It’s been a pretty frugal week and, being part of the UK Money Bloggers community, a small group of us are participating in a shared theme related to small things you can do to save money. So here are my three frugal things…
Ditched the tube
- A few months back I did something that wasn’t at all frugal and purchased an electric scooter. I’d wanted one for a while since our CEO has one that we ride around in the office (yes we are that sort of cliche tech company), and I knew they were great fun. However, since buying my scooter, I’ve barely used it. I’ve ridden it to the gym a couple of times but, the problem is, I’ve not really been going to the gym so sadly it has been gathering dust.
Where I live in East London, it’s less than a 5 minute walk to my local tube station so it’s highly convenient for me to take the tube to work. However, the downside of the underground is 1) it’s incredibly busy, and 2) it costs me around £130 / month. So I decided to see what scooting the 3 miles to work would be like and it’s actually completely fine and enjoyable.
Unfortunately, the weather’s been crap this week so I only managed this on Tuesday. Hopefully next week it’ll be drier!
Saved= £6
MealPal
2. There’s a new app that’s been popular in the office for a little while called MealPal. The way it works is you pay a lump sum each month and can then redeem this against a number of lunches at a variety of local “lunching establishments” (grab and go sort of places).
The trick is to sign-up to MealPal but not pay immediately. They then proceed to email you a series of discount codes inciting you to complete your purchase. If you can wait two weeks then they will eventually email you a 50% off coupon. I did this and paid £29.28 for a dozen lunches, meaning £2.44 per lunch. Considering I usually spend around £7 on lunch, that’s a huge saving!
Saved = £13.50 (used 3 times)
Sam Smiths Pub
3. On Thursday, some friends and I went for a few beers. The Blue Posts just of Oxford Street is a Samuel Smiths pub where pints are a little over £3. Whilst I appreciate that’s pretty standard outside of the M25, anyone who lives in London or has visited in the last 5 years can attest to pints usually costing over £5 minimum. Personally, I find their beer (particularly their Taddy’s lager) far better than Peroni and other over-priced beers that are so ubiquitous.
I bought a single round costing £13 when typically an evening out drinking would cost me closer to £40.
Saving = £27
Total saved this week
£46.50