Five frugal things we’ve done this fortnight:

Thank goodness for a gloriously sunny bank holiday weekend! It was great to sit in my new garden in the sunshine (and crack on with weeding). Our lawnmower broke on the first outing, but there’s a plan afoot to fix it with spare parts, so let’s see if that makes it into the next instalment!

Here’s what we’ve done these past two weeks to keep things light and thrifty.

Lots and lots of mending

I noticed that one of my husband’s favourite jumpers was starting to spring holes like it was turning into a shower head. He wears it a lot, so I’ll admit that I just looked at the holes for a while thinking, “I’d better do something about that…” but of course I did nothing.

Then one day I gathered the jumper as well as one of my tops in need of repair and darned them all. I felt quite pleased with myself until I was presented with a pair of trousers that I’d sewn up last year that had yet another huge rip in it.

I thought it should be thrown out but Lord Balders pleaded for its life, so they live on as work trousers.

Combining trips to save on petrol

Last time I mentioned that we’d bought a new car. It’s lots of fun and we love having a convertible in the nice weather, but man, it uses a lot more fuel! After our move we have to do a lot more driving as well, so we’re being extra cautious to plan our trips and combine them so as to avoid going out more often than necessary.

In practice this means that the school run and supermarket shopping/in town errands are combined. It’s a simple change that means being a bit more prepared and thoughtful about our driving.

DIY car repairs and another trip to the scrap yard

Ok, so we only just got it, but the new car needed a bit of looking after almost straight away. This is one of the inevitable risks with older cars, but my husband is absolutely determined to do as much of the repairs as he possibly can himself.

This meant a bit of YouTubing and a trip to the scrap yard, where he’s been a regular! I was amazed at the result and the fact that he also picked up a spare wheel and tyre for very little money.

Powdered milk to the rescue…

Strange but true. I was feeling fancy when I took some (free) instant coffee to work to keep in my locker, but I could never remember to take a small bottle of milk with me as well. When I did, I forgot it in the office fridge and I realised that my memory was always going to betray me, no matter what my intentions were.

The solution? I finally found some powdered milk in the supermarket. Now, it doesn’t taste the same as fresh milk, but then instant coffee doesn’t taste the same as fresh coffee, so it’s all a compromise. For lightning-fast coffee breaks in between jobs, both convenience solutions fit the bill and save me money on buying hot drinks from the café.

Entertaining the kids at home

I thoroughly enjoyed my bank holiday weekend – it also helped that we managed to successfully plan a hangout at our house for Little Balders and four of his friends. Taking teenage boys out for entertainment can be horrendously expensive, can’t it? Setting up an assault course in our garden did the trick and we all had a good time.

Over to you…

What are your frugal achievements this week? Let me know 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.