Miss Thrifty

What do you mean, you haven’t seen one of these before. Well duh. It’s an iPod alarm clock: you pop it next to your bed, click in your iPod and get woken up to the strains of your fave playlist. It’s made of the finest plastic. And it’s yours for a trifling £39.99 ($72). Forget the credit crisis: this is where it’s at.

Seriously, now, I never cease to be amazed at all the old tat that is peddled to iPod owners (i.e. lots of us). The iPod socks were bad enough, and the super-swanky speaker-docking-station-things have yet to persuade me to part with my mi££ions, but am I the only one who thinks that these overpriced accessories are being churned out at a rate of knots – and are becoming increasingly ridiculous in their scopes and price points?

I suppose the thinking is that if these mugs will part with £100 for an iPod Nano, they’ll pay over the odds for anything. Hmm, makes sense. Disclosure: my first iPod was supposed to be a good investment, as we emigrated with it – it saved a heck of a lot of space in our suitcases. But it gave up the ghost within two years, leaving me most miffed. But 5GB worth of CDs on iTunes meant that we have been suckered in, dang it. Our second iPod arrived for Christmas last year. Last time I looked it was not dead.

Anyway, here’s the bank manager-friendly, Miss Thrifty Guide to the ultimate iPod accessories: (more…)

Doesn’t this book look marvellous?

Make Do And Mend was published in the UK in 1943, by the Ministry of Information, at a time when food and clothes were rationed. Every British citizen was permitted one egg a week, a modest cube of cheese and unlimited bread and vegetables. Coupons for clothes were cut from allowance books; enterprising women supplemented these rations with garments cut from curtains, and kohl pencil lines up the backs of their legs, to look like stockings. Their cookware was handed over to be turned into fusiland turned into aeroplanes. (And if all this wasn’t bad enough, their towns and cities were being bombed at night.)  

This frugal tradition continued beyond the Second World War and into the 1950s, when the Manchester Evening News published Take a Tip : a collection of readers’ money saving titbits.

It’s funny, isn’t it? These little booklets have been hanging around for decades, unwanted and unread, gathering dust in attics and mouldering on charity shop shelves while we’ve been out spending and splurging on overpriced frivolites and cheap tat.

Now that we’re headed for a recession - a Depression, even, if the doomiest of the doom-mongers are to be believed – all these pearls of wisdom are suddenly relevant again. With our financial indexes plummeting, our markets in turmoil and our elected representatives banging heads with one another, this seems as good a time as any to revisit some of our forebears’ handiest household hints.

Here are some of my favourites: (more…)

Sabatier makes the most wonderful knives. The metal is thick and the steel blades are strong and sturdy. Holding a Sabatier it is ten times more easy to fillet a fish, carve a roast or fanny around with baby salad vegetables.

I cherish my block of Sabatier knives, and I thought I should really bring it to your attention that the ironmongery chain Robert Dyas is currently selling  Sabatier blocks for just £24.99 - that’s less than half the standard £59.99 retail price.

For your nearest outlet, click here. Alternative you can order online; the delivery charge is £4.95.

The five knives in the block are as follows:

(After several minutes of faffing with the bank’s labyrinthine telephone triage system, plus a few minutes confirming mortgage account number, mother’s maiden name etc. ad infinitum.)

CALL CENTRE EMPLOYEE: So how can we help you today? 

MISS THRIFTY: Well, our two-year fixed rate mortgage deal runs out in the next few months, and we’re hoping to get something else in place. So I’d like to find out about what you have on offer right now.

CCE: Well, when your fixed rate runs out in February you’ll automatically go onto our standard variable rate. That’s 7.09% right now. So you would be paying around £868 a month.

MISS THRIFTY: Yuck.

CCE: Oh, but you don’t have to stay on that rate! We have lots of mortgage products available to existing customers such as yourself.

MISS THRIFTY: Really? Are they fixed rate?

CCE: Hmmm. Well, we have a few fixed rate products.

MISS THRIFTY: That’s reassuring. When I checked your website, all the fixed rate deals were demanding 75% loan-to-value. Our loan-to-value will be 80%.

