamp.  This is doubly beneficial as I get a bit of exercise walking through a park to get there and I only spend a few pennies.

Fitness

Rather than pay out for yet another gym membership that goes unused I have found some great free apps on my tablet.  There are yoga, Pilates, workouts and many more free of charge.  Of course on some of them there is the option of buying further workouts but you don't have to.  So I can do these workouts free of charge at a time that suits me.

Sewing repairs

So, the old me would have thrown my sons old PJs away and bought another pair. But...the new me got her needle and thread out and mended them.  My son loves his comfy old PJs and was really happy to have them back without a hole in them:-)

Frugal tea and coffee

Not the most exciting blog photo I know but...today dear reader I searched out my old flask.  When I am at home, or indeed in my car driving around at work I will stop for a frugal drink.  By filling the flask up first thing in the morning I will have enough boiling water to last me a day.  No more boiling and re-boiling the kettle, and no more stopping at coffee shops to pay £2.50 for a coffee.

'Instant' porridge pot

So the photo doesn't really do this yummy porridge any favours, however this is my frugal take on the little pre-made porridge pots that cost around £1 each. I used a little lidded pot that I already had and added about 3 tablespoons of instant porridge.  To that I added a couple of teaspoons of dried milk powder and a handful of dried cranberries that I found hiding at the back of the pantry.  I poured over some boiling water, put the lid on and went off to potter for a few minutes.  When I came back a lovely creamy porridge with soft cranberries was there for me.  Tasty and frugal!