Wonderful jumble sale!

A yearly jumble sale and charity auction was yesterday....

Got some great stuff -

China mug with in-built tea strainer
Daffoldil tray
Cream and gold material thingy for the mantlepiece for xmas
Lasagne dish
2 small folding garden chairs for the caravan

Didnt buy anything at the aution but just love the atmosphere! Then while they were doing the auction it was announced "fill a bag for £1" so I got....

1000gms brown acrylic yarn
2 x 200gm pure new wool
Fleece scarf and mitts (were still in wrapper!)
Brown check scarf
Small red fleecy blanket
4 tops for dd
Skirt for dd
Jeans and Tommy Hillfigger top for dgd
2 pretty cotton serviettes
2 cotton place mats
Plastic apron with strawberries on
Tea towel

(eldest dd got the wool, brown scarf, mug and xmas thingy so they are not in the picture)

Spent a grand total of £6 +£2 entrance fee - very pleased!

More reasons to be frugal

We have just come back from a lovely wee break in our touring caravan - the joy of going straight from work on Friday, reached the site in 2 hours and back Sunday night - rested and refreshed.

There was a reason behind this impromptu holiday - we have been talking about having our tourer on a seasonal pitch for a while now. While we love our caravan and have had some brilliant holidays in it (between the van and assorted tents we have been camping for about 10 years now) our car is now getting on and we cannot afford to replace it with a big enough beast to pull the van (our van is an older one - 1994 - and not huge compared to some of the goliaths you see nowadays! but you still need a decent car to pull it) Hence the idea of a seasonal pitch. We know it wont work out any cheaper than our trips but I really like the idea of having a bolthole to vanish too....it will take about 1 and 1/2 hrs to drive to the site we have chosen - long enought to feel like a holiday but a short enough drive to do after work.

The joy of the site we have in mind is that it is open 12 months of the year - there is no clubhouse - just peace and tranquility (its near Dumfries)Its had the best toilet block I have ever seen - including, joy of joys on a campsite - a bath! DHs youngest dd (4 kids) has chipped in towards the seasons fees and so had my eldest dd so they can all have holidays in it too.

And if we dont like having the van in one place after a year we can always take it off again.

So busy doing it up - its an old van and really looking its age so we are sprucing it up with special cleaners and paint. The running and hot water stopped working ages ago and we never got it sorted (I dont trust the pipes inside no matter how much we clean them!!!!) so we just have a jerry can for water. The sink is tiny - just about enough to wash 2 cups in so its no problem to use the sites pot washing sinks. Never used the on board shower as its the loo as well and tiny.

So we are siting it in September and have to come up with 5 months fees - the year runs from Jan so will have to cough up a years fees in Jan - some major saving ahead!

After that we will be putting aside £58 per month ready to pay the following years fees if we like it.

As I said its not a cheaper option but a more usuable one at the moment.

Car boot bits

Isnt it funny - you can go to a huge car boot sale (not many of them round here!) but come away with nothing but go to a teeny tiny one and get lots!

Our teeny tiny one came up trumps - a beautiful pair of red leather shoes for me (major comfort not looks!) not worn - £2, another pair of shoes for me (toe post sandals, tiny heel - again, not worn - £2, a nice wooden poppy for my office (will post pictures when tidy!!!) £1 and best of all a Belkin messenger style laptop bag - brand new, still with tags attached - looked on t'internet but it must be an old style but by the looks of them its in the £25-£30 price bracket - for £1!!!!! My eldest goes to uni in September and she was delighted with it!

Credit cards can be good

Now before everyone screams in disbelief - they can be used to your advantage...back in the day I had gawd knows how many all maxed out to the limit.....9 years on I only have 1 - my Tesco one. I set up a direct debit to pay off the balance in full every month and use it like a debit card. If I dont have the money I wont use it. I dont pay any fees but collect Tesco clubcard vouchers every time I use it which I then turn into Deals and buy magazine subscriptions as Christmas presents.

We dont have a Tesco near us but my eldest dd does and that where she mainly does her shopping. I got a wee leaflet offering 1000 points if I recomended a friend - talked to her about it and explained about the direct debit so shes going to apply for one and she also gets 1000 points,

So they can be a good thing if used properly.

Photos of bargian reductions....

As promised picture of my bargain haul at Asda - the chickens were 50p and everything else was 20p! Had the chicken on Sunday (fed 4), used the left-overs with a 50p pack of stir-fry, 12p pack of noodles, and Chinese5 spic.e in my drawer - made the sauce by adding cornflour to the liquor (fed 2) and 1/2 pack of diced turkey (10p) is in the slow cooker now to make a casserole to feed 4. Cut the pizzas in half which made nice lunches

Busy busy

Dh got out on Friday - feels better today and is eating ok - still really tired...

Did an on-line Asda order and managed to come in just pennies under £50 - the only reason for this is I managed to hit the reductions bit last week and hit it hard - picture to follow but got £34 odd worth of meaty stuff for just under £3 - 20p for everything except 2 chickens - normal price 2 for £7 - reduced to 50p each! Just had one for Sunday dinner for 4 of us and theres enough left over for a curry (using a 9p jar of Asda smart price curry sauce of course!)

Had to spend £20 putting credit on mine and my youngest dds phone - we are with Tesco and so for every £10 your put on you get £20 free - used it a lot when dh was in hospital.

Big day tomorrow - 1st time for 1 1/2 hour driving lesson to start going up to the town where the test routes are! Really nervous but excited at the same time....

Grrrr

DH spent all day yesterday fasting ready for his op and they had loads of emergencys so he didnt get taken - missed his tea so had to take emergency sarnies up and a flask of coffee for him!

Waited all day today and got taken about 5.45 pm so will phone the hospital later to see how he is.....

Wee bit back from Asda price promise....

Just checked my last months receipts - the on-line shop was cheaper so didnt get anything back but from 3 other receipts got...

54p
70p
39p

totalling £1.63 in my pocket not theirs....just need to remember to take my vouchers shopping next time!

Unexpected expense!

Came back from my driving lesson (quite bouncy as it went well) to find dh rolling on the floor in agony - ambulance trip and 9 hours in A&E later he was found a bed and it getting his gall bladder out today......

So by the time I had got sandwiches and water from vending machines, paid for petrol for lifts (our hospital is a 60 mile round trip)and had to pay for petrol for his uncle to take up toiletries and jamas today its quite an expensive business! Lucky I have an emergency fund for just that - an emergency! Thank goodness for the National Health and we dont have to pay for his treatment as well!

Ongoing...

Well I went to the haidressers and got my free fringe trim - so that was £25 saved! Felt a bit cheeky but hey ho - my hair is in a bob which is longer at the front than the back - thinking about growing it all one length to save on haircuts - might go for dry trims next time when its all one length...

Having a look at our finances today - our computer died and with it all my wonderful money and finance spreadsheets - this laptop only has Microsoft Works or Star office on it and neither of them do what I want them to do with my spreadsheets so I am going to have to spend a couple of hours re-jigging them.

My on-line shop worked well last week - in fact I am due a shop today but we have enough to last a couple more days so I will hang back doing an order.

When I first started this blog I blogged every day even if it was just a few lines but always listed what I had spent in that day - might go back to doing that as its a great way of keeping an eye on where your pennies go to!

Driving lesson today - another 2 weeks and I will have to come up with more money for lessons.....