The Canny Lass

What you need to know about me is this: I was brought up in the age before the internet by parents who hate waste – especially food waste – and that has rubbed off on me.

And not wasting food (and the money that paid for that food) has become increasingly important to me as food (and other item) prices rocket in the UK. I really don’t know how people on low incomes can feed and clothe their families. It’s ridiculous.

I’m a widowed mum of two (a 20-year-old and a 17-year-old) and I need to make every penny stretch as far as it can go.

In the past, I have been poor at using everything up in my fridge and freezer, and then have to throw that stuff out. Apart from the sheer waste of food, I realised I can’t afford to keep doing this. I needed to find out ways of making sure every scrap of food was used up.

And that’s one of the reasons why I started blogging about frugality again.

Many blogs I follow show you how to save money when buying online or in stores or tell you how to get cashback on items and they are great, but this blog is not what it’s about.

This blog is aimed at people who, like me, hate to throw things out, who want to use food up and who want to repurpose non-food items to use again and keep out of landfill.

I want it to become the place where a person will think: ‘I’ve got half a jar of curry paste in the fridge. What can I use it for?’ and find it within this blog.

If I come across a bargain or two, I will share them. However, what you’ll get in this blog is tips on using up mayonnaise or how to keep old towels out of the bin or how to drive better to save petrol.

I’m not talking about going crazy mad on frugality and living an unhappy life. I’m talking about sharing little tricks to make life better, to make the money go further and to enjoy life as much as possible.

Writing this blog will also motivate me to continue to find ways of saving money every day.

Top Tip

Track every penny that comes in and out of your bank account. If you have a second bank account, transfer small bits of cash from account 1 to account 2 . For instance, if account 1 has £531.20, transfer £1.20 into bank account 2. It soon mounts up.