A Few Chores.

Today has been a day of doing chores. What a way to spend your days off.

 

I used some vouchers and discount codes to get a few luxuries.

 

I was up and out early on Easter Friday. I think the Chap was pretty perplexed, but I didn't want to spend the morning lounging around. I wanted to get sorted.

 

First things first, after being away last weekend and I am away again next weekend. So, I am behind with the washing. I was wearing some pretty strange outfits to work this week!

 

As we do not have a drier, and the weather is just pants in Staffordshire, I decided for once to throw some money at the problem and took two huge bags of our washing to the local laundrette. For £13 they washed, dried and folded the lot for me. Not the best way to spend my hard earned cash. But with the weather freezing, and our only way of drying is the clothes airer, then this was a small price to pay for some soft towels for a change and no mould in our spare room.

 

I then toddled off to the local town centre and did a bit of shopping. First a stop at Halfords as O2 were giving away 1litre free screen wash for O2 customers. I do not really need it now, but I will do in a few weeks. So, happy to store it until then. RRP £2.49. Thank you very much.

 

I then went to The Body Shop and treated myself to some more moisturiser as again O2 were offering £10 off a £20 spend so I picked up some dead posh shampoo too that normally cost £4.50 per bottle. Umm may be hiding that from the TC.. is that bad??

RRP £16
 

Then a stop at the outdoor market where I picked up 6 huge potatoes suitable to baking, mashing etc for 89p. Much better value than the supermarket.

 

I also popped to Wilkinson as this weekend I am planning to get planting. I want to get the potatoes in and start off the geraniums and our hanging basket. I also picked up some tomatoes seeds. 3 for 2 at 60p each. I do not know is that cheap?

 

I cam home full of good intentions and made lunch for TC and I, then made  a fatal mistake.. I sat down. 2 hours later I woke up. Sleeping during the day is the laziest thing you can do. But um, Goodness! I felt so much better. It was wonderful and not a feeling of guilt at all. TC was really laughing!

 

Really enjoying the long weekend, and I hope you have some nice plans.

 

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

Huh Oh!

Just stopping by, we woke to a flooded kitchen this morning.

The Chap at 6.30am was prising his beautifully laid tiles off the wall to get at the leak. (He only finished on Sunday!)

The garage is damp now too.

We are not happy bunnies here at 'Southfork'.

Got to go mopping & cleaning to do.

Frugally yours
Abigail
X

A Few Of My Favourite Things

I am, as we speak, running towards this long Easter weekend as if it is was a long lost lover. I am that excited about 4 days off work!

In our family we rarely give Easter eggs and normally exchange a little present instead to save our waistlines.

I thought you might be interested in a few of my current favourite buys instead of as well as indulging in Chocolate.

The Brrrrr Ice Tray

See it looks like a polar bear!!

Black & Blum have been my favourite design company since I stumbled across them about 18months ago in a shop whilst on the Isle of Wight. I bought their classic lunch box (box appétit), and now have increased my range to their lunch pot to take soup and fruit into work. Their product line exude quality with clean lines and practicality assured.Their new product is the brrrrr

It is an ice tray! You turn it 90 degrees and fill it with water until it reaches the overspill & screw the top on, then bring it back down to horizontal and put it into the freezer. The lid stops the nasty smells from getting in and you just have to give it a sharp tap to release the ice cubes. Perfect for those with limited freezer space. Now lets be honest who has had a gin and tonic only to bring it to your lips and see the odd stray pea floating on the top? I cannot believe no-one has thought of this before

At £9.99 it’s a perfect new home present or thanks for having me gift.

The Hair Turban

The Blonde Bombshell kindly gave me this on Saturday. It is a hair turban.

 

Such a great idea after a bath, you simply put the larger end at the back of your head and scoop your hair into the narrower part. Twist the microfiber fabric and then secure the narrow end at the nape of your neck using the loop and huge diamante button. Ready in seconds to answer the door or put on make up before a big night out. Mine was from Primark, but Boots are selling something similar here

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson

Another Scandinavian book, and it is just brilliant for a holiday or long weekend read. I picked it up when it was on special offer for the Kindle at 20p. It has now gone back up to £3.08. It features Allan Karlsson who is 100 years old and in the first few pages flees from his nursing home on his 100 birthday with a stolen suitcase. He meets an odd assortment of merry men as he makes a sedate escape across the country involving a hot dog vendor, organised crime and an ex circus animal, pursed by the police and media. In-between each chapter set in the present we flash back to Allan’s life leading to this point, and realise he was present at every major historical turning point of the 20^th century.

