Saturday Steals Vol 22

When I first started doing Saturday Steals (make that Sunday because I'm tardy), I was all about the produce and today I am returning to my roots! You know me, I love a good food related bargain. Or perhaps its just that the most common thing I buy is food, either way these were a definite steal.

Now around these parts cherries are an incredibly expensive thing. They are currently £8/ kg meaning that the bag below is about £4 worth of cherries. Now I love cherries but not enough to pay £4 for such a momentary pleasure. Thats just pushing it a little to far!



But whilst I was at work last night, I found these three beautiful bags of cherries reduced to only 50p/ kg. Which mean that in total these beauties cost me 58p for all of them!. Now if that isn't a steal I don't know what is!



(And yet I've already eaten the other two bags, why do you ask?!)

Excellent fruit. Price that won't make my bank manager weep. It makes for a good weekend!

Happy weekend friends,

Lindy xxx

Saturday Steals Vol 20

Ahh the joys of blogging from my iPad? No photos. So you will just have to flex your imagination. My Saturday steal this week comes from the wonders of the January sales.

Now I have a favourite pair of brown boots. Comfortable. Good colour. Fleece lined. Pretty much perfect. Unfortunatly this perfection has recently been marred with the sole starting to disintegrate and the zip breaking. Making my once favourite pair of boots unwearable! Not so good.

Usher in the wonder of the January sales. These boots were originally meant to be £79. For £79 I would want my boots to be able to make me fly or something. For that amount of money I would want them to have magic powers and to stop me getting lost. In my world £79 is an awful lot of money for shoes.

£29 however is more my kind of price. For that I don't feel ripped off and indeed I feel as though I got a deal! £29 for cute brown boots with swanky purple lining that will go with large proportion of my wardrobe? Now that is my kind of saturday steal!

Hope everyone enjoyed their New Years celebrations, me I stayed in with James and watched the fireworks on the TV. Nice quiet night in because I had to be up for my mega crazy day at work today (1000- 1800 and then 2200- 600) yes I know I am mad!

Lindy xxx

Saturday Steals- Vol 19

The last Saturday stealing opportunity of the year! How exciting! Being the thrifty kinda gal that I am it has warmed the cockles of my heart sharing all the great deals I have found with you this year.

And yes, I think I save the best till last!

This skirt.


I saw it in the staff reductions at work a while back- it was reduced to £3.60, a pretty good price for a skirt, but I just never got round to picking it up.

Then a few weeks later I saw this...



10p! How can I resist a skirt for 10p?!

I interrupt this post to point out that James decided to interrupt my photography session and colonise my time for a while. He also mucked around trying to cut my hair a little (and he succeeded) and put boot polish in my HAIR! I yelled, then chased him, then he chased me, and before we could get too Tom and Jerry the giggles over took me. Its really hard to win a fight when your laughing. But still. He put boot polish in my hair and this is an unforgivable crime! He must pay. Just not right now because he gave me a donut and some milkshake.



Back to the skirt. Sainsbury's were also having a 25% off stunt on clothing as well, so not only was the skirt 10p to begin with it was then reduced. Making this the grand total of 7p!

7p!

Defiantly my steal of the year. Now if only the temperature could make it out of the minus numbers and I could wear it!


Happy Saturday Stealing!

Lindy xxxx

Saturday Steals Vol 18

So I was thinking about what I could tell you about this week. I considered this beautiful glass butter dish that was given to James and I by his grandmother.



But then I thought about all the other things that might be worth more than a butter dish. You see I have a lot of 'stuff', and sometimes I wonder whether it is too much. Now its not that I don't value the butter dish, and its not that I'm not very grateful for the gift. Its just that I've been thinking recently about all the things that we get for free that might be worth more.

Like this morning. The first thing that James told me as I woke up was that I was beautiful. The first thing that I told him was that I loved him.

He downloaded this music for me because he knows that its my favourite song.


Its the little things that we do in out everyday lives that add up to the really big happiness.

