This week’s Thrifty Finds for last week of March 2019

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I had some good Thrifty Finds this week:

1.I was able to get another free 11 journey bus ticket as I discovered 10 more used tickets at home. My daughter was also able to get a free student ticket as she had collected 10 used tickets. So far this promotion has saved us nearly £90 (no wonder they are cancelling the promotion!).

2. I decided to take a trip to the new AlDI and LIDL stores that have opened up nearby. I did my usual monthly shop there, rather than doing an internet delivery. While it definitely took A LOT more time (and I had to go to Sainsburys to get some things they didn’t have) it seemed a lot cheaper. I just have to sit down and do a careful price comparison. I also joined the LIDL loyalty club and received two free boxes of washing powder!

3. I finished the book a friend had lent me and started reading Andrew Taylor’s ‘The Ashes of London’ which I originally bought secondhand for my husband. I am really enjoying it. If you like historic detective stories (or are a fan of CJ Sansom’s ‘Shardlake’ series ) I think you will enjoy this one.

 4. I donated a small bag of clothes to a charity shop.

 

5. Finally I treated myself to a new (to me) coat. This navy blue Autograph jacket is perfect for warmer weather. I had to donate my old red jacket as it no longer fitted me but this is a great replacement. It cost £10 from Oxfam.

Thrifty Finds for first week January 2019

Happy New Year! How was your first week of 2019? I took the first week off as the girls weren’t back at school until 7th January. We had a lovely, lazy week.

These are my Thrifty Finds:

1. I went through my food spending for Christmas and made a note for 2019 of the things we didn’t really need. For example we never got round to eating the Christmas pud :0

2. My mum picked up some Christmas wrapping paper for me that was reduced at the charity where she volunteers (Dorothy House Hospice).

3. After two weeks of ridiculously slow internet I called BT and they came round to fix it. As a result we have a brand new phone line (the old one was over 40 years ago and corroded, which explained why our internet would drop during bad weather). I also upgraded to super fast – all for no extra cost.

4. I had an honest clear out of those clothes that are now too tight for me 😦 I also donated a bag of books and games to a charity shop,

4. I couldn’t resist a little trawl around the charity shops in Weston, Bath. My daughter had an appointment at the hairdressers there and I had a few minutes to spare. Once more, the Dorothy House Shop came up trumps! With some Christmas money, I bought a pair of trousers (originally Mango, on sale for £7) and a gorgeous 50s style dress from Country Casuals (£10).

Apparently January is a good time to browse the charity shops as they have lots of post Christmas donations!

Thrifty Finds: first week November 2018

This past week we have enjoyed a half term break from school and celebrated Halloween – I also got to use some money-off vouchers:

1.As mentioned last week we were given three huge pumpkins from a friend. Two were carved for Halloween…

The remaining one was turned into soup, toasted seeds and (I’m hoping) pumpkin pie!

2. As it was half term, I treated the girls to a McDonalds, with a voucher I’d received from WHSmiths.

3. We also took a trip to our local garden centre which already has all its rooms decorated for Christmas. This is becoming an annual family tradition and doesn’t cost a penny.

4. As it’s November we now have money in the budget to buy some clothes (having spent A LOT on uniform back in September). I bought coats and boots for two of the girls and picked up a new (to me) pair of work trousers from Dorothy House. They are originally Per Una and cost me £7.

5. I bought some shopping from Sainsburys with a money-off voucher.

Now that we’re into November I’m going to have to start planning my Christmas spending, working out budgets etc. Where has the year gone?!

A glass bottle turnaround…..

Last week I received this email from my doorstep delivery service:

(Actually it was sent to me in error as I don’t get plastic bottles but I’m so glad I received it!)

This note marks an amazing turnaround for the UK milk delivery industry as, only a few years ago, they were planning to cease glass bottle production altogether (see my blog post here).

