Frugal Doings!

I know that I don't often do a post on the gnat bottomed side of my life but it continues as ever....the GBT purse puts paid to any wanton spending believe you me. She has a heart of pure gold but is a right old tartar when it comes to parting with any of her coin horde [my coins I hasten to add!]. I think that I've been doing it for so long that it's virtually second nature to me these days. A friend has recently set up a closed FB group for those of us locally to share inspirational recipes and meal plans which helps us all to cook something different. She's just started meal planning and is raving about it as she's no longer reaching for the takeway menu when she's tired. I've been it doing such a long time that I had forgotten just how much time and money it can save...it's good to be reminded of the basics though.

With the old bat helping me keep on the straight and narrow the following savings have been made. Matters of personal grooming....men's razors and razor blades totally rock especially when they are Wilko own brand. I don't need to pay extra for a pink razor just to stop my bikini line looking like two baby gorillas trying to escape cheers! The mysupermarket site made my job of tracking down the cheapest offer on Clearasil for the small person a walk in the park. Rather than pay £4 in Tesco Wilko had it for £2.70. Mean mother that I am though held off buying until the teen really had emptied the 3 bottles he thought he'd finished...turned them upside down and then showed him how much was still left to be used.

Cinema tickets to see the latest in the Hobbit trilogy sorted....Nielsen homescan points have been traded in for vouchers same as last year.

With Chrimble preps well under way here at GBT [I'm one of those horribly organised people but I refuse to spend my precious spare time being squashed into a retail outlet with other humans thanks...I avoid the shops like the plague during December apart from when I do my weekly shop when I always go ridiculously early anyway to avoid the queuing]

I used the Autumn lot of Tesco clubcard vouchers to buy the bits I needed to make some home made presents that I didn't already have in store. I've now made three different types of gifts...all which should be useful. No more details on that front obviously. The latest lot of clubcard vouchers have been doubled up so that we can buy a bike lock for the small person [he already knows] after he recently broke his. I've extracted some pressies from my gift box that I've picked up during the year, found some items in a 75% off sale in a charity shop, taken advantage of the 2nd hand market place on Amazon and picked up some other items from the charity shops. We're all into recycling in my family and my sibling and I have an agreement that it's perfectly acceptable to both of us to give second hand- we're both on a tight budget. We have chosen carefully for each other over the years and come up some lovely things and I have done the same for my parents on occasion as well.

Many of my chums and I have agreed not to send Christmas cards- we have seen each other and spent time together enjoying each other's company which is much more important I think. I plan to make a few but will plunder my stash of pretty papers and other craft supplies. Over the year I've snaffled away any pretty boxes, envelopes and sweetie papers that have caught my eye to boost it and recycle even more.

Chrimble food preps are now going on apace. Again I used mysupermarket to check alcohol prices- this yielded a bottle of vintage port on offer for £6.75 in Sainsburys which Tesco charge £12 for. I am waiting for our local branch of Savers to get some more of their cream liqueur in as it's the most reasonably priced locally. We're not heavy drinkers and make our own wine so our drinks cupboard is now replenished and the new purchases will probably last us a couple of years. I shall pick up some snacky treats as I see them on offer but not go overboard. All these little savings have allowed me to order free range beef from a local butcher to have on the day itself.

Too much nattering...I promise I'll stop now and leave you all in peace.

Arilx

As ever the photo of the Chinese lanterns bears no relevance to the content of the post..it's simply  another rather lovely evocation of the beautiful Autumn sights I'm enjoying as I'm out and about exercising my nosy bone!