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

My Mission Statement

Hi Everyone,
I thought I'd just go through with you what I hope to achieve and why I have set up this blog.

For starters, yes it's called Frugal Cookie and that is because I want to be frugal, not a complete cheapskate.. I think there's a difference.

Although I've always liked a bargain I haven't always strived to scrimp and save. This came about when I bought my first house 3 years ago. I remember having to provide 3 months worth of bank statements to get my mortgage, I thought that they'd see that I can't save - because sure enough my money would go in and then back out again (mainly on shoes, clothes, makeup).

Before purchasing the house I was working full time and living with my folks so of course, I had spare income and whilst I put enough aside for a deposit I was by no means careful with money not to the degree that I try to be now.

At the time the prospect of showing the bank my statements I thought I should implement some changes, small things really -I stopped buying shoes on a weekly basis. I applied this theory to a lot of purchases that I made, and thankfully when it came around to providing my statements I was able to show that I wasn't always spending more than I was earning!

So, the mortgage gets approved and I go from paying very little rent at home to paying almost £500 each per month mortgage with bills on top. This got me to thinking I will have to take the changes already implemented and go further with them. I had never really budgeted and I am someone who likes control so for me I see it almost as a game, I am constantly setting myself goals and trying to measure my efforts.

3 Years on and we have re-visited our mortgage, interest rates are better than they were when we purchased the property so we should notice a saving already in terms of our monthly mortgage payment. I am now setting myself another goal/challenge and this isn't exactly unusual. I am determined to pay off my mortgage before the end of our term (27 years left).

My mortgage provider is good in the sense that they allow 10% overpayment each year without penalties enabling you to pay off quicker and meaning we pay less in the long run. Check out this motgage overpayment calculator.

Over the last three years I have made several tweaks to my lifestyle and spending habits, it's not happened overnight and there are still areas that I can improve upon.

My blog is designed to showcase what I've learned so far and to share with you my tips and tricks. This is a general lifestyle blog so will cover all topics money related from cooking to cleaning and beauty too. As I'm still learning I hope to have much more to share with you lovely readers.

I welcome comments, questions and queries. If you have any tips and advice that you would like to share that's alright too!

Cookie x

Excuse the mess, here's a bargain I picked up a long time ago in a charity shop. I think it set me back £35 (the cat cost more!)

Saving on lunches

One area where I save big is lunches. I used to go to M&S and buy lunch every single day and spent a minimum of £5 per day (5 X 5= £25 per week, X approx. 48 weeks = £1200 X 2 = £2400). Going into M&S every day also meant I was tempted to buy 'stuff' every day, whether it be snacks in the food hall, lingerie, homeware or makeup -If I see it I want it!

So I got to thinking a tenner a day between myself and my boyfriend is a little excessive and decided to make our lunches. I buy things that are easy that I can cook alongside our evening meals, etc. For instance if I am using the oven then its so easy just to chuck some sweet potatoes in to bake alongside our dinner. If I'm using the hob its quick to boil some pasta, rice or potatoes for salad. If I'm feeling super lazy then I can use store bought ready made coleslaw or potato salad along with some ham, chicken or tuna.

It's a great way of using up leftovers and incorporating it with the evenings cooking means it's not labour intensive.

Below is an example of what my weekly lunch shop can look like. It does tend to differ week by week, sometimes its cheaper sometimes a little more expensive than this. I think the below is somewhere in between, if you are really stretched you can definitely do it for less than this. I have forgotten to put our yogurts on their but usually for the week I spend £2-£3 on this and there would be 1 more multipack of crisps, usually whichever are on offer so call that another £1, so we can safely say that the shopping comes to approx. £25, which is for the 2 of us and is so much healthier than buying a sandwich every day. You could argue that I have to factor in the cost of cooking the food but as I've said I like t incorporate this into my usual cooking routine and it is usually just a case of assembling multiple items and also using some leftovers such as:

1. I usually have left over roast chicken, its not enough to make into a meal but is perfect to add to lunch.
2. Rice, potato or pasta can be made into salad.
3. Sausages or other meats can be mixed with pasta and veggies to make a nice pasta salad

If you are currently buying lunch every day I would urge you to try this, maybe just for a week. It's such a great saving and what I love is that you have total control over the foods that you are putting into your body.

What do you do for lunch? I'm always looking for inspiration and usually I turn to Pinterest.

Please feel free to comment and share your ideas, tips and experiences.

Cookie

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