Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget.

tesuhoha

lessonlearned wrote: »

Wow Jackie.....so many good tips. Alas we don't have a Dobbies or a Waitrose. Those are great deals.

I do like a trawl round a garden centre. Most of ours do loyalty cards as do a lot of our cafes and restaurants. I have loads of them, the only problem is I tend to forget to take them with me. Duh.....

I forgot on Friday. I think I'll have to get better organised and keep a little wallet for all my discount and loyalty cards.

I've just signed up to our local councils email what's on guide. Great tip there, so thanks for that.

I'm sitting here drinking a cup of tea from my Crown Derby cup. One of my little affectations is that I do like tea from nice porcelain. I decided to get rid of all my tatty crockery and start using my nice stuff. What was I keeping it for. For best?? Don't I deserve the best.. :rotfl: I decided no point in having nice things if I don't use them. They are not luxury items if they are stuck in a cupboard. From now on I shall eat off crockery fit for a duchess. :rotfl: bring on that luxury.......

I have just changed my bedlinen. I love the feel of freshly laundered sheets. I do think nice clean sheets are one of life's little luxuries too.

As I said I have recently moved. The bedroom I inherited is a tad "purple"and a bit garish for my liking.......but I always use plain white bed linen and it does help tone it down a bit. The other day I spotted a fake "artic fox" fur throw in Aldi's. It was a snip at £30. I have just put in on the bed and it looks quite lovely against the white linen and the dark purple feature wall. Very boutique hotel chic. Lol.

My next task, probably after the festive season when I have more time, is to go through all my stuff and see if I can free up enough space so that I can get rid of a chest of drawers in that room. It looks a bit cramped and crowded in there.

For me one of my greatest luxuries is space and light. I am hoping to get rid of a lot of furniture over the next few months so I can really open up the rooms, make them look lighter and more spacious. That's the problem with downsizing, a lot of my old furniture is on too large a scale and there is far too much of it.

Less is definitely more.

If you shop at Tesco you should get yourself a Clubcard if you don't already have one. The reason I am saying this is because you said you like fine things. Well the good news is that every quarter I think it is Tesco will send you Clubcard vouchers and Clubcard vouchers can be converted into Clubcard Boost Vouchers. One of the deals is you can get 3 x the value of your Tesco Clubcard vouchers in the Denby store. You have to pay for postage but after that there is a huge range of beautiful tableware, etc on offer.

My sideboard is packed with Denby items that I would not normally be able to afford. I have so much of it and its just from saving the Clubcard vouchers. I have tablemats, coasters, mugs, three beautiful serving bowls, small finger bowls, oil pourer, jugs, ramekins, trivets, a butter dish etc, various serving spoons, tongs. etc.. I am presently saving for a cutlery set. Its well worth it.

tesuhoha

Another thing I do (you may find this a bit extravagant) I pay £20 a month into Naked Wines and by the time Christmas comes I have over £200 to spend. I am a member of their Angels club. Each Christmas they have a special bargain case for their members and I find it takes care of most of our alcohol needs. This year's case contains 20 bottles for £182 I think it was. This includes Prosecco and champagne, ruby port, a free bottle of gin, free crystal wine glasses, a large bottle of craft beer and a large selection of quality red and white wine.

Don't know if you think that is a rip off but it works out about £9.60 a bottle not including the gin which is a free gift. When you think how much a bottle of champagne or good gin costs even in Asda or Aldi. Its all quality wine and last year it lasted well into the new year - I think we drank the last bottle in February and there is so much wine that we gave some of it away as gifts. So that's my little bit of Christmas luxury. I don't really miss £20 per month but if I needed to I could always stop and I would find it difficult just to fork out £180 on alcohol.

All I have to buy is some lager and some tonic. We don't drink many spirits at Christmas so that takes care of our booze. Personally, it seems a bargain and others seem to think so too because most of this year's cases are sold out.

I just looked up some of the prices, the gin is £40, the champagne £30 and the ruby port £14. That's if you buy them individually.

