Five Frugal Things For April {2019}

April has been a little on the expensive side, with our family holiday a month away there’s been lots to pay for. Being frugal and using a budget have both definitely helped us to plan and afford these extra costs. When we have an expensive month I always try to look for frugal things I can do every day.

I also set myself some challenges to earn extra money this month using various side hustles. Any spare time I’ve had has been spent looking for earning opportunities, taking surveys and using job apps. I also enter a lot of consumer competitions as a hobby which provides a few treats for the family each month.

Here are my five frugal things for April 2019.

• Daisy was invited to the cinema with her school friend during the Easter holidays and instead of sending her with cash for expensive snacks I made her a little pack up. The snacks at the cinema are so overpriced and not worth the money at all. I saved money by using what we already had at home. The cinema ticket was a bargain too, during the school holidays they show a movie each morning where tickets cost just £2.50. Daisy really did have herself a little frugal day out.

• I signed up to an offers website called Oh My Dosh! a while ago then forgot about it. Someone I follow on Instagram mentioned it on their stories and reminded me. You basically get cash back for taking up the offers they have available. There are lots of offers available some don’t require you to spend anything at all. I took up the 30 day free trial to Hayu TV and got £4.50. I can cancel after 7 days and as long as I stream a show then I will get the cash. They also offer lightning payouts on some of the offers which means you can get paid within 3 working days. You do need to have a payable balance of £10 to cash out but I’m almost at that amount just from the free offers. If you want to sign up using my referral link you can get a £1 welcome bonus too.

• Over the Easter holidays we took part in some great free activities. Our local museum had a fun Easter themed craft activities available, the kids made some fluffy sheep which they really enjoyed. We spent some time in the museum afterwards too as they have lots of things for the kids to do like dressing up, jigsaws and games. There was also a free egg hunt in our local library, the kids were rewarded with a chocolate egg for solving the clues. We had lots of fun and all for free too, you can’t get much more frugal than that.

• We shopped around for the best exchange rate to make sure we got the best deal for our holiday spends. Ordering our money online for collection ensured we got an even better rate. We’ve gone with cash so we can avoid any bank charges from withdrawing abroad too. There’s a safe in our room so we won’t need to carry it around with us.

• I’ve continued to focus on reducing food waste and I’m doing really well. We are buying more fresh fruit and veg now in an effort to be healthier, to avoid wasting any of it I’ve been making sure it all gets used up. We have swapped lots of our unhealthy snacks for fruit and anything that doesn’t get used goes in the freezer. I’ve sliced some oranges that were about to turn and put them in the freezer for drinks in the summer. I’m also trying to be mindful of portion sizes at meal times, I have a tendency to make too much food. Anything that is left over I eat for my lunch during the week, I don’t mind if it means less waste.

Related Post: Five Frugal Things For March 2019.