My Sunday

Up at 6.15am, a large cup of tea, a bowl of flakes & granola and a quick get-ready and out through the door at 7am. We headed off to the Cheshire carboot sale, but as we approached Knutsford green we noticed that there was the yearly carboot sale on in full swing and had to stop. Luckily a car was just pulling away from a parking spot on the main road and I parked up in the newly vacated space.

I bought two lovely gifts at £2 each. The first was a boxed Heyland & Whittle body wash & body lotion set. The scent is Neroli & Rose and smells of sweet orange blossom with just a hint of rose. This set currently sells for £30 on line. I already have some Heyland & Whittle soap in cute boxes o will give this and the soap together as a Christmas gift.

The other gift is a Peony.co.uk rose arrangement in a smoky white glass cube. It comes with a spray scent for spritzing on the flower and it then acts as a room fragrance. I bought this for myself and will put the vase on my bedside table. I looked on line and found the lowest prices on the Peony website to be £17 for similar. 

I then found the holy grail of candles - a Jo Malone one in a fresh smelling scent of Jasmine & Mint. I paid £15 for this which I know is pricey but it is new and they currently sell for £44 so I've paid about a third of the cost. 

My next find was a set of ghd hair straighteners for £10. These are a more recent version than the ones I currently use so I will keep these for myself and use my older ones as a spare. These heat up so much more quickly than my current pair and are more comfortable to use. These generally cost £100+

We then moved on to the Cheshire carboot sale and I bought two 500ml pump action bottles of L'Occitane shampoo and conditioner. These were £5 for the two and initially I nearly didn't bother buying these. In the end I considered that you pay £2.50 for shampoo and conditioner in the supermarket so I bought them both. I checked out the price on line when I got home and found that the conditioner sells for £31 and a smaller sized shampoo (300ml) sells for £18. I worked out that 500ml would sell for £30 (£6 per 100ml) so I have a bargain at £5 for £61 worth. Who the heck would pay £61 for some shampoo and conditioner? Madness. I've used these before and they are excellent products but they have a downsize in that they have a medicine/hospital type smell.

I found four more of my favourite Bomb Cosmetics bath blaster bombs at 50p each. The scents are Strawberry Sunrise, Ice Cream Queen, Bear Necessities and Tweetie Pie. This brand of bath bomb always make the bath water feel very "soft" and smell heavenly. They are also very moisturising for your skin. They are not as strong smelling as Lush and I prefer these. These usually cost £2.99 each.

I bought two bundles of magazines from two different ladies. One was a bundle of home magazines and some have only just come out as they are dated September & October 2017. I paid £2 for 11 in total. I then saw the lady I had bought three bundles from the other week and bought 18 copies of Hello Fashion magazines from her for £3.

I bought a cute fold up mirror compact for £1 for taking away on holiday. It is new and has a normal mirror and 5X magnifying mirror. I need a magnifying mirror more as I have got older and my eyesight has started to fade when looking at things close up. I need glasses for reading and a magnifying mirror for putting on my make-up. I looked this mirror up on line and found they cost over £13.

I have been after the final chapter in the film series of The Hunger Games, The Mocking Jay part 2 for some time now. I ended up looking on eBay and marked one as "Watching" at £5.98 (including postage) but thought I'd hang on for a couple more weeks more before buying. Today I found it for 50p. I bought quite a few DVDs for 50p each and 3 for £1. Again I am buying these as fast as I can sell the ones I no longer want. A bit of a vicious circle.

That is it for this week's bargains. We are away for a short break next weekend to the southern part of the Lake District. We are praying for good weather so that we can visit a couple of carboot sales there. I'll post about it when we get home. 

Today's Finds

What a lovely August bank holiday weekend we are having weather wise. The sun shone nearly all day yesterday and we spent most of the day in the garden. I filled two green bins with garden waste after the lawns were mowed, the front garden weeded and some of the shrubs pruned. I wanted to do more but as the bins were full I usually use that as a sign to stop otherwise I wear myself out. I often do too much and David has to stop me. My cat PG enjoyed sunbathing on our garden patio table all day. 

The good weather meant the Cheshire carboot sale was rammed today. We walked around for 3.5 hours and then decided that we had had enough. My feet were starting to ache from walking. We have  come home with a host of bargain finds.

I was running out of magazines and had looked last week for some but to no avail. Today I struck gold and bought three bundles of magazines for £9. There are 35 in total and are all last year and this year's (with the odd 2015 in there). There are 18 Harper's Bazaar, 12 Vogue and 5 Elle. Now David said £9 was too expensive (3 bundles at £3 a bundle) but given that 2 magazines would normally cost £9, I think £9 for 35 is an excellent price and I just love a big thick glossy magazine to flick through. They work out to be just under 26p a copy so I am happy with the price. She had 3 more bundles but I just chose the titles I wanted and I think 35 is enough.

I bought two boxes of Yankee Candle tealights for £3 a box (less than half price) from an on off trader who visits only when the sun is shining. He sells all the things you would normally find in a Hallmark store. Lots of candles, cards and some soft toys. The scents I bought are fresh smelling Clean Cotton and Midnight Jasmine.

I found a soft as butter 100% cashmere scarf in a candy stripe for just £1. It is a longer length so I can wear it doubled up. It is from Scotland and the make is Brora. These are up for sale at £50 upwards on eBay but this is a keeper and I'll be wearing it this winter with a plain coloured coat.

