Saving Electricity: A New Toaster Causes Maths Confusion

Well, here it is, my brand spanking new toaster.  "Not very thrifty", I hear you cry!  Well indeed, and this is where the confusion begins.

For the past year, we haven't had a toaster.  Our previous one went 'pouff' and that was that.  I decided we could be doing with some space on the worktop, so didn't replace it.  I had also been reliably informed by revered British Chef, Delia Smith, that the only way to make a decent piece of toast, was to grill it.  So grill it we did.

However, since getting my trusty OWL electricity monitor, I realised that each time I put the grill on, the electricity reading jumped through the roof.  This was especially worrying as we eat rye bread for our toast, which takes a lot longer to crisp up than your standard white sliced does (it is however, very, very yummy stuff!)

So this set me off into a world of calculations.  Using my OWL I figured that each toasting session cost .5p.  When you reckon that we have toast most days, and that JW has his breakfast at a different time to us, most days, (meaning double the grill time; unfortunately 6.30am alarms and me don't mix!) Then you can estimate that it is costing us roughly £36.50 ($58.24) each year to make our toast.  Wowzers!

I have sat on this information and pondered about it on and off for the last few months.  My dilemma was this: using the grill is expensive, but a new toaster costs money! And if I was to buy a new toaster, I had no idea how much electricity it would save me.

I finally decided I would get a cheap toaster and headed out to Sainsbury's, where confusion abounded.  None of the toasters told you how much electricity they used (except for one model), so it was really tricky to compare them for energy efficiency.  I plumped for the Kenwood model, as it had a one-slice option, which claimed to save 50% of the electricity of other models.  But at £49.97 ($79.74), it was also amongst the most expensive (there goes my idea for a cheap model, oh dear!).

When I got it home, I made two slices of toast straight away.  The Kenwood Toaster toasted me up lovely pieces of rye bread at a cost of only .1p.  A whole .4p saving on the grill.  So, by my rough calculations, (taking into account the number of times it is used each day) the toaster should have paid for itself through saved electricity within 19 months.  From which point I will be saving £29.20 ($46.39) a year on electricity, as the toaster will cost a meagre £7.30 ($11.65) to run! Miles cheaper than the grill's toasting cost of £36.50 ($58.24).

The only downside is that the toaster is new and so it will have eaten up the earth's resources in its production.  At least all the packaging it came in was recyclable, with none of that hideous polystyrene stuff to content with!  And I will recycle the toaster itself when it finally breaks, (but not before 19 months I hope!)

Sometimes it feels like you need a maths degree to work this stuff out!

What about you?  What's your top electricity saving advice?

Natural Shampoo: Does it work?

I haven't used any synthetic moisturiser or cleanser on my face for a number of weeks now, (following a horrible allergic reaction to a 'posh' skincare cream).  My facecloth, witch hazel and walnut oil routine is proving to be ideal for my face.  And this got me thinking about my haircare routine.

I do like my hair to look nice (who doesn't?) and over the years I have gone through several phases of using expensive shampoos and conditioner sets, to then swinging to buying whatever is on offer at the supermarket.  My current shampoo has been dictated by what is on bulk-buy at the wholesaler we use. 

But in a desire to reduce the rubbish I am putting on my skin and to reduce the rubbish I am producing (check out the picture of the shocking pile of plastic bottles I have for recycling at the moment!!) I stumbled upon the idea of using soap nuts to wash my hair.

I have been a recent convert to soapnuts for washing my clothes.  They are the fruit of the Soapberry Tree, which is dried and harvested by hand in India and Indonesia Check out Living Naturally Soap Nuts for more info..  By my thought process they must be better for the environment than synthetically produced, plastic bottled, water polluting, detergents.

The information blurb that comes with the soapnuts has pretty much 101 uses for soapnuts!  One of which is as a shampoo.  So, always up for a challenge, I thought I would give it a go. 

Turning the soapnuts into shampoo couldn't have been easier.  You just had to put 15-20 nuts in six cups of hot water, bring the boil and simmer for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes are up, you simply wait for it to cool down, then add a few drops of your favourite essential oil (I used ylang ylang) and bottle it all up.  I had too much for one bottle so put the spare into labelled glass jars, ready to refill the plastic bottle.

So, what was the result?  I washed my hair last night.  The soapnut shampoo did not lather at all (I expected this, as the blurb warns you it won't). So I treated it like conditioner, by pouring it on my hair, rubbing in, then leaving for a couple of mins, before rinsing out.

I then used an apple cider vinegar rinse.  Basically a few spoonfuls of cider vinegar diluted in glass of cold water, poured over my hair (I did this over the sink; I am not brave enough to pour cold water over myself in the shower!)  This is an old-style treatment for hair that I have read about lots of times, so wanted to try it instead of conditioner.

