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I always forget just how long the winter can feel, and the realisation usually comes around the second week of February. Christmas feels like an age away, the summer is a long way off and my birthday’s not for another three months (May 9th, if you’re interested).
This time of the year can also feel like a good time to save money. The festive period may well have taken some serious whack out of your savings, or you might just want to save as much as possible for 2019: The Greatest Summer of your Life™ (summer plans/the pressure to drop a grand on a music festival when you’ve not got four figures in your savings account is definitely topic for a future edition of Resourceful).
But anyway, come mid-February, it can seem hard to keep trying to find indoors-y things to do that won’t cost you much. If you're anything like me, you've watched everything worth watching on Netflix and are now itching to add something new to your routine to help get you through the final few weeks of the winter.
A few years ago when I had the most disposable income I may possibly ever have, in my first salaried job and still living at home, I’d spend a fair bit of my free time shopping. If I couldn’t be bothered to catch the bus into town, I’d sit at home scrolling ASOS and buy things I was about 65% sure were “my style” (and ashamedly, would probably only wear once). My point is, we live in a world where it’s so easy to fill every minute of your free time spending money.
Until the summer comes around and we can loll around soaking up Vitamin D in the park all day, every day (tbh, I think I always misremember that the summer still involves working every day and admin and stuff), there are still plenty of things to be done to get us all through the winter for relatively little money.
The r/Frugal subreddit is a wonderful place to look for free ideas (and it’s - whisper it - where I get lots of my ideas for this newsletter). Meetup is a great way of expanding your pool of friends and accruing more hobbies, and often events are held in people’s houses or community centres, so you’re not obliged to part with a hard-earned fiver on a pint.
Aside: I’m going to a Slow Stitching Meetup tomorrow, where six or seven people all sit in someone’s living room and ‘slow stitch’, ie stitch nonsense on pieces of old fabric, like doodling, but with thread. It’s 100% free, the host generously offers us tea and insanely-delicious kruidnoten biscuits and, most importantly, it gets me out the house.
However, if you’re barricaded indoors, whether you’re snowed in or can’t justify the return fare to get anywhere and back until your next paycheck lands, other options include:
Board games. Most charity shops will have a whole section of pre-loved board games for pennies = hours of fun).
Popcorn. If you’re in the mood to switch off with some A-grade TV or Oscar-nommed film, you can still go full out for very little money. Draw the curtains, pop that corn and give yourself a cinematic experience that’s, like, 94% free.
Bob Ross-inspired painting nights. If you already have some paint supplies, get your Bob Ross on and “paint a happy little cloud”. I’ve not done this yet but it seems like a wholesome thing to do that’s relatively cheap, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up this week.
Scrapbook. Or just do anything with the resources you have in your house to make “art”. Art is subjective guys. The most on-brand Resourceful thing you could do is make a collage of your receipts and the endless leaflets which land through your letterbox. You don’t even need to buy magazines (although I hauled six copies of 1990s National Geographics this week for €2). Mindful spending: check. Recycling: check. Hours of free fun: check, check, check..
Anyway, timer’s up. Personally, I’m trying to be sensible with money right now but I did book a trip to Hamburg when I was drunk on Christmas Day that we’re going on next week. I'm only human.
PS I’m going to step off social media for the next fortnight as I’m taking a short break off work and won’t need to be online. I'll be writing about it in the next Resourceful edition, so see you again then!
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Read this.
- London runs on money, not inspirational feminist memes. Why The Pool closing was a sucky thing for its staffers and freelancers who were all left seriously out of pocket.
- 25 things you never need to buy, according to this one person. (I disagree with gym memberships as it’s where I can blast Lady Gaga three days a week and have a serious endorphins party, but agree with cleaning products).
- Young people in China who have little cash left at the end of the month are buying hamburgers on credit. (There’s a paywall on The Times site, but you can get a free trial).
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Think offline.
A list of things that I'm grateful for this week. What are some of yours?
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- Lauren Laverne interviewing Bob Mortimer on Desert Island Discs
- The unbeatable feeling of finally finishing a book you’ve been reading for a while
- Dean Martin Best Of compilations
- Drinks with old friends
- Drinks with new friends
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Save cash.
Meerkat meals. No, I'm not suggesting you change your diet drastically to save money. I saw on a FB group this week that if you take out £1 worth of insurance via Compare the Market, you get a 2-for-1 cinema tickets and 2-for-1 meals at LOADS of different restaurants for a whole year. The savings potential there is so huge, I almost want to move back home.
Language learning. But as I’m still over here in the Netherlands, I found a limited time deal on Babbel, where you can bag a 6-month subscription for £20. If you want to parlo Italiano on Thursdays - or any day (terrible Peep Show reference), here’s the link you need.
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Eat this.
(Perfectly legal) Hash, a recipe by Sam Dando
Serves 2
This dish is very versatile and great for emptying the cupboards of veg that's just on the turn. You could try substituting celery, mushrooms or spinach that's on its last legs, that's the beauty of a hash!
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- 6 medium-sized potatoes - quartered & thinly sliced
- 1 large onion - diced
- 1 red pepper - roughly chopped
- 2-3 garlic cloves - finely chopped
- 2 large eggs (+ 2 tsp sunflower oil for frying)
- 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp chilli flakes (or fresh chilli pepper to taste)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & pepper to season
To serve:
- Ketchup or sauce of choice (BBQ or brown sauce will work well too)
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1. Heat a large, flat frying pan over medium-high heat and add your olive oil. Add your potato slices once oil is shimmering and season with a healthy pinch of salt to encourage crispiness. Fry for 12-15 minutes stirring regular to evenly cook the potato.
2. Once the potato starts to look evenly golden (usually around the 15 minute mark), add your onion and pepper and stir/toss to spread evenly around the pan, season with a pinch of salt and fry for another 3-5 minutes.
3. Once the onions have softened and start to turn translucent, add your paprika, oregano and chilli and toss well to combine. Cook for another 5-10 mins stirring regularly.
4. When you start to see the first sign of charring in the pan, add your garlic and toss to combine. Fry for another 1-2 minutes until the garlic becomes fragrant, then take the pan off the heat and season with salt & pepper to taste.
5. In another pan (or the hash pan once emptied onto plates), add your sunflower oil and fry your eggs, using a spoon to baste the tops of the eggs with the hot oil to get rid of the slimy white on top of the yolk. This should take no more than 2 minutes.
6. To serve, plate the hash and drizzle with ketchup (or your sauce of choice), top with your fried egg, with a little salt and pepper over the yolk.
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