Here is the picture I managed to draw for today. For some reason she looks really really worried!


Hope everyone has a love filled weekend!

Lindy xxxx

Saturday Steals Vol 17

Well I promised myself this week that I would make it back for Saturday Steals. I thought about my post during the week. Decided what I would ‘steal’. My organisation was going to be superb, nay enviable this week. You would have been blown away by the sophistication and thought which was going to have gone in to my post. It was going to be awesome.

Unfortunately yesterday I was in a minor car crash and I have ended up with whiplash. About the best description I can come up with of what this feels like, is that my back is clicking like an unholy xylophone, being played by an over enthusiastic ghoul. This has rather stymied the grand plans I had for my Saturday Steals extravaganza of a post since I’m not really in the position to take the *amazing* photos I had planned.

So this leaves me to tell you about another steal I managed this week. Unsurprisingly I am back on the bandwagon of buying books. But as my daily Notes From The Universe tell me, an amazing collection of books is something to strive for, and who am I to argue! (Honestly if you’ve never heard or read these little notes they are a fantastic way to start your day.)

This book cost me the grand total of 25p from a bargain bucket of books that was outside an independent book retailer on my way to work. Hannah Hauxwell is a woman from the Yorkshire Dales who came to fame in the 1970’s for her solitary lifestyle without modern conveniences (such as say, running water or electricity). A couple of TV programs were made about her and this is one of the accompanying books.



(As you can see my photography is not going any further afield than my sofa!)

Whilst you might be quite rightly wondering why on earth I was attracted to this particular tatty paperback, it is a quite convoluted tale. When I was a kid, my parents had one of the other books from the series, and it sat on our bookshelf for years. I never read this book. I just remember noticing it a lot. It was called ‘Hannah in Yorkshire’, had a black dust jacket, and a very large photo of the aforementioned Hannah on the front. I have no idea why I did not read this book. My parents were very liberal in what they let me read. I read plenty of other things off of their bookshelves. Except this one book. Yet it must have made enough of an impression that I remember it all these years later and then go out of my way to buy a similar book. Perhaps the world is telling me that after all these years I should simply borrow that book off of my Dad, as I should have done about a decade ago!

After all these years this is a pretty good book. Simple but affecting. Not a long or a difficult read, but Hannah herself is a very likable woman, who has lead a most extraordinary life. Maybe I would not have appreciated her story at 5 or at 10. Maybe I would have fixated on the fact that she didn’t have TV, or that she couldn’t wash her hair every day and I would have not really understood what I glean from this tale now. Maybe the world wanted me to wait before meeting Hannah in the pages of a tatty paper back, aged 21. But whatever age I am, I’m glad to have met Hannah in the pages of this book, finally, and she strikes me as the kind of woman who would mind that I turned up a little late for our meeting.

Saturday Steals- Plums!

So I know I’m a little late this weekend, but its defiantly worth it! I’m so stocked about my steal.

This morning James and I went plum picking at my Dads. In his back garden there is this huge plum tree which he has been growing since before I was born. I spent my childhood climbing this tree, hiding on the wall behind it and laying out on the top of my Dads shed (which sits right behind it) and reading. In my book this is a most excellent tree!

Made even more excellent today by the amazing haul it gave to us. The photo below shows only half of what we managed to pick- though if felt like we barely made a dent in all the fruit on it today!



I see many jars of plum jam, sauce and plum crumble in my future! And best of all they were free! Which considering that boxes of about eight plums in the supermarket can cost about £1.99, I feel that thats a pretty cool saving!



Head on over to Archives of Our Lives to check out some more excellent steals!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend, I will see everyone next week! xxx

Saturday Steals Vol 15

Well strike me blind, i'm amazed that yet another week has passed! It barely feels any time at all since I was here last week, which is weird considering how busy i've been since then!

Tragically i'm now starting what I think is my eight straight day in a row working, yet I don't feel completely overwhelmed as yet, something which I can only attribute to my incredibly supportive and loving family. James has been utterly stellar, (more on that next week).

