Archive for the ‘Savings’ Category

Investigating insurance

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

I had an e-mail in June reminding me I’d signed up to share my car insurance quotes with an online company called Consumer Intelligence in exchange for £50 and so began my sojourn into insurance investigations.

I’d already had a look on Confused.com and been offered a slight reduction with Endsleigh who I have favoured in the past, I was tempted as I know their customer service to have been exemplary in the past but then I’m a bargain hunter at heart so the search went on.

I’ve been insured with Lloyds TSB for two years which has served my purposes but honestly I would have probably changed insurers had I not been so lazy with the renewal last year. Prompted by CI and their required 6 predetermined calls I ended up with a great quote from the Co-operative and all was looking good. I’ve had insurance with the Co-op in the past and found them to be a decent company to deal with.

My renewal was coming up just over £300 which wasn’t especially appealing, I’m a firm believer that my insurance should go down each year, holding a steady figure is of no interest to me. The Co-op were offering a saving of around £55 and I had the potential to further beat that figure down with an extra saving by signing up online.

Keeping my knowledge of Quidco in mind I went searching the site for offers which could tempt me or at least cashback on the quote I had with the Co-op and sure enough two popped up. One for an immediate £1.50 payout on a quote with Gocompare.com and £70.00 cash back on my Co-op quote and I was about to hit the send key when I noticed the quote on Gocompare.com, three companies were able to undercut my current quote and each had cashback with Quidco.
The lowest was £235 with Kwik Fit with £42.50 cashback and a free MOT. Fabulous!
There is a glitch though and the same will apply on many insurance websites, watch out for all the many added extras, they’ll add things like windscreen cover and breakdown cover and legal cover at figures like £25 here and £18 there but they all add up. If you want the bare bones be sure to read the details and keep your final figure where you want it.

So, ultimately, I’ll have a £50 payout from CI, a £42.50 payout from Quidco for the Kwik Fit insurance and a further £1.50 for the quote on Gocompare.com, a free MOT at a saving of around £40 and my insurance was hammed down by almost a third. Once I claim all payouts and savings my fully comprenhensive insurance will have cost me £101 and a couple of hours of my time. Furthermore, any work on my car by Kwik Fit will be at a 10% discount over the coming year which is useful to me since one of their branches is near my place of work.

The Co-op quote would have been £288 minus £71.50 cashback on Quidco and the £50 from CI, not quite such a good deal in the end result but still a good saving on my renewal.

It’s worth going through this same process for all insurance policies you take out each year, it’s a little time consuming but generally the savings are apparent.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Findings, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »

Another budget break

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

Someone kindly sent me the information about Haven holidays newspaper promotion recently and as a result I’ve managed to book another 4 day caravan break for a measly £60.00 on a 4* site. The onsite facilities are excellent, the caravan is a luxury model and it’s a real bargain.
Newspaper promotional holidays seem to have a bit of a reputation, understandable in some cases since it tends to be the tabloids rather than broadsheets but in these times surely that’s better than nothing at all?

The Sun is the usual suspect for the high profile advertising which goes alongside the £9.50 holidays but it’s The Daily Mail who advertised the most recent offers. Both offer low cost holidays on caravan sites around the UK. That could be Butlins, Haven or Park in most cases.
Read the reviews here on Bview before you book to be sure the site meets your requirements.
The Guardian have overseas holiday offers in their promotions in conjunction with other companies which might be worth investigating for short notice international departure dates.
Local city newspapers tend to work in association with travel companies to create offers which depart from local venues and often for excellent prices. My local paper The Sheffield Star has it’s own holiday shop.

Thomson send me regular emails with their offers. I’m not in the market for a trip overseas until later this year though so I’ll be waiting until a little closer to the time and checking out companies like ebookers and last minute.com in order to maximise on the savings available.

One final note, if you do buy a cheap or last minute break be very sure to check the small print. I bought my holiday fully aware that I would receive a bill for cleaning and utilities on top of my £60.00 bill. If I’d not read the small print that could have come as a shock since the company also billed me for entertainment passes and linen, both of which are optional but bump the final cost to almost double. I cancelled the linen as I can take my own free of charge and the entertainment passes are not required. You might find with international destinations that you’ll need to source insurance, transfers or otherwise separately so be sure to read closely before you pay.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Savings | Comments Off

Out and about for nowt (as we say in Yorkshire)!

