Five frugal things we’ve done this week:

It’s been a good week, actually – busy, but good.

Little Balders is back with us after a month visiting his father, and school has started, so we’re falling back into our routines with a little bump. Here’s what we’ve done on the money-savvy side this week!

Replacement wine glasses

Somehow over the last year we managed to break every single wine glass we owned. It didn’t really matter much as I’m the only one in the house who likes wine, but the last time we had guests over it did get a bit weird when we had to offer them a choice between whiskey tumblers and these ridiculously small glasses that I accidentally bought on Amazon four years ago –

Trust me, they are tiny… Now, the listing says “shot glass”, but it didn’t when I bought them!

Anyway, I found 4 very elegant wine glasses on sale in Asda for £9 altogether, but I think they look much pricier.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BY3vPyXgVab/

Super slow diesel-saving motorway travel

Because of breaking down on the way home from work a few weeks ago (see the breakdown cover section below for that story), Lord Balders has been understandably concerned about taking our clapped-out car to Birmingham and back to pick up Little Balders.

The solution was to drive at a top speed of 60mph, which saves fuel as well as saving our over-the-hill engine some stress. Did it work? It was great for fuel consumption, but see more below!

More McDonald’s wombling pays off

Having a break for a free cappuccino after that three-hour drive was totally necessary. So yes, I will collect those coffee bean stickers… and seeing as I found a filled coffee loyalty card in a supermarket car park not long before, I call that free drink a wombling win!

Breaking down… and getting going!

Our current car seems to want to put one wheel in the grave and keep it there, but we keep on bringing it back from the edge.

On the way back from Birmingham we actually did break down, and found ourselves on an awkward bit of the motorway hard shoulder.

I thought that was it; thank goodness for that 49p breakdown cover! But my husband was not taking it lying down: he got it going by topping up the water with the bottles he keeps in the boot for just such occasions. I was amazed. I guess it just shows how far you can get by strapping a car together with duct tape and wishes.

Free money tree starter plant 🙂

I go through stages of taking cuttings from plants and going full-on crazy plant lady, and then when the plants all grow to triffid proportions I wig out and realise I can’t fit them all into my house.

Well anyhoo, I happened to spot a money tree plant in our local Chinese takeaway, which we decided on visiting as a post-Birmingham-run reward. (It’s a treat we sometimes schedule to take the sting out of the full day of driving.)

https://instagram.com/p/BYltg_XAbFO

Knowing that one of the fallen leaves will self-root where it falls on soil, I saw the chance for a free plant, and yes, I did ask the lady in the takeaway if I could have it. She said yes 🙂

Over to you…

What frugal things have you done this week? Share yours in the comments below!

I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Fabulously Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky.