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This week I am sharing 5 thriftyish things I’ve done to save money. Here are some ideas to show that small changes really do make a big difference!

This week has been full of pumpkins! We visited a pumpkin picking field just before Halloween, but ran out of time to carve them. They have been sat on our worktop since just waiting to be turned into delicious dishes. At first, I wasn’t in a rush, but one of my friends commented that her pumpkin had started to turn, and I didn’t want my five pumpkins to follow suit!

A THRIFTYISH WEEK

Here are some of the thrifty and frugal things we have done this week.

USING THE WHOLE PUMPKIN

My beautiful assistant helped me scrape all the seeds out and we roasted the flesh to make pumpkin puree in recipes later this week. I want to try pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread & pumpkin muffins.

This took me the best part of four hours to scoop, cut, roast & scoop all five pumpkins, and I was well and truly sick of seeing pumpkin by the time I finished the last one! But I am sure I will be glad I saved all the deliciousness when I am making goodies. I froze in portions of a cup and I got at least 20 cups worth of pumpkin puree in the freezer (approx 5kg)

These are the pumpkins waiting to be roasted! I also saved the stringy pulp and made pumpkin broth, with a plan to make some pumpkin soup later on this month, so nothing was wasted!

FIND THE PAINTED PEBBLES

Our weekends now include at least one family walk with Loki, our Labrador puppy. He loves been out and about, its great for socialisation (for him and us!). It also great for our health and the other benefit is it’s completely free! This week we spent some time hunting for rocks around the woods, and we found this one.

REFILLABLE OIL SPRAY

We washed out and refilled our oil spray bottle. A few months ago I lost about a stone on slimming world and I was a little obsessed with owning every flavour of Frylight. At a similar time I started an eco-friendly mission and wanted to reduce our single-use plastic, and I found this refillable spray bottle. It works exactly the same as Frylight, the only difference is the spray mist is a little heavier, so you don’t need to use as much. It didn’t affect my weight loss journey and it works out much cheaper – I wrote a little more about it here, with the cost breakdown too.

HAIR TODAY, HERE TO STAY

My hair is super short, I find short hair much easier to manage, especially with limited time & four young children. Now they are getting a little older and I have a bit more time, I wanted to grow my hair. Growing my hair is also better for my bank balance… Short hair needs frequent cuts, to keep it neat, while longer hair can wait much longer between cuts – photo to add!

BAKING FOR LUNCHBOX’S

Our two eldest children take a packed lunch to school, and we are in a good routine of baking for their lunchbox’s and desserts. I usually try and bake a few things on a weekend while dinner is cooking. I save energy preheating the oven by baking after we have cooked our lunch or dinner. I love knowing exactly what is going into their food and saving money at the same time!

This week we made 2 different loaves of banana bread, one with chocolate chips, and a double chocolate version. We also made a chocolate traybake, which I drizzled with milk chocolate for a super quick and simple topping.

AND THE NOT-SO-THRIFTY

HOT WATER BOTTLES

I’ve spent two days this week curled up with period-related back pain, and heat is my favourite pain relief! We have heated seats in our new car which is just bliss. In the house, I have had a hot water bottle constantly by my side, but this has meant boiling the kettle every 45 minutes. I read Becky’s post about using a flask to save boiling the kettle multiple times, and realised that my hot-water-bottle therapy probably hasn’t been very thrifty – is there a better way?

AND A LITTLE HOLLY-DAY PLAN

Last year I really wanted to make a few decorations from eucalyptus, but I didn’t have a chance (or eucalyptus for that matter!). This year I am still struggling to find eucalyptus, and has I only want a few clippings I don’t want to spend too much money. One thing I do have plenty of nearby is this vibrant green holly, so I think I might try and make something similar from this holly instead.

If you have any ideas what I could do with the holly or where I could find eucalyptus, please do share! I might add a eucalyptus plant to my Christmas list, and hope it grows enough to use next year instead!

I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Frugal things I’ve done this week’ linky.

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