As part of my very sporadic and irregular series, here are the last four things I bought. (As normal there are no books or food because food is too obvious and I buy A LOT of books – so they have their own posts). As a brief reminder – I write these particular posts because of my on-going mission towards both minimalism and frugality but you might want to hold on to your hats for these ones…they’re a bit…out there…

At first glance number one on this list does not appear to be either minimal or frugal, but I can explain.

Yes, spending out on a rowing machine (from Argos) might seem a little much from someone professing to be a frugalist, but it enabled me to cancel my gym membership and so will have paid for itself in less than a year. It is most certainly not minimal though, as it will proably never be folded up and put away, but that is because I have used it twice as many times in the 2 weeks since I bought it than I went to the gym in the whole of January (although, in my defence, the gym was full of newbies in January and they are really annoying). I have a theory that there is one comfortable, enjoyable machine out there for everyone…and mine is the rowing machine. I don’t know why, but it was the only thing I consistently used at the gym, and now I get to save the environment too (by not driving to the gym anymore).

Next up is another significant purchase (go big or go home I say), a new bathroom door (from Wickes).

My home is as old as I am (very) and the door on the bathroom was the original. Now, joyously, I have a door that closes properly…not that the old one didn’t, but you really needed to have the knack of bumping it at just the right point with your hip if you don’t want the whole world to hear you wee. Now my guests – driven away by audible urination – will return! (TMI?)

Number Three is my new garden gate.

It needs a second coat of garden paint, but with Storm Ciara still raging I have decided to leave that a little while (not sure what my excuse for not varnishing the bathroom door is though…) The gate has become a bit more of a necessity as I may soon be getting a regular furry visitor (WARNING: adorable puppy picture to follow…)

Number four feels a little desperate to me…I haven’t even managed to use it yet, so I can’t review it, but I needed a number four so here it is:

My hair is long enough that the ends sometimes get tangly and I don’t want tangly ends goddamnit! So, because I love the shampoo bars so much, I decided to try a conditioning one too. No plastic packaging, no animal testing, yummy smells…who could ask for more?

This post is with thanks to Virtual Brush Box and the motivational $0.02.