And you know what, my long hair is soft and shiny and smells fresh and clean.  So it worked.  (I doubled checked the smell with JW, who didn't know what I had been using, and he confirmed my hair smelt 'very nice'.  So no trace of vinegar then!) 

I will keep using the soapnut shampoo and vinegar rinse for a couple of weeks and report back on it's success or failure in the longer term!

Farewell, My Tumble Dryer

Farewell Dryer!

The new, leaner, greener me has been toying with the idea of dispatching with our tumble dryer for a few months now. 

Over the past couple of years I have tried to not use the dryer, as it is A. very expensive to run and B. really energy intensive, making it an environmentally bad-boy.

In the main, I manage quite happily not using the dryer, and then I go through month-long spells where I can't be bothered hanging things up and start to use it again.  In other words, I get really lazy, as hanging stuff up takes a max of a couple of minutes!  So, I took the decision on Monday to sell the dryer and therefore get rid of the temptation altogether!

In preparation for not using the tumble dryer, I had already set up a drying area, with clothes horse and a retractable washing line, next to a heated towel rail (which is on a timer and switch).  I had also fished out some (v. ugly) plastic hangers from the back of the wardrobe, to maximise drying area on the line.  And about a year ago I made a knicker and sock hanger, from a couple of wire coat-hangers, some ribbon and some wooden pegs.

My Clothes Horse

I am also lucky, in that I have an outside washing line.  But that said, I do live in Edinburgh, one of the rainiest places on earth, (well it feels like it most summers anyway!)

I do quite a bit of washing, averaging eight loads a week.  So, by not using the tumble dryer (ever) I will be saving a lot of electric. 

Ideally, I would also like to cut down on the amount of washing I do.  But this will be tricky as at least three loads a week are made up of my Guinea Pigs' bed blankets.  But, I have a few ideas to try, which I will share with you in later posts.

My Knicker and Sock Hanger

In the meantime, I am £50 quid up, having sold my tumble dryer within a couple of hours of posting my ad on Gumtree, to a guy who was going to buy a new one otherwise. 


And now I finally have somewhere to put our wellies, which I am constantly tripping over at the back door!  I will get round to putting in a cupboard in the hole that the dryer has left, it may take me a wee while to get that organised though.  Where on earth do you buy a single cupboard from anyway?

A new cupboard in waiting!

A Thrifty Cup of Tea

My lovely little teapot

I love my cuppa and I certainly conform to the British stereotype of being obsessed by a good brew.

This week I have been making my tea obsession just that little bit more affordable, by using a one-cup tea pot and re-using the same tea-bag throughout the day. 

My mother-in-law gave me this sweet little teapot (pictured), as she was having a clear out and it needed a home.  Thanks to her generosity, I can now put a tea-bag in the pot in the morning, brew my morning tea and leave the tea-bag in the pot.  When I am ready for my next cup, I simply pour more hot water into the teapot.  Easy as.

I can get two cups of tea out of the same tea-bag (my usual tea allowance for a day) and it will stretch to three cups at a push, if need be.  Each tea-bag costs me .04p, so by using an average of one per day instead of two, I calculate that I am saving myself .28p a week.  Which isn't a lot, but it soon adds up, to £14.56 a year extra in my pocket.  Nice one; I'll drink to that!

Trash Free Periods

The first week into my project of reducing the rubbish that my family sends to landfill, to only one wheelie bin full for the entire year, is going reasonably well.  Not having any handy bins in the house is a definite big plus in terms of getting us to reuse and recycle more.

My first major challenge on the no-bathroom-bin-front came today with the start of my monthlies.  Sorry, the topic may be off-putting for some, it isn't really a favourite subject of mine either!  But all women go through it, so I shouldn't be embarrassing really.  Anyway, I have been thinking about swapping to washable pads for a long time, but it has taken me until today to pluck up the courage to use them.  What a revelation, they are fab!  Much more comfortable then ordinary sanitary towels and dead easy to use too.  Why haven't I been doing this for years? 

I have four pads, one to wear, one to wash, one to dry and one spare.  Simple as!  I am giving them a hand wash with soap in the sink as I go, then drying them out on the towel rail.  I will give them all a good wash through in the machine at the end of the week.  It is easier for me as I am home based, but if I am out and about, I won't be bothered about using a small plastic drawstring bag to store any changes in until I can get home. 

As well as saving on landfill, it is also saving my pocket, as I usually spend around £2.00 per month on sanitary supplies.  You can buy washable pads for around £10.00 for a set, which will last you years.  Although, get this, I made my own nifty set with spare oil-cloth, (that I had left over from a tabletop project), as the leak-proof backing, along with spare cotton material and wadding.  This is probably going way too far for most people, so just Google Washable Sanitary Towels, for a good selection to buy.