It was such good fun to read, I couldn’t put it down!

Tiptree Tomato Sauce

Who buys tomato sauce as a present? Weirdo Abigail!

But this sauce transforms the ordinary bacon butty into culinary heaven. At £1.99 for 310G it is not exactly cheap, but it will have you coming back again and again and again.

Alessi Big Heart Love Expresso Spoons

At £19 for 4 they are not cheap. But I bought some for my sister a few years ago after I invested in a couple of boxes. They are a design classic. So posh, I always feel like I should not be using them with own brand coffee!

Buying an Easter Egg is nice for youngsters, but only if you can afford it. For the grown ups why not spend the same amount of money as you would on chocolate on a little treat that your loved one will retain much longer?

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

P.S. I received no money or incentive for writing this list. It is my own opinion and if you do not like it then go and write your own blog.

A Fantastic Weekend

This weekend was aMAZing.

I had such a great time with my friend "The Blonde Bombshell" (lets see what she makes of that title!).

I got there at about 9ish despite the snow in Staffordshire, and had the largest rum and cola you have ever seen. Followed by a delicious pizza. We exchanged news and hugged and gossiped and generally had a good catch up.

In bed by just after midnight and up at eight for freshly baked croissants and my new favourite Apricot Jam. I have to buy some! We then toddled off to Covent Garden for a mooch dressed for the dreadful sleet and snow. Thankfully none of it stuck


My friend, with an eye to my limited budget, had booked us into Bistro 1, 2 courses for £7.95. I had bacon and potato salad, with fish cakes for main. So yummy!

Then off to the matinee performance of Spamalot. So funny especially as I am Monty Python fan.

We always then round off our day out with Lychee Martini at 1 Aldwych Place which is a short walk away. Don't look at the prices, it will just upset you.

Back to hers for homecooked seabass, and more rum. Then Bed.

Up early again and she did bacon and mushroom sandwiches for breakfast. We watched the Grand Pix then it was time to go home.

But I went home in style Folks, I walked to the bus stop behind Chris Martin (from ColdPlay) and his daughter! They were not catching a bus..

I had accidently booked a 1st class ticket for the way home for an extra £6. That little bit of luxury on the way home was fantastic!

What I liked about the weekend was that I spread the cost. I paid for the theatre tickets in January about £35. Then booked the train tickets in Feb and organised an Oyster Card to use public transport cheaply in London - Cost £36. (£26 For staffs to london train tickets and £10 on the Oyster card).

So this weekend I went with £50 and came home with change.

But seeing one of my best friends? Priceless!

Frugally yours
Abigail
x

No-One Expects The Spanish Inquisition.

A couple of reader picked up on a point I tried to hide in the text yesterday.

Yes, The Chap received a gas bill of £700 for the quarter. We live in a 3 bedroom house.

I am not worried about the Cats getting up the duff anymore as The Chap's had kittens!

I write a blog on how to reduce your outgoings and pay off your debt then go and then receive a quarterly gas bill for £700.... something is wrong somewhere.

Of course no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition which is exactly what I got when I returned home from work. Actually I got a text about it whilst still at work he was that upset.

But, not with me...

For you see I do not even know where the central heating control panel is. I think he suspects the cats..

Ofcourse the upshot is that gas usage is being reviewed. The Results

• We are changing supplier
• We have reviewed the when it will now be programmed. Not at all in the morning, and 4 hours from 6.30 - 10.30pm
• The thermostat has been turned down
• The Chap is looking into cavity wall insultation.
• We are also going to purchase draft excluders for the lounge.

I did point out that my combined bill at my 2 bed flat was considerably less than this, and so perhaps he should allow me to me to control the heating.

Watch this space!

Frugally yours
Abigail
x

The Budget & A Moan

Firstly Hello & Welcome to my new followers - J Stevens and OhMyGodOhMyGodOhMyGod Only blooming Frugal Queen... bow scrape etc etc. (For my family members who only ever read my blog because they have to. Frugal Queen is the rock star of thrifty blogging!) Thanks so much for visiting. x

***

2013 spring budget was announced yesterday. It has been aimed at “those who want to work and get on”. I want to work and get on, so lets have a look then.

