Friday Frugal Five

So it's Friday, and after I finished work, I pondered what to put in a blog update. And I got to thinking about how (yet again) this blog is supposed to be about frugality and it could do with an occasional dose of frugality news!

So here are five frugal things I've done lately.

1. I ate from my freezer. This isn't always frugal just by itself - but the reason I have food in there definitely is. Everything in my freezer is yellow stickered, or bought in bulk, or is leftovers. While I am very fortunate to get a lot of food for free, it doesn't matter why your freezer is full, it matters that you did it to save money. So that might be from cooking a double-batch of spaghetti sauce, from freezing your broccoli stems, from stashing those 10p bags of diced carrots, or from simply not buying a takeaway tonight.

2. I delayed my laundry. I have a lot of clothes - more than I need actually - and I also have a lot of work uniforms. Plus a good supply of socks and undergarments. Waiting until my washing machine will actually be full, saves me money. I have even been known to hand wash a couple of pairs of socks so that I can wait an extra two days, but some people would call that extreme! - you do you.

3. I played what I have. No new games for me. I already have so many, and when I get tired of the one I'm playing now, I'll just look through the rest of my stash.

4. I watched online shows. I don't have a tv license and I don't have a pay tv package, and hand on heart, it's very rare that I miss either of these things. I have a kind friend who lets me use their Netflix account and I've recently watched Bridgerton, Tiny Pretty Things and a bunch of documentaries and comedy shows. Even if I didn't have access to Netflix, the cool part of our tv license laws is that you are perfectly allowed to watch catchup on a laptop, phone or tablet, for anything except the BBC. If I ever did really and truly decide I needed live tv or the BBC, I would weigh up whether it would be worth the £13.13 cost per month (and I'd probably skip it).

5. I appreciated what I have. I bought myself an orchid two years ago and since then I have scored two more orchids from work which had dropped all their flowers. I often lust over the lovely plants outside my local major supermarket, but patience paid off and I have more than I need (and there's no space for any more!). Here's a photo of my "bought" orchid which is presently in glorious full bloom (maroon and pale pink flowers), and you can also see one of the freebies behind it to the left, recovered from near death and brave enough to put out a tiny second flush of two blooms (dusky pink).

While I don't really advocate spending money on "pretty things", if you like flowers then orchids are the cheapest, no-brainer option. This massive triple stem has been in flower for months and will probably last another few months yet, and once they're all gone, then it will flower all over again four months later. The plant cost me £8 and in two years this is its third round. It's definitely frugal when it comes to looking lovely and cheering up my window 😊 even if it does partly cover my view of the sea!