Haulternative - recent charity shop finds

(NB - firstly, I just want to say that, although these charity shop buys would not break the rules of my Buy Nothing New Challenge, I bought them in January.  I'd decluttered enough stuff to fill up a couple of charity donation bags, and I felt a bit rubbish with a cold, so I treated myself...!)

So let's jump in:

First up, there's a T-shirt from George (Asda) for £1.25 at Cancer Research.  I live in T-shirts and jeans, so an extra tee never goes amiss, especially at that price. 

Next, a new cotton facecloth for 50p, also Cancer Research.  For a long time, muslin cloths have been the thing, but actually, I prefer an proper old-fashioned facecloth.  I've noticed that hotels are more likely to provide them with the towels these days, so maybe they're having a bit of a comeback.

Then I got a bracelet and a necklace for 99p each from the Salvation Army shop.  I've noticed they've put their prices up quite a bit, especially in the trinket and ornament department.  These two didn't have price tags, but the lady at the till just asked for 99p each for them, which was fine by me.

Here's a closer pic of them:

The bracelet has a casual, summery feel, and the little charms are extra cute. I haven't worn it yet as it doesn't feel right with long sleeves and wintery layers.  I've worn the necklace a couple of times, though - it's really delicate and pretty. 

Next, I got a book about houseplants, also 99p from the Salvation Army.  I need more plants in my life, and this is a good place to start. 

And finally.... a gorgeous little penguin!  (£2.99 from Oxfam, for the record.)

OK, I don't actually need a penguin ornament, but I couldn't walk out without him.  The lady at the till was not best pleased - she'd had her eye one him, and was hoping he wouldn't find his way out to the shop floor.  Too bad - he's mine!

(And the Buy Nothing New Challenge? I've had a blip, but not a terrible one.  I'll let you know how it's going in my first update, which will be on its way very soon...!)

Frugal January - low-cost things to do this month

I'm still low-spending this January, but not no-spending just yet.  Partly, this is because the sales can be invaluable for picking up things like clothing essentials, and other bits and pieces I might need to replace.  Also, there are a couple of family birthdays in January and February, and unfortunately, I'm not organised enough to sort out presents and cards in advance. 

Nonetheless, here are a handful of low or no-spend things I like to do this month:

Savings

I don't find January to be a conducive time for any major reviews of my financial situation.  However, these are two small saving methods I use to give me a sense of control over my money after the Christmas expenses: 

1) Saving £2 coins.  You don't get all that many £2 coins in your change, so when I get one, I put it in my little old-fashioned piggy bank.  Clearly, if I get given a fistful of them, I won't save then all at once, but the odd one here and there adds up.  At the minute, I have £30 or so in £2 coins in the pig, and it's really good to have a little slush fund in the house for small emergencies. 

2) Saving a pound a day.  This is just a small fund that I restart each January, so that the following January, I'll have a little lump sum of £365 to spend in the sales, or for paying off the bills.  Basically, it's a standing order for £7 a week to a savings account that I don't touch all year, or use for any other purpose. 

The great thing is that this method really demotivates me from mindless spending.  For example, I might want to spend, for the sake of argument, 70p on a bag of crisps.  In the back of my mind, I know that if I spend that money, I'll have pretty much blown my savings for the day.  Often, this is enough to motivate me not to spend the money, so it can be an effective little deterrent. 

(If £1 a day is too much, then make it 50p a day, or £3.50 a week - you will still end up with £182.50 each January.  Or basically any amount that you won't miss day to day.) 

Audit what I have and use it

In other words, I make a list of the stuff I already have to hand - for example, the books in the house I haven't read, or the DVDs I haven't watched - and I make time to get through them.  It's also a good time to round up all the unfinished projects that are kicking about, and decide whether to get on with them or let them go.  By this, I mean creative things like the lino-cut set I bought after attending a day course.  I haven't used it, which suggests I'm not going to, but it's good to set time aside and make a decision.  If I decide that I'm not going to pursue something, I'll pass it on to somebody who will.  (And make a note to self to think more carefully about taking on these projects in the first place...)