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009


I decided to make a short notice break away from the norm and galloped off to the coast for a few days of relative peace, naturally, for the purposes of research I had to do that on a budget.
So, having already spent a couple of days sharing a caravan at a Park Resorts site I decided to maximise the savings to be had. Park offer a saving for any repeat bookings in one season and since I was mentioned on the occupancy list last time, I’m entitled to the saving this time. The best savings are to be made when booking again before you leave and that applies to any of the sites around the country.
I managed to book a pretty big caravan for four on the East Coast for a long weekend and from there the plan was to explore.

En route we travelled through Hull, hardly a fine example of tourism but with it’s own appeal in the form of The Deep a large sea life centre just off the main roads. We got in for the family ticket price of £28.50 and there’s the option to upgrade that ticket at no extra cost to a year long pass, all they ask is for a donation next time but it isn’t compulsory. So, that’s a years entry into The Deep for around £7 each. You can even make use of the local tourist information board who often provide online printable vouchers or key phrases to quote and make even greater savings at attractions around the country.
We even managed to find some places of interest with free entry, like Wold’s Way Lavender Farm and we picked our own fruit at a farm down the road before driving home via Wentworth Garden Centre.

Park even assist with savings, for example you can buy entry for The Sea Life Centre in Scarborough at great reductions instead of the ticket sales at the venue. Alternately look at the internet site and find vouchers on site or sign up for Bview’s local listings to get an up to date link to the latest offers in the area.

No matter what type of holiday you want or even if you just want a day out or two, it’s worth searching around the internet for reduced price entry to visitor attractions and events all over the UK and really making the most of the sunshine.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Features, Findings, General, offers, Savings | Comments Off

Making the most of the scrappage allowance

Monday, June 29th, 2009

It’s been a great temptation for many car buyers to take advantage of the scrappage allowance scheme introduced by the government this year. The Scrappage Allowance / Vehicle Discount Scheme is a £300 million scheme which has been introduced by the UK government during the 2009 budget which involves the scrapping of a car or small van which is over 10 years old. The government is offering a £1000 incentive which will be matched by participating manufacturer’s dealers . The discount is deducted from the price you pay for the new vehicle.

Tempted and willing to research I had a look at the offers from Ford and found some interesting figures, they’re offering a £2K government scrappage amount and they’re going to match it, which sounds amazing, but that’s for a Style at £12,295 after reductions, then another £1,892 as a fee for the credit which stands at a whopping 7.9 APR. Suddenly the offer isn’t quite so tempting.

And there are caveats: The vehicle must only be first registered on or prior to 31 August 1999 and the owner must have owned the vehicle continuously for at least one year prior to the order date of the new vehicle.
The scrapped vehicle should have a UK address on the registration certificate (V5C) and has either a current tax disc and current MOT certificate, or has a current tax disc and a current Hackney Carriage Licence, or has an MOT certificate which expired no earlier than 14 days before the date of the contract for a new vehicle.
Neither vehicle (scrappage or new) should exceed 3.5 tonnes.
The purchased vehicle must be first registered in the UK on or after 18 May 2009 and have no former keepers.
The registered keeper of the new vehicle must be identical to the registered keeper of the vehicle to be scrapped. The Scrappage Allowance will be payable in relation to the first 300,000 new vehicles purchased nationwide or until 28 February 2010, whichever is sooner.

My reservations were repealed by the more promising offers with Kia, a subsidiary of Hyundai , where you can get a Picanto for a mere £4,495 on the road with a £2,000 combined saving with the new incentive. As a cash purchaser with no ridiculous APR to pay on a credit agreement, you’d actually be making a reasonable purchase for a new car, though it should be borne in mind that a car decreases in value rapidly for those first days of ownership and then drops to it’s usual steadier decline, but with a sensible road tax bracket, great fuel economy, low insurance grouping of 2, 3 or 4 and all around nippy features, perhaps many of the savings are to be made later. You could also look at the Fiat Eco at £5,995 and Peugeot 107 Urban Lite from £6,945.

