Free is even better than cheap!

Haven't had much chance to go to car boots lately due to other comitments and having a social life etc. However I have got a couple of itmes for FREE!

The first was a a child's chair painted bright pink.  A neighbour had put it out for the dustbin men to take away so instead of that it came home with me.  It's a wooden chair with long legs so I presume it is a kind of high chair although there is no way of securing a child in it.  I thought it would look good in the garden with a plant on it.

Last Thursday we went to the Great Yorkshire Show (I won the tickets so that didn't cost anything).  We always spend a long time there and as the weather was so beautiful we had no inclination to hurry hime or sit in the leaving traffic.

Instead we sat outside the pavilion basking in the sun.  As it was the last day of a three day show I know they sell off or give away things at the end of the show.  I started noticing people coming out of the pavilion with big bunches of flowers so I went to investigate prices.

I stood and watched as they dismantled a stall that had show chrysanthemums on it.  They were selling them for something like 16 for £5.  Isobel and I wandered a bit further down the pavilion when a man said to me ' Do you want a tomato plant?'  Warily I asked how much to which he replied the magic word 'FREE'

Now this wasn't any old tomato plant.  For me to carry it I had to have both my arms around it and staggered back to where my partner Peter was sitting outside.  Peter is quite good at improvisation and as he had bought some webbing straps he devised a harness for the plant pot.  Isobel and I took a strap each and were able to manage it between us.

It is a cherry tomato plant and is now residing in my conservatory.  I took some photos and just for scale I have put a tape measure across it at a one foot marker.  There are literally hundreds of little tomatoes on it waiting to grow up and ripen.

A bit of upcycling

Now I really don't mind where my bargains come from and I am not averse to a bit of skip wombling at all.  However on this occasion my teenage daughter spotted something in a nearby skip, photographed it on her phone and showed me.  I sent her straight back for it.

It was a light fitting with five glass 'cups', a chandelier type thing and quite large. Unfortunately one of the cups was badly cracked.  So I had a little think about this item.  I took the cups out.  I had just bought some solar fairy lights for another project but I got them out and twisted them round the arms of the light..  They look really nice.  I now want to hang it in a tree outside much to my partner's amusement 'in a tree, what for?'  It's art, it's fun, it's different.  What more can I say?

The chandelier - not in it's finished state or in it's final position but you get the idea.

The four remaining cups haven't been wasted either as they are currently residing in my conservatory and I  intend to put tealights in them.  They may have a different function at some stage, we'll see!

I would have so liked to have added a picture of it lit up at night but I can't seem to capture it very well.  It's very pretty.

Pannal Car Boot Sale Returns

7th April 2013

Oh how I love this car boot sale!  It was the first of the season today. It's based in a field just outside of Harrogate so you get a better class of rubbish but generally they do not overcharge.  It also has very little in the way of 'market' stalls.  Most are genuine car booters or at least traders with proper car booty.

We got up early and set off across to Pannal, Peter, Isobel and myself.  It was cold but a beautiful Spring morning at last.  We were a bit dismayed that the entry fee for buyers is now £1 per adult (children go free). It used to be 50p each last year.

Isobel who is 15 has been wanting some of those shoes that look like wedge heeled trainers.  Imagine her delight when she found a pair, in just the right size and they sold them to her for £2.70. One happy teenager.

I then found a Yankee candle 'lamp shade' for £1.  These usually come with a matching saucer and can be anything up to £20 for the pair.

A few more stalls and a voice called out to me 'not canoeing today then?' A friend of mine who I know through the Disabled cycling club had a stall.  After a bit of chit chat I noticed a knitted headband with pom pons on, brand new, it was only £1 so that came home with me.

The last item I got was a nice warm brown cardi for £1.  Not a lot more to be said about it apart from that it is comfy and warm and not bad on the eye either.

Peter gets round these sales in double quick time.  He doesn't rummage and think about things or have a bit of banter with stall holders.  He just has a cursory glance and if there is nothing to catch his eye first time then he doesn't stop.

I set off last Sunday to do a bike ride with some mates. Unfortunately as soon as we set off I knew there was something wrong with my bike.  It felt like I was riding over cobbles just with my back wheel. So I left my friends, returned to the car and thought 'hmm, there's a car boot not far from here'  so that's where I went.

This one only runs about 5 times a year and it is in a more affluent area so it was worth a look.

I got parked up and popped through the fence (not to avoid paying in , just quicker). People were starting to pack up and leave so I scooted round quite quickly.