With a £24.00 saving per year, every year, I am very happy with my trash free period.

Make-up, Make-up, Make-up; Is there a more natural approach to skincare?

I have to admit that I am not a big make-up user.  A bit of concealer, a swipe of mascara and rub of lip-balm and that's about your lot.  When I was a teenager and then a twenty-something, I definitely spent lots of money on lotions and potions to (supposedly) make me look better; I would feel the pull of the make-up counter a mile off.  Whenever we were in town, my sister and I used to have a saying about going to Boots (Chemist and Cosmetics mecca of the UK), it went "Do you need to go to Boots?"  standard reply, "Of course I do, there is always something that you need in Boots!!!".

But, as I have got older I feel that the whole luxury, must-have, cosmetics industry, endorsed by beautiful celebrities, is a major rip-off.  And I don't like the way that it plays on women's concerns and worries about their looks.

However, that said, as I am about to turn 34, I do feel that I should start taking better care of my skin.  A quick rub with a face-cloth just isn't cutting it!  When I look in the mirror now, I can see that wrinkles are beginning to show around my eyes and although I don't really mind that, I also don't want to age really quickly and end up looking older than I am.  Ageing gracefully is the name of the game!

As part of my New Year's Resolutions I pledged to spend more time doing things that I really want to do; and spending a bit more time looking after myself fits that bill.

With that in mind, I was really pleased to receive a bag of expensive goodies from my mother-in-law, from a really well known cosmetics' brand.  She had got them as a freebie with her usual moisturiser.  I pounced on them gratefully and immediately slapped on the 24-hour-amazing-miracle-wonder-moisture-balm along with the shrink-your-bags-in-a-blink-of-an-eye-cream.  Feeling rather good, I went about my business with the knowledge that my skin was now being well looked after.  Alas, within a short time I felt that my face was mildly itchy and when I looked in the mirror later on, I saw that it had swollen up over my cheeks and under my eyes and was all red and blotchy.  I had taken an allergic reaction to something in the creams; not a good look!

That was a couple of days ago and my face has calmed down since then.  Though I won't be using that brand again!  Instead I got to thinking that there must be a more natural way to look after my skin.  I have been reading an old fashioned mother's handbook lately and it mentions skincare lotions made up of ingredients such as beeswax, almond and avocado oil.  So, I set off for the supermarket to pick up a bottle of Almond Oil and some Witch Hazel, which I remember an old friend swearing by.

I found the Almond Oil in the cooking oil aisle and the Witch Hazel in the medical aisle, and purchased both for about £1.50 each.  Which is a whole lot cheaper than a pot of even the most basic moisturiser.  I used them last night and this morning and my skin is feeling better already.  The Almond Oil is great for my dry dehydrated skin on my forehead, cheeks and under eyes.  I just pour a really small amount onto my hand and rub it lightly into my skin, (I figure that this way is a whole lot less faffy than making up a handmade skin balm).  While the Witch Hazel is calming down the irritation caused by the expensive cream, I am simply applying that with a cotton wool pad.

I now have plans for natural facemasks and foot-soaks!  So more to follow.

What will your New Year's Resolution be?

As the year draws to an end, it is natural to see the calendar shift as a time to change something in your life and make improvements.  If you would like 2012 to be a year where you get your debts under control, here are my two suggestions that are really working for me.

Number One:
I write down everything I spend in a pocket notebook, from the 50p chocolate bar, to the £800 mortgage payment.  And once a week I spend 5-10 minutes transferring those figures into a spreadsheet of spending (I do mine, first thing on a Monday morning).


The picture on the left shows my notebook in action.  I score off a section for each day's spending.  A great day for me, is now a no-spend day where I write nothing down in my book!

And you don't have to buy a notebook either.  I made mine using a piece of cardboard from an old box and decorated it with magazine clippings.  The pad inside is used printer paper and letter heads which were going to be recycled. I cut the paper to size, hole punched and tied it in with a ribbon fastening.  Total cost: £0.00.

I find that tallying my spending up each week into my spreadsheet is a very effective way of stopping the spending urge from taking over.  It gives the thrifty urge more of a chance to survive.  The harsh reality of the black and white figures makes that new pair of winter boots far less tempting!







I have a variety of columns, each with an annual,  monthly and weekly budget attached, which helps me quickly see how on target my spending is. 



Number Two:
Using my bank's smart phone app, I check my bank balance every morning, tracking direct debits and payments to ensure we don't go overdrawn.  Smart phone apps are much quicker than online banking to log into, meaning I can check my bank account in seconds.  It also saves any embarrasment at the supermarket tills!

And by the way, just in case you are wondering, I didn't buy my smart phone, I waited for my husband to get a free upgrade from his pay monthly deal and I got his old phone.  I just put in my old sim card and continued to top-up the phone with about £10 a month.  We have wifi at home, so I don't get any internet charges (I don't use this function when I am out and about), so it is just as cheap to run as my old phone!