CCE: Ah… (more…)

Our new composter arrived today. It looks like this:

We have put it out in the garden, behind the shed. You dump the peelings etc. in the top, and scoop out the resulting compost through the sliding hatch at the bottom. This is a family-sized bin and it’s massive: I think it will take us a year to fill it!

Not only is it eco-friendly, it only cost us £20.00 including delivery! Our county council (North Yorkshire) is subsidising the costs of all home composters purchased by residents.

We bought it from the website recyclenow.com; if you are reading this in the UK, enter your postcode into the site’s homepage to find out if you can get money off too. You can also enter a competition to win £100 of gardening vouchers.

Five composting tips: (more…)

Homemaker Barbi has a terrific tip for keeping the contents of your salad drawer fresh. Stick a clean, dry sponge in there! The sponge absorbs the excess moisture; foods that are prone to mould and mush, such as strawberries and tomatoes, stay fresher for longer.

I love tips that are as deliciously simple as this one.

I wouldn’t do this normally, but I’m really off shopping at the moment. Today I went into town, armed with a £15 credit note, for a mini-splurge in one of those discount emporiums that sell every bargain under the sun. And what did I come away with? Hardly anything. A couple of remaindered £1 books, some novelty eggcups and a bracket for a hanging plate. A pitiful haul, I know! I am certainly not the same person who used to cruise South Molton Street and Selfridges, WAG-style, in her lunch hour. What is happening? I’ll end up in saffron robes at this rate.

Then I realised that I haven’t bought anything off eBay in six months. This, too, is highly unusual - but I might as well make the use of this frugal karma while it lasts. So, since I’m just not getting excited about stuff right now, here are my eBay brand tips.

I should point out that although I don’t spend much on clothes, I am a crashing snob when it comes to fashion. Cheap shoes? URRRRRGH. T-shirts with Dolce e Gabbana slapped across their fronts in 20 pt? I don’t think so. Burberry check? Ha! You’re teasing me now. I used to work on a fashion magazine, so I suppose I have been spoiled. I tend to go for the smaller labels with top-notch textiles and beautiful cuts. (more…)

UK shoppers can get 30% off at Gap, between now and 28 September. Just visit this site, enter your details and collect your voucher. It can also be used at the various offshoot stores – babyGap, GapKids, GapMaternity, certain department store concessions and so on – but isn’t valid for leather, cashmere or sale items.

With thanks to MoneySavingExpert.com.

Is it just me, or are door-to-door salesmen multiplying like those half-Orcs in Lord of the Rings? Working from home, I’m finding that the interruptions are suddenly coming thick and fast. Already this week I’ve had a man from Scottish Electricity and a man from E.ON – another UK energy firm - trying to persuade me to change provider.

Of course, their noble efforts were doomed to failure – I have already snapped up the cheapest deal. Although my current provider must be getting cold feet too, in the current climate. They sent me two energy-saving lightbulbs yesterday – to keep me sweet, I’m sure.

I feel mean turning the men away, because it’s a tough way to earn a living in my opinion, but I know that I’ll find the best deals on www.uswitch.com, rather than on my doorstep.

Oh, and I also had a grubby-looking boy turn up on my doorstep, wanting to buy any scrap metal.

I can’t remember having so many knocks at the door. Who is next, I wonder? A dishcloth salesman? A gent shifting encyclopaedias? (more…)

My tip for wallet-friendly (and lung-friendly) oven cleaning made Editor’s Pick at the latest Money Hacks Carnival!

Thanks to Anna at On a Quest to be Debt Free, who has put a great carnival edition together – one of those ones packed full of useful tips and stuff you didn’t know you didn’t know.

I particularly enjoyed Dear Money Guy’s post on How To Become A Millionaire Selling Blood Plasma For Money; we don’t get paid for donating blood here in the UK, but I can dream on!

I also liked the post from Living Well on Less, about how you can be frugal without giving up the hobbies you love. She is giving hand-quilting a go, and her movie buff husband is renting free DVDs from the local library.