Catch up with friends

Before Christmas, we often put pressure on ourselves to catch up with as many people as we can.  But seeing them in January is just as valid, and often less stressful as well.  It doesn't need to cost much, maybe just a coffee out, or a drink after work. 

That said, I haven't quite managed to see anybody yet, as I've had a bad cold/virus thing for around two weeks now.  But if you haven't been struck down with the New Year plague, it's lovely to see people in January, and it gives some focus and structure to the month.

And finally

If some new make-up would light up the month for you, don't forget to enter my cruelty-free and vegan beauty giveaway - either scroll down, or find it here.  Good luck!

Frugal January - shopping sustainably at Approved Food

I may have swerved the traditional setting of resolutions this New Year, but I haven't been able to avoid the annual tightening of the purse strings.  Last year was a more expensive one than usual, not least as both my parents turned 80 and so some celebrating was in order.  So this year, I want to get the spending back down, and get my savings up again. 

One way I save some money on groceries is by shopping at Approved Food.  I usually place an order every few months, and I can thoroughly recommend them.   Before we dive in, I just want to say that I have no affiliation at all with Approved Food - I just enjoy using them, and wanted to share.

If you've never come across Approved Food before, they're an online company who sell food and drink that is past its 'best before' date at a discounted price.  They also seem to buy up discontinued lines, and you can even find items that are still within date. 

If you sign up for their regular email, you'll be forgiven for thinking that they mostly stock junky snack food and sugary drinks.  But dig deeper, and you'll find a surprising number of more eco-friendly and cruelty-free products on their virtual shelves.  Arguably, by consuming any products that would otherwise go to landfill, you'll be shopping more sustainably.   However, these are some of the more 'conscious' products I picked up this time...

1) Fourpure Session IPA (this brand is new to me, but they seem to have good sustainability credentials) 2) Biona organic chopped tomatoes 3) Crazy Jack organic soft figs 4) Village Green Preserves Sweet Sesame & Date Spread (vegan) 5) The Wild Peanut I'm Bananas peanut butter (also new to me - contains honey, so not vegan :( but palm oil free, and the company supports Tree Aid).

6) Dorset Cereals mueslis, including their organic version - I eat lots of muesli, so I bought several boxes. 

7) Dr Kargs organic seeded spelt crackers  8) Suma organic brown rice  9)  Granovita organic vegetable stock cubes  10) Maclean's oatcakes (not organic, but palm oil free).

11) Cliff bars (these are my cycling energy bars)  12)  9 Bars 13)  Deliciously Ella cacao and almond energy balls 14) Pulsin bars (vegan protein bars).

15) Hippeas organic chickpea puffs (vegan) 16) Yushoi baked pea snacks (vegan) 17) Clearspring organic rice crackers & organic tamari roasted soya beans (both vegan).

The average saving is around 50% on the full price, and I have found everything I've bought from Approved Food to be really good quality.  Occasionally, I'll get something that I find I don't like, but that's just personal taste.  I'm planning a no-spend couple of months this February and March, so this lot will keep me going for quite a while!

I didn't buy any toiletries this time, but I have previously spotted brands such as Weleda, Dermalogica, Beauty Without Cruelty and Natracare, so it's always worth a look in the Health section. 

Have you tried Approved Food?  If so, what did you think of them?

5 more things I've stopped buying

In no particular order, here are a few more things I've cut back my spending on:

1)  Dry cleaning

Ages ago, I splashed out on an expensive pair of work trousers which were dry-clean only.  I liked how they looked, so I wore them a lot.  When I realised I'd spent just as much money on the dry-cleaning as the trousers cost in the first place, that was that.  No more.  Now I only choose machine or hand washable clothes, and even then, the hand washable stuff goes in the machine too.  (For the record, I've had very few, if any mishaps, with the hand-wash items.)

