Put away your purse & become debt-averse

oceandreamer

Have a good non spendy trip tomorrow. It makes me smile when you talk about your spendy days. Up until very recently I had the awful habit of popping into the shops on the way home from work (most days) to pick up a bottle of milk or the like. I hardly ever came out having spent less than £10 on stuff I didn't need. I laugh now that I used to congratulate myself on what a bargain it was - buying stuff I didn't need with money I didn't have!

foxgloves

Ocean Dreamer - Yes, I can identify with that as an ex-spender...... that mental re-processing of whatever had just been bought as a 'great bargain'...... I was always doing that. I supposed it justified spending money I knew I didn't have.
F x

foxgloves

Hello diary readers,
Well, I'm pleased to report an enjoyable & bargainaceous city centre trip. Three genuine bargains (all half price) & taking that packed lunch did keep us away from cafes at lunchtime. We did start toying with the idea of another coffee, but decided to wait till we got home for a free (& bigger!) one.
But do you know? There was an item on my list today which I thought would be easily available & would cost me about £1.75......£2.20 tops. I have a few pairs of earrings (dangles on the fish hook fittings) which I not only really like, but which have a fair bit of sentimental value. Mr F bought me a lovely pair of silver half moons set with peridots for Christmas, my sis gave me an unusual pair made from vintage beads & I have two amber pairs gifted to me ages ago (one pair when I was about 21) by Mum & Dad. I am always so worried about losing them as fish hooks do fall out of my piercings sometimes. So I wanted to buy a pack of those tiny plastic stoppers to put onto fish hook earrings to keep them in my ears. Finally found some in a well-known accessories shop (think 'girl's name'). A tiny pack containing a few truly tiny pieces of plastic. £5.50. Eh? That surely can't be right. Took them to till & they were indeed £5.50. I said I thought that was expensive. Assistant agreed but said they are on a 3 for 2 offer if I was interested. I said I was objecting to paying £5.50 so was not looking to extend my outlay to £11 and I didn't need three packs anyway. I said I thought this price was exploiting the fact that these very simple items are also very hard to find. I was duly informed that even the jewellers shops locally all 'send their customers here for them', so I suspect I'm right. I bought one pack. I honestly think there is about 2p of plastic in that bag so I handed over my £5.50 extremely grudgingly. The only reason I did it was because I'd be gutted to lose the silver earrings I've mentiined. But in my head, I've spent all day going £5.50!!! £5.50 !!!!!!!! I'm usually very resourceful about trying to improvise & shop such things from home, but I just couldn't think of anything which would work effectively.
To put this cost in context, Mr F bought a very nice shirt from the sale rail this morning. He paid £9. He got an entire garment. I paid over half of that for a scant half teaspoon of plastic nobules. Outrageous!!
I bet someone will pop up on here now to tell me how I could have got a bag of 500 from the pound shop.......
Actually, it might be time for a gin now.
Cheers,
F x

DawnW

I don't have pierced ears Foxgloves, but I can absolutely understand why you don't want to lose your favourite ear rings! Did you look at ebay for those thingummys? Because odd bits like that which are hard to get in actual shops tend to be easy to find, and cheaper on ebay. And the sellers are often smaller businesses than the high street brand you didn't mention, and eager to please, dispatch quickly and often post free. NB, disclaimer, I sell on ebay, but I don't sell ear ring parts, small spare parts for household machines or the other odd (and usually boring) things that I buy myself from other sellers

Kantankrus_Mare

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boutique-Butterfly-Earring-Stoppers-Earnuts/dp/B01B9D2WCA?ref_=Oct_s9_apbd_otopr_hd_bw_b44cSKN_0&pf_rd_r=P0VK5G6FNQEEQ6YY5BQD&pf_rd_p=717091f4-e161-5f45-acfc-f2eb5f3618d5&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-11&pf_rd_t=BROWSE&pf_rd_i=3732802031

sorry to be the bearer of bad news :eek:

Assuming yours were better quality

DawnW

Kantankrus_Mare wrote: »

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boutique-Butterfly-Earring-Stoppers-Earnuts/dp/B01B9D2WCA?ref_=Oct_s9_apbd_otopr_hd_bw_b44cSKN_0&pf_rd_r=P0VK5G6FNQEEQ6YY5BQD&pf_rd_p=717091f4-e161-5f45-acfc-f2eb5f3618d5&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-11&pf_rd_t=BROWSE&pf_rd_i=3732802031

sorry to be the bearer of bad news :eek:

Assuming yours were better quality

I imagine they are exactly the same

PurpleFairy26

I find that particular shop foxgloves outrageously expensive and the response is often that it’s available on 3 for 2. I just wish it was cheaper per item and not 3 for 2!!! I’ve put stuff back before that just wasn’t worth the price tag.

Kantankrus_Mare

What they were charging is outrageous :eek: especially as that shop is aimed at youngsters as well.

i hate being ripped off :mad:

at least your lovely earrings will stay safe Foxgloves and Im sure you got a bargain or two elsewhere

Onebrokelady

That's ridiculous, I'm glad you posted this though because I need some of these and wasn't sure where to get them from

foxgloves

I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks that was an outrageous price. Kantankrus - thanks for the link - those look a little bit different to the things I bought. Dawn - No, I didn't look on ebay. I am really trying to support high street shops at the moment & had assumed these would be an easy ultra cheapo item to find. I rarely buy anything on ebay these days, but do still venture on as a seller occasionally.
I don't have children so it's not a chain of shops I use, but as it always looks as though it's aimed strongly at pre-teens & young teens, I always assumed it was quite a cheap chain.... sort of pocket money prices & affordable giftable items. It's interesting to read these comments that this is not the case. 3 for 2 is pretty useless on this sort of item. I can't gift bags of plastic stoppers for ear wires to people and they are not things I'd ever need to acquire in triple quantities for my own needs. It can make planned purchases doubly expensive too. Last year, I treated myself to a pot of my favourite moisturiser. It is £26 so I only buy it occasionally. I'd got the money so thought I'd treat myself. The assistant said it was on a 3 for 2, & yes, of course a free pot is a great deal. Spending £52 on moisturiser all in one go, however, was not possible for me as I had budgeted £26., It was annoying not being able to take up the offer but these things aren't good deals, are they, if the extra money is more than we can afford.
Anyway, hopefully I shan't lose any of my favourite earrings now. The ones Mum & Dad gave me when I was a student are quite unusual because the amber has been cut into facets & I've never seen any similar ones.
But yeah, bah to paying £5.50 for about a couple of pence worth of plastic.
Did get some good bargains apart from that rip-off though, as well as using £40 of nectar points towards our grocery shopping.
F x