Frugal Friday

So here we are. A new year, a new decade.  
I have plans for this year. A holiday in Cumbria. House improvements. Overpaying the mortgage. These things all have one thing in common, yep, you guessed it. 

In the spirit of looking after the pennies so the pounds will look after themselves, here are a few frugal wins from this week. 

I  l.o.v.e. our kettle. It boils really fast (essential, I get bored waiting), and is quiet, and also pretty (shiny silver with a copper stripe). A while ago the filter disintegrated and I've had trouble finding another, but I managed to find them on ebay this week!  I can't be doing with fur, ick. (the best descaler is vinegar, I have found. Few inches of vinegar and rather more water - about a third to a half full, boil then stand for a couple of hours. Magic, and a lot cheaper than commercial descalers). The kettle lid is also getting temperamental, the light doesn't always come on and it's altogether not looking as good as it used to, so I'd been considering buying a new one (£40) but my £8 expenditure for a new filter makes me a lot happier with it, and I think we should get at least another year or so from it. 

We had a leftover medley for lunch today. Small bits of vegetable tikka masala and sag aloo from last night's Indian takeaway, half a tin of baked beans that was lurking in the fridge and a pack of instant noodles made the two of us a slightly odd but very acceptable meal. 

I've cancelled the Radio Times. Some weeks we barely look at it. The subscription is due at the beginning of March, cancelling now saves us almost £70 a year. We usually buy the newspaper on Saturday for the general knowledge crossword and it has a basic TV guide in it, we'll use that one or we'll just check the listings on the TV or online.

I did a survey that came through the door, and Philip is also going to do it. We will each receive a £5 gift voucher.

And lastly...... I preordered a book from Amazon recently, the price went down after I paid and Amazon have emailed to say I am getting a refund of 2p!