So OS that it's sad? 4 August 2011 at 8:09AM edited 9 August 2011 at 3:09PM in Old Style MoneySaving 75 replies 18.1K views

Any

dandy-candy wrote: »

Well we just came back from a week in Kefalonia and although I managed to relax and read while being computer free, my OS bargain hunting was still in full flow!
The local mini mart did the most fantastic washing pegs I have seen, really solid thick plastic with strong metal spring and 24 in a pack for 90 cents!! I bought 6 packs to bring home...
I went into a supermarket and they did real camphor tablets which I never see in England anymore so 3 packs of them went into the trolley...
At the cornershop they sold traditional olive oil household soap that you could use for washing clothes and scrubbing the house, so I bought 8 bars...
My DH was just shaking his head and said "I'm not telling anyone what you bought back from holiday"
Oh dear have I really become such a saddo? The thing is i'm still dead chuffed with my finds - I must be completely brain washed!

When I saw the thread title I thought I will see story of a kind:
I didn't let my kids have an ice cream in the centre of Barcelona (input name of city) even though it was very hot because I could not part with the money when I know I can buy it for half the price at the supermarket oposite our hotel once we get back (hours and hours later)...

Now that is sad.

But OP what you are describing is not sad!! Those sound like a great buys!
I bought pasta in Italy because I want to try it as much as it is cheaper and looks different..

Chances are the olive oil you got there is better anyway, localy sourced etc etc...

ubamother

Just think - every time you peg your washing out you'll have a memory of your holiday.

When we were in the US a couple of years ago, I bought the most wonderful, lidded, cast iron skillet and the most wonderful farm-kitchen scale which was huge. My husband had to take them through as hand luggage as they were far too heavy for the suitcases - we got strange looks from the X-ray machine security man! I suppose we're were quite lucky it wasn't confiscated as a potentially deadly weapon - my knitting needles were on the way out. The cast iron skillet has been my favourite piece of kitchen equipment ever - and I love my scales, so worth it.

SUESMITH_2

not daft at all, the best thing we bought was a shower from lidl in france - it was 9 euros - when the euro was something like 1.5 to the pound, we had no money left and had to search the car for odd cents. still going strong years later. the same holiday we bought paella pans and a freestanding hammock

we brought lemons, cheese and olive oil back from italy last year, oh and a peg basket!

narabanekeater

we brought DD home in my tummy from Spain LOL

louise3965

we brought terracotta tapas dishes home from Spain - they were so cheap. Next year it will be a mahoosive paella pan

dandy-candy

I'm so glad it's not just me that likes bringing home a bargain from abroad!
Any - my mum brought me back some amazing multi-coloured pasta from Italy once, it was too pretty to eat so we just displayed it in a glass jar in the kitchen
Molly - I had always heard French flour was better too, what a shame it wasn't after you carried it all the way home again!
Ubamother - that sounds fab! I have always wanted to visit the Amish areas in America because their stores have amazing old fashioned stuff like quilts and oil lamps - I would buy so much we'd have to ship it home

mmmsnow

dandy-candy wrote: »

Wow mine weren't that cheap, but at 25 cents a bar I still thought they were worth having

25 cents is still a bargain! We got ours from this little family run shop we'd found in Kefalos on Kos. Everything in the place was super cheap - even the drinks and ice lollies, which was the main reason for us wandering in.

In the end, we bought about 30 bars of soap, a lot of little souvenirs for friends and family and loads of drinks and things (over the course of a couple of weeks). On the day we left, the owner gave us a big bag of apricots she'd picked from her garden. They were beautiful!

snoozer

DH insisted on bringing a sickle back from the Czech Republic (luckily we'd driven there). We also brought back a complete set of bathroom taps from Austria because they were cheaper and nicer than ones we'd seen at home.

[Deleted User]

dandy-candy wrote: »

I have always wanted to visit the Amish areas in America because their stores have amazing old fashioned stuff like quilts and oil lamps - I would buy so much we'd have to ship it home

I was in Lancaster and also Intercourse in Pennsylvania a couple of years ago and its true there are some amazing old fashioned stores full of the stuff the Amish use , sadly not with old fashioned prices to match. My friend and I looked at thier quilts as she makes quilts for a charity in England and the starting prices for the quilts were from $1000 upwards:eek::eek::eek: They were beautiful but there is no way I would pay for anything like that for a quilt for my bed

When I went up to Blackpool for a 'meet several years ago I managed to find some Stardrops in the little shop there, and brought 3 bottles home This was before you could buy it down in the south of England

valk_scot

I was in France a couple of years back and the local Leclerc superstore had a giant clearance tent up in the car park. We spent hours in there...I got all sorts of gardening bits like hose connectors for 10 cents each, dress up doll kits where you made their clothes for 1€ (these were highly prized as birthday pressies by DD's pals), seeds for 10cents, bike spares, camping equipment, household etc etc etc. It was all reduced to the equivelent of pennies. We were camping that year and I remember having to jam all this stuff into the trailer tent to get it home. I'm still using up some of it. Makes me smug every time I open a pack of whatever.

Mind you I don't tend to buy "souvenirs", I buy nice local things that I'll use and which will remind me of my holidays. This year we went camping down near York and I came back with a sheep tea cosy from a charity shop, three wooden spoons with 24" long handles for jam making (£1 each at the local ironmonger), a hand made willow basket from a stall at a farm show (it was huge and only cost £5!!), a plant from the local farming museum fund raising stall, a pile of books from the charity shops and six eggs from the campsite chickens.