The Frugality Shop – Affordable, useful, everyday objects

The Frugality x Frances Costelloe matches

£9.00

AFFORDABLE, USEFUL, EVERYDAY OBJECTS

MATCHSTICK REFILLS

£5.00

Weekly meal planner

£6.50

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In today’s secondhand stories: Jess @gold_is_a_n

In today’s secondhand stories: Jess @gold_is_a_neutral on her dreamy rattan cabinet:

“This wasn't the biggest secondhand bargain I've ever found, but it's easily the most satisfying. I had been on the hunt for a vintage bamboo sideboard for this room for over a year, but I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted and everything was out of my budget. I was checking all the vintage sites plus eBay, Etsy, Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace every couple of days for months with no success. And then one day, I spotted this 1970's Italian designed Dal Vera sideboard on eBay, in perfect condition AND it was listed for half the price it was selling for on all other vintage sites. I still made the seller an offer, which they accepted and we picked it up from a very fancy house in West London the following day! It's beautifully made and full of character (and also full of the kids craft things and spare phone chargers!) The reason I wanted to buy a vintage piece was because we had recently completed a kitchen extension and everything felt quite new and shiny, so I wanted to balance that out and bring in something with a past. I'd love to know what that past is!”

We’re back on your Instagram feed, hello 👋🏼. The latest newsletter went out this week with some newness: Alex’s finance commitments for the new year (and a £20 bonus for new sign-ups to the @get_chip app) and the latest post on affordable skincare tested by three women we wholeheartedly trust. We’ve @versed ‘Baby Cheeks all-in-one hydrating milk’ (£16.50) and @qandaskin hyaluronic cleanser (£7.50) to our beauty product wishlist.
Thank you to these wonderful women for putting together their honest thoughts:

Sade @inmysundaybest tested @versed

Julie @juliejacobsftf tested @theordinary

Emily @emilyfitchm tested @qandaskin

Link in bio to read the whole article ✨

Renting clothes: is it the answer to sustainable f

Renting clothes: is it the answer to sustainable fashion? Is it really financially viable? Is it worth the hassle? What if you ruin it? Alex writes about her experience over the last year and asks the top rental sites for their answers to the big questions (link in bio)

What did people think? (No plot spoilers please!)

What did people think? (No plot spoilers please!)

We are trying to keep this generic but maybe click away if you haven’t seen!

Here are Alex’s thoughts…(although it might be worth mentioning I have only seen the first episode!).

Watching it reminded me how much I used to cringe at the old episodes of Sex And The City (remember when SJP would talk to camera?!) but then after a while I just leaned in…there’s such a lovely bit of familiarity and by the end I must admit I was fully involved and crying.

A few other points:

I found the Samantha references quite uncomfortable and clunky.

It felt a bit *too* nostalgia-induced and self referential - reminded me more of the first film than the series…especially that music as she touched her blue Manolos 😬

It’s amazing how I have not inched from the prude I’ve always been 😆

Found the lockdown references a bit weird. We used to accept that sex and the city was in a parallel world set in ‘eternal spring’ maybe we could accept that covid didn’t get there too…?

Still love the outfits.

Who knew Harry would end up looking the best?!

The next two boxes in our newsletter giveaway: KID

The next two boxes in our newsletter giveaway: KIDS and FASHION.

The newsletter will go out this evening so make sure
you're signed up by 6pm this evening (weds 8th - link in bio) to be in with a chance of winning one of these boxes.

All brands are tagged and exact details will follow in
the newsletter (but yes that’s a debobbler and a £200 voucher for Kidly!)

Hope they fill you with joy this Christmas season ✨

As a thank you to everyone for all your support th

As a thank you to everyone for all your support this year (and the last 10!), we decided to do a giveaway via our newsletter!

There will be four ‘boxes’ filled with carefully curated treats, hand-picked by Alex.

Here are the first two ‘Food’ and ‘Me-time’ - thanks to all brands involved.

Make sure you are signed up to the newsletter by tomorrow, Wednesday 6pm (link in bio!) to be in with a chance to win.

(UK entrants only)

Our first year doing an advent calendar for our 3

Our first year doing an advent calendar for our 3 year old and this is what we’ve learnt:

It doesn’t have to cost a lot. We’ve done an ‘activity’ calendar and ‘watching a Xmas movie’ or a ‘walk spotting festive lights’ is enough.

Don’t wear yourself out - split a packet of chocolate buttons across some days!

Don’t try and get every day ‘sorted’ before 1st December - pace yourself and do 5 at a time like us!

Reuse - save ideas from each year and adapt.

The same goes for the envelopes - these mini sacks were passed on by a friend from an advent calendar last year!

Its okay to pick and choose - just because everyone is doing something doesn’t mean you have to! Because once you’ve committed that’s it - I’m never starting elf on a shelf!

Chris spent the best part of today creating this v

Chris spent the best part of today creating this video so hope it’s appreciated 😆 our final gift guide is live on www.the-frugality.com (or link in bio), everything is wonderful and under £10 (a lot under £5) - because we don’t believe in gifting pointless useless items for a secret Santa 😉

Tagged some great and small businesses we used in the post

Today’s secondhand stories feature @queenieky.le

One more from the gift guides ✨ everything is un

One more from the gift guides ✨ everything is under £50 (and that’s the balance bike, everything else is far less) but we hope they are useful items that will be loved for a long time.

Link in bio 💫 www.the-frugality.com

I’ve tagged the small businesses here too

Phillumenist {noun} a collector of matchbooks or matchboxes.

MEET THE ARTIST

Welcome to the club.

Sustainably made products combining our love of matches, affordable art and accessible, useful items that are beautiful.

Weekly Meal Planner

£6.50

Phillumenist {noun} a collector of matchbooks and matchboxes