Frugal Friday #2

Last week I discussed my need to de-clutter my house and attempt to make some money back on my possessions. I have been selling bits and bobs on Ebay and have managed to sell a few bits here and there. However Youngling has had few birthday parties to go to this month (3 and counting). Instead of putting the cash from purchases into our savings account I opted to use that for the presents and getting to the parties etc. Now I need to be brutal and decide which books I can do without and pop them on Amazon for sale. I used to sell quite a few on Amazon but found it suddenly got bombarded with sellers and my books wouldn't sell.

After writing last weeks post I found I came across so many other bloggers trying to save a penny and make a pound. Coffee Curls kindly suggested keeping a money jar by the front door to pop lose change in. You never know when you have visitors they may do the same ;-)

I also swung by Emma's blog: Me, The Man & The Baby and came across her 'Second Hand Buys' post. It's a weekly post about saving money by purchasing second hand items instead of paying full whack for brand new items. She got some good buys for her children and I fully support her for doing it. There is absolutely no shame in buying second hand. I had hand-me-downs as a child and I like to support local charity shops by buying Youngling some bits and bobs from them.

This week I learnt that if you cannot afford to get to the hair dressers simply let your hair grow to save on the pennies. I needed a hair cut so badly that I decided to give myself a bit of a trim. It may not be the best hair cut in the world but it did the job for me and makes the cut look ten times better than it did.

Ignore gormless look on my face it was very late at night!

If you do not trust yourself with a pair of scissors then don't do it. Ask around. Maybe put a notice on Facebook or Twitter and ask to swap a spot of babysitting for a quick trim. Or if you are a hairdresser maybe you could offer your services to people in exchange for something. Perhaps you need a spot of gardening doing? Or a pile of ironing? It's all about give and take.

So thus far we've learnt:

- Planning meals in advance ~ courtesy of Kate

- Selling on Ebay/Amazon ~ courtesy of The Highly Unlikely Housewife

- Save a Penny ~ courtesy of Coffee Curls

- Buying Second Hand ~ courtesy of Emma

- Cutting own hair ~ courtesy of moi.

I hope we can come with it an even bigger list so please drop me an email with any of your ideas and leave your comments below, thanks.

Take care, and keep saving.

Kate

xx