Miss Thrifty

Whew! Thanks so much to everyone who entered the win a handbag competition. Three hundred and sixty-seven of you got your entries – and your handbag essentials – in before the deadline. Now it’s time to pick the winner! So here goes…

Here is the random number generator that I use. I asked it to pick a number between 1 and 367.

And it picked comment number… (more…)

Win a handbag – yes siree. See this one here. You like it? It’s up for grabs.

This competition prize has been donated by ThisHandbag: a new site that stocks one handbag at a time, and sells at heavily discounted prices. The bag on show measures 29 cm by 26 cm, and is available from the website for £9.99 plus £1.50 postage.

To enter, simply leave a comment below, listing one item that you keep in your handbag and couldn’t do without. Apart from your purse or wallet, of course. (For me it’s a notepad: I’m always scribbling things down.)

The closing date is 5 pm GMT on Tuesday 23 February. I’ll pick the winner using an online random number generator.

UPDATE: The competition has closed and the winner has been picked! See here for details.

Best Western Hotels is giving away two-night hotel breaks every 30 minutes for 24 hours, from 8 am on Tuesday 9 February. The prizes include dinner, bed and breakfast in a UK Best Western.

This is a Twitter comp. I’m seeing more and more of these; of course, if you’re on Twitter already and you aren’t following me, I demand that you do so immediately! Those who have yet to succumb, however, can enter via Best Western’s Facebook page.

How it works: follow Best Western on Twitter (@bestwesterngb) or on Facebook. Every 30 minutes a question about Best Western will be announced. Find the answer and @reply on Twitter, or submit the answer to the Best Western wall on Facebook. The winner will be selected at random, from all the correct answers submitted within 15 minutes of the question’s announcement.

In case you were wondering, that is indeed a Best Western hotel room pictured above. Earls Court, apparently.

NB. I am not sure if you get to choose your hotel. Let’s hope so, eh?

Thanks to all who entered the How To Look Good Naked…Can Change Your Life book giveaway. Congratulations to the two winners: Emma (commenter #6) and Julie Sutherland (commenter #13)!  The winning numbers were picked out of Photo Matt’s virtual hat.

I have a stash of spanking new books to give away in the New Year, on subjects ranging from frugal cooking to frugal gardening. So if you weren’t a winner this time, please keep heart – and keep your eyes peeled.

Thanks also for all the great tips about looking good and feeling good. It struck me that perhaps in January, when everybody is feeling dumpy and miserable, perhaps I could compile them in a special post for Miss Thrifty readers.

Merry Christmas all. Plenty planned for next year, including a complete site revamp – and I think we’re going to have a ball.

Miss T x

Want to win a 42″ LG LCD Flatscreen TV? There’s a new giveaway over at Coolest Gadgets – and one lucky entrant is going to have a very Happy Christmas. Here is the win a TV competition page. If you want to enter, be quick because it closes tomorrow (Christmas Eve). The competition is open to UK readers (sorry, the rest of yous).

This television, apart from being very big, is less than 3 cm thick. Apparently if you are into gadgets, this sort of information makes you go weak at the knees…

TO ENTER:

You can enter the draw one (or all) of three different ways.

* Become a fan of Coolest Gadgets on Facebook (existing fans will be automatically entered)

* Follow Coolest Gadgets on Twitter and tweet: I’ve entered to win a 42″ LG LCD TV with @GadgetsCoolest http://bit.ly/4ASneD (Retweet to enter)

* Leave a comment on this post on the Coolest Gadgets site, telling them what LG stands for.

Best of luck!

[Coolest Gadgets]

Here’s another book giveaway – and this time I have two copies to be won! How to Look Good Naked…Can Change Your Life is a glossy hardbacked book, based on the successful UK television series, which is filled with pictures, ideas and advice. It retails at £12.99, or £7.99 on Amazon.

This book would make a great present, either for you or for someone on your list. Everyone loves Gok Wan, don’t they? (Apart from readers outside the UK, who are probably reading this and thinking, “Gok wot?” Trust me, ladies – he is a world away from Carson Kressley!) This competition is open to readers around the world but I am setting a fairly short deadline, so that I can get copies posted out to UK winners in time to meet the Royal Mail’s Christmas posting deadline. (more…)

If, like me, you like growing your own vegetables but you are no Bunny Guinness, this little book is something of a godsend.

Why? Well, it is jam-packed with handy hints, which is good. But what makes this book great is that it spells out all the bits and bobs that you should be doing in the garden, on a week-by-week basis. It’s a bossy book!

For this reason I am grateful to the publisher who sent it to me, and hopeful that On The Plot With ‘Dirty Nails’ could be the missing link between my vegetable garden that exists in my head, and my vegetable garden that exists in real life. In my head: I stoop over a raised bed of lush vegetation, deciding which scrumptious fruits and vegetables will be going into my salad. THERE ARE NO SLUGS. My vegetable garden in reality, right now: a post-apocalyptic scenario featuring bare earth, howling wind and a few dead tomato and sweetcorn plants that I haven’t yet gotten round to composting. Help, please!

Would you like to win a copy? See below…

In the meantime, here are a couple of extracts from Dirty Nails’ advice and instructions for November Week 1:

(more…)

The price comparison site Money Supermarket is running a video competition called Let’s Have The Savings! The winner gets £500 prize money.

To enter, you have to make a short video of yourself as you embark on a fun way to spend your savings. You then have to upload the video to YouTube and e-mail the URL to adair.cameron@moneysupermarket.com. Oh yes: while on screen, you have to say “LETS HAVE THE SAVINGS!” Very Lobby Lud.

The competition closes at midday on 9 October, and the winner will be the person whose video has the highest number of views.

Threadless makes great T-shirts and posts them around the world. So when a new voucher codes website got in touch, proffering Threadless freebies for Miss Thrifty readers, my inner hipster sat up straight.

Here’s the deal:

1. Visit the website: VoucherHub.com.

2. Come back here.

3. In the comments section at the bottom of this post, write a THREE WORD review of VoucherHub.com.

I will then pick two winners, whose reviews most closely resemble my own opinion about the site…

The prize: each winner will receive a $50 Threadless voucher. Some of the Threadless tees cost $25 each. If you’re feeling thrifty, there is also a sale section with stacks of tees selling for $9 – so $50 can go a long way!

To be in with a shout, get your reviews to me before 5 pm GMT on Sunday 6 September. Good luck!

P.S. I notice that I’m not the only personal finance blogger hosting this giveaway, so if you’re a Threadless fan and a prolific commenter, you could win big…

UPDATE: Thanks to all who entered; this was tough! Five entries captured my thoughts perfectly and made me smile, so it was difficult to choose between them. So out of that final five, I ended up going for the niftiest ones. The winners are (drumroll)… Mauricio, with his admirable alliteration. And Jo B, with her rhyming chutzpah. Threadless vouchers on their way; keep your eyes peeled for my next giveaway…

Optimal Print, which produces business cards, wedding invitations and the like, is running a wedding-themed competition. You don’t have to be affianced to enter, though.

First prize is £500. Second prize is an iPod Touch. Third prize is, erm, a T-shirt.

Entrants should choose a wedding invitation design (note: you don’t have to buy it!) and send this, along with 250 words describing their dream wedding, to wedding@optimalprint.com.

The competition details are here. The closing date is 25 August 2009.