Being in control of my money has really made a difference to how much I spend.  Ignorance may be blissful, but with money, it quickly comes back to bite you on the backside.  It is much better to be 100% knowledgable about how much money you have and where it is going.

There is really good advice on the Money Saving Expert website about setting up an effective budget, if you would like further information, take a peak there.

Freebie Weekend

Trying to "make do and mend" has led me to keep an eye out for freebies and bargains.  And this weekend was a cracker.

First on the list for Saturday morning was to pick up a newspaper, The Telegraph, which I had been reliably informed had a voucher for a free tie from T.M. Lewin.  JW and I had a grand stroll down the road to our local High Street, at Stockbridge, to pick up the paper.

Newpaper collected, we headed over to a jam-packed T.M. Lewin on George Street.  Right enough, the voucher let us choose any tie up to the value of £32.50 and it seemed like the whole of Edinburgh was rummaging through T.M Lewin's shelves!  After a bit of muscling in, JW picked out a fab red silk tie and after duly handing over the voucher, we were one tie up.  On leaving the shop I checked the receipt to see how much our tie should have been, and I was rather amazed to discover the ticket price was £65.00!!  The tie has gone in the Christmas gift cupboard and isn't bad at all for the £2.00 cover price of the newspaper.

Long walk enjoyed and dinner eaten, we headed over to KitKat's for a fun evening playing their new QI game. JW and the rest enjoying Vanilla Vodka, myself a rather tasty ginger beer; while we all took it in turns pretending to be Stephen Fry.  I would recommend such an evening to any QI fan; I am looking forward to playing it again already!


On Sunday we headed out to buy The Telegraph again, as this time it was complete with a voucher for a free necklace from White Stuff.  I love White Stuff's clothes, especially their colourful tights, so I was rather excited to be able to get a free necklace.  When we got to the store however, I was disappointed by the necklace selection on display, and had to have a good wonder around to find one that I liked.  I was then even more disappointed when I got to the till, and a rather embarrassed shop assistant told me sheepishly that I could only choose from a really tiny selection of four (frankly pretty pants) necklaces.  So, with a sigh I picked out one with a bee motif and handed in my voucher. The necklace had a ticket price of £17.50, but you would have to be mad to pay that, I was miffed at having shelled out £2.00 for it.  I think I may be able to salvage something from it, by making it into something else...watch this space and see.

We finally wrapped up the weekend with a trip to Craigmillar Castle.  My friend AJ had let me know that Historic Scotland were doing their annual free weekend, in celebration of St Andrew's Day.  A quick check of their website and I found that Craigmillar Castle was included.  We have never been before, which is pretty lax of us, as it is only three miles from our house!  So JW and I took the opportunity to go for a wonder.

My expectations were really low, as I knew that it was a ruin.  But we were both amazed at the size of the place.  Although much of it is roofless, you can still get a really good feel for the Castle and the scale of it.  Inside the solid outer walls, the inner walls and tower are really intact and the castle is like a maze to explore.  It was really busy, as lots of other people had had the same idea, but it was actually really nice to wonder about and hear other people saying "have we been here already?" and getting just as lost as we were!  The castle was a favourite of Mary Queen of Scots and it was a genuine pleasure to visit as you could well imagine the young Mary taking refuge in the safe castle walls.

It was also fun to figure out the architecture of the place.  JW spotted that one of the rooms we were standing in was actually three old rooms stacked on top of each other.  Check out the fireplaces below:

What with the free weekend pass, the free tie and (dodgy) necklace, we ended up not spending money on anything apart from £4 on newspapers and money for groceries; we were both feeling rather pleased with ourselves.  Then we started to read The Telegraph, and that was a whole other story... let's just say it won't be on my future 'must read' list!

The Monster in My Garage: Part Two

Well, the Monster is slowly being brought under control and parts have been ordered by both the electrician and heating engineer.  So, hopefully the Monster in my garage (aka my heating system), will be feeling a lot better in a couple of days time.

Meanwhile, it has turned very chilly here in Edinburgh.  The temperature outside just now is about 5 degrees and the Monster is eating it's way through a lot of gas. The nights have also closed in, as the sun now sets at about 4pm, so the candles are burning in the home front.  So, I took the decision to switch energy providers, in order to get a cheaper deal.  Using the price comparison website uswitch.com it was really simple to compare the different deals and to see potential savings. 

I had been putting off making the switch, as we were getting our electricity from Green Energy, the UKs only 100% renewable energy provider.  But with money being so tight, I had to take the unpleasant decision to move onto a brown tariff.  USwitch estimates that we will save £500 per year with our new provider and it only took me a couple of clicks of the mouse and a couple of e-mails to sort everything out.  JW and I have consoled ourselves by agreeing that by saving costs in the short term, we will be able to install solar panels and a ground source heat pump for our home in the longer term.