But this weeks Saturday Steal is somewhat connected and comes in the form of a present from my mother-in-law. She saw me at work last night, and because she thinks that I work too hard and that I looked tired she brought me these...


How thoughtful is that?! I was completely touched by her thought and it made my night an awful lot better! Defiantly a steal in my eyes (even though I didn't really do anything!)

Anyway I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend, what with the beautiful weather that we have been having recently. For more excellent steals head on over to Archive of Our Lives and check out everyone else's great contributions.

xxx

Saturday Steals Vol 14.

So for this weeks Saturday Steals, i’m back to talking about office clothes! As I mentioned earlier in the week I have got a new job, one in an office which requires, you’ve guessed it, office clothes! Now one of the great ironies about getting a new job is that you have to get more clothes before you’ve had your first pay check, thus, deals were needed to make this doable!

So without any further ado I visited one of my favourite places to score steals, the reduced rack at Marks and Spensers, where I found...

This pretty little blouse, reduced from £25 to just £3! A saving of 88%!


I also got this pink stripy number which was reduced from £15 to £3, a saving of 80%!


And this green silky blouse which was reduced from £29.50 to just £5, a saving of 83%!


With Marks and Spensers pretty much cleared out of any office clothes in my size I moved on Debenhams who were having a mid season sale. Where I managed to get a few more bargains.

These grey trousers which were reduced from £25 to just £12.50. I think I might remove the belt though, what do you think? A saving of 50%


This two piece set which was reduced from £35 to £12.50. Now I will happily pay £12.50 for this, but i’m not convinced that anyone would pay £35!


Head on over to to Archive of Our Lives to see some more great bargains.

Happy Saturday everyone!

Saturday Steals Vol 13.

*Due to an extremely busy week, and my extreme tiredness, I'm replaying this round of Saturday Steals again! All shall be explained next week, I promise! Until then, have a fantastic weekend! xxx*

I have a bit of a hobby. Its not one of those formal hobbies that requires evening and weekend work, or hours slaving away to achieve a particular task. No, i’m a little too disorganised for such an arduous hobby. Sometimes months if not years can pass before I turn to this hobby once again, but this has no effect on how sweet the winnings are when I do find a particular item.

If you hadn’t already guessed, I collect old books.


This might not come as much of a surprise.

Now when I say old books, I don’t mean the guilt edged (although a little shiny glint never goes amiss), you can’t touch this its so old, put it in a glass case variety of old books. Mostly these are too expensive and I have no money, what with that whole student thing and whatnot. So I collect the books that slip through other peoples notice. The ones which end up on the back shelves of charity shops. The ones which my parents so generously gave to me to start this collection. The ones which nobody else wants.


A couple of weeks ago I hit gold in this department, and it was a find which most defiantly counts as a steal!

James and I were taking a walk in the small town of Woodbridge near us, in order to buy a new kitchen knife. (Yes we went to a different town to buy a knife, its a long story, don’t ask!) Where outside a charity shop was a table covered in books, now I can never resist a second hand book table so was soon drawn towards it like a moth to a flame. This was what you might call the bargain corner of a charity shop. They weren’t even asking a fixed price on any of the books, just a small donation of above 20p per book. This is like heaven, if you are me!

So between us we manage to pick up a travel guide, a Ben Elton novel, a crime book which I have since read, and was so bad I gave up on and won’t even dignify you dear reader with the title, and this....


my favourite of them all.

It is as 1925 copy of George Elliot’s novel Romola. In the inside cover it has an inscription dated 1929 which reads, 'With love and best wishes for a very Happy Easter from .... Simon and Vera 31 May 1929'. There was only one word which I couldn't really make out.



I love this. I actually love this. I love being able to hold a book in my hands and imagine all the people who may have held it before me. Now yes, the binding is going a little bit, but to me that just adds to its charm. I’m a firm believer that books are there to be read, this books binding just demonstrates that it has been used for its original purpose many times, and that can only be a good thing.