Another small tip, if you are a Prime member you get all your Amazon deliveries quickly, some the next day, a large range of films and tv series to watch and if you have a kindle, there is the Prime lending library. You can 'borrow' up to 10 books at a time for free and there is quite a choice. (I am probably far too extravagant for this thread!)

As for the dance classes you are interested in, you could have a look on the internet to see if there are any over 50s groups in your area. I go to a fabulous over 50s tap class. Its fantastic fun and we are learning a skill. The group are all lovely. It costs me £5 a week.

grunnie

Entertained myself last night when I couldn't sleep by reading this thread from the beginning. I love a cup of coffee so can you tell me which coffees you buy.

mrs_slapshot

grunnie wrote: »

Entertained myself last night when I couldn't sleep by reading this thread from the beginning. I love a cup of coffee so can you tell me which coffees you buy.

I've got a Tassimo machine, bought half price from Debenhams earlier this year. My treat is a Costa latte....delicious!

Strangely enough, I don't like filter coffee, I normally prefer instant - Kenco smooth is my everyday choice.

jackieblack

grunnie wrote: »

Entertained myself last night when I couldn't sleep by reading this thread from the beginning. I love a cup of coffee so can you tell me which coffees you buy.

Mine is Cafedirect Intense Blend (https://www.cafedirect.co.uk/products/intense/)
I buy it on Subscribe & Save from Amazon, usually 3 bags for £7.65, instead of £3+ per bag from the supermarket

joedenise

I've got a bean to cup machine and use Lavazza blue coffee beans from Amazon. We don't drink a lot of coffee so happy to pay a bit extra for a bean we both like.

Denise

Prinzessilein

For instant coffee...I have a taste for Beanies...they do 'flavoured' coffees with only 2Kcal a cup (before you add sugar/milk/cream)...they do instant and filter, decaff and regular.

I am another who has a Prime membership...next day delivery...plus plenty of TV and Films and Books...I actually think it is good value - especially if you already buy stuff from Amazon.


For folks who like crafting, have a look in local wool/craft shops...even in our sleepy little backwater we have three different crafting centres in shops to my knowledge...currently most people are finishing of Christmas projects, but in the New Year the 'new' groups will be set up teaching crochet, knitting, machine sewing, papercrafting, patchwork, embroidery, card-making (all these are at the craft shop I visit), you pay a registration fee in week one that includes materials, and then just pay a small fee for coffee/tuition each week.

Slinky

lessonlearned wrote: »

I do like a trawl round a garden centre. Most of ours do loyalty cards as do a lot of our cafes and restaurants. I have loads of them, the only problem is I tend to forget to take them with me. Duh.....

I forgot on Friday. I think I'll have to get better organised and keep a little wallet for all my discount and loyalty cards.

If you have an iPhone there's an app you can download called Stocard which you can scan and store your plastic cards to so you don't have to carry them with you.

caronc

Not many champagne moments over the past few days due to a bout of shingles. Feeling more like it today and had a good catch up with friends who came over for a simple soup lunch. Good chat, tasty soup and decent bread rounded off with a cuppa and a Tunnocks Teacake were a lovely way to spend a cold winter afternoon:).
Off for a "posh(ish)" lunch tomorrow for a friend's birthday. The cooking standard is very good and they do a very decent lunchtime offer. Pressie was paid from my present fund and lunch will be covered by my entertainment one. Almost feels like a "no spend" outing :rotfl:

cherryblossomzel

I'm another one who really likes coffee. I don't mind instant so much, but I really dislike filter, yuck.

I used to have a Philips Senseo machine, for which I managed to find some reusable filters so I could buy any coffee. Unfortunately it broke and a replacement just seemed so expensive. Plus I have a tiny kitchen and every little bit of countertop lost to appliances matter. Nowadays I use an Aeropress, which is great for making a quick cup. I just buy a bog standard French blend (but without chicory, which I don't like) from Aldi. Did have a really delicious Sumatran blend not that long ago though (not from Aldi).