Shop Around

We need a new kettle. The Chap broke ours. I do not think it is particularly clever to continue using a kettle which leaves all over the base unit. I might not know much about physics, but I seem to recall that electricity and water are not good bed fellows.

You can buy a basic kettle for a fiver nowadays.

Photo Credit- Argos

But it is very basic.

I fancied something a little bit fancier, that would compliment our new kitchen, with a recognised name.

Photo Credit - Argos

I have settled on the Breville which I bought from Argos. It was £39.99 and had £2 off so I picked it up for £37.99 I have found it a little cheaper online, but with the delivery costs it would have been more expensive. I just wandered 100 yards from my office and picked it up at lunchtime.

I like the fact it changes colour as the water boils and the light stays red to indicate there is no need to reboil the kettle. I think that might be quite energy saving.

It is interesting to note that for £9.99 I could have bought an extended warranty (what a waste of money! but I did check and the normal warranty lasts for 12 months. So lets take the gamble. 

Frugally yours
Abigail
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A Saving Of £162.00 / Annum

Please, please, please check your bank statement every month.

I had not done this for a while. Then on Saturday, I popped into my bank and printed off a statement from my bills current account. Whilst idly looking through the debit column I saw a figure of £13.50. I looked across and saw it was for an account fee.

Swiftly marching to the counter I asked why I was paying this amount each month. I could have sworn, in fact I am certain I stopped this last year. However, I have no proof and it is entirely possibly it was for my other current account with a different bank.

My £13.50 / month gave me the following benefits

• £250.00 “free” overdraft.
• Mobile phone insurance
• Travel insurance
• Roadside recovery
• Card insurance

Lets look at that a bit more closely

• £250.00 “free” overdraft. It is not free if it is costing me £162.00 per annum.
• Mobile Phone Insurance – I have checked my contents insurance previously. It covers my mobile phone with a £100 excess. In 16 years of owning a phone I have never lost a phone.
• Travel insurance. I go on holiday on average 1/year. Insurance costs me £15/trip from the post office.
• Roadside recovery. Less than £20 per year with Green Flag.
• Card insurance – good luck if you find / steal my cards. I do not keep the credit cards with me in case of failure of self discipline and the debit cards have rarely more than a few pounds in them.

Seems a lot of smoke for £162.00 per year.

It is cancelled now. Interestingly, as I cancelled it the Teller informed me the interest free overdraft would also be available on a basic account which has no monthly fee. For most people the overdraft would be the most useful part.

Bloody Banks!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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Guilt Free Shopping

The Chap is very industrious. He springs out of bed on a weekend morning, grabs a hammer and starts building / laying / demolishing something in the kitchen.

Good for him.

I on the other hand needs two cups of tea and a good 45 mins before facing a Saturday. I also like to have some "me" time when I am not doing chores but just relaxing. Last weekend I just sat in the garden for an hour and a half had a rum and coke and called a friend.

This weekend I went out armed with my birthday money and vouchers.

The inlaws gave me a £70 M&S voucher, I spent £41 on an outfit for work.

Photo credit - Marks and Spencers

The skirt was £29.50 and the top was in the sale at £12.

Photo Credit - Marks and Spencers

I still have £28.50 left on the voucher and am planning on buying their classic blouse when it is back in stock.

I then added £4 to my £10 Boots voucher which was a present from my Aunt and Uncle, and had a real treat, proper posh skin care. A Clinique soap for facial cleansing.

Photo Credit - Debenhams

These last for between 9-12 months really leave my skin feeling clean and soft and blemish free.

Some lovely treats.

Then off to the Post Office to buy some Premium Bonds.

I had such a lovely morning, pottering around by myself and I also had a wander around NEXT and Dorothy Perkins and Hombase.

I returned home and then quite happily settled down to dig over the front boarders, planting our two new Poundland Rose Bushes (not hopeful, but lets see what hapens) then 50 bulbs. Come the summer if our front garden is not a riot of colour and planting then I will be most unhappy!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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An Extra One.

It's night time, just past midnight and I am sitting on the sofa watching old episodes of The West Wing on Lovefilm Instant.

Earlier I put some Aldi ribs into the slow cooker for three hours and served it with salad. My handsome, kind and lovely boyfriend is currently lying next to me fast asleep after a week when he gave everything to his job.

Belle and Twinkle are on a knee a piece also fast sleep. One of them keeps making the most awful smells...

It is nearly a week until Pay Day and I have just enough money to pay for petrol so I am skint.

Yet surrounded by these three, all hopefully dreaming good and kind dreams I cannot help but think I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Goodnight. X
Abigail

Thanks.