Until then we are keeping an eye on the little things, by using an OWL smart meter to tell us how much electricity we are using in real time.   It really does help you to turn off lights, switch down towel rail thermostats and not use the dishwashers so often.  I wish you got one for gas meters too! 

For the heating system, it now appears that the Energy Saving Trust believe that keeping your heating on all day isn't cheaper than using your timer after all!  But, I think in our case it is the best way to go as we have good insulation and, as I am home all day I don't want to sit in the freezing cold.  Our room thermostats are set to 17degrees in the rooms we use (zero in the spare room).  So, it does get a bit cold if you are sitting still, but I just put on a jumper (or two) and my new secret weapon:

Last Christmas' Novelty Slippers!

 Although, the Guinea Pigs are rather scared of them!

Selling Up

I have been a busy bee over the past couple of days, clearing out my garage and making some money.  Gumtree is my new best friend.  I put up an old car bike rack which had been lying unloved in our garage for three years and I sold it within two days, for the tidy sum of £60.

Bike Rack = £60

I also sold my son's old bike, which had been in the garage for even longer!  I would have sold it through Gumtree as well, but JW's work colleague took it off our hands for a very welcome £20.

My Son's Old Bike = £20

And I have been going e-bay crazy.  I currently have five items up, old presents that I no longer use and it is very exciting to see how many watchers and bidders I have (36 and 2 respectively at the mo!)

The whole process of online selling is really easy and as long as you don't mind popping to the post office (I don't, it's a good excuse for a walk!), then you should get selling too.  It is a great time to sell online as people are starting to buy for Christmas.  And it feels really good to get the clutter cleared out!

Make Do and Mend

As part of my efforts to say Goodbye to my Magpie self, I am looking at every line of my family's annual spend and finding ways of reducing it, while at the same time unleashing (I hope) my creative side, which has been stifled for too long by the lure of the high street.

Last year I spent £631.89 on clothes, so Challenge 7 is to spend absolutely nothing on clothes for the next year.

Thankfully I am becoming a dab hand with the sewing machine.  My family clubbed together and bought me a lovely Brother sewing machine for my 30th birthday a couple of years ago.  The machine sat in a cupboard for more than a year and then as soon as I gave up work it became a regular feature on the dining room table. (Magpie Alert: I would love a craft room in my house, so that I could keep all my mess and materials in one place!)  I finally had the time to take sewing classes, which gave me the confidence to get making my own clothes.  But, I will begin this challenge by looking after the clothes I already have.

Last week my only decent pair of jeans became obscene, as a big threadbare rip developed over the backside.  I have already made a few adjustments to these jeans, with elastic stirrups sewn into the legs to keep them straight when wearing long boots, (I find it so annoying when skinny leg jeans bag around the knee in long boots, don't you?).

Hidden Elastic Stirrups Stop Legs Riding Up in Long Boots

I have also cut into the waist band so that my muffin top is not constricted into a really unflattering shape! (Magpie Alert: Desire for Muffin Top Surgery is Strong).  My legs are really skinny, but my waist doesn't match (legs are size 8, stomach size 12), so trying to find skinny leg jeans is impossible.  When I bought my current pair of Levis the shop assistant had almost every pair of jeans in the shop in my changing room!  But I have found that if you chop into the waistband and wear a belt, no-one sees your handy work and your jeans suddenly fit!

Chop into Waistband

Add a Belt; No-one Sees

So my latest repair to these jeans has been to patch the bum.  If I hadn't been saying Goodbye Magpie I would have been tempted to buy myself a new pair, but I am really glad I spent 20 minutes repairing them, as they are my favourite pair and I hope they will last me another twelve months at least!  (I must get round to fixing that belt buckle though, what a mess it is!)

Patch Magic; You can't see it when jeans are on, unless you are a perv!

A good buy is not to be sniffed at!

I am trying my hardest to be frugal at the supermarket and have set a really tight budget of £10 per day, which needs to get food and supplies for the three of us (myself, husband and 16-year-old son) and our three guinea pigs!

This is no easy Challenge and I have to admit last month I failed!  We were almost exactly £100 over budget.  I was so disappointed, as I had worked really hard.  But being away on holiday in the Highlands of Scotland for two weeks meant we had to buy top-up groceries in the very expensive (but very friendly) local corner shop.  I have picked myself up, dusted myself down and am determined that we will make up ground in October.

One thing that I have been doing is buying cheaper version of my staple buys.  So instead of £1.50 on a box of tissues, I have been buying the supermarkets 'Basics' range at 45p per box.  They still have the FSC (forestry stewardship certificate) logo, so my environmental credentials are okay.  But the box is hideous and not something you want on display at your front door or coffee table.