For a find so good, James and I gave them all the change which we had on us, which amounted to a little over £2.50. I cannot believe that I paid so little for this treasure, or at least its a treasure to me!

I hope everyone has a happy and relaxing weekend.

This post is part of Saturday Steals over at Archive of Our Lives, head on over there to find some more amazing bargains.

(And yes, I did go a little crazy with the antique effect on iphoto!)

Sunday Morning...

No Saturday Steals this weekend I'm afraid as I just haven't had time. Which is unfortunate as I had a steal planned for this post. Yesterday was super busy, and today J is taking me somewhere as a surprise trip! Hence why I am posting so early in the morning! Which is so exciting!

I shall check back in on Monday and let you know where I went!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend! xxx

Saturday Steals

Guitar borrowed from J's Dad..... Free


Plectrum that I found in one of my draws..... Feels free


Garageband that came pre- installed on my computer to teach me how to play..... Free


Having something to do..... Priceless!


If this doesn't count as a steal I don't know what will! Hope everyone has a happy and sunny weekend. xxx

This post is in conjunction with Saturday Steals over at Archive of Our Lives, check it out!

Saturday (make that Sunday) Steals

So still no camera. Hence no pretty pictures. But my steal this week can kinda get away without. Whilst in town this week I picked up season 2 of the new Doctor Who for only £20. Which considering it was originally meant to be £70, i'm counting this as a fairly major stealing score.



It does however mean that Doctor Who has once again stolen the large majority of my free time as I become obsessed with watching it once more. This obsession is even bleeding over in to J's time (which is either a major score or a major corruption on my part!)

If you are yet to checkout Doctor Who, or indeed have no idea what i'm talking about, I really recommend that you do. This is TV at its finest. (The new series is currently all up on BBC iplayer in its entirety.)

Anyway, this is only a short one, because I have to go to work (sob), but I hope everyone has a happy and relaxing Sunday. Away from work if you have any luck at all! xxx

ps. I got the picture courtesy of Amazon, sorry for the quality!

Saturday Steals once more

So todays Saturday Steals are only a little quickie because I am meant to be moving boxes and crushing cardboard! But about a month a go I went in to one of the charity shops in town and they were having a half price picture sale. Now I’m always a sucker for a bit more art and I picked up this lovely sketch.



Now ignoring the ugly frame (which i’m going to change) I love this sketch. One of the major plus points however was the price. It was half price for only 50p! How can you beat that? I love to imagine who Colin Williamson (the signature on the bottom) was and why he donated this picture to a charity shop. In my head he is a little old man who honeymooned with his wife in this cottage, when she tragically died he couldn’t bear to see the reminder of those happy days so gave the picture away. (Yes i’m aware i’m reading far too much in to this!)



Right, I must go move house to happy Saturday everyone! xxx

Saturday Steals

So these weeks Saturday Steals comes from a rather stressed place. Not only is my final exam at university next Thursday, (a fact i’m trying very hard to repress) but I am also trying to complete on my house and move. When it rains, it pours! All of these things are good; i’m very excited to finished my degree, start my career and move house, but they do add more layers of stress to my life. Thus I should add an apology for my lack of posts this week (and probably next).

But that aside on to this weeks Saturday Steals. And you will be glad to note that I am keeping up my new tradition of not mentioning produce or office clothes!

So without further ado here is what I have gained this week. These amazing vintage, metal, advertising plates.

I love this first one with the amazingly evil looking cat!



But on this one I adore the typeface and the whole general style of the illustration.



The best thing about these pictures is that they only cost me £10 each! Pretty good I feel. These are going to find a home in my kitchen, when we finally move in.

I hope everyone has a happy and relaxing weekend, and I will see you all next week, (unless I have drowned in a pile of revision, that is!) xxx

Saturday Steals

So today’s Saturday Steals comes on a very different tack to the one I normally take. You will find no produce and no office clothes! Yep I was just a stunned - I have made it through a week without buying cut price produce and clothes! My bank account thanks me.