I recently bumped into a representative from Milk and More (formerly Dairy Crest) as he was knocking on doors trying to encourage my neighbours to get a doorstep delivery. He explained that the public are so much more aware of the problems of plastic and since the ‘Blue Planet’ series, interest in reusable glass bottles has dramatically increased. In fact Muller (who own Milk and More) were investing in their own glass bottle factory.

It’s amazing what a change in public attitude can do! So when you wonder if ‘doing your bit’ for the environment really makes a difference, the answer is YES!!!

Thrifty Finds: last week of October 2018

 

We are now on half term so I imagine this week will be full of Halloween preparations. This is my Thrifty Finds for last week:

1. I didn’t buy a magazine! I came across the Breathe Christmas Special and it seemed to have so many good articles on how to have a mindful Christmas and alternative gift giving. .However at £7.99 I just couldn’t justify the cost.
2. I did, however, pick up a couple of free magazines this week: The Boots Health & Beauty magazine which is free to card holders, and a copy of a food magazine that had been left in the kitchen at work.
3. We received an extra pack of waffles in our Sainsbury’s delivery.
4. I was also given three free pumpkins from a friend who grows them on her allotment. Every year she distributes them, in exchange for a donation to Diabetes UK (both of her sons have Type 1 Diabetes)

 

5. The girls have already carved their pumpkins, in preparation for Wednesday night. I saved the seeds and roasted them with soy sauce to make a really tasty – and moreish – snack.

 

Hope you had a good week and – if you mark Halloween – a fun evening!

Thrifty Finds: first week in October 2018

I can’t believe it’s October already! I’m starting to hear the Christmas word but I am really not ready for it ….!

Last week’s Thrifty Finds included:

1. I went shopping at the local greengrocers and used my reusable Onya bags. I’d forgotten that this grocers has a loyalty card scheme so was able to earn a few stamps 🙂

2. Talking of loyalty cards, I did download the Caffè Nero loyalty app for my weekly latte treat .But it only gives one ‘stamp’ per coffee – whereas I always get two stamps on my paper card for bringing in a reusable cup. I know I should use the paper free version but I like getting my two stamps!

4. My collapsible Stojo coffee cup (as above) has proved so handy that I’ve ordered two for friends’ birthdays these month.

5. Finally I was given a huge haul of tomatoes from a friend who had a glut of them at her allotment. I plan to turn them into roast tomato soup to take to work (working in the centre of Bath means there are 101 lunch places so bringing in my own lunch helps with the purse.)

Do you take lunch to work, and if so, is it sandwiches or leftovers?

This Week’s Thrifty Finds: Week Two, July 2018

 

I can’t believe we are still on countdown for the end of term here! My daughters don’t break up until 25 July and already they are tired, hot and bothered!

1. Last week I got round to ordering some Thank You cards for their teachers and assistants. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you may know that I struggle with the expense and waste of the industry that is Teacher thank you gifts. The shops are crammed with mugs, photo frames and other trinkets for teachers and I do wonder how much of this ends up in a bottom drawer somewhere!

It’s not that I don’t appreciate what their teachers and TAs do. We are lucky to have such a caring and talented teaching staff at our village  school. To this end, I have ordered some personalised thank you cards for the girls to write their own messages of thanks. I also received a half price voucher as I was ordering from the website for the first time.

 

 

2. I got some money off using a supermarket voucher.

3. Despite my ‘no new clothing’ ban I did buy myself a much needed pair of very comfy sandals from the Clarks sale (reduced from £49 to £19).

4. However we went to a party on Saturday night and I wore my faithful black jumpsuit and accessorised with some new nail varnish.

5. I’m continuing with our ‘eat the store cupboard’ mission and made a lovely Greek salad using a jar of olives and a can of butter beans that we’d had for a few months (plus fresh tomatoes and cucumber). I also used up a half empty jar of Thai Curry Paste and a can of coconut milk for an easy Thai Curry, although I did need to buy some meat for that.

 

This Week’s Thrifty Finds: Week Five June 2018

 

 

Apologies for the late posting. We’re actually away on a mini break in Dorset (I’ll reveal more next week….)

