Being Frugal, Me? Really?

I used to think of the word frugal and imagine someone who is tight and won’t spend money at all. I imagined someone living in rags…but the reality is this is so far from the truth. Being frugal is nothing to be ashamed of, and actually I am starting to embrace being frugal, why be embarrassed about saving money and spending it on the more important things? I will say right now that I am not completely frugal, and never will be. I like to spend money on things that I believe are worth the cost, like beds, shoes, cars and the house. But if there is a saving to be made on those high price items, then that’s even better, so maybe I am more frugal than I thought!

Growing up my mum always purchased things in the sales, she worked in retail so with her staff discount card and the blue cross sales, I always had the designer brands I so badly needed wanted. My mum would buy Christmas presents all year round when she spotted them, and this is something that I have always embraced since having children too. If I see something I think of my four kids will like, I buy it and stash it. I have a Christmas box on the go, and it’s slowly filling up with treats, some even from the January sales.

So when I saw the lovely Emma’s blog MumsSavvySavings, I decided it was time to reveal to the world all the frugal things I have been doing. Emma hosts a linky with Cass from FrugalFamily and Becky from FamilyBudgeting, so I have decided it was the perfect time!

So I have done Five Fabulous Frugal things this week…

1. I went foraging for Blackberries. I live in the deep Cotswolds, surrounded my beautiful countryside. As someone that came from a busy town, this is a real treat, and I have been dying to get my hands on some blackberries since I moved in last year. So I’ve literally spent the last few months looking for the best Blackberry bushes, watching them grow…this week I went to see if they were finally ready and they were!  I collected loads, but left plenty for other people too.                                   
2. I have been harvesting my crops I have grown in my allotment. I am so far from green fingered, I have killed many house plants. But since moving to a house with land, it has been a work in progress and a bit of trial and error! So this week I have….Sweetcorn! These have grown taller than me, and I am 5 foot! I also have so many Raspberry bushes, that I can’t keep up with picking!                                                                                                       
3. Collecting and eating my chickens eggs. I adore chicken keeping, my chickens are Burford Browns and Cotswold Legbars, and they are really awesome layers, laying on average 6 eggs a week each. As they lay so well, the eggs mount up quickly and I am forever giving them away to friends and family. But this week I have been using them for meals more, and even boiled 12 up to have as snacks and for sandwiches. 
4. I completed an online food shop. This is my first once since moving in a year ago, I live in the middle of nowhere with no shops and not even one takeaway delivers here. But I had a hunt around the supermarkets online, and found one does deliver to me, and it’s from a big store in Cheltenham, so lots of choice and less substitutions, yay. So why is this frugal you say, well I used good old Quidco and earned some cashback from getting my first delivery, and I was able to keep within a set budget, something I do not do when I pop to Aldi, I normally throw everything I see and like the look of into a trolley and don’t worry about the cost. But with four kids back to school this week, pennies are bit limited from having to buy uniforms for three different schools and an expensive new secondary school starter who needed the official Blazer, Jumper, PE kit and more…I am down a good £400 on uniform. Next year I will be more organised and save up for it!
5.  Finally, my last Frugal thing is I have started sorting through the kids old clothes. I have been hoarding these, and have finally listed some to sell, believe it or not some of them actually increase in value! People like hard to find items from some ranges of clothing, so it seems bonkers to have them sitting there. So that money is going into a pot, no idea what for yet though! I also donated 5 bags of stuff to charity too, it feels good to have a clear out!

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