Hello Dear Reader,

I’ve sat and watched the TV show where a trendy young family are taught to live just as stylishly for a fraction of the price. The couple were not uncommon as the loved labels, brands and how they looked was important to them. We’ve all been there, we’ve all been young and worried about appearances and we may or not have grown out of it. Well, I haven’t it’s still important to me although I don’t want to spend too much money. I also want to eat well and have a clean and comfortable house and again, I don’t want it to cost me much again.

I have the opportunity every now and then to wander round a posh department store and get a feel for what I like. I’ll then take a look around stores like Primark, matalan and other similar stores and know what look I like and find a way of achieving it. That being said, I have a kind of uniform of dark straight leg trousers and tunic tops with a scarf here and there and jeans for the weekends. None of that is expensive and I can look smart really reasonably. I certainly don’t give in to labels unless I’ve found something incidentally on the clearance rail at TK Max and that’s a really rare find. I’ll also have a browse round the charity shops although they are often more expensive than the discount stores. 

I keep the house clean and know it can be done without any brand names and I get everything I need from the bottom shelves in the supermarket of their basics brands and add in bicarbonate of soda that I buy in kilo bags from the DIY shop and that cleans everything from the bathroom, loo to the oven. Old towels get cut down into cleaning clothes which I use to dry the floor after washing it. I use soapy water for most things and buff things clean with a clean dry cloth. I keep laundry costs down too with basics soap powder and I use white vinegar as softener and it’s really cheap too and just a tablespoon will soften the clothes just fine. I was a brand girl once and turned to bargain brands to save money and now I use them because they do the same job just fine.

I do think we live well, we eat well, we’re smart and tidy and the house is clean and comfortable but we keep the expenses to the lowest costs possible. There are lots of things we do to live well and I’m sure you do too. There are loads of ways to live well and here’s where you can ask a question that could start with “how do you save money on…..” Or leave a handy money saving hint where you can leave advice for the rest of us.

Here’s my questions that you can help with. How do you save money on: pet care, motoring costs, travel costs, home decor …..

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxxxx

Hello Dear a Reader,

Tonight, I’m sharing an infographic from the Money Advice Service. The MA is a non profitable advice service that gives financial advice. They are not selling anything. Those pesky supermarkets do everything they can to get an impulse purchase out of you. Just remember, it’s your job as the head of finance in your own life to spend nothing more than you want to. 

I do most of the things on the list and more.

Over to you, please share what you do to keep those food costs to your set budget as I love it when we get the money saving chatter going.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx

Hello Dear Reader,

Whilst in a reflective mood today and I wondered how I became such a tightwad. I worked out that I save in excess of my household costs. So, that’s 40% living costs and 60% savings. It didn’t happen overnight. 

Those of you who’ve read for years know that we went deeply frugal in 2009 to clear our massive debts and kept being frugal to pay down our mortgage. You see, I’ve always got a goal and reasons to keep my purse firmly shut. And when I say shut, I mean it. I don’t purposefully buy few clothes, beauty products but I just don’t need much. There are many many experiences that I’m looking forward to and that I experience right now that costs nothing or next to nothing. 

Whether it’s cynicism or maybe contentment but most of what I see for sale just doesn’t interest me. Fads, fashions and on trends just don’t do anything for me and instead of saying just no, I also think, who on earth would want this rubbish? The world and all its marketing tries very hard to part with my money but some how, the likes of you and me can just see it for the gawdy meaningless tripe it is.

So where am I going with all this? To begin with, I started with no spend days. You see, I used to keep money on my person and there was always something that could be bought even if a bag of salad. I made up my mind that I would pick a day on which I wouldn’t spend any money. I kept at that until it became a habit. I then moved on to more than one day and then just kept going.

It’s reached the point where, on the first of the month, I can pay everything by direct debit, leave £200 to pay for a month’s groceries and then move every penny to a savings account. Currently, 75% of that is transferred to our French bank account to pay for the woodstove installation and the building work we need done. The other 25% pays for anything we need here but once there’s enough in the account we transfer what we don’t need to the mortgage capital. My no spend days are now six days a week and sometimes I don’t ‘get the shopping in’ every week.

Living a debt free thrifty life isn’t for everyone. I know some of you like the theatre, cinema, eating out, having nice up to date clothes and if you enjoy that then carry on. For us, it’s trips to France and now to our other home in France so that’s my version of a ‘night out’. Those of us who save up for the experiences that are important to us happily have no spend days so we can afford to do so.

Now my lovvies, over to you. Are you part of the ‘no spend’ fraternity? If not, would you like to be? (I’ll get back to the how many steps tomorrow) What motivates you not to spend. I like our little end of the blog chit chat and look forward to hearing from you.

Until tomorrow,

Love Froogs xxxx