It’s only a true saving if you don’t pay the hiked credit/ finance fees and interest rates.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Features, Findings, General, News, offers, Savings | 1 Comment »

Tesco Points Vouchers – How to use them to your best advantage

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Tesco is probably one of the best supermarkets for collecting points from at the moment, offering 1 point for every £1 spent in the store or petrol station as well as in their online stores, and with extra points offered if you shop using their credit card as well.  One point is equal to a penny if you spend it on regular food goods so that’s not too bad.  However, there are ways that you can make each of those points worth either 2p or 4p depending on how you use them.

First of all there are Tesco deals vouchers.  These have been around for a while now and so many people have already come across them.  Tesco allow you to exchange each £2.50 worth of Tesco points voucher for £10 of deals voucher, making each point you earned worth 4p.  You have to choose which deals voucher you want when you order them, but there’s quite a variety of choice from vouchers for days out at places such as Legoland or the zoo, to vouchers which can be spent at restaurants such as Bella Italia, Café Rouge or Harry Ramsdens.  They can also be turned into vouchers  for jewellery at Goldsmiths, or Air miles as well as a variety of other places.

Alternatively, the new way of using your points vouchers is to use them in store on specific departments where you can now exchange them for ‘in store deals vouchers’ worth 2x the amount of your original points voucher so £5 becomes £10 and each point is worth 2p.  The departments that you can do this for are, Toys, Clothing, Baby & Toddler, Cosmetics & Skincare, Tesco Mobile, and Wines.  To do this, all you have to do is to either use the tesco online system to exchange them using the codes on your vouchers which you can do here or you can exchange them by post by printing out this order form and sending it off to them as it tells you to.  Done online the vouchers normally arrive in about a week, and done by post a little longer.  Then you just use them in store to buy items from the relevant department just as you normally would, and hand over the voucher at the checkout.  The only difference being that you get twice as much for your money.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Savings | 1 Comment »

The cost of having a baby

Friday, June 19th, 2009

It’s been estimated that it costs £180,000 to raise a child from birth to age 21, or so I read recently.  It could be a  terrifying prospect when finances are tight but there are ways to lighten the load.
I had known I wanted kids at some point but when the pregnancy test was positive it began a whole new ball game. Suddenly we had to buy all the things a baby would need and there was a little thrill in the idea of choosing all the lovely things we would want or need.
Still, I thought, I’ll be cautious and wait until 12 weeks before I start buying anything and I’ll spread the cost, though I couldn’t help but admire little things as soon as I knew. Passing the clothing section in Tesco added a whole new dimension to shopping.
Then, at 7 weeks and an early scan, we found we were going to be preparing for two babies. Shocker! I was delighted.
This put a whole new spin on things though, we lived in a pokey two up two down terrace and had no room for the obvious things we needed. Our dining table was a creative two seat affair and we simply couldn’t imagine what to do.
So, knowing we had to move and deciding to make a move on the property ladder meant baby shopping would be on the cheap. Knowing we had to have two of many things changed the budget.

Having established what was important, we decided that we would have new cots and mattresses but anything else could be second hand. Cots are known to harbour MRSA and may well explain many 2nd and consecutive sibling cot deaths when cots are reused but not cleaned properly in the interim.
My parents stepped in and bought two cot beds, half price at Toys R Us, just under £80 each. My twins are still using them at age 3 in their bed form and with at least another year or two of use to come.
The other grandparents bought the mattresses, also from Toys R Us, using vouchers we received when the cots were bought and we bought the type suitable for cots then beds with wipe over covering on one side and breathable cloth on the other. In other words, lifetime mattresses instead of the flimsy foam cot mattresses which would need replacing again as the cots became beds.
Our choice of cot beds was a slightly unusual size so we bought some of the sheets at Toys R Us too, again using vouchers from the back of the in store magazine and making use of a 3 for 2 offer, so I bought 6 which still see us through in rotation.
The rest of the bedding came from Dunelm Mill, which has a great selection of pretty, themed baby and child bedding in sets, which also have a great resale value later down the line. Dunelm Mill have a website if you don’t have one close by.

