Blogger On A Budget | Glamour On-The-Go! £9 For The Year + Free Gift

I’ve mentioned before in this series how I love buying magazine subs because they are better value for money and you always get a lovely free gift. I decided to let all my subscriptions expire this year as I felt I wasn’t being offered any good deals, I worked out, I was getting a better deal by buying the magazines only when they had free gifts with them in the store.

I forgot about it, then I received a text last week from the customer services team saying how I will be receiving an amazing offer soon in the post which will include a free gift if I choose to re-subscribe with my old account number, I rolled my eyes and put it to the back of my mind.

A few days later in the mail, I got this offer from Glamour. If I decided to register again I could do so for £9 for the whole year! That’s 12 monthly print magazines (75p each a month!!) + digital + I get a free gift worth £40! I absolutely feel this is such a good deal and that’s why I’m sharing it with you today – I’m just so glad I didn’t cave in earlier and that I stuck to my thrifty thinking 😀

Has anyone else had this through the post recently?

#Blogger On A Budget | Pocket £20 + Free* Travel Card

I had another post planned for Frugal Friday, but then I saw the sun outside and the stunning weather for London, it got me thinking about days out, pub gardens, coffee shops and money.

I’m going to talk about travelling for free (sort of) on public transport and saving up-to £20 while doing so.

Free Travel
*I was a bit cheeky when I said this, but let me explain and I’m not talking about using your grannies freedom pass 😳.

Gone are the days when we all work 9-5 shifts. You will often find that many end their day while others begin it. Which ties in nicely with my first tip.

Travel Card Relay
Now I’m not working, topping up my Oyster or buying a Travel Card is really expensive (I get no discounts and I am not on benefits). Luckily, MR A always has a week day or 2 off, it is on these days I use his pre-paid all zones travel card to get around on buses, trains and tubes for free. It works out perfectly, I arrange appointments or schedule meet-ups with friends on those days instead of always having to decline and at the same time I have pocketed the travel card price of £8.50 x 2 = £17.00 (which is how much it costs from where I live).

It doesn’t stop there. The £8.50 or£17.00 that I saved above, I actually “pretend” I used it, I withdraw and store it in an envelope out of my everyday view (but obviously not so out of my memory I forget where it is!) and it becomes my emergency cash for absolutely anything.

I did this for 1 month and without even trying I had saved at the very least around £40.00 guilt-free spare cash. You can keep it “hidden” for as little or as long as you like.

Give it a go 😊 and share with me your budget travel tips below.

Blogger On A Budget

Hello my loves, I haven’t done a Frugal Friday post for such a long time and the reason why is a bit silly really, I just felt that nobody was reading them and like how businesses get rid of what isn’t working or what isn’t selling – the thought crossed my mind about completely deleting this series altogether. I know that is quite sensitive of me, but I put so much effort in and just felt it wasn’t worth it. So I tucked it away in a little dark, corner.

I gave myself a talking to and after a long big pondering sesh with myself I thought NO! I love this area of my blog because it is so varied and can literally include anything from budget beauty buys to saving money on cooking to amazing discount fashion purchases. Don’t get me wrong I love spending and buying, but sometimes in life there are times when you can’t spend or buy as much and I feel that instead of suffering, it’s so much better to just find an alternative method and this is where being thrifty comes in – hence why I started Frugal Friday, to share with others in my situation or anyone who is just simply interested in ‘getting more for their buck’.

I’m going to be quite frank; I have had times in my life where I have not had to watch a penny and I literally have been lucky enough to have bought and spent on whatever I or we wanted, needed, lusted after and there have been times when I haven’t been able to be so frivolous. I’ve been on both sides and have picked things up along the way.

I started thinking: In real-life I get quite a few people asking how I made that so cheaply, where did I find that product at that bargain price, how do you still manage to save when you are on a tight budget, how comes your skincare has never suffered when you can’t afford to buy luxury products, how do you go out when you are broke? So I thought why don’t I just ask all you beautiful people the same thing and what you would like me to feature? Is there anything you are struggling with whilst on a budget? No matter how old you are, or what stage you are in your life?

-Savvy shopping secrets.

-Money saving tricks and tips.

-50% – 90% off groceries.

-Mouth-watering meals/recipes under a fiver. Under £3. Under £1.

-Natural D.I.Y nearly free skincare.

-Absolutely anything with the more for less concept.

-How to be debt-free and still use a credit card.

These are just some examples that popped out of my head, but anything goes really, so let me know!

Frugal Friday | The Nitty Gritty

Hi guys and gals! Today in my Frugal Friday edit I want to talk about what it means and what it doesn’t mean to be thrifty and it ain’t about being tight! 😉

Right, OK, so basically there is a lot of confusion out there about savvy shoppers, bargain hunters and economical peeps. Upon looking for synonyms for the term frugal and thrifty I found the word penny-pincher, I find this is such a negative term as to me being a penny-pincher is the same as being stingy which is not what thriftiness is all about.

What is stingy?

Stingy is mean, it is selfish and it is about saving money to reward yourself in the long run. It isn’t about happiness but more about greed and ego.

What is Frugal?

Frugal is about being mindful with your lifestyle/purchases/contributions/. It is about up-cycling and re-using items that could be useful for yourself or others, not being wasteful with food and making things go further. Being thrifty teaches you to appreciate everything that you buy, it expands your creativity, innovation (coming from a very bad artistic creator myself!) and turns you into an inventor!

The savings you make from one thing can be put towards something else. Sometimes it isn’t about saving money but more to do with being canny so you don’t go into debt, are able to live your life the way in which you want to and use the products you want to use in the same way as big spenders do. You don’t feel you are missing out on fun activities/fashion/food/beauty.

I always feel the multi-functional beauty products that have lip-cheek-eye-highlighter in one are made by thrifties for thrifties. They aren’t necessarily cheap, but they definitely are cheaper than buying the 4 products separately.

So, there you have it, everything explained in a neat little nutshell. Here are some examples of my cost-effective purchases:

-Yearly magazine subscriptions that save me anywhere from £20-£60 that come with a free gift which usually has a value of between £40-£70.

-Gift with purchase beauty products.

-Fashion sale shopping/discount codes/ money off coupons.

-Groceries: The biggest saving this household ever made on high quality, fresh and freezable, nutritious food was November last year. £200 worth of food for £60. Not one bit was junk
food nor from a discount supermarket chain (nothing wrong with discount supermarket chains by the way)😊

How are you going to be frugal this Friday?

Love,

Catia

XO

Susie Bit | Housewife Tip

Open all the windows first thing in the morning daily for at least 30 mins to filter the air in the home, to prevent mould and mildew + Wardrobes need airing too:-keep doors open for half a day every few months ♥