I bought a number of 50p items from one lady. A Boots No7 swirl blusher/bronzer, a dark chocolate eyeshadow, a Soap & Glory hair band (great for keeping my hair off my face when I have a wash) and a Champneys hand cream. All new and unused.

I also bought this Champneys Citrus Blush mini duo of shower gel and body lotion for 50p. I have had one of these before and they are great for a holiday or weekend away. I love the fresh lemon scent which is just perfect for a sunny holiday evening freshen up.

I bought four of these Elemis Pure Zest cleansing soaps at 50p each. They have a fresh citrus smell. I'll keep a couple myself and use the others as little stocking fillers. These would normally cost considerably more given that Elemis is an expensive brand.

My bed needed another black cushion to match the one I bought a couple of weeks ago. It was looking a little lost and lonely on its own so I was pleased to find two Laura Ashley cushions of the same size and similar design for just £1 each. Now these are clearly not black but I love the soft grey colour and they are like new. Laura Ashley cushions are ridiculously expensive on their website (even in the sale) so these are a perfect snip at £2. I like the beading on the sides of them.

On the home front I bought another le Crueset storage jar for £2. This is in a lovely mauve colour (not sure of the proper name for the colour). I have one of these already in blue to match my set of le Creuset pans which I have had for over 20 years. I would have preferred another blue one to match but I like this mauve colour and as they usually cost £28 to buy new I was not going to walk away from one at £2.

I have a little shopping list of DVDs that I am after and I managed to tick one off my list today. I've watched the boxed set of Breaking Bad series 1 - 3 and was after the set of 4 - 6 which I managed to find today for £4. I also bought my usual selection of other DVDs for between 20p and 50p.

I bought David a great Adidas bucket hat in blue for £1. Great for on holidays and he looks a little "Madchester" wearing it. I also bought him a new Next collared t shirt in a purple pattern for £1. He's wearing this already so no photos I'm afraid.

Well tomorrow is a bonus booting day so  I'll let you know what bargains I find tomorrow.

This Weeks Finds

The weather has been lovely since late yesterday afternoon. This has meant spending some time in the garden and a fairly busy carboot sale this morning. I bought two pairs of sandals - one pair are new whereas the other pair look like they may have been worn once or maybe twice as they have little signs of wear on the soles. The new pair are crocs and the nearly new pair are fabulous Fitflops in black suede with diamonte detail in black and clear diamonte. They were £4 a pair and I love them.

I bought a Scentsy wax warmer which is new and two Scentsy wax melt blocks for just £3 for all. The wax blocks are in "Adored" and "Sparkling Black Plum". Both of the scents are delicious fruity floral scents and lovely to freshen up a room in the summer. I have quite a few Scentsy winter style fragrances so these are a welcome addition.

I thought this huge Cath Kidston storage bag in candy stripe was just great for £3. The lady I bought it from said she had used it for going to the beach and carrying all their towels. I think it is really useful for storing some of my throws and cushions and it looks so cheerful and summery. I may use it myself for going to the beach or as a weekend bag on our UK weekends away.

I could resist buying some toiletries because they were so cheap. I am using up the stock that I have so am trying not to buy anymore but when they are 50p and £1 I can't help myself. I bought this large Soap & Glory Foamous body wash for 50p (£6.50 in Boots), large Hand Food for 50p (£5.50 in Boots) and Shower Puff for 50p (£4 in Boots). From the same lady I bought this full size Cowshed body lotion in Knackered Cow scent for £1 (£32 on line). Who pays £32 for a bottle of body lotion?

I also found another of my favourite Bomb Cosmetics bath bombs for 50p. The scent of this one is Cotton Flower. They are just so scrummy smelling and I just love watching a bath bomb fizz and melt away in the bath. I also bought this Body Shop lip and cheek tint for 10p.

My other finds were this cute mirror which has a X4 magnification on one side for £1. It has a $7.99 price tag on the base from TK Maxx. This is a pretty good size for taking away with me as I have found that as I get older I need a decent sized magnified mirror.

I found these Guess sunglasses with case and cleaning cloth for £2. Handy for in my car as the ones I currently use are getting a bit sad and tired.

I bought 10 multi packs of Tesco tissue for £2. They are gold, silver, silver & white patterned and an iridescent effect. These are great for Christmas wrapping or scrunching into the top of gift bags. £2 for 40 sheets is not a bad price really.

I didn't find any magazines this week but I got my usual DVDs at between 50p and 3 for £1. I am buying DVDs as fast as I am selling them on eBay.

The other week I bought a fabulous black quilted throw for on my bed which had bead trim. I love it and like that the black picks out the black of our lampshades on our bedside lamps. Well today I found a matching cushion for £1. It looks a little lost on our superking bed in the middle but I like the fact it matches. I would like to have two - sadly the stall holder only had one, but I am sure with patience another one will turn up at some point.

Yesterday I finally found the elusive Jo Malone lookalike candles in Aldi. I don't shop in Aldi despite all the hype and how "trendy" it is to shop there at the moment. It is just not for me but I did want one or two of the candles as they have scents that are very similar to the Jo Malone fragrances. I looked a few weeks back with no joy but managed to get one of each scent yesterday. Pomegranate Noir, Blackberry Bay and Lime, Basil & Mandarin. They were £3.99 each, come with two weeks and look quite classy for the price.

I'm off to spend some more time in the garden now and enjoy the sun while it is still shining as I'm sure it won't last that long.