Five Frugal Things we did this Week

The first thing we did was park one of the cars on the driveway and decide not to drive it until we get paid again. There is plenty of petrol in the other car, whereas the little one is almost out of fuel. This way we only need to buy a single tank of fuel for each car once a month.

The second thing we did was travel into London all week at off peak times and avoid Zone 1, this makes the daily commute cost £5.80, much cheaper than driving or the cost of taking the direct route at peak time which would be £14 a day.

The third thing was we bought a few items to stockpile, tinned tomatoes at 4 tins for £1, so 25p a tin as opposed to 33p for the cheapest own brand. If they are still on offer next week I shall buy some more as this is the cheapest they ever get. Also corn oil at £5 for 5 litres whereas normal price if £6.49 for 5 litres.

The fourth thing was to ask Miss Shoestring to sort out the muddle with our LoveFilm subscription, this costs us £7.99 a month and we watch about 8-10 films a month for that. Sorting out the muddle meant that this went back to being a gift to us rather than us paying for it.

The fifth thing was we checked our pension forecast online and Mr Shoestring was delighted to discover that he will qualify for a state pension as long as he goes on paying national insurance for another 7 years. We have big gaps in our contributions because of all the voluntary work we did so this was a big boost in terms of saving for early retirement.

What frugal things did you do this week ?