The Main Points

·        A cut in corporation tax.

Oh good, an employer gets the benefit of an increase in profits. Not helpful to me at all. Plus my employer gets to cut his National Insurance bill by £2000, and as it is a small company there is every chance he might not have to pay any NI according to the budget.

·        Frozen petrol duty.

Well considering I am already being stuffed at the pump paying c. £50 for a full tank of petrol for a 1.2l POLO and that lasts me 1 week. Then I am not going to notice that it is not getting MORE expensive.

·        Cut in beer duty by 1p. Who cares? How many pints of beer would you have to be drinking to think at the end of the month I have an extra tenner. If you do then you should probably be looking at stopping drinking!

·        Income tax threshold raised to £10,000 as of 2014. At the end of April 2013 the income tax threshold is going up anyway and so I will be better off by £23 per month. These income tax rises are the only raise I have had in well over 5 years.

·        Shared equity scheme extended to assist first time buyers get on the property ladder. I already have a home, though I welcome any steps to assist youngsters buy a house and therefore kick start the housing market.

·        20% tax relief on childcare up to £6,000 per child from 2015. The Chap and I do not have a family.

I recognise that The Chap and I are very lucky. We both still have a job and a roof over our head, but paying our bills and trying to save is difficult (especially for me) and rising fuel costs always worry us (our gas bill arrived yesterday £700 for the quarter...gulp! We have a parliamentary enquiry going on as we speak). The budget seems to go over our heads as we are neither better or worse off.

Does anyone else out there feel that The Budget always forgets them? Our little sector that has not ever or rarely taken any benefits, or used social housing or had a yacht or a £million house. Am I alone in thinking this? Or perhaps just miserable and unfeeling of harder hit sectors of society. I don’t know, and that bothers me that I might not understand the difficulties other people face.

But what really upsets me is the level of debt the UK has. 85% of GDP. To put this into context, if you earned £20,000 it is the equivalent of having a debt of £17,000.

Mr Osbourne is planning to borrow £120bn this year. Perhaps he should start readinga thrifty blog on how to cut your cloth accordingly.

Frugally yours

Abigail

x

A Shopping Trip With A Difference

I went shopping with a friend 'Ann'on Friday during my lunch hour. We rarely meet up as she lives in Kent and I live in Staffordshire. She has a little lad, so when we do meet up we do not get to mooch around a clothes shop for an hour.

Friday we made a special effort as Dorothy Perkins had such a good sale on of up to 30% off. She needed some new togs and I wanted to pick up another T-shirt.

So off we wandered to the store, we discussed various items, gave our opinion on dresses, tops and Ts and showed each other the items we rather fancied.

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience!

Nothing unusual about shopping with a friend you might think. Ah Hah! You would be wrong!

You see I was in Dorothy Perkins Wolverhampton, and Ann was in Dotty Perks London. It was such great fun, we both managed to log onto a wifi signal in the shop and then proceeded to use WhatsApp to send each other free pictures of what we were looking at and  then the other would respond with their thoughts.

I think we spent about 30-40 minutes in store and online together, I came out having purchased this T-shirt (I bought this in peach a week or so ago and loved it so much I picked it up in white too) for £8 instead of £10.

 

Ann Picked up this little lot

A Denim Tab Shift Dress

A cardigan

White ruffle drawstring Top

And finally a lace tunic that I just cannot get you a picture of

All for £85 in the sale!

We were both delighted and it was so nice to have a chat as we wandered around texting and taking pictures to send to each other. Shopping at lunchtime is a lonely business and to get a friend’s input was invaluable and a lovely way to keep in touch during the stresses and strains of the week. I don’t know about Ann, but I was giggling all the way around

Ann did admit that one of the Sales Assistants thought she was rather loopy!

A sale on at one of my favourite clothes shops, is always enough to keep me in a good mood! Quality and Price! Thanks Dotty Ps.

I think it is safe to say Ann and I have invented a new type of shopping.

Now, ummm how do we patent it?

Frugally yours

Abigail

xx