Miss Thrifty

This prize draw is organised by Principal Haley Hotels, and is open to UK residents aged 18 or over.

The first prize is your rent or mortgage paid for a year, to a maximum value of £10,000. (Hmm, a relatively modest mortgage then.) If you win and your mortgage is less than £10,000, you will receive an unspecified “prize”.

Click here to enter online.

Image credit: takacsi75.

Production company Tern TV is currently making a thrifty-themed series for Sky. The researchers are looking for willing case studies:

Do You Want A Free Lifestyle Makeover?

A new TV series guarantees to teach your household 10 tricks that will save you money and change your life.

So if you throw good money after bad sorting out basic household chores and DIY. Waste food because you can’t cook and economise or just struggle to control your finances, then Tern TV want to hear from you.

Interested?

Email: sos@terntv.com Tel: 0141 241 6070

Apparently they are hoping to line up participants ASAP, so get in touch with them if you are interested in taking part.

Isn’t it funny how times change? One of my reasons for starting this blog was to vent all my frugal tips, ideas and money saving prerogatives – because I sure as heckers didn’t know anyone else who wanted to hear about them! And now? In the past few weeks interest from potential advertisers has soared, I’ve appeared in one national newspaper, appeared on BBC local radio and had a couple of TV researchers round my house. Thrift is hot again, sweeties!

David Cameron (for non-UK readers: he leads the opposition party in government) is the latest recruit to the cool gang esteemed convert to the frugal cause. (more…)

There’s another “win a house” competition on the block: this one (left) is a Grade II* listed cottage in the Cotswolds.

The 350-year-old stone property, located in Broadway village, is located 20 minutes drive from Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It comes with three bedrooms, solid oak furniture and a walled garden.

The competition, organised by the cottage’s owners, runs between now and 30 September 2009. The winner will snag a four-week hoiday at the cottage; the holiday can be taken in one go, or spread across multiple visits. (more…)

I’m going to keep this one short and sweet – very sweet.

Lidl is shifting job lots of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs: a pack of six for just 99 pence!

If you buy these up I do recommend that you eke them out, tasty as they are; is it me, or do they seem to get sicklier every year?

Also, I recommend that you do not put a Creme Egg in your jeans pocket and then forget about it, which is what I did the other week. It’s a sticky end.

Image credit: Michael K N.

Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of Pecuniary Delights!

We have a money box theme this week. These aren’t just coin receptacles; they’re works of art…

Editor’s Picks

CPF from Christian Personal Finance presents 10 free personal budgeting spreadsheets. If you are looking to take control of your finances, fast, here is your starting point.

Miss M from M is for Money presents KISS – Keep It Simple, Small. Her house is 750 ft sq – and that suits her just fine!

Miranda from Bizzia Personal Finance presents Canceling Your Credit Card the Right Way. This is a step-by-step guide to what to do once the damned thing is finally paid off..

TStrump from The Strump – Financial Blog presents The Power of Sitting Still. He notes: “Now that I’m approaching 40, I’m realising that when it comes to money, sometimes staying where you are is a good thing”.

Baker @ Man Vs.Debt from Man Vs. Debt presents 33 ways To Thwart Identity Theft. This detailed post covers all the bases. (more…)

Serena Cowdy is a writer for the friendly WalletPop site, which provides up-to-the-minute personal finance news, advice and tools for people who manage their families’ money.

If I was running a rip-offs award ceremony, Michael O’Leary would get the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Ryanair boss is famous for his publicity stunts and for leading the Advertising Standards Authority a merry dance.

He’s now decided to charge travelers just for… well, just for turning up really. And he recently caused much fist-shaking and vein-popping when he announced he was considering charging customers £1 ‘to spend a penny’ on board his flights. Hilarious.

Anyway, this bad boy budget mogul got me thinking. He seems to revel in the glow of public vitriol – but there are some weird, sneaky and downright despicable rip-offs that many people don’t even know about.

Get ready, Miss Thrifty fans - it’s time to write that strongly-worded letter…

(more…)

Frugal Grandma is back from her latest bargain sunshine holiday. I popped in for lunch at the weekend; I left with a cupboard’s worth of homemade jam (plum, raspberry, blackberry and apple, and orange and lemon marmalade) and a giant pot of geraniums. I am so spoiled!

FG was also kind enough to pass on another of her frugal recipes:

Make your own Marie Rose sauce for prawns (or shrimp). It’s so much tastier and cheaper than the bought variety.

If you use frozen prawns, make sure that they have been slowly defrosted or they lose their taste.

In a bowl, add  a generous dollop of mayonnaise or salad cream.

Then a good splosh of lemon juice.

Half a teaspoon of horseradish, for that extra kick.

Enough tomato sauce to colour the mixture.

A fair sized dash of cream.   (If this makes it too pale, add more tomato sauce)

Stir the prawns into the mixture some time before you are ready to eat, as they will improve for standing.

This sauce takes no more than two minutes to make – even for those of us who are knocking on 80.

Image credit: morbuto.

White vinegar comes in handy: it’s an ingredient in my thrifty leather food, and I also use it when I’m mixing up my own kitchen and bathroom cleaner. I buy the stuff in bulk: this five-litre vat (left) from Summer Naturals costs £4.19 and lasts forever. (Although, to my annoyance, it is sold out at the time of writing.)

Anyway, I’d read somewhere that white vinegar makes an excellent fabric softener, it had been playing on my mind ever since. It would be great if it worked – but how would it work, exactly? And what if it made my clothes smell of chip shop?

Right now I’m on a roll when it comes to laundry – I’m nuts about my eco-friendly soap nuts – so I decided to throw caution to the wind and try out the vinegar. I wasn’t going to test it on my own pretty garments, but my husband provided me with the ideal opportunity. He decided to do the laundry, carefully picked out all his own clothes for the machine, then left his wet washing mouldering inside the drum for a couple of days. Perfect! And if the clothes smelled of chip shop afterwards, so be it. I put the load through the machine again, and added a slosh of white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment. (more…)

Fancy some cut-price Spanish food? The Daily Telegraph is running an offer for 50 per cent off food at tapas chain La Tasca. The offer runs until 19 April and covers a table of up to four diners.

The online version of the coupon is here. You can find your nearest La Tasca here.