Frugal Fridays and other stuff!

I did wonder if I would struggle to compile a list of 5 things I’ve done this week to try and save money, here’s my efforts 😀

1. I’ve stuck to the meal plan everyday.

This worked mainly because I was organised enough to get everything I needed ready in advance, I’m notoriously bad for freezing food that’s getting close to its use by date and then forgetting to get it out in time to use it for a meal I’ve planned later on. 

 This Meal plan is stuck on the fridge so everyone can see what’s going on and also so I can check in advance to see if I need to get anything out to defrost.

I used a free printable and laminated it so we can write on it with dry wipe pens if we need to.

2. I switched supermarkets

Since mid March when everything changed with how we shop I’ve been doing a weekly grocery shop at Asda and spending a fortune, I need to buy enough food to feed 6 people Monday-Friday and an extra adult on the weekends, I was using the scan and go service at Asda so I could see how much I was spending as I went round, my bills were always around £135-£155 each  week, my budget previous to this was £400 each month, so I’d upped it by quite a lot, this morning I went to Aldi, took a list and lowered my budget back down to £100, I do usually have quite a bit in already, pasta, rice and store cupboard stuff. 

Here’s this week’s receipts

As Aldi didn’t have a few things I needed I popped into Lidl on the way back, the bill here was increased slightly as I had both of my Daughters with me and they were tempted by the in store bakery.

I also popped into Sainsbury’s for dog food as our spaniel has a grain free diet and is also very fussy, so we stick to the same food for him, whilst there I also picked up a few offers, a cheese grater and an oven dish which I won’t count in my total as it’s obviously not food. 

£98.42 in total - which is pretty close! 

3. Checked the offers on my Boots Advantage Card.

I don’t usually bother with the offers on my Boots Advantage care as they are usually for things I would never buy, but a good one appeared this week so I took them up on it! 

We all take multi-vitamins and supplements, I always buy the Energy gummies from Boots and they were offering 50% off plus 3 for 2 so £30 for 9 tubs (6 for me, 3 for My oldest daughter) Just not too happy about the amount of plastic!!!

4. Using up what’s in the cupboards

Whilst clearing out the cupboards I found this tub of Special K hiding at the back, I can’t face eating much in the mornings as I leave for work quite early, I decided to use this up before buying anything else for Breakfast.

5. I’m most proud of...

Somehow I’ve managed to walk past H&M Home every day this week on my way home from work, I’ve been so tempted to go in ‘just for a Look’ which would almost certainly end in a purchase of something I don’t need but really love.

3 Eco Friendly Things

I don’t know if this is a thing or not, but in addition to my 5 Frugal things I’d like to also try and ‘do’ some environmentally friendly things each week, again I’m not sure if I’ll struggle with this but I’m going to try! 

1. I was a bit disappointed this week, I’d ordered some cleaning products from the brand Miniml and was very excited to try them, when they arrived they were all in plastic bottles which I’ve been making an effort to avoid, plus one had leaked all over the others. The photos on the website showed all the bottles as glass and my plan had been to refill these and eventually recycle them.

Can you guess which one leaked? 

I did contact the company I purchased them from, 

The Cleaning Cabinet who were great and offered to send me a different product without plastic - the ocean saver pictured here, to replace the leaked one and also apologised for the plastic as they’d simply used the images provided from the manufacturer. 

2. My workplace have taken away all the crockery and cutlery in the offices due to Covid-19, they have provided disposable stuff for us but it’s not something I like to do, I took my own in and keep them in my drawer so I don’t have to use the disposable ones.

       

KeepCup make some really nice reusable coffee cups and as my one is glass I can use it for both hot and cold drinks! 

The spork is from Light My Fire Spork and I bought this about five years ago when we visited The centre for alternative Technology  in Machynlleth.

Lastly I finally got hold of an ecoegg Laundry Egg, it was £7.99 and I’ve wanted to try one of these for a

Long time and I haven’t been disappointed, so far I’ve only used it on a white wash, it’s supposed to last for 70 washes so I’ll try and make a note and see if it does.

Sheep 😀