Now we had somewhere to put the babies we thought about transport. In a fit of organisation I posted a wanted advert on our local Freecycle website. Freecycle is all about reducing landfill by giving away items you intend to get rid of. You can post ‘wanted’ or ‘offered’ adverts. Some people are very rude and ask for things to sell, we’ve fallen foul of that, but some are pleasant and genuine and give things away which save other people no end of trouble.
Freecycle can be found by googling along with the name or your area or nearest town. It’s all free!
Our advert asked for any baby items for twins. From that one ad we got a McLaren double pushchair, two single Graco pushchairs with car seats and bases, two bouncers, two moses baskets and stands, a bottle warmer and a highchair. That’s around £800+ of baby kit and the givers were pleased to see it go.
We used a wallpaper stripper to steam clean everything, MRSA loiters in fabrics and the weave of moses baskets too. Research told us that bleach and high temperatures kill MRSA and most other nasties. Bleach isn’t kind to newborn skin so steaming was the way for us. Everything was in great condition anyway but looked brand new and gleaming once steam cleaned.

We gave the bottle warmer away pretty fast. It was a pain in the neck on the side in the kitchen. We found two Tesco 33p measuring jugs did the job just fine when filled with boiling water and the bottles placed inside.

We used all the pushchairs, the double at times and the single if we were both out, the car seats and bases were used everyday and eventually we gave them all away again to be used by others with their children.

We bought a single changing mat and kept it slid underneath an armchair when not in use, thereby not bothering with a changing unit, though my Nannan, excited about forthcoming babies bought one anyway so we had the luxury of having one in their bedroom too.

I joined the Boots and Tesco baby clubs, which has yielded a great deal of coupons, even during pregnancy, for stocking up on essential baby products and a few treats for the burgeoning mother to be.

Then I began shopping on eBay. Buying in bulk was great. I bought expensive washable nappies (Kooshies) in large quantities for far less than you can find on the high street. I’ll admit to failing entirely with washables, it was such a headache and I gave in and bought disposables to my own disgust.
However, I resold all my nappies and recuperated almost the entire cost back on eBay!
I then used the money again on eBay to buy bulk Tommee Tippee bottles, dummy clips, MAM teats and dummies and the other small paraphenalia which comes later. These are small items which not every baby or mother wants but if you do use them they begin to aggravate with their inflated prices.
Our girls would only have orthodontic teats and dummies, which was fine but they cost a little more than most.

Breastfeeding is the cheapest way to feed a baby of course, but not everyone can. I was able to make use of the local Surestart services who loaned out breastpump which had all brand new pieces, ensuring hygiene. This meant I could express to make the most of my milk even when one of my babies couldn’t feed. Eventually we used formula and even then, chose Farleys, one of the cheapest on the market but with the better balance of casein for babys instead of the much heavier products like Cow & Gate.

As the girls grew I would give away what they had outgrown or no longer needed and readvertise in need of each new stage of development on Freecycle and on the local forum. This gave us clothing and toys, a couple of lightweight strollers for a holiday, two bed guards when the cot sides came off, a baby walker and no end of other useful bits and pieces. Even now I can advertise second or third generation pre-loved items, continually passing on.

Car boot sales are a veritable gold mine for baby items, but only if you go early. The good stuff is sold quickly but the prices are usually excellent. We usually buy toys or clothes and we’ve had some John Rocha clothes and hugely expensive Fisher Price toys for as little as £3 for the £65 toy and 50p for clothing. A huge contrast to items when bought brand new in Mothercare or Adams.

eBay was handy for shoes too. Clarks cost an arm and a leg if you keep twins in them but since most toddlers barely make a mark on shoes until about 18 months old, you can get first walkers in mint condition for a snip on eBay. So, we had the girls feet measured but bought online, usually saving up to 80% or 90% of the cost and still having the right sizes and in the current trends in the Clarks stores.

After the initial few months of shed loads of baby clothes as gifts for the new arrivals, I began buying their clothes in bulk on eBay and in sales. It’s a habit I’ve stuck with. I keep a separate wardrobe of clothing for the year ahead as I buy all their clothes for the next age group. So, at the end of 08/09 winter stock sales I was buying the clothes  for winter 09/10 in the appropriate sizes.
This means I’m prepared for any growth spurts and I can spread the rather diminished cost over the years sales.
We made full use of the Woolworths closing sales and stocked up on clothing, shoes and school uniform for when they need it in 18 months or so. At 45p – 99p each item instead of £7 – £15 each I’m happy to keep a little space aside for them.

