Not dropping Santa down the chimney!: 2025 Santa, Shoebox & Life Chit,Chat,Chunter! ALL welcome....

Katiehound

Thanks for the heads up Happy_Kitties about Card factory. I managed to get 3 x rolls of paper for under £1. I thought they were 3 meter rolls- just looked closely- they are 8 m rolls : enough for rather a lot of shoeboxes!!

De clutter? that's been my aim for some years.... I never get very far! 

In the bin bags were a couple of garments by Karen Millen! both very grubby. One said hand wash only, and the other said dry clean only. One was soaked in 'baby wash' & both went into the machine. I'm saving them, for a friend as they might fit her dil or gds. It's not often designer garments come my way.... (oh and an Aquascutum s/less trench dress )

Happy_Kitties

Katiehound-really chuffed u managed to get some paper and they were 8m rolls, that will definitely keep you going,

Wow to the Karen Millen. If anyone can bring them back to life to give them further life it’s you. 

I’ve been spending again🙈. M&S sale fleece lined oversized hoodies reduced by over £20. On the Dunelm gift giving Christmas tree last year there were big requests for these, a lot of tags wanting these. So i have bought one for a friend’s daughter and a couple to go away for this Christmas for the gift giving tree. Really thick lined, good reviews. I got a similar one for Christmas and I cannot believe how cozy it is. 

Also a couple of bits in the beauty sale for the other charity auctions which i think will do very well due to the brand. U get to know what people really like. Nothing much else which I was relieved about!

Katiehound

Just a heads up- Tesco have their cheapie items-   the 'Keep it Handy' range   includes 2 x pack of playing cards. Clubcard prices still -1 item@£1.50, 2 items for £2. 4 or 6? pack nailbrushes, chunky tape measures. Just bought cards & tape measures. 
 Wrapped soaps   (single wrapped bars) in Asda & Tesco @ 30 pence each. But the 4 pack of bars in Tesco a close second (£1.35) in lemon & mandarin. these tablets are all 125g.

Anglea

Happy New Year everyone. Strangely, I didn't get any notifications for this thread for about a month and I had been very busy I assumed no one had posted so was really shocked to see how much I had missed. As DS1 is arriving soon as he left his car here since Christmas I'll return another time to catch up properly.

Happy_Kitties

Great to hear from you Anglea, I wondered why we hadn’t heard anything from you. Hope you had a good Christmas.

Katie hound- frustratingly despite our Tesc@ in the next town being a superstore I have never seen their ‘Keep it Handy’ range in and I always look. Will be popping there later so will have a look as I have run out and will need playing cards this year. 

Katiehound

That's a pain about Tesco not stocking that particular range. I remember last year I was surprised that some (fairly large) stores didn't stock them...It's generally quite a large display because there must be about 20 or 30 different items included.  

Katiehound

If you at all interested in the Shoe box appeal by L:ink to Hope please read the diary & look at the photos here:

https://linktohope.co.uk/shoebox-appeal-delivery-diary-2023/

Anglea

Hi everyone. I'm glad this thread is still running instead of a new one because I'm trying to catch up on the posts I have missed so still have a few pages to go. Life has been rather stressful and busy for months with a lot of problems and just when I've dealt with them, I've now been given various legal things to deal with.

For outings, bucket lists etc I have several Knights Templar things I want to do this year and a tunnel that I have made numerous attempts to find.

Just before Christmas I finally (after wanting to go for years) made it to a tree festival inside a huge church in Bristol. Friend fell down a couple of steps outside (there were loads of concrete steps and very poor lighting it was nearly pitch dark) and we narrowly avoided a parking fine as ordered food from a van and it took absolutely ages even though we were the only customers, then he couldn't get the bill ready properly. And my wrap which I expected to be small was mega huge and he was making the falafels from scratch then cutting a really large amount of fresh veg to go inside and asked if I wanted chilli sauce. I said no. Then when we started eating the food inside the car my mouth was burning. The falafels themselves were fuil of chilli.

Happy_Kitties

Katiehound -I checked both Tesc@s thoroughly and neither stock the ‘Keep It Handy’ range despite one store being a big superstore. It is frustrating, I can get everything but it would be nice to have access to this range. I actually got some Tesc@ choc bars yesterday that are just in date for the shoeboxes. I  always make sure they can last at least 6 months after Christmas. It means that I can finish that last shoebox I never managed to finish. 

Love seeing the diary, while we may not be able to change the world, we can make life just a little bit nicer for one person/family.

Overnight Arg@s wrapping paper sets had been added for 65p and were in stock in my local one in the next town. I needed to go there anyway so ended up buying 15 sets this morning. Most are to go to the shoebox hub and 3 or 4 for a friend. 

Anglea- it’s great to hear from you. I hope your friend was okay after falling down the steps. This reminded me of a wedding years ago now that I attended in a castle. A group  of us came out to go home and I have never known anything like it. Pitch black with no lighting. We ended up linking up with each other with the person at the front being the one who sort of knew where her car was. Once found she popped the car lights on so everyone else could find their cars. Looking back it was incredibly dangerous,I was on crutches at the time!

Is a tree festival where they have lots of different trees all decorated differently? If so I’ve always wanted to go to one and despite the difficulties you encountered I hope it was spectacular.
i hope life has settled down to you.

Despite many people saying they have had no luck in the sales I have come across a lot of sale stuff, in fact too much. I’ve managed to send several parcels of items to the charity organiser and had a stroke of luck today. When I popped to the next town I went into one store I wouldn’t usually go in. There was an array of clearance items left but no proper pricing. One item I was keen on was £12 so I automatically thought it would be £6. Another lady was there buying bits for charity items aswell and it just  so happened there was an employee stocking shelves with a price checking machine, My £12 item was reduced to £1.50!!

Picked up the remaining two on the shelf. I will keep one and the other two will go to charity, it’s a long time since I have had a bargain like that! Came away a very happy bunny but didn’t come away with the item I went in for.
i hate shopping, I’m always very specific with the stores I go into to conserve energy, adding an extra into the mix nearly finished me off.

i hope everyone is doing okay and keeping busy. I always think January drags and is never ending darkness

chanie

i found the ‘keep it handy’ range in the big Tesco on the other side of town, so i’m going to get a few bits for my boxes at some point.

My car has needed quite a bit of work recently, so i’m skint until pay day and haven’t been able to do any more xmas prep.  ill be working near a big shopping centre one day next week so i’m planning on popping in after work to hopefully get some gifts, or at lest some ideas.