Amazing Charity Shop Finds

I love to go and have a nosey around our local charity shop, in the past I've got so many fab toys and clothes there.  Today was an amazing day between us I reckon my sister, my mum and I saved £70 at least!

I got a pair of toddler Adidas trainers [look like they've never been worn before] in tthe next size for my son £3!  These would be at least £30 rrp.
I also got a M&S 3D jigsaw for him [extra xmas pressie] in fab condition for £2.50.  This would be easily £10.
I got two packs of make your own crackers for £3 for both packs [these would be at least £5 each, so a saving of £7].

My sister got a pair of knee high New Look boots for £4, these would've easily been £25 brand new [and they were in immaculate condition] and mum got a Tesco cardi for £1.99 [approx £10 rrp].

All in all a good days bargains!!

Approved Food

Well I finally caved in and made my first Approved Food order on the weekend - I've been putting it off because of the high postage costs but they now do a special off of £7.50 postage for 56kilos which seemed really cheap.  The whole order [including postage] came to £34.89 and consisted of the following:
Coca Cola Zero 6 Pack £0.99 4 £3.96


15 Taxi Bars Pack £0.99
CASE PRICE De Identified Dried Soya Mince 4 x 200g £0.99
Seven CASE PRICE Just Juice Pure Orange Juice 6 x 500 ml Bottles £0.50 = £3.50

CASE PRICE Magic Fruit Strawberry and Rosehip Fruit Juice Potion 6 X 4 Packs £0.99
CASE PRICE Pringles Rice Infusions Sweet BBQ Spare Rib Flavour 160g £0.99

Ten Fruit Tella Strawberry Sweets 39g £0.20 = £2.00

Twenty KP Crisps Salt and Vinegar Flavour 25g £0.10 = £2.00

McVities Mars Mini Rolls 15 Pack £0.99

Two Phileas Fogg Sea Salted and Indonesian Black Peppercorn Flavour Crisps 140g £0.50 = £1.00

Two Tuc Original Biscuit Sandwich 150g £0.50 = £1.00

Six Robinsons Be Natural Blackcurrant and Pear 600ml £0.17 = £1.02

Two Nestle Milo Energy Drink 400g Tub £1.19 = £2.38

Thirty Kelloggs Fruit Winders Doubles Strawberry and Blackcurrant Strip £0.12 = £3.60

Kids Planet Mix Sweets 300g £1.00

Coral 3 Body Sponges Pack £0.99

I'm hoping this will be all our snacks and drinks for a few months - I can't wait for the delivery to come it'll be fab to have my stocks replenished again.

I also went to M&S to do our xmas food shopping the other day [yes I know M&S is not cheap but we had £5 off a £30 spend and I like to treat us sometimes!].  Got some fab whoopsy items which have filled up my freezer and also got given vouchers for £5 off a £25 spend every week in Jan. If I can go in and just spend £25 [which will then be £20] and just buy deals and whoopsies that'd be fab.  I'd rather buy whoopsy good quality food than rubbish normal price stuff.

Halfway there with Toluna

Woohoo just logged onto Toluna and after doing a few more surveys this week I've now got 42220 points so half way to the 80000 I need for a £15 Love2Shop voucher, previously I'd just deleted these emails but now I'll be doing every survey I'm invited to do to save as many vouchers as possible for xmas and bday pressies next year!

£9 free shopping!

Went to Home Bargains [HB] this evening to get some essentials as my stockpile of basics was mostly used up before the house move [beginning of Nov 09], and had two pairs of pjs I had bought as xmas pressies but decided I didn't need them in the end to take back.  I wasn't sure if they'd take them as I had no receipt but the did and they were £4.50 each thus £9 free shopping happy days!

Also counted up my change pot [started Nov 09 after the move] and we had 22 pounds in there so I will cash that in tomorrow, along with a cheque for £5 for two pairs of earrings sold this month.  So in total £36 more to add to the savings fund.

I also have 20 euros lying about upstairs, from our holiday to France earlier this year, that I am going to take to the bank to see if they will let me deposit these or exchnage them for me [I'll post an update on this tomorrow].

Free Food Woo Hoo!!

Well I have a very kind great-uncle.  After telling him all about my new-found love of my slow cooker, he went to Mr M and bought me a beef brisket joint worth £3.61 [money which I will now transfer to savings].  I will cook this for tea on Saturday, and I think Jay and Finn will be very pleased, me being a veggie on the other hand will have to take their word for it!  I also used my slow cooker to cook rice today and what a difference to cooking it on the hob!!  It expanded sooooo much!  I may have overcooked it slightly as it was a little bit too soft but we'll use it and it's all trial and error.  It's definitely one to try again though and it seems to go so much further.

Other money making news today:  I sold an unwanted toy on netmums for £4, which has gone straight into the savings.  I also sold some dvds on musicmagpie for £13 but I will not add that until the cheque arrives and the money is in the bank.

Free Christmas Alcohol

Well yesterday's Mummies and Munchkins meal was a huge success, Finn and I shared a meal so the whole afternoon only cost me £5, and him and his friends played for hours in the free play area and us mums had a good old catch up.  The cupcakes were very well received, and no-one had to fork out for dessert and another mum had bought crackers and party bags while the pub supplied free craft packs and balloons for the kiddies, it's fab to know that you can do something really fun and it not cost you the world.

Finn having fun on the slide!

Other good news today: Hubbie came home with a bottle of Australian Red Wine and a crate of 18 Becks , courtesy of a client, which starts off our Christmas alcohol selection well and would've cost us approx £14 for the two so I am going to transfer this to our savings woo hoo every little helps!

Today has also been a great success with the slow cooker, we now have a lovely quorn and veggie stew for tea for tomorrow and all the ingredients are ready to make a tomato sauce and risotto in there tomorrow.  I found a great blog today with lots of recipes and hints for slow cooking: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/02/creamy-crockpot-risotto.html, which has inspired me to try and use mine everyday to batch cook very cheaply.

I've also been trawling through a few of the diaries on MSE about becoming mortgage free - these guys are amazing and so inspiring, it made me think that maybe the money we save in 2010 may be better put towards an overpayment as opposed to an extension... hmm food for thought!

Finny-Roo Jr Designs Xmas cards

I have a small business Finny-Roo Designs [named after our fave little muchkin of course!] for which I make and sell cards and jewellery.  For special occasions, the very creative namesake of this business likes to make his own cards and today we have finished his xmas cards for friends and family.  All made from crafty bits I have collected over the years these have been completely free and he has had a blast making them, and best of all each one is completely unique.  I'll take some pictures and add them later...