A rather unattractive tissue box

Rather than buying expensive tissue box covers, (I saw one in a shop recently for £14), I got out my scissors, glue and stack of magazine clippings and set to work decoupaging a couple of Sainsbury's basics tissue boxes.

A Selections of the Magazine Clippings I Collect

I now have two refillable tissue boxes that I am not embarrassed to have on display, meaning that I can enjoy cheap tissues without compromising my style.  It doesn't take very long to do, in fact I completed each tissue box in about 30 minutes, while watching a couple of episodes of Celebrity Masterchef!

And just in case you are wondering, the refill section works by opening up one end of the box and then securing the flaps back in place with removable paperclips.

Do give it a go, it is really easy and enjoyable!

Barber Shop

In order to save even more money I have been flexing my artistic skills in a new direction recently.  I have invested in a pair of hair clippers and have begun to cut my family's hair!  I have been cutting my own hair for about 6 months now.  My hair is relatively easy to cut, being long and straight with a fringe, so I felt that paying £45+, for what was in essence a 15 minute very straight forward haircut was OTT.  I had also become frustrated with not being able to find a hairdresser I really liked in Edinburgh , so last year I bought myself proper hairdressing scissors, a straight blade pair and a thinning pair.  Armed with the correct equipment I watched a couple of videos on YouTube that had been posted by a young American girl with a similar haircut to mine, who demonstrates how to do the various cutting techniques I required.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BUIrYdbH7s&feature=relmfu  

Bebexo's videos are quite fun to watch and her confidence is inspiring, as she just isn't nervous about chopping into her hair, which shows how easy it really is.  After watching Bebexo I set about cutting my hair and have been cutting it myself ever since.

Last year we spend £281.92 on haircuts, which included £88.00 on the two pairs of scissors.  £281.92 isn't too bad over all, but as every part of our budget is being scrutinised this year, I decided we could do better.  I also fancied the challenge of cutting my husband's and son's hair, as I was sure I could do it just as well as the barber.  JW was quite happy with the plan as he really likes having his hair kept short and neat and would go to the barber more if it didn't cost so much.  So after quite a bit of research and comments reading on Amazon I bought a Wahl clipper set at the grand total of £38.98.  So my hair cutting kit now looks like this:

My Haircutting Kit

I have cut John's hair twice and my son's once, so we are nearly at cost neutral for the clippers.  One more cut each and we will be saving money.  The haircuts have gone pretty well and JW gave me instructions as to what the barber usually does to help me along.  Luckily my 16 year-old son is very unconcerned about his image, so cutting his hair is a no pressure exercise (don't worry, no pudding bowls were involved).  I would 100% recommend the Wahl Super Taper Hair Clippers, as they are really easy to use and don't pull any hairs like cheaper clippers do.  The other bonus is that all our hair clippings can go on the compost heap, rather than in the hairdresser's bin!

A Thrifty Visit

My elderly Aunt has recently moved into a care home, under much duress.  She has suffered several strokes and now has only limited movement left. Her speech has been effected, but thankfully she hasn't lost her mental capacity.  The home is a depressing place for her to be, as most of the other residents have dementia, meaning they are often upset, and screaming is not uncommon.  My Aunt would much rather stay in her own home, where she has her own belongings around her and her own space and peace and quiet.  But she unwillingly accepts that this just isn't possible anymore.

The care home is a five hour round trip from where I live, but it is on the route that we were taking to go away for our fortnight's holiday.  So I was pleased to be able to stop in past and take her out, for a change in her surroundings.    I always find it difficult to see my Aunt so changed from the person I knew as a youngster.  She is regressing into a helpless child, as she was always so independent and feisty up until recently, it is hard to see.  It is also hard as you don't want to say the wrong thing, or do the wrong thing as she is as stubborn as a mule and wouldn't want to be patronised.  You don't know when to help and when not to and even things like pushing a wheelchair are alien to me.  Her hearing is also going, so conversation is awkward as she often doesn't hear what I am saying and I end up asking questions to myself.  But despite all this, it is good to be able to see her and to help in the little way that I can, by taking her out for a nice cup of coffee and a cake.  Even though my intentions were good, I did manage to get her soaked in the rain on the way to the coffee shop, due to a lack of an umbrella, and then I bumped her toe on the wall of the corridor due to my poor wheelchair driving skills!