Thank you to everyone who sent me Birthday Wishes yesterday.

I had a lovely day. So many people sent me cards. One was hand painted by my friend. Isn’t it great?

I was a very lucky girl and got money, plants and gardening equipment, alcohol and makeup. All my very favourite things!

So tomorrow is a busy day. TC’s parents gave me a Marks and Spencer gift voucher for £70. So I can go and buy clothes without guilt. I am so looking forward to it.

My Aunt and Uncle also gave me a Boots Voucher and by my local M&S is a big Boots The Chemist, so I can have a mooch there too. Guilt free.

Then off to the Bank to pay in some cheques and the Post Office to invest my birthday money in Premium Bonds. Savings accounts are giving such lousy interest rates, I am going to see if this works better for the time being.

If you are not a UK resident, then the abridged version is that Premium Bonds are bonds bought from the government via the Post Office in multiples of £100 to a maximum of £30,000 per person. They are then entered into a lottery every month until you decide to  cash them in to win between £25 and £1m pounds. You can read more about it here. Some are never cashed in and if you were given some as a child as a Christening present, look them up then write to Ernie with your bond numbers and proof (i.e. photocopy of the bond) as I bet you will have won something. When I did this with my £25 of bonds I had owned from a baby, I found out I had won £200 over the years.

Then tomorrow afternoon I am going to plant everything up and tidy the front garden.

I know I am 37 now as I love gardening!

And finally, do you remember my awful journey from Durham back home to Staffordshire a few weeks ago? We were shoved in like cattle and shouted at, at each station by BR Staff

Well I complained. Yesterday I received at £25 rail voucher, which should pay for my next train journey. Just over 25% of my total ticket price, but at least it was something.

Frugally yours

Abigail

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37.....

"Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday, Dear MEeeeeeeeee!

Happy birthday to ME!"

I turned 37 today. Oh Crap....

I always thought by the time I was 37, I would be:-

• Totally grown up (um, nope. I still laugh at "wind" jokes)
• Married with a family (errrr, nada!)
• Living the life of luxury (ha ha I wish.)
• Financially secure. (not even close)
• Thin (nope today I am morbidly obese)

Guess that hasn't worked out huh? :o)

I have not yet opened family and friends presents as it would have been rushed this morning. So I get to open them all this evening! Yeah!

But here is my loot from my office friends!

And we had Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. Yum.

On the negative side, I am 3 years away from 40. OhshitohshitohshitOhshitohshitohshitOhshitohshitohshitOhshitohshitohshitOhshitohshitohshitOhshitohshitohshit.

Apart from my family and The Chap. Can anyone think of a reason to cheer me up about being 37? Otherwise I may have to look into taking out a loan and buying a motorbike....

Frugally yours
Abigail
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What I Have Been Up To..

Morning Folks!

For the first time ever I have a garden. We also have a "lean to" which is coming down this summer to make way for a paved seating area. In the meantime, it is doing sterling work as a greenhouse.

I have always wanted to grow some food, and now I have the chance.

I planted my tomatoes a few weeks ago and they are coming along nicely.

I bought some lettuce plugs from Aldi reduced to 99p, they looked rather worse for wear when I got them, but seem to have perked up for being transferred to a bigger pot and a good water.

I was given to lots of seed potatoes and have planted them in 4 bags. I was not hopeful about these, but low and behold 3 weeks after planting, the shoots arrived.

At the weekend I also planted  the following:-

• Spring onions
• Red onions
• Peppers
• French beans

I thought I had managed to kill the hot chillis I also planted, but was so excited to see a shoot this morning. I forgot to photo it... doh!

To add a bit of colour, I also planted some geranium seeds and so far 4 have come through (though 1 does not show up on this photo), I am nurturing them like they are premature babies.

The Chap and I are not going to be self sufficient in vegetables this year and I still have a long way to go before I can actually eat anything I have grown. But Oh My Gosh, this is so exciting!

And finally, I baked a steak and ale pie this week. I slow cooked the beef in a bottle of Pedigree from Aldi for 4 hours and it was just beautiful. I dumped the filling in a pie dish and used some Aldi puff pastry for the lid. As I had already whisked an egg to gaze the pie with it seemed a waste to chuck it so I cut the left over pastry into circles and lined a tart dish, added a teaspoon of Adi Apricot jam glazed them and baked in the residual heat from the oven whilst we ate our pie.

So yummy and so easy!

A great way to use up the left overs straight away rather than it getting lost at the back of the freezer.

And finally, we had our water meter fitted, which hopefully will bring down our bill significantly. Watch this space!

So I may have been quiet for a few days, but I certainly have not been lazy!

Frugally yours

Abigail

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