Frugal gift inspiration | Cactus |

Sometimes the best gifts are the ones you make yourself, they are usually that little bit unique and the thought and effort definitely outweighs the expenditure for me.

I am a big fan of all things natural and a lover of tiny plants, so when I saw this little cactus in B&Q for £4 I couldn't resist.

For me what lets this item down is the boring terracotta pot, we are currently in the throws of decorating our lounge so have purchased some tester pots,but they are something we usually have dotted around the house. So what better idea than to paint the pot a more appropriate colour.

This couldn't have been more simple and the cactus isn't actually planted in the decorative pot meaning I was able to remove the plant for painting, making it even easier!

So, here is the finished look, I love it and it took about 10 minutes to complete so all in all this is a really cheap, easy and satisfying project and it makes for a great little gift.

My little cactus now fits in beautifully with my other miniature plants!

Cookie x

Diets and free trials!

So about 3 weeks ago I decided to go on a detox and ultimately to engage in a healthier eating plan.

The first week went well, and as you can imagine what happened next is fairly typical.

I got invited to a BzzAgent campaign for Go Ahead biscuits, I had tried some flavours previously and I really like them, however my diet involved me cutting out wheat, dairy and the majority of processed foods. I decided they would be ok as an occasional snack and my other half really likes them also so I have packed him off to work with a few also!

                                        

A few days went by and BzzAgent kindly offered me another campaign, this time it was for Ristorante pizza, I got 2 pizzas free and lots of vouchers to hand out, again not diet food but I did enjoy these with the other half for my weekly 'cheat' meal.

                                                            

So, I'm on a diet and I got all of these delicious campaigns, but this is not the end of it, I then got invited onto the Lindt HELLO chocolate campaign from BzzAgent again (thanks guys!) I received a nice surprise when I arrived home from work the other day, X 5 full size bars of chocolate in a variety of flavours and X 2 half size snack bars. A very good campaign I must say!

                                    

My latest campaign is from Orchard at Tesco and is for Tesco ice cream, I received £3 off ice cream which meant I could have had some free ice cream however there must have been a rush on ice cream at our local Tesco as there wasn't much left other than the finest range. I chose west country fudge ice cream, I didn't manage to get a pic of the product in the tub as it didn't last very long, we finished the pot in the evening on some pie and it was divine.

                                                         

So back to the diet now I think, however if something else comes along I will definitely keep an open mind!

     

For anyone that's thinking of joining BzzAgent or Orchard at Tesco, I would definitely recommend it provided that you have the time to trial the product and complete the product activities, share your experiences with friends and give your honest views and opinions.

Thanks for reading

Cookie x

 

 

 

 

 

Home made bread

Hi guys

Food shopping is what I have always spent a big portion of my earnings on. There are 2 of us in the house and I was spending £100+ a week on groceries which I am trying to reduce.

One of the things that I found I was buying every other day is bread, which for just 2 of us is ridiculous. We were getting a full size loaf, and it wasn't that we were getting through the loaf it never stayed fresh for very long. My partner would also just snack on the bread. Take into account that I do not eat sandwiches very often, 1 person was eating a loaf pretty much to themselves every other day.

I decided to save some money and to also add variety to my partners diet that I would start making alternatives for us for lunch, so pasta, rice, potato salad and cous cous salads, ok sounds heavy on the carbs, however I weigh everything and I like to make sure that I use a small amount of the carb and bulk it up with vegetables, etc.

The other half does love his sandwiches though, so I have decided to treat him every so often, my rule is that I am not eating bread unless its special, so a nice crusty bread or even better something made by my own fair hands.

Its really simple, I just used a recipe from the packet of strong white flour, 1.5 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 300ml lukewarm water. (method below)

as follows ; 500g strong white flour, 15ml vegetable oil or butter,

77p for 8 7g packets of fast action dried yeast. 77p/8 = 9

85p for 1.5kg of Tesco strong white flour.(500g = 1 loaf) 85p/3 = 28

1 loaf = approx. 37p (add a few pence for the veg oil, salt and sugar)

Method

put the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix, then add the oil/butter and mix again. Next, add the lukewarm water and combine, either with your hand or a hands free electric mixer with a dough hook (such as a kitchen aid), Once you have combined the mixture into a soft dough you will need to knead for 10 minutes, either by hand or again using the mixer with the dough hook. (I always used to do it by hand, but have just recently tried the mixer method and both work fine.)

Free trials and samples

Over the past couple of weeks I have been wracking my brains thinking of any ideas to save some pennies, whether its on my electric bill or everyday items.

I noticed that growing numbers of websites are listing free product samples - I found these by typing freebies UK into google. I started applying for a few random bits and pieces last week to see if I would receive anything, and to my surprise the first item arrived today. Okay, so its only a small sachet of Sylk natural lubricant. This offer still stands and a sample can be requested on their website http://www.sylk.co.uk/request-free-sample/ you just need to complete a few details. I have heard that some things will charge postage and will ask for card details, to be honest I don't think any of the freebies would really be worth parting with such details and personally that's not something that I will be doing.

In addition to the standard freebies I have noticed a lot of videos on YouTube where people are writing to all sorts of companies asking for things. I agree try before you buy is a great thing, however I will probably be writing to companies who offer products that I actually want to try, for instance I don't have a baby so I wont be emailing or applying for free baby products etc.

I would like to keep things as fair as possible for companies, so I will be giving product reviews on here on the occasion that a company is kind enough to provide me with a sample of their product. If I can pull this off I think it will b a great tool as I am something of a product junkie, I like new things, I like things in shiny new boxes etc. For instance I am always buying different fruit teas, a lot of the time based on the packaging or the flavour and more often that not I'll have 1 or 2 and decide its not for me, then I have 2 thirds of a pack of tea sitting in my cupboard until it expires and that's money down the drain.

So, again I have had my first response to this back today. as of yesterday I had emailed 15 companies with queries and out of those I have had 4 positive responses and 4 apologies. Its a case of don't ask don't get.

The first samples I got were facial skincare products from Elizabeth's Daughter, I am looking forward to trying them, watch this space for a product review.

I am also looking forward to the post over the next week as I should hopefully have a few goodies to try.

Thanks for reading guys

Again as I'm new to saving and scrimping if anyone has any advice, comments or general feedback I'd love to hear from you.

Cookie x

Heres to change

Hi Guys

I have always been interested in saving money where possible but I have never had quite as much motivation. So currently I am paying a Mortgage and have various other reasons for saving. I would ideally like to save £5,000 this year but I suppose I need to be realistic and any saving would be good to be honest.

So here are some cuts I have made this year so far.

£75 per month on hair colouring  - £900.00 saving per year
£34.99 per month on Gym            -£419.88 saving per year
£25 every 6 weeks on waxing       -£216.60 saving per year
£35 per month on mobile contract-£420      saving per year

Total                                               £1,956.48

So the above sounds good to me, obviously I will go to the hairdresser at some point for a cut but I have been colouring my hair myself and am considering just going back to my natural colour.. its been a while!

Ok, as i'm new to this if anyone has any advice or tips or wishes to share any info with my please feel free to comment.

Thanks for reading

Cookie x