I can completely understand why my Aunt doesn't want to stay in the home, I wouldn't either!  The home is an old hotel and it has a really depressing air about it, with it's faded wallpaper, old reception desk and swirly carpet.  The Care Workers are all exceptionally friendly and cheerful, but the other residents are sorry souls who would be difficult to be around all the time.  Lunch is a sad affair where the folks are lined up in wheelchairs around lines of tables, but there is no conversation as the other ladies stare into space; they are all little old ladies who have been left alone.  It really isn't anything to look forward to and I feel for my Aunt having to be there.  She can't leave anything anywhere, as someone else will be off with it.  She guards her newspaper and takes it everywhere before someone else picks it up.  She tells me stories of another lady who eats the tab-ends of her cigarettes when an ashtray is not emptied.  My Aunt was always a home-buddy, like me, she likes her own space and privacy, so I can imagine how difficult it must be for her.  I just hope I don't end up in the same situation, as I would be even more of a stubborn mule than my Aunt!

On a more upbeat note, I was able to take my Aunt a visiting gift which cost me next to nothing, but still looked lovely.  I was a bit worried because I wanted to bring her some flowers to cheer up her room (I was warned by my Dad that her room had no view and looked out onto a brick wall), but I knew I couldn't afford to pay the £10+ for a decent bunch.  So rather than spending a couple of pounds on a scabby bunch from the garage, I asked my sister KitKat if I could pilfer the last of her neighbour's Sweet Peas (don't worry her neighbour had previously told my Sis to help herself as they needed picking!)  I then made a selection of mini cakes, as I wasn't sure what my Aunt could/would want to eat.  So I made some chocolate truffles, some mini ginger cake and some chocolate krispies  (a staple of mine as you can gather!) I didn't have to buy any ingredients apart from some digestive biscuits and I put the selection together into a plastic Thai takeaway tub that we had washed and kept.  I took the remaining biscuits  with me on holiday, where they made for great mid-morning snacks!  Unhealthy, I know, but tasty!

Hopefully you will agree that the visiting gift looks rather pretty for a zero pence spend.  We stopped in past to visit my Aunt on the way back home from our holiday too, and I gave her, her homemade birthday card and we took her out to the local bakery cafe.  Technically this does mean I have had coffee out twice!!!!  Oh no, the Coffee Challenge.........
But I couldn't leave my Aunt sat staring at the TV screen when we could take her out for a change of scene and a chat and when it is pouring with rain, you can't take an old buddy for a walk without an umbrella!

Chutney

While I was at Costco, stocking up on bulk buys, I thought I would buy a big tub of plums and try making Spicy Plum Chutney.

As you can see my store cupboard is well stocked up and it only needed a quick trip to the supermarket for some red wine vinegar, dried cranberries and ginger, before I could get on with chopping everything up and cooking it down for an hour, in order to turn this:

Into this:

I have to say that I had hoped for more than three jars!  But at least I will have a better idea of quantities for next time.  I also calculated that this particular chutney cost me about 60p per 100g to make (including gas).  Which is actually not that much better than the usual brand I buy in the supermarket, which cost 66p per 100g.  I shall have to look at even more economical ingredients for my next batch.  On the upside, I can use one of the jars for an upcoming birthday present!

Challenge Four: Reduce the Grocery Bill

Operation Goodbye Magpie is well underway now and so far it is going really well!  The next challenge is to reduce our annual shopping bill.  In the previous 12 months we spent £6,937.18 on groceries and in the next year we want to reduce that figure down by over £2,000 to £4,856 or less. 

The first move we have made is to commit to using our local bulk buy warehouse more.  So today we renewed our Costco membership and set off to make some savings.

The membership renewal cost £20.00 and for that we get access to thousands of products at discounted prices.  We made a big list before we left the house and then piled our trolley up with all of the everyday items that we use all the time, such as baked beans, loo roll, washing liquid, shampoo, razor blades, toothpaste, dishwasher tabs, cans of soup etc.  We really loaded up:

We spent a total of £270 (including membership), and when I got home I whipped out the calculator to see how much we were saving on all that shopping!

I double checked everything that we bought against the same item I would buy in the supermarket.  Everything was cheaper, ranging from .24p saving per pack of loo roll, .17p per tin of tomato soup, a .42p saving per roll-on deodorant, through to more substantial savings.  The basmati sack of rice was a whopping £2.56 cheaper per 100g than it's supermarket equivalent, the laundry liquid was a massive £4.72 cheaper per litre than the same brand in store and the dishwasher tabs an eye-watering £10 cheaper than the equivalent supermarket buy.  Every day items such as the baked beans were also .25p cheaper per tin, which soon adds up to a good saving, (a pound on every weekly pack of four).

We also bought some fresh vegetables for the guinea pigs and calculated that we saved £3 on their week's supply of spinach and cucumber, which over the course of a year would add up to a tidy total saving of £156.00.  So, we have agreed that my husband will swing in past Costco on his way back from work each week to pick up fresh goodies for the piggies.

