Five frugal things we’ve done this fortnight:

Things have changed dramatically over the week surrounding the new year: we arranged a sale for our house!

It’s a very interesting story that I’ll probably have to expand on later, but in the last few days we’ve done our mortgage application and put almost everything else on hold until this bit’s sorted. Here’s what we’ve been up to over the last two weeks:

Bought a replacement oven

We needed to replace the oven that we broke, and we paid for it in part with that Zeek credit from Quidco I mentioned from last week. The discount wasn’t great after the 30p fee, but it was still a discount, and of course, cashing out in Zeek credit meant that we got more money than we would have if we just got the cash.

Won an eBay auction for a DSLR camera!

I’ve been lamenting my photography skills for a long, long time now. As it was on my wish list, and January’s the time we shop, I decided to finally go for it and get a DSLR camera, but from eBay. I reckoned that lots of people would be trading in their older models after getting a new one as a present, and I was right.

I did a heck of a lot of research to figure out which one I wanted, and after missing out on a heck of a lot of listings, I settled on a Sony α A58. I was so happy to win it – it was within my budget and I’m looking forward to learning how to use it.

Compared conveyancing solicitors

After our offer was accepted on the house we want to buy, we had to appoint a solicitor. The estate agents had been pushing their recommended firm, but we decided to get a couple of quotes and quickly settled on the solicitors we had used to buy our current home, two years ago. They were cheap and got the job done!

Made my first Etsy sale

I was so happy to have made my first sale on Etsy, but to be honest my head was swimming with having to prep for the mortgage appointment and then having to get over the grilling I received during it. Aaargh! But with a bit of distance behind me, I’m so pleased to see something I made wing its way to a new home.

Some friends helped fit our new oven

After taking our kids to a local trampoline park (ok, we took ourselves too), we all came back to our house for some nibbles and a brew. Our very kind friends came prepared to help us fit our new oven, which works like a dream! I’m looking forward to finally being able to bake cakes and muffins over the next few weeks before it (here’s hoping) becomes someone else’s oven.

Yay!

Over to you…

Done anything frugal this week? Share it below!

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