5 frugal things post 38
How come July is such a busy month??!! There is one week left until term ends for the two elder boys, and Jack has already finished pre-school. But I still have a ton of work to do and more meetings in London this week, all mashed into one day on Thursday…Here are my 5 frugal things post 38.
This week saw me go into London Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Tuesday was a a day with all three boys at school so hubby and I celebrated our anniversary (14th July) on Tuesday. Wednesday was a full on 11-hour day running around Christmas in July events. Thursday was a more relaxed trip to Cricklewood for a new kitchen launch with Wickes. I was able to get a cab there and back which was much more relaxing.
Anniversary Lunch
Hubby’s birthday and our anniversary are 4 days apart so we normally combine the celebration into one lovely meal out. This year we went for Murano, an Italian Michelin starred restaurant owned by Angela Hartnett. I have wanted to go for many years and was not disappointed. The restaurant looked flawless, the service was amazing and the lunch menu was perfect seasonal food and very reasonably priced. 3 courses was £33 per person. We pimped up the dessert by swopping it to the cheese board instead of dessert which was an extra £8 each. I am a huge cheese fan so this was a must. We also had a glass of wine matched to each course so we did end up spending a bit extra on wine and on a glass of sparkles when we got there. The whole lunch ended up costing £210 including service.
This maybe sounds like a lot to a frugal person but as a person who has ate many a lovely lunch or dinner at Michelin starred restaurants this is incredibly good value. You could quite easily do this lunch deal for less than £50 per head with just the one drink if you so chose to. The great thing about Michelin starred restaurants is that you also get extra courses like olives, bread and parma ham and a refreshing sweet mini dessert. I would definitely go back, particularly for the service as everyone we spoke to was so welcoming and friendly.
To save a bit of money we used our 2 together rail card which meant our train tickets for £18 rather than £27;-)
Christmas in July transport
I meet Emma from Emmaand3 website, my wonderful co-author of Blogging Your Way To Riches and partner in crime on Wednesday morning at the Soho Hotel for the Philips Christmas in July. We love this location and have been to a few events there together. The art, flowers and rooms are just beautiful. I have a post going live next week all about the goodies from the day so you have that to look forward to but the day cost us basically our train fares into London as everything else was given to us, food, drink and transport. We walked very far, choosing to walk between events rather than Uber or tube it as with traffic it was quicker. I did 22,000 steps that day!!
I got quite a haul from the events that we went to, here is my Youtube video with my haul. Quite a bit of it has been eaten or gifted to people by now;-)
Awards time
Next week sees me head to the London Federation of Small Business awards where I have been nominated for 3 awards, best new business, best digital/technology business and best creative & media business! I am so excited to be nominated for such prestigous awards and three times! My outfit is now sorted out. My dress has been gifted by a beautiful British (designed and made in Britain) retailer Alie Street. They specialise in women’s formal wear, from party dresses to awards dresses to wedding dresses. I can’t wait to show you the pictures on Thursday when I am all dressed up. Claire Wacey helped me choose a dress, I shortlisted three, she chose the dress that would suit me the best and she was so right!! Georgia Souter of Brush Beauty Concierge whom I met at the E.L.F. make-up launch party in May is doing my hair and make-up.
To complete the look I needed a statement necklace so I popped into Miss Boutique an independent clothes shop in Knebworth high street. I took my dress and the owner helped me choose necklaces that matched, a tad stressful with 3 boys eager to get home after school. A necklace found costing just £16. Much less cost than alternatives I had seen at Oliver Bonas or John Lewis and its good to support a local small business.
My partner for the awards is my best buddy Neil boy, hubby and I have too many other commitments on Thursday with the boys (football!) so hubby is staying at home, plus its at Arsenal Emirates stadium, not sure he can stand being there! Neil has also been given a beautiful tuxedo by Dobell a fabulously affordable men formal wear company. I’m also going to have a look through the website for formal clothes for the boys as we have a wedding in 4 weeks time:-) I think a smart waistcoat will look very cute.
Actual Anniversary Day
Hubby and I celebrated our ten year anniversary on Friday. We decided to cook a nice home cooked dinner. Hubby choose a beautiful sea bass dish, served with a broccoli and orange salad and a capers and anchovy chunky sauce. It was amazing. I just worked out the cost which was an incredible £4.77 for two with Aldi ingredients. I never would have thought that broccoli would go with orange, capers and sea bass! He used this BBC Good Food recipe. Dessert was a passion fruit Eton mess from Aldi!
We drank Aldi champagne that came in the goodie bag from the Christmas in July event, served with Blueberry popaballs (blueberry flavoured balls). I also might have gifted some Godiva chocolates to hubby too;-)
Matalan Shopping
Matalan is a shop that I havn’t been into for years, despite seeing the adverts all the time on TV! I arrived at my Thursday Wickes event early so popped into Matalan next door for 30 minutes to check it out and see if it was as good value as I had been hearing. Gena who does my nails raves about it.
The childrens clothes looked good, so I picked up a couple of very cool T-shirts for Jack. One of which he is wearing in the Christmas in July YouTube video above, costing £8.50. I also picked up some very cool yoga/running leggings. Purple of course. Just £14. And they fit like a glove, small size:-)
I am linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s Five Fabulously Frugal things I have done this week linky.
Tell me all about your frugal things this week?
2 Responses
Sounds like you had a nice week – happy anniversary to you!
Thank you Katy!!