Thrifty Goodness

Most car boot sales are held on a Sunday, which is infuriating for me as I don't shop on Sundays for religious reasons. So when I find sales that are on a Saturday I get excited (I'm easily amused, obviously). I've been lucky this season to find a few to go to. The biggest and best is at a local rugby union ground. It's HUGE. It takes several hours to walk around. They have one on a bank holiday Monday in May (which I attended) and then one on August bank holiday Monday (next week!!). They have others throughout the summer but on Sundays. I also went to one at a local Catholic church, a couple at a field a couple of miles away, and then a couple just up the road from me. I've just the one at the rugby ground to attend next week then that's it for the year. I can't even tell you how much fun I have walking round the sales!!

So what have I bought this year? Well I've been looking at kids clothes (as usual). I buy jeans and tshirts mainly. My kids wear a uniform to school so only wear regular clothing for playing. Therefore, I don't want to spend a fortune on them! I usually spend either 20p or 50p and item. Last Saturday, I bought 3 pairs of jeans for Nathaniel for 20p each. My kids are growing like weeds!! Nathaniel has just turned 9 but needs age 10 jeans and I look for age 8 for Zach. I was also fortunate to get lots of hand-me-downs recently too so they are well stocked for the next year or two.

I've also been buying clothes for my nephew Eli who is about 20 months old. I've bought some fantastic items, again for 20p or 50p each including designer brands such as Diesel and Timberland. I'm glad I can help out my sister as she has very little time to attend sales herself as she's usually working Saturdays. Plus she's busy renovating a house they've just bought and looking after her little boy while her husband has his own business! AND she's just graduated from university!! Crazy busy woman!! And I have to admit, buying little boy/toddler clothes is far more fun than buying older boy clothes!

On Saturday I also bought a few bits for my mum. I bought her 3 Slimming World recipe books for 50p for all 3 total! And 2 cushions (Ikea) that match 2 she already has for Christmas.

I've been buying myself some fun costume jewellery and accessories this year. I have a drawerful and love to have a rummage in it to find bits to finish off an outfit. I've also been fortunate to find some shoes this year. One pair is from Wallis - black patent heels. Worn once. £1.50. And another sale I found a brand new pair of black patent shoes with cone shaped heel with a strap for £2.00. I'd been looking for a pair exactly like that so was excited and couldn't believe my luck when I found them!! I've also bought clothes for myself. I pay either 50p or £1 an item. In fact, the top I get the most comments on was £1 at a car boot in May!! Most of the clothes are smart clothes for work and church. I get a thrill looking at what I'm wearing when sat in church, knowing how little I've paid, lol. And they all look new!

I've also scored on some fab childrens books too. Again, either 10p, 20p or 50p each. I bought another copy of The Jolly Postman for school as the library copies are a little dog-eared since they are so popular. I bought it along with 2 others for £1 total. I also bought Pigeon Finds a Hotdog which has to be one of my favourite books for 25p. And last week I bought Man on the Moon (a day in the life of Bob) for 50p. At one sale I bought 10 books for £1 including a brilliant one on Ancient Rome that we were able to use at school. I have a 'thing' for kids books. I have to really control myself or I'd buy way more than I do!

I've also bought some magazines because I can't bring myself to pay full retail price. I got a pile of O magazines and some Everyday with Rachael Ray cooking magazines. 20p each is good for me! I've also bought a couple of DVD's for £1 each including Rat Race which the kids LOVE and Juno (which I'd not seen but wanted to!).

I know I've bought way more stuff than listed here - I should have made a list and taken a picture after each one! I'll have to have a wander through the house one day and take pics of things I've bought at car boots or charity shops and pop them on here just for fun. And hopefully after Monday's upcoming car boot sale, I'll have more bargains to show :)

Summer Time

Can you believe that we only have one more week after this one until we go back to school?? It's gone wayyyyy too quickly for my liking!! I was ill for the first two weeks though (some sort of chest infection that rendered me bed-bound!) so that shortened the actual time I had to do stuff and enjoy the break!

We haven't been away (we went on our vacation back in May) so have just pottered around here. Sometimes it's just nice to spend time home, doing very little, just enjoying each others company! We've had crazy weather though - some hot sunny days, some cold rainy wet days, and everything inbetween, lol.

A couple of weeks ago my grandad celebrated his 90th birthday and we all went out for lunch with him. He does so well for his age. He's just decided that he's not going to drive his car on an evening when it's dark as his vision isn't so good when it's not bright. Up until just a couple of years ago he used to go to mainland Europe for a month or so every August - getting the ferry and driving thousands of miles! And he speaks the language of wherever he goes. He can get by in Spanish, French and German. Pretty cool! I hope I'm as active as he is when I'm 90. Although I'll probably be drooling in a corner somewhere, lol.

My washing machine broke a couple of weeks ago so tomorrow I went and ordered a new one. It will most likely be delivered next week. That's one of the exciting things I have to look forward to before school starts again. It gets exciting around here I tell you!! :) I'm sure you're jealous!!

We went to Ikea yesterday as they were celebrating 15 years of Ikea in Leeds and they were selling their hotdogs at 15p at the Bistro. So I pushed the boat out and treated the kids, heck they could have two if they wanted, lol. They had a hotdog and an icecream each. So 50p total per kid. I'm generous to a fault, I am!! I actually had 2 hotdogs (no icecream). £1.30 for lunch. Excellent hee hee.