5 Frugal / Thrify tips and tricks | November 2015

These may seem really obvious to some of you and perhaps not so to others.

1. Simple swaps to reduce your shopping bills

This can be a really quick win, but it can also be a gamble.
Take a look at your shopping receipt, study the trends, What do you buy most often? What is the most expensive items that you buy? Take a good hard look at the items falling into the 2 categories, buy most often and most expensive. 

With those that you buy most often, its usually not a question as to whether you need it or not, but whether you can get the same thing cheaper, perhaps by buying another brand. You may be reluctant to change, and at first that can be hard. I often buy the one that I want and also buy the cheaper brand at the same time so I, a. have the original version in stock if the new version doesn't meet my standards, and, b. It gives me something to compare to. For example, I only ever used to buy Heinz baked beans, I purchased those, along with some Tesco own brand and also 1 tin of Tesco value. Whilst the Tesco value beans were OK and didn't have an unpleasant taste, they were smaller and the sauce was quite watered down, The ordinary Tesco own brand were still cheaper than Heinz and were very similar in quality. I am still making a saving here, not as much as I would with the value beans but you have to actually want to eat them otherwise why buy it?

With the items that are most expensive, ask yourself is it something you really needed? and could you have picked it up cheaper? do your research for next time.

2. Substitute & Get creative

Ran out of your favourite moisturiser? Perhaps you have none of that pink blush left? Or maybe you have ran out of your usual kitchen cleaning spray. Before you go out and buy exactly the same product to replace something ask yourself, Do I have something else that will do the trick? I find that usually I answer yes to this, perhaps my fave moisturiser has ran out, but I have so many others just asking to be used. I have a rule, if I am not going to use it then I don't need it, this does make me a little more conscious of the sheer volume of stuff I have as a result of previously over buying, it also pushes me into using/trying my excess products rather than getting rid.

Another question I would ask myself if I don't have a substitute is, Can I make one? I would really recommend surfing the web for this one because there are so many recipes for all sorts of cleaning products, natural detergents and even beauty items that you can make at home using basic household ingredients, for instance a lot of the cleaning products need Vinegar, lemon juice and/or bicarb of soda, none of these will exactly break the bank, plus they aren't harmful to the environment.

3. Re-use,Up-cyle and Re-fashion 

When I think the time has come to throw something away I have a little think, Can this be used as something else? Can I do something to fix this and make it work properly again? If I answer yes to any of those 2 questions then I keep hold of the item. It's not always easy to think of examples here, but here is one that occurred recently.                                                                                             
I managed to shrink one of my jumpers in the wash, rather than throw it out I thought this would be just perfect as a cushion cover. This is in my to do pile, but the other required ingredients are simple, a wide eye needle and some grey or yellow wool (which I most definitely have somewhere), and some scissors.. oh and some time.                                                                                                           
With lot's of ongoing projects and such it is easy to accumulate clutter, and I do want to avoid clutter and hoarding. I have a dedicated box, in a dedicated area where I keep my re-usable items and I don't let it over flow, keeping it all in one place is a good way of managing it!                                           

There are some great ideas here for some standard re-usable items such as jars, packaging and old clothing.  

4. Get organised

I always find things tend to cost more when you buy them last minute. Also if you have something that you need to spend a lot on, consider putting a little money aside in the run up to that so it doesn't make such a huge impact on your wallet. I try to over save and make sure I have more than I think I need from the offset, we have recently had work done on out house, because we were organised we were also able to do some elements of this ourselves, saving around £300, even so the job cost a little more than we were expecting so it's always good to be prepared for life's little surprises. 

5. Stay in

This might sound like an obvious one, but with party season fast approaching the temptation for lots of expensive nights out comes with it. I find that I can easily spend £60+ on a night out, so doing this on a weekly basis will seriously burn a hole in my pocket. Also, having done work on the house it seems such a shame to spend so much time away from it. It's a great idea to get people around for nibbles and a few drinks this time of year, it's certainly cheaper and you could cut the cost even more by asking your guests to bring a little nibble each or BYOB, at the end of the day it's the company that's the main part, so you can really focus on being  good host and making sure a great time is had by all.

Perhaps you have some frugal tips for any aspect of life that you would like to share? I would love to hear them, please drop me an email to rebellious_cookie@hotmail.com and I may even feature yours in my next frugal tips and tricks. 

Cookie x

5 Quick Money Making Tips

Hi Everyone,

Recently I posted 5 Quick Saving Tips, this turned out to be a really popular and much viewed post so I thought I'd share with you another post with some more frugal living tips, this time rather than money saving I am focusing on making extra money!