First thing I bought was a black, sleeveless sports top = 20p.  Cleaning cloths cost more!

Then I didn't find anything for a while.  Well not anything that was well priced anyway.  The next thing I spotted was a nice black and sequinned dress but I didn't ask the price.  Just above it was a rack with a lovely 'Next' dressing gown, fluffy and black. I asked the stall holder how much. £1 yep that came home with me.  So I asked about the dress.  That too was £1, yippee

Not bad considering I didn't set off to go to a car boot sale.  Strangely all three items were black.  I have added photos of the dressing gown and dress but the black top was too boring (but functional) to photograph.

Just candles!

I had a wander around Home Sense the other day but nothing caught my eye.  So I nipped up to Ikea to get a 'free' coffee (along with a bowl of soup and some krokante cake so not really that free).

Anyway I got to near the end and I always have a look in the 'bargain basement'. These are things that have been damaged or have parts missing or are just grubby from being shop-soiled.  A bag of tea-lights caught my eye.  I picked it up and it was full of normal sized tea lights, large tea lights and three large candles in glasses were in this bag.  These large candles are over a pound each so £3 for the whole bag was indeed a bargain.

There must be 150 separate items in the bag.  You never know what you might find and where!

Introduction

Introducing Myself

I know us Yorkshire folk have a reputation for being, well, a bit tight on the money front but it's not true.  We are thrifty.  We don't like wasting money.  However Yorkshire folk can be really generous and kind.

I have never had money to spare.  I'm not complaining as I generally have enough for my needs.  I am grateful for good health so in that respect I am rich.

I work part-time and my partner is self-employed so money can be in reasonable flow or dry up quite quickly.  However over the years I have had to make do or look for bargains in one way or another.

I love charity shops, car boot sales, garage sales, Freecycle/Freegle, skips, jumble sales.  So this blog is to document some of those finds.

Calverley Spring Clean

March 16th 2013

This morning my daughter, Isobel, and myself left the disabled cycling club early (I volunteer on a Saturday morning there).  There was to be a Spring clean/garage sale in a village on the outskirts of Leeds and Bradford.  We went last year and really enjoyed it.

The idea is that the locals who live there hold sales on their drives, in their garages or outhouses etc.  Mostly second hand stuff but also crafts and baking.  You purchase a map for £1 which shows all the addresses that will be holding sales.  Our friend Gemma came with us today and she had a bit of money for a change.

For the first few stalls we didn't have a map as these stalls were near to where we had parked.  When we got to the end of the road we managed to buy a map and start working our way round a bit more methodically.  Gemma soon found a small Karrimor rucksack for a quid and a jumper and a sweater dress for £2 each and some items of make up.

My first purchase was an audio book 'L'affaire' by Diane Johnson for 50p.  I recently bought an MP3 player and already had a couple of audio books that I thought would last me a while but no, two long dog walks and they were done.  Yesterday I had bought a couple of more in a charity shop but if they were going to go as quick I needed a small stock of them.  Then I found two Alan Titchmarsh ones 'Folly' and 'Love and Mr Devon' both 50p each too.

Isobel then bought a PS2 game for £1 as she knows she can trade it in for more than that.  Soon after that we found some climbing shoes and boots. The shoes looked too small for Isobel but she tried the boots on and they were miles too big.  So she tried the shoes on and they were perfect - £3 and they were ours.

The end of the road and turn left and there was a solitary stall - Gemma spotted a set of knives and lo and behold they were in a red holder which goes with other items in her kitchen.  After a bit of negotiating she got them for £5.50 which was fabulous as they are Sabatier knives.

Walking back up the next road it was getting to the end of the day so we knew we weren't getting round to all the stalls no matter how we tried.  The next house we got to the man looked cold.  He said his feet were aching and he was glad it was nearly over.  He wasn't miserable though.  He then said if we wanted anything we could take it!!!  Not wishing to appear greedy I noticed that there was a chocolate fountain in a box.  I asked about it and he said take it.   Isobel nabbed it just as another family came down the drive looking interested in it.  Gemma took a shine to a set of glass bathroom scales and after trying them out she tried to pay him £1, the price on them, but he insisted she take them for nothing.  Bargains indeed!

There were a few more drives after that but we bought nothing else, partly due to having no arms left to carry anything more.  Walking back to the car we reflected on our purchases and what a great afternoon out we had had.  Roll on next years Spring Clean.