So this is what I have found....



Really high quality fabrics with which to make cushions for my new house and settee. I went for really neutral colours because the sofa is a really vibrant russet red which would be hard to match colours to.

The first one was only £3! I have about enough fabric to make about one medium sized cushion- a pretty good deal in my mind!



The second one was £4.57. (I know, a really random price!) This piece is a little bigger so will make about two normal sized cushions.



I was so very happy when I found these, cushions are defiantly on my to do list for next week!

Have a happy and relaxing weekend all xxx

(apologies for the photos, the light and my camera were not co-operating!)

Saturday Steals

So its that time of the week again where we all indulge in a little Saturday Stealing. (Yes I know that sounds immediately wrong. Scouts honour that I paid for these!)

So without any further adieu, we are back to a familiar theme for my steals... produce! Yes ladies and gentlemen I am nothing if not predictable. But. Wait. These onions, they were 19p. How could I leave them? It was just such good value that I was compelled to buy this pack of onions, compelled I tell you!



So what does one woman do when faced with a pack of onion? She makes soup, thats what she does.

Because... sautéed onions + stock + a little bit of worcester sauce = onion soup heaven.



You heard it here first people.

*This has been a public service announcement on behalf of the Soup Lovers Party*

I think for next week i’m going to have to come up with something completely different to steal, otherwise you will think me obsessed with produce and office clothes!

Have a happy and relaxing weekend

xxx

Saturday Steals

So I thought I would deviate from my produce themed Saturday Steals for just one week. Today, then, its all about the clothes!

I should probably prefix this post with a declaimer- I work for a large British supermarket, and thats how I managed to get most of these deals. So firstly at the place where I work we are currently having a 1/2 price sale on some clothes. This would be good in itself, but on top of that there is currently an additional 25% of of all clothing. Plus my 15% staff discount, this was too good an opportunity to waste.

So first up is this lovely combo.



The jeans were meant to be £14 but I got them for £8.40 which I though was pretty dandy. (Ignore the cardigan- I was cold!) The linen shirt was originally meant to be £16 but I got it for £9.60, again a pretty good deal I think. There are two other good things about this shirt, firstly its a size 8 so its a miracle it fits me at all, and secondly J picked it out. Being a boy he isn’t that attuned to what I wear on a daily basis so if he likes something, it must be good!

But my piece de resistance when it comes to clothing deals has to be this skirt though. Now this was originally half price, but I got another 40% off of that, meaning a skirt that was originally meant to be £12 ended up costing me £1.20! If that isn’t a steal then I don’t know what is!



Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their Easter weekend, and has a relaxing time. Unfortunately I am at work until gone midnight tonight, so relaxing is not on my agenda!

Saturday Steals

So i’m continuing on the produce theme for my Saturday Steals this week! Last week it was potatoes this week its carrots!

So my Mum got these carrots on sale for 50p for the whole pack, and she then gave them to me! So technically they’re free to me! You can’t get a bigger steal than that!

So since just telling you about free carrots doesn’t make a particularly interesting post, I thought I would tell you what I made with them. Remember the sweet potatoes from last week? Well not even I can eat that many, so I still had a few left over. Cue the most orange soup you will ever see- Spicy Red Lentil, Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup.



To make this homage to orangeness you will need: 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic, some red lentils, 6 carrots, 3 sweet potatoes, about 3 pints of chicken stock, garam masala, hot chili powder and cayenne pepper. (Did I mention that this makes an awful lot of soup!)



To begin, mince the garlic and chop the onion in to a stock pot with a little bit of olive oil. Saute them until the onion is translucent. Add to this the chopped vegetables and red lentils and then cover in the stock. Cook until the vegetable are cooked and then blend the mixture. At this point add the spices to your mix depending on how spicy you feel like making your soup. You may also want to add a bit more water as mine turned out a little on the thick side.

Then sit back and enjoy your thrifty homage to orangeness!