There are no end of freebie websites which can help new parent with allsorts of items like feeding spoons and samples. They need to market their products and we need to save the cash, no problem. We tried no end of products by signing up to many websites. Just be careful to tick the privacy boxes or you’ll be plagued by junk mail forever more.

Anything we buy new generally has a resale value on eBay or on the local forum for sale section. We picked up two Bumbo seats on there for £15 and £13 and resold them on there 6 months later for the same prices. Both in the same condition and used well for several months.

Though we’ve saved money every step of the way where possible, occasionally sacrificing beauty for practicality, it’s been worth it. The days of empty nurseries full of antique furniture are long gone, we live in practical houses for the most part and most of the products we are instructed we ‘need’ are just luxuries which we must eventually part with. So why buy new and waste money? It might be a worthwhile investment if you plan to use any item for more than one child but there are so many baby sales items because they get very little use. The best part of the day a baby sleeps, nothing wears out, except patience now and then when they lie awake at night!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Findings, Savings | 3 Comments »

London on the cheap

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

London, our capital city and somewhere we all think of as a bit touristy and often quite expensive too.  There are some fantastic places to visit in London, and it’s a fab place to go for a weekend away, but if you’re on a budget then you might not think of it immediately.  In fact, if you do it right, it is possible to have a trip to London that doesn’t put holes in your pocket and still have a great time and do lots.

Some of London’s sights can be expensive, that’s absolutely true, but others are a lot cheaper than you might think.  Here are a few ‘must see’ attractions that are absolutely free to visit:

Big Ben & The Houses of Parliament – Westminster
The houses of parliament’s official name is the Palace of Westminster, and it’s a pretty impressive building to look at whether you see it from afar or close too.  The clock at the top of the tower above the houses of parliament is called Big Ben, and it’s world famous chimes are known as one of the main symbols of London.

British Museum – London W1
This museum is huge, so if you go here you may want to either devote a whole day and take a picnic for lunchtime, or choose to visit just some of its headline attractions such as the Elgin Marbles for example.  If you can, take a look at their website before you go, especially if you will have limited time so you know what you specifically want to see.

Imperial War Museum – Lambeth
For those interested in war and the military this is a fascinating museum full of exhibits including much from world war one, the interior of an English home from the time, and much more.

Natural History Museum – South Kensington
An incredible museum full of collections from insects, early humans, and of course the dinosaurs.  Another museum where a visit to the website before you go can help you choose what to see.

Science Museum – South Kensington
This is definitely one that ticks the box for most people, with fascinating displays of technology and science through the ages.  There’s lots of hands on stuff for kids to do here too.

Victoria & Albert – South Kensington
A wonderful collection of decorative arts, from sculptures to paintings, and some of the most incredible collections of clothing and fashion through the ages to be seen anywhere.

Depending on the time of year you visit London, there are events and festivals from the University Boat race between Oxford and Cambridge which takes place on the Thames, to the London Marathon and the Notting Hill Carnival all of which are free to spectators.

Time Out Magazine is worth picking up before you go as it contains listings of free concerts, comedy, art exhibitions, films and it also has a weekly night pass which gives special offers to the reader and reduced or sometimes free entry to various night clubs on presentation of the pass.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Savings | Comments Off

30% off catalogue codes

Monday, June 15th, 2009

One of the interesting facts which came from the recession was the renewed interest in reusing and repairing, from clothing to cars and everything else around us. One of those was The Sole Man in Sheffield but sadly the decrease in spending hit too hard and his business closed this week.
However, if you haven’t got it  you can’t repair it, or in some cases the item  is beyond repair.
I’ve been working on my home,  making the garden part play space and part relaxing social environment. As a result I needed to replace the rusted to death swing seat which sat despoiling my green haven.
I spent ages trawling eBay, Tesco online, Amazon and Argos, visited my usual haunts of Focus and Homebase and even tried further afield at Dobbies Garden World but I found nothing in my limited price range and appropriate size and style. Eventually, searching BView I fell upon Littlewoods Direct and their current offer. You might remember the name as domestic catalogue company or perhaps you’ve been accosted on the street during a marketing campaign. It’s less in vogue to shop by catalogue these days but when they’re giving away a generous 30% discount off items up to £500 for your first order it’s hard to ignore.
So, I signed up for a credit account, ordered a swish swing seat for my little suntrap and enjoyed the 30% off which entirely cancelled out the delivery charge and a further chunk of cash besides.
It’s worth noting that the same swing seat was £30 more expensive at Littlewoods that it was at Littlewoods Direct, so it’s worth taking the time to compare prices.