1. Sell, Sell, Sell - Have a good sort out, most of us have 'stuff', so much 'stuff' we don't know what to do with. The kind of 'stuff' will differ from person to person, but if your not using it, and your not going to - then SELL! I have recently started selling using local groups on facebook, mainly I have sold clothing that me and my partner don't use, this has been fairly productive. I have made a few hundred pounds and have managed to organise my a little more. You could sell on Facebook, Ebay, Amazon, or even locally at car boot sales.
2. Make, Make, Make - Are you crafty or perhaps your talented in the kitchen? Is there something that you can make to sell at a profit; have a look into things such as jewellery, knitted/sewn items, candles, there is so many projects out there that you could turn into profit given the right skills and target market. Check out www.pinterest.com for inspiration on hand crafted items that you could make to sell. You could sell your hand crafted goodies at craft fairs, on Ebay or even using Etsy.com
3. Surveys - Doing online surveys is another way to earn a couple of extra £££'s, these take a little while for the funds to mount up. If you have spare time then it could be worth a try. I am not the most patient person and have managed to earn just £50 using these over the last 2 years, but I really haven't been that proactive. Here's a list with some of the top survey sites to check out if your interested: Click here
4. Rent out your space - Do you have a spare room? Maybe a parking space you don't need? Failing that, some spare storage space. You would rent a room, parking space or even some storage space.
5. A bit on the side - This could be a weekend job or if you want something more temporary a Christmas or seasonal job. Casual work and odd jobbing is also another good way to make extra cash and you can work the hours you want and fit it in with your lifestyle.

Cookie x

Frugal Cookies 5 Top Beauty Hacks

Here are my top beauty hacks, some a great little money savers others may seem like common sense but I thought I would share them with you! These are beauty hacks that I have used myself over the years.

1.Wax strips – So, you can buy small and large wax strips and in general for the same price you get less strip for your money with the small ones. Using an old pair of scissors I simply cut the large ones into 4 or 5 strips, this is so easy and so effective. It’s great for tricky areas such as your knees and I also use this method for my bikini wax - I was previously getting this done professionally and I am now saving myself £25 per month doing it myself. I also have found my local pundland (dealz) sells the nair wax strips, I believe this is because of a change in branding/packaging so these are a bargain - a wax that used to cost me £25 or less than £1.20!

2. Nail polish – Run out of your favourite colour, perhaps you’re doing a French manicure and have realised that the white is very gloopy and unusable? Worry not, this is a great quick fix for these little emergencies, and I am sure you might of heard of this one. Add a couple of drops of nail polish remover to the gloopy nail polish and give it a good shake. The nail polish remover works as a thinner and therefore helps de-clump the nail polish. You will have to buy a replacement soon but this has bought you a little more time and stretched the product life slightly.

3. Mascara – You have used up your favourite mascara, it was really great and you think this may have had a lot to do with the lovely fine bristles in the brush. You have another mascara, something different and whilst it’s ok the brush just isn’t the same and perhaps is making the experience a little less than perfect? Simple, keep hold of both of these and use them together, use the old brush in the new mascara, then you get the best of both! Again, this isn’t a permanent fix but it will certainly tide you over until you get something better in place.

4. New products – Before you buy something new, check your stash and just maybe you might have something that could be used as an alternative? I wish I took my own advice sometimes, I have a massive hoard when it comes to skincare, makeup and bathroom products. Recently I decided to take control and I believe I have enough of a lot of essential products to last me at least a year – this means when I go to the shops I need to take this into consideration and only get what I actually need.

5. Foundation – Got to the end of your favourite foundation? If your like me you have an extensive collection of makeup, including several items that you don’t use because their not the right colour or they’re just not you? So why am I holding onto these? Well, one day they may come in handy..perhaps? It’s very rare that I use foundation, I believe in letting my skin, hair and nails breathe so I seldom overload of those products. However, when I do decide to wear foundation I struggle to get the perfect colour, I don’t like anything too dark and certainly don’t want to look orange. On the occasion that I have found a foundation to be too dark I have added a little moisturiser and this does the trick in lightening the product. If I was in the habit of wearing foundation on a regular basis I would probably pay more attention to getting the right colour, but as a quick fix this works for me.

I will be doing some research into other hacks out there, I'm sure there are many I have never heard of that might be ideal. Once I have done my research I will do some testing an I will share my thoughts with you so watch this space for more beauty hacks in the near future.

Please comment below, do you have any fool proof beauty hacks that you couldn't live without? I'd love to hear about them!

Cookie x