In the meantime last week’s Thrifty Finds were:

1. I got another free coffee with my loyalty card and was given a couple of extra stamps for my reusable cup 🙂

2. Having looked at our budgets for July I’m going to have to reduce our clothing allowance for the month. So instead of buying a couple of new things for the summer (and this current heat) I’ll have to be inventive and ‘shop my wardrobe’.

3. I was given a PE kit for the secondary school that my daughter will be starting at in September.

4. World Cup fever has reached our village! The local pub was doing a fiver barbecue on Thursday. I couldn’t finish my side salads so I took the leftovers home and had them for lunch the next day. (I never normally take leftovers home: is this more of an American tradition? I need to start doing this more often).

5. We received free ice creams at work from our head of service 🍦🍦🍦🍦

How are you coping in this heat? Any tips for keeping cool?

This Week’s Thrifty Finds: Week Four, June 2018

How was your week? The weather here has just got hotter and hotter 🙂

This past week my Thrifty Finds have included:

1. I used a money-off voucher to buy my favourite brand of eco spray cleaner.
2. I quickly devoured the book, ‘Les Parisiennes’ which I had bought from a charity shop last weekend. It’s so great when you lose yourself in a book and all you want to do is find some time to read it. In fact I was enjoying it so much that I spent half an hour in a coffee shop last Wednesday morning before starting work!
3. Last Saturday my husband and I spent a lovely morning by ourselves browsing the shops in our nearby town. He had walked the five miles there (!) and I drove the car to meet him. We had a coffee and explored some charity shops (he bought a book – I was tempted by six Babycham glasses but they were £20 so resisted).
4. I also managed to do some plastic free food shopping. For the first time I bought some meat and used my Tupperware boxes to put them in. The butcher didn’t blink an eye when I asked for the burgers and sausages to be put in the boxes. Apart from the wax paper for the burgers, there was no waste 🙂

5. Tonight is my daughter’s prom. A while back we bought a simple evening dress from Debenhams and asked a local seamstress to alter it for a very reasonable rate (she hopes to get it shortened again after prom to wear as a party dress). She has a very low key prom in that she is just going with one friend and I am driving them there in our Vauxhall Zafira (!). She’s not going to an after party and, instead, is having a sleepover with her friend. I quite like the simple approach has taken to Prom as these events can become very expensive and hyped up.

Hope you have a good – and Thrifty – week and take care in this heat 🙂

This fortnight’s Thrifty Finds (late May 2018)

 

 

Apologies for the radio silence over the past couple of weeks. I sometimes find I just can’t fit in writing a blog post – if you follow me on Instagram, though, I do try to post daily.

1. This last fortnight it’s been hard to avoid the Royal Wedding. Although I’m not a royalist I did manage to mark the day with two mugs I’d bought at the May Fair for 50p each:

2. There was another bric a brac sale in the village last weekend and I bought his lovely cotton dress, originally from Joules, for a fiver:

It’s not quite my colour but works really well with layers and will be lovely and cool when I swelter at work (we are in the top office and all the heat rises!)

3. I got a free coffee with my loyalty card and was given an extra stamp for bring a reusable cup (I had wondered why the barista kept on stamping me twice!)

4. We were given some rhubarb by a neighbour.

5. I spent a lovely day on Saturday with a friend at Bath Festival. We’d originally booked tickets to see Tears for Fears headline at the Festival Finale. However they had to pull out because of illness. We decided to keep our tickets and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the replacement act, Paloma Faith, was. We also received a free upgrade to the weekend ticket although neither of us ended up using it.   I managed to pack some reusables to take for the day out: water bottle, spork, cloth napkin. All the food was served in recyclable containers although I did end up buying a tea in a takeaway cup (very rock n roll!). I’m now on the hunt for a collapsible coffee cup that I can fit it in my shoulder bag.

How was your Bank Holiday weekend? Did it stay dry or were you soaked?