Now, boxing clever, you might not know that Littlewoods, Littlewoods Direct, Marshall Ward, Kays, Great Universal and others are all part of the same company, though, in distinction you can join each one with a separate account. Which also means you can use the 30% off code for each account but only on your first order. If you have a number of larger priced items or a families clothing to replace, it’s an offer not to be sneezed at!
I’m off to buy a new washing machine as the last one went the way of the decrepit swing seat.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in offers, Savings | 1 Comment »

Vi’s top vouchers for June

Friday, June 12th, 2009

I didn’t offer you any top tips for coupons last month, but thought I’d do so again this month and let you know some of my favourite ones I’ve seen here on BView.

Currys
For anyone who’s thinking of making an electrical purchase there are some great Curry’s discounts available at the moment.  Which one you use is rather dependent on how much you’re spending, as they have vouchers for money off from £10 off £300 spend to £100 off when you spend £1000, and several others in between.  Really useful if you have a major purchase to make as Currys are often pretty good on price to begin with.

Boots
With the sun showing her face for the first time in earnest recently, we’re all exposing a bit more skin.  Boots are offering 3 for 2 on selected skincare products at the moment so you can get yourself in tip top condition before you head out into the sunshine.  Don’t forget the suntan lotion though, we don’t want you spoiling your skin by turning it lobster red!

Pizza Express
If you’ve got an orange mobile phone, then you can get 2 for 1 on pizzas on Wednesdays with their special voucher codes.  Simply print the voucher and pop your Orange Wednesday code into the box to validate it and you are away.  As well as the pizza deal, you will also get two free servings of either Garlic Bread or Dough Balls it’s a brill bargain!

Chiquito
Now here’s a simple one for you.  Sign up to receive their free newsletter (by e-mail), and they’ll give you a voucher to get some free nachos next time you visit them between Monday-Thursday.

The London Dungeon
With the summer upon us we all start thinking of holidays and days out with the family.  Take a trip to the London Dungeon and you can get 2 for 1 entry with this printable voucher.  If you’ve never been there, it’s quite an impressive place to visit.

There are a number of other places which you could look at visiting which are offering 2 for 1 or other discounts at the moment including the London Bridge Experience and the Imperial War museum.  Don’t forget to look for discount vouchers this summer before you go anywhere, after all if there’s an offer available you might as well take advantage of it.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Savings | Comments Off

Home made & cheap gifts

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Giving gifts is a lovely thing to do, but right now for a lot of us, it’s becoming something which we’re almost resenting because of the cost involved. It’s not that we don’t want to give people nice things for birthdays etc. it’s just that the cost is rather high when you’re struggling.

I’ve found that one way to keep the costs low, and at the same time make the gift – well even more special if you like – is to make it yourself. This can sound a bit difficult, but actually some gifts are really quite easy to make, and they look pretty impressive too. Bath bombs can cost anything from £1 up to £5 each for really nice ones, but if you make your own, you can bring them in for just a few pence each – the ingredients can easily be bought online, as can the moulds to make them with. This is an old peanut butter jar I kept and used when I made some last year as gifts for friends birthdays. I even made up a tag saying what scent each one was, and popped it on a ribbon round the neck of the jar before I did the lid up. Impressive when you think that the ingredients cost me about £20 for enough to make a good dozen gifts like this!

A jar of finished bath bombs

A jar of finished bath bombs

Another sort of home made gift I’ve found which goes down well is gift baskets. These can be made up of all sorts of things from beauty products for someone who’s a makeup fan (saveonmakeup.com is a good site to keep an eye on for bits for this), to seeds and gardening bits and bobs for someone who’s an avid gardener. We did some last year that were chilli based, and included things like chilli chocolate, chillied nuts (just regular nuts which we roasted with chilli seasoning), a chilli plant which we grew from seed, and so on.

If you don’t think you could manage a home made gift, take a look at sites like underfivepounds.com, and shops like Poundstretcher and Wilkinson’s they may not always have what you’re looking for, but sometimes you’ll spot something really nice that you can put away as a gift for someone.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Savings | 1 Comment »