The key to making the trip worthwhile is to take a list and stick to it.  Don't get distracted by all the other items on offer such as the golf clubs, fancy electricals, super skincare gift packs and the like, have fun browsing but don't splash the cash unless you actually need to.  Watch the fresh goods, as they come in such large packs you need to be sure you will get through them before they go off.  And only buy what you actually use regularly, keep a note of what you are always buying at the supermarket (loo roll and cans of soup for example) and when you do get your bulk buys home, don't use more of it than you usually would simply because it is near at hand.

The only downside for me is that they don't have more of the vegetarian staples that we eat regularly, such as quorn products, kidney beans and pulses and more tinned fruit (I am not too sure why).  It is also tricky to get organic produce, but there is some starting to appear (tinned tomatoes being one).  A huge upside is that I now won't have to hand carry heavy items back from the supermarket each week!  So my wallet is heavier and my weekly shopping bag lighter, what a bonus!

Coffee Challenge

Well I have been really enjoying Challenge No. 1, which involves not visiting any coffee shops in a bid to save over £500 in the next 12 months.  Until today the weather has held up and even on the few wet days there has been a break in the weather and I have been outside sipping away.  But my luck couldn't last and today it poured all day! So I retreated indoors.  My challenge was to find somewhere I didn't normally sit, in an attempt to keep up the feeling of a proper break.  This is what I came up with.

 But the view wasn't so great:

Even when I lifted the blinds up:

As winter is heading our way, I am going to be having inside coffee time more and more, so need to do some reconfiguring; for free of course.  So watch this space!

Challenge Three: Gardening for Free

It has taken me a while to realise what the point of gardening is.  For many years I felt that it was just housework that took place outside, with a list of chores that needed completing every so often.  But that was because I was spending all my time weeding and raking up leaves, with a bit of occasional pruning thrown in.  I have only recently realised that gardening is really about being artistic and creative and seeing the pleasure that there is to be gained from creating a flowing flower bed, or an enticing view from a gate that makes you want to come in and explore.  So I now spend far less time weeding and more time digging things up and moving plants around, which feels more like designing and creating than doing a household chore.

My Third Challenge is therefore to continue to explore the benefits of gardening, while spending a minimal amount, ideally nothing. Over the past 12 months we spent £480.97 on the garden and I would like to reduce this to an absolute maximum of £100.

I have started already and have planted up a lovely pot which is now happily sitting beside my old garden bench.

The pot I had sitting in my garden shed for about five years.  I filled it will ordinary garden soil.  I put a bit of ivy in it which I had cut off an established plant, (a piece which had just started rooting in a new area of ground). The other plants are coriander seeds, which I got free with a recent tub of fresh soup, and an attractive 'weed' which had self seeded itself elsewhere in the garden.  It may not look like much at the moment, but it will grow itself into a nice little tub.  Previously I would have spent a minimum of £10 filling up such a tub by using plants from the garden centre.

I also planted up a little holly tree which had self seeded in a position where I didn't want it to grow and where it wasn't going to get much light.

I have put it into a nice sunny position to get it established properly and then I will use it as part of a new hedge I want to grow.

The other thing I have been up to is collecting seeds from my lupins:

So that instead of paying £5 for a new plant, I can try and grow my own for free in the spring.  I also collected some yellow poppy seeds and will try to grow more of these next year:

And my final job was to completely dig out an overgrown area of garden which hasn't been used at all since we moved in.  I am not sure what I am going to do here as yet, but it may be a vegetable bed, depending on the amount of sun it gets.  I am keeping my eye on it for the moment.

Digging this area up was certainly really good exercise and much more enjoyable than going to the gym, (not to mention it was joyfully free of charge!)

My Sister's Birthday

Having committed to spending less than £100 on birthday presents in the next twelve months, I started off by successfully making my first two birthday cards yesterday.  I was feeling rather pleased with my initial success until I realised this morning that it is my big sister's birthday at the beginning of October and I am away for the last two weeks of September, giving me only a few days to get a gift and card organised for her.  So all plans for the afternoon went on hold as I thought I had better get cracking on her present and card before the Birthday Madness Challenge is a failure before it has even begun.

After my initial mild panic, I am really pleased with the result:

My sister loves my guinea pigs, so I painted her one of her own!  For her present I made her a scented, padded coat hanger, as she has lots of clothes and is always running out of somewhere to put them.  I made her gift from an old wire hanger, which I had 'hanging' around from the last time I visited the dry cleaner and some scraps of material and wadding left over from other projects.

And I turned it into this:

Third birthday sorted.  I actually think my sister will be happier with this gift than the one I gave her last year; which was a rather natty set of driving gloves from John Lewis, which I have never seen her wear, (and the scarf I got her for Christmas was last seen on the muddy garden lawn where it had melted off the kids' snowman!)

Now I have to get on with birthday cards for my two Auntie's which need to be ready for next week, as my husband is working in their area and I want to miss out on postage costs too!