2) Fabric conditioner

My mum never used fabric conditioner when I was growing up, and so it has just never occurred to me that it's necessary.  It's also pretty bad for towels, making their fibres less absorbent, as my partner's Dad has found out through years of dedicated fabric conditioning.  I quite like a rough towel - saves money on exfoliators!

3) Micro-fibre cloths

One of the hardest things about trying to live a more planet-friendly life is finding out that a product you've switched to in good faith is actually harmful to the environment.  Micro-fibre cloths are firmly in the frame here.  They are marketed as being eco-friendly because they lessen the need for cleaning products.  Which is fine as far as it goes, but it turns out that synthetic fibres are a serious environmental problem.  I've therefore purchased my last micro-fibre cloth, and will stop using the ones I already have.

4) Regular subscription boxes

I used to get both the lifestyle and the beauty subscription boxes from The Vegan Kind, but I've cancelled both of them.  Not because I didn't love receiving them - I did - but I ended up with more products than I could get through before the next box arrived.  The beauty products, that is - the snacks disappeared pretty quickly. 

I also tried out a couple of subscription meal boxes from the Mindful Chef, but decided it was something I could live without.  The meals were delicious, and the ingredients were fresh and great quality.  But the packaging...

It was too much.  Just look at this lot!  At the front of the pic is a teaspoon of paprika in a plastic tub, and a glass jar of mustard.  As a keen cook, I already have full-sized jars of paprika and mustard, so I just didn't need these.  I've kept the recipe cards they sent, but I'll be buying the ingredients myself, at a fraction of the cost. 

5)  Magazine subscriptions

I haven't kicked the magazine habit altogether, but I don't get subscriptions anymore.  Not least as they all come in clear plastic bags.  If there was an option to have magazines delivered in paper envelopes, I'd probably go for that.  But until then...no thanks!

What are you saving on?

Thrifted Thursday - recent frugal charity shop finds

As an antidote to Black Friday, and on a different day, here are my recent finds from my local charity shops.  It's a little home wares haul this time, and all the pieces are already being loved and used in my house. 

Even with charity shop visits, I have started a process of not buying something I like there and then.  Regardless of how inexpensive it might be, it's still a waste of money if you buy on impulse, and that item just becomes another unit of clutter.  So I spotted all these items on the first trip round the shops, but left it till the next day to go back and buy them. 

This way, if I've forgotten about something I've seen, then I can't have wanted it that badly in the first place.  If an item has been sold by the time I get back to the shop, then the decision is taken out of my hands.  If I go back in search of something, and it's still there, and I'm sure I'll use/enjoy it, then I'll go ahead and buy my thrifty little treasures. 

So this time round, I got:

1) A couple of plant pots.  Their simple, minimal designs caught my eye, and they were under £2 each. 

2) A ceramic pot with a lid, which says Le Bain on the front.  As the name suggests, I've put it to use in the bathroom, to store cotton buds and cotton face pads. It cost £3.

3) The candle dish that the red candle is sitting on, which was £1.

4) And finally, a plate, originally from M&S, for £3.99.  I loved this complex peacock pattern at first sight, and I'm using it as a decorative item rather than as a dinner plate.  It would do as a serving plate if I was ever to find myself in need of making canapés available to guests (not something that happens very often...).

So that's my haul.  No Black Friday stress, no need to trouble the overdraft, and I've given a little bit of cash to charity into the bargain.  It's all good...!

My frugal week

This is not a finance blog, and I am no genius with money, but I do like to cut costs.  To me, being frugal is about cutting down on unnecessary spending wherever possible in order to channel it into the things that count.  For example, it is not important to me to drive an expensive new car, so my partner and I share his old Rover hatchback.  It's around 14 years old now, but it does everything we need it to do.  I prefer to spend money on good quality food, beauty products, books, things that I really enjoy. 

