Elite 11+ shopping and chat thread part 2½

mhoc

I also went to Poundland today and they have the beer crates with either a grey or white shabby chic painting - they don't look very substantial - not sure how many bottles they would hold but you can always use things like port scratching packs to act as padding.
There is also time to repaint them - sometimes in B &Q they have sample pots in the clearance baskets.

I also saw similar flat wooden trays - very good as bases for gourmet food gifts - using some of the posh things we get for cashback from Shopimum

Also they had the little square tins of shortbread - with a little black scottie dog and a red door - no one would guess they were from Poundland - might be a nice little indulgent looking top up present eg if you are going for the warm scarf, nice leather gloves option, vaccum cup, scarf/hat combo etc
Not checked yet if the design is the same as last year but inside are 2 packs so very good value.

Westvleteren

My little devil is 47 in human years



We are like two peas in a pod at the moment fighting to be nearest the fire

This pic doesn't do him any favours :rotfl:

mhoc

Also can I ask for suggestions for token Christmas gifts for my sisters - 2 ladies in their 50s

Last year I gave nice mini candles in votives and the previous year it was the nice Bromley soap in festive tins ( brilliant Home bargain find) - so it has to be something different yet again.

So not candles, not any ordinary toiletries, not from any of the normal everyday shops as they will know the price of things, not diaries as they are the sort that will already have 2018, not exotic underwear, not gift vouchers, not meal out vouchers as they don't do posh dining out, nothing alcoholic, nothing to do with posh cooking ...

There is no set budget so let your imagination run riot

bubbs

Hi Westie :wave:
How are you? have you been lurkig in the background?:D

s4mmy

After reading about the reported glitch on whole grain yoghurts in Tesco, I checked my receipt from this afternoon but only one discount came off however they did take two magazine vouchers- which made them free

pippo

Bargaingeek wrote: »

Bought the Glade Candles that are in the 3 4 2 was only one left of the Apple, Cinnamon & Nutmeg Large Scented Candle so bought the 2 of the Clean Linen ! These are not in the 3 4 2 so cost a bit more although they did compare to Morrisons at £4.50 so not a total disaster ! £6.80 APG with a few other fillers !

Blinking heck - I still have reed diffusers and A1rwick candles from when I first found this thread, due to that most people seem to buy me (more) scented candles !
Mind you, unexpected guests and haven't dusted, candles on lights off!

Westvleteren

bubbs wrote: »

Hi Westie :wave:
How are you? have you been lurkig in the background?:D

Hi bubbs :wave:

Yeah, lurking in the background is all i'm good for atm.

pippo

Nellie35 wrote: »

Hope funeral goes as well as can be expected rhos x I have also been to a funeral today:( A friend that we have known for over 30 years and used to go on holiday with when the children were younger. She was 57 and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 4 weeks before she died. She was taken to hospital, diagnosed, and never went home again :A Her husband was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver 5 weeks before that and without a transplant has only been given a few months. Such a lovely couple and such a sad situation

I am thinking of maybe using my apg in asda living on an unsuitable item of clothing. I'll let you know how I get on

Oh Nellie, so sad....
I think this is why so many people put off going for medical help... for them, once you are diagnosed that's it!...
In reality, as we know from fellow posters, there is often a way forward.

bubbs

Westvleteren wrote: »

Hi bubbs :wave:

Yeah, lurking in the background is all i'm good for atm.

Awww, come on here we will cheer you up:p Especially that naughty TM:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Savvybuyer

poundsinbucks wrote: »

Oops, got 3 of the Loreal skin sets and now have an APG for more than GBP22 . Oh well, won't do that again! Any my muggle shop for normal goods generated GBP1.32 v T. Am posting in case of any use for anyone else as fillers:

9 items (7 different) on your receipt qualify for comparison Asda Tesco
1x ASDA Smart Price Grated Cheddar (500g) £2.50 £2.50
2x ASDA German Smoked Cheese Slices (180g) £3.00 N/A
2x ASDA Smart Price Orange Juice Cartons (3x200) £0.80 £0.90
1x Dobre Sauerkraut (900ml) £1.00 N/A
1x ASDA Skimmed Milk (4pt) £0.99 £1.00
2x KTC Coconut Milk (400g) £1.60 N/A
1x ASDA Free From Almond Unsweetened Chilled (1l) £0.97 £1.50
2x Terry's Chocolate Orange (157g) £2.00 £4.00
1x Monster Energy Cans (8x500) £6.00 £7.79
1x ASDA Grower's Selection Baby Plum Tomatoes (325g) £1.00 £1.00
Comparison total (compared products only) £14.26 £18.69

Poundsinbucks x :cool:

I don't think it generated £1.32 vs T as that's more than 10% cheaper, but I think it generated it vs M:rotfl:. But, that shows the 'fillers' that work against T:cool:.

KTC coconut milk - is that now vs M 57p x2 or was it still 50p x2? Terry's Chocolate Orange will £1 each vs £1 each.

In M, I don't see much change today, away from the Carling/Carlsberg/Strongbow that have lost their mbuy that made them a "good" deal, so they will be off the APG soon I suspect, and the four Advent Calendars have gone up a bit - but three of them should be vs T shortly, plus a Mars one. There doesn't seem a lot extra in so far as my stores have kindly had the products or SELs available for me to see and many of the items I have been tracking, in so far as I have been able to see, haven't changed in price. However, I had M&M's Cookie Mix (180g) at £1 on Monday but it is £2.51 today:eek:. So, if anyone who doesn't shop in Northern Ireland wants to give this a go today on the APG...:rotfl:

At least two of my Ms have put the price of their petrol up by 1p per litre, a fact that I didn't notice until I was already on the forecourt and, by that time, would have had no time to stop elsewhere:(. My M did that before - they were a bit cheaper than A and then put their price up - I think they put it up a bit more, taking away the 'saving' they had given although they were probably followng wholesale prices which have increased. M seem to me sometimes to do that - give an offer lower and then put the item way up later - someone asked whether prices across the store had increased by 10%. It might seem this way sometimes but I can't say it is "across the store", as a rule across virtually everything, and there's also been items put onto RTC "across the store" depending on how you look at it. The 4 pint milk has certainly increased from £1 to £1.10; however the 6 pint went from £1.48 to £1.58 so that isn't quite 10%. M had said it had had to increase the price of milk and I think farmers' reps were then saying the price more closely reflected its true cost - it's felt that the price may increase everywhere else although, as yet, it hasn't happened.

As for the petrol, even my Sains. is now cheaper - although obviously that's the one that, unfortunately for S, is not far enough from an Asda. One of my Ms a bit farther away had a promotion that made them, surprisingly, significantly cheaper on petrol a few months ago. Two weeks later, I spotted that store's price at much more expensive than the other Ms so, obviously, trying to take back all it had given:rotfl:. I think the carrots pack in M went down a lot cheaper than it normally does around a year ago - and, then, when the offer ended, it went to significantly more expensive than it had ever been before. I mentioned one price crunch several weeks back - a toothbrush that use to swap between £5 offer and £9 full price - regularly £5 in Iceland - it was now on "way down price crunch" at £7:eek: - in other words, £2 more expensive than the usual offers of before. It apparently had gone way up to £14 in the meantime, before coming down to be more expensive than the offer prices I would mention. It does seem that, very soon after M starts a "price crunch", several other items "across the store", several different items, not literally items in every aisle but a number of items, seem to have significant price increases. Some of them are offers ending but they can involve items going up quite substantially. It seems that, if you shop for items just when you need them, rather than stocking up when items go on offer:money:, and do general weekly shopping, I can imagine people's bills will not really have gone down but will probably be working out about the same as before, due to what I call the price increases on some items taking away all or most of the savings on what M calls the price crunches. The bill could even be higher - due to people adding additional items, beyond what they would have done, as they see them advertised and "way down price crunch" and think they'll add those to the basket. M can be a lot cheaper - for example if you pick only the RTC items, and then are very selective and pick only the good ones. However, if you just shop for all the items as and when you need them, your bill will probably be about the same as before, even though M is telling you of a "way down price crunch" and then if you are adding tempting "price crunch" items, usually things such as £1 chocolates packs at eye-level, you may end up spending more.