Miss Thrifty

Welcome to the (gasp) 200th edition of the Festival of Frugality! It is a milestone that calls for celebrations; hence all these fireworks.

Actually, it’s the perfect time of year for a fireworks display. Diwali took place at the weekend; here in the UK, the  biggest fireworks event of the year is also looming. Fireworks Night – also known as Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes Night – takes place on 5 November.

So for overseas blog visitors, here are some insights into this much loved British institution. I have noticed that everyone in the UK (and New Zealand) thinks that Guy Fawkes Night is a traditional, jolly sort of affair put on for the children’s benefit; whereas everyone else thinks that we are savage oddballs inflicting psychological scars upon our innocent young. You can make your own mind up… (more…)

Life has been so busy recently. It’s good busy rather than bad busy – bustling, rather than overloaded – but I am finding that right now, what I really treasure is “me time”. On a Saturday morning I like to sink into my cosy leather armchair, red and orange leaves floating past the window, bathed in the soft autumn sun. And I like a nice mug of tea.

When it comes to tea, I’m an out-and-out snob. I don’t cut corners. Economy teabags cost next to nothing, but they taste horrible. In fact, when I am at home I don’t tend to use teabags. I don’t like my tea leaves ground into thin dust. Instead I have a longstanding crush on Waitrose large leaf tea. I’ll drop by there, just to pick up a box of Assam or Kenya. It’s £1.49 for 125g – the same price as the teabags. Oh, but large leaf tea tastes so much nicer! Leave it to brew for a few minutes, and it has far more strength and flavour.

So why don’t more people drink leaf tea? (more…)

Here in Yorkshire there are plenty of entrepreneurs, plenty of people with big ideas and plenty of enthusiasm for saving cash. That’s a winning combination, in my book. It gives rise to super-thrifty initiatives such as BeTheMiddleman.com, a new property “portal” that is already attracting a good deal of attention. The online service, which aims to cut down on estate agents’ and letting agents’ eye-watering fees, is aimed at buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants and lodgers.

I asked Zoe Piper, Yorkshire entrepreneur and one of the founders of BeTheMiddleman.com, to give Miss Thrifty readers her best elevator pitch and provide five good reasons why they should buy and sell their homes online. Over to Zoe…

If you want to sell your house or buy a new one it’s going to cost an arm and a leg, right? Wrong! You can do it on the internet for free.

Free?

Yep. BeTheMiddleman.com lets you list your property for sale, completely free. There are no upfront costs (apart from buying your HIP), no monthly costs, and no commission costs when you complete the sale. (more…)

It’s getting nippy, isn’t it? The tomato plants in our back garden were still laden with unripened fruit, and I didn’t want to waste it. So this evening I went outside and picked it all in (left). This year we have giant Moneymakers, cherry tomatoes, cherry plum tomatoes, Gardener’s Delight and yellow tomatoes. The cherry and cherry plum tomatoes came from the plant bargain bin at the local garden centre; the others were grown from seed by Frugal Grandma and given to us when they were a few centimetres high. The plant pots were scavenged and the compost came from the Morrisons value range. All in all, if you don’t count the water, the summer’s bumper crop has cost less than £1. I’m happy with that!

Although they didn’t have time to ripen before the colder weather came crashing in (thank you, British Summer), I’m rather proud of this year’s crop. Last year was a disaster: the plants went into the vegetable patch at the back of the garden, grew big and strong, sprouted tomatoes and then… the tomatoes all went bruised and watery on the vine before they were ripe. I don’t know the whats or the whys – none of the pictures of diseased tomatoes on t’interweb matched – but I guessed that it must have been something to do with the garden soil. (As previously noted, my garden isn’t exactly problem-free.) So this year the tomato plants all went into patio pots, and they were fine.

I already have a backup plan for next year. (more…)

Frugal Grandma spotted the Six Thrifty Uses For A Lemon post, and kindly forwarded a couple of tips of her own. They have a lemon+saucepan theme:

When you boil a Christmas pudding – or any pudding come to that – put a slice or two of lemon into the water. It will stop the saucepan turning black; in fact it will clean it!

If you have a discoloured saucepan, cook plums,  rhubarb or apples in it (always putting a slice of lemon in with the apples, for flavour).   These clean the saucepan beautifully.   I don’t know the effect on your insides when you eat the fruit, but I’m still alive and kicking.

F.G.    xx

You know, for the forthcoming Miss Thrifty blog revamp, I’m thinking of giving this septuagenarian superstar her own section; what do you think?

Image credit: audreyjm529.