So this week, I have:

1) Switched my home insurance provider and saved £241 on last year's premium.  (A saving this big suggests I should have sorted this long before the renewal date, but at least it's done now.)

2) Booked my flights home to see my folks for Christmas whilst the prices are still fairly low.  I got a return flight with Easyjet for £110 from Newcastle to Belfast, which isn't bad.  I could have got a cheaper price, but the flight times were good.  I don't buy any extras, and I take only a cabin bag, so that all helps to keep the costs down. 

3) Bought a pair of jeans from a charity shop for £5! Why pay more!

Things I've stopped buying - minimalism

I love reading blog posts on this subject.  I've been trying to cut down on my spending and acquiring over the last couple of years, so I thought I'd have a round up of the things I buy a lot less of...

1) Stuff whilst travelling

I used to have quite a habit of buying unnecessary things whilst travelling.  By this I mean things like:getting a chocolate bar when paying for petrol, or from a vending machine whilst waiting for a train; getting snacks on the train; buying stuff (mostly make-up) at the airport; buying souvenirs on holiday; buying something on the airport on the way back from holiday (often a bottle of unusually flavoured alcohol that would never be finished).  Somehow, travelling would be an excuse for spending money and treating myself - even if I wasn't going very far at all.  Now, I will still get something to eat or drink if I really need it, but I've cut down on the superfluous bits and pieces.

2) Clothes

For many years, clothes shopping was the thing I did at the weekend, or at lunchtimes, or whenever, really.  I've cut down at lot on my purchasing, and done a lot of decluttering.  To the point where I almost don't have enough to wear anymore... As a result, I need to rethink and update my wardrobe a bit, but this will make a post of its own...

3) Bits and pieces for the house

Or knick-knacks, as my friend used to call my choice of home decor.  I've moved house quite a few times, and even though it is stressful, one of the things I've always liked was seeing my (soon to be former) home look so clean and calm once I'd packed away all the clutter.  So I've decided that I want to create that clean, calm environment without moving out, and accumulating fewer home wares really helps. 

4) Hair dye

I may not cut this out for ever, but lately, I've not got round to dying my hair for a while, and as a result the greys are showing through.  However, in a surprise move, friends started to complement me on my natural colour!  I was surprised, but pretty pleased, so I've left my hair uncoloured for now...

5) Flavoured teas and coffees

I like to try different foods and flavours, and so I've often tried unusually flavoured teas and coffees.  Eventually, though, I realised that I don't really like them that much.  Mostly, it's the idea of them I like, rather than the actual hot drink once it's in front of me.  So now, I just stick to the plain tea and coffee brands that I know I like.  It saves money, and saves me palming off that strange fruit tea on somebody that doesn't really want it either.

There are a lot more things I've cut back on, these were just the ones that sprang readily to mind...

Charity shop mini-haul

Another mini-haul! I've noticed that a lot of charity shops are charging much higher prices than they used to.  Of course they have to make money for the charity, but when they start to charge the same as it would cost to buy things new, it gets a bit much.  Recently, I've seen things like cafetieres for around £10!  It's not really an incentive to buy second hand if you can buy new for about the same money.

Set against that, my local RSPCA charity shop likes to keep its prices down, and I picked up these little bargains on my last trip there.

1) A piece of fabric, £1.  The colours are so vivid, and it's going to be big enough to make a great shopping bag.
2) A little compact Denman brush/mirror, 20p.  I travel quite a lot for work, and this is a really dinky little brush that I can keep in my travel bag, all ready to go.
3) Food for Free, by Richard Mabey, £1.49.  This is a book about foraging for food, including plants, fungi and seaweed.  I'm kind of nervous about foraging, so I'll avoid mushrooms for now, but I want to give it a go with the non-fungi items. 


Food for Free was published in 1972, but is still in print, and has been updated with more colour illustrations.  The original has lovely little drawings of the plants, although I'd still want to cross-reference with another source before eating anything, just to be sure...

 

This is the little Denman brush opened out, complete with mirror.