Freebies

This week I have done exceptionally well for freebies. I usually get at least one freebie in the post each week and these benerally come via the Magic Freebies website. This week I received two perfume samples in the post. The first was an Yves St Laurent sample of Black Opium and the second was a Guerlain sample of Mon Guerlain. I pop these into my weekend toiletry bag for when we have weekend breaks away and then I don't have to carry bottles of perfume.

On this note does anyone else always have a ready packed holiday toiletry bag and a weekend away toiletry bag? I don't know when I got into this habit, but in the cupboard in my bedroom I always have two bags packed ready for just picking up and putting into my suitcase. When I get back from my holiday I take out any products that are nearly empty and put them in the bathroom for finishing off and then make sure I replace them in my toiletry bag. I suppose it is one less thing to think about when packing. 

In addition I also have two other bags that I keep ready for when we are going on a beach holiday. One contains all the things I will need for by the swimming pool - suntan cream, lip balm, facial suntan cream, hair brush, hair bobbles to tie up my hair etc. The other one contains my make-up - bronzer, eyeshadow palette, mini mascara, lipstick etc. These are usually sample sizes too so that they are lighter to carry and take up less space.

My other freebies were from our stay at Portmeirion. They always provide one of my favourite brands of toiletries which is L'Occitane and it is in my favourite fragrance which is Verbena. They provide travel size bottles of shower gel, body lotion and shampoo plus two soaps. the soaps are 25g.  The 75g soaps sell for £5 so mine are worth £1.67 each so £3.34 for the two. The bottles are 30ml each and are £5.75 for 70ml so mine are worth £2.46 each so £7.38 for the three. A total of £10.72 for the set and as we stayed two nights I collected two sets so I have £21.44 worth of free toiletries. I reckon you can tell I'm a little bit mad about costs from those calculations. I'm the same in a supermarket working out the gets deals.

I also took away some of the complementary tea, coffee, hot chocolate and sugars from the room. They also provided packs of home made shortbread, most of which scoffed pretty quickly with cups of coffee but I managed to save three packs. At breakfast I took some of our partially used jars of honey and spreads as they would have probably thrown them away and I just love the cute little jars that they come in.

That is just about it for the freebies so not a bad week this week.

Ebay Sales

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with the task in hand of getting rid of my clutter via eBay. Part of me thinks it would be easier to just bin the unwanted items but I can't stand the thought of the discarded items going into landfill. I have thought about charity donations but I already give a fair bit to charities via direct debit and cash donations. My frugal side knows that there is money to be made by selling my "stuff" and I just have to be patient. I feel this inner turmoil every weekend when I would like to be relaxing but end up spending hours sorting through everything and washing and ironing clothes to photograph and list. I just need to be patient. 

I sold eight items these last week which were mainly clothes that I no longer loved or no longer fitted me. I spent most of Sunday listing 20 items of clothing while watching the TV. Not a great way to spend a day but as 4 items sold fairly quickly it was rewarding. I just need to be patient and know that I am in for the long haul.

One of the downsides of selling on eBay is sometimes items get lost in the post or become damaged in transit. 99% of the time the customers are lovely about it and I apologise and we come to an agreement or I arrange a refund. Luckily they are very few and far between. There is however that 1% of people who are just plain obnoxious and rude. I had one this week. I will refund her as she has said the item hasn't arrived (although I suspect she has it) and she took out a case with eBay 6 days after I had posted it and before I had chance to respond to her. She has sent me the most patronising and arrogant emails that I have ever received from a customer which were totally unnecessary as I had already said I would refund her. I would love to name and shame her but I am too much of a lady. I was going to refund straight away but after receiving her emails and in silent protest I am waiting until the last possible minute to refund her.

I have started reading a blog recommended to me by one of my lovely readers, Dee, over the last few weeks.  The one post on the blog that held my attention was one on wardrobe reorganisation which spurred me on to clearing out my own wardrobe. She recommended those thin flat coat hangers which have a velvet finish. These stop your clothes falling off the hangers (doesn't that always happen?) and take up less wardrobe space. The blogger recommended buying the hangers off eBay but when I used the link I thought they were too pricey at £50 for 100 hangers. I went to Costco this week and they were selling 50 of the same coat hangers for just over £10 so I bought a box.

I thought 50 hangers would be plenty. What a shock I had to find there were not enough for my wardrobe. I counted and found that I had 19 pairs of trousers and jeans alone so that left 31 hangers for tops, dresses and jackets etc. Not enough. I think I need to buy another box of hangers. Swopping my clothes over onto the new hangers led me to have a wardrobe clearout and left me with even more to sell on eBay.

I then ended up clearing through my shoes. I found I have 9 pairs of Birkenstock sandals and 9 pairs of Fitflops ...hmm.... I can't part with these as some are new and I only just bought them last month but who needs 18 pairs of sandals? No wonder our house is full. I found 5 pairs of shoes to sell which were mainly high heels. I struggle with high heels these days although I can manage a heel of around an inch to inch and a half.

I think the clearout is going to take me a long time and I need to be tenacious to get it all done.. I treated myself to a Dolce Gusto hot chocolate and a mini two pack of Oreos as sustenance as I listed loads of items the other day. It was also a reward for doing a task that is starting to take a lot longer than I thought.

My Week

I get the feeling that we should be hibernating at this time of year. The daylight hours are short, the weather has been either freezing cold (-2 on some days this week) or grey, dank and drizzling. It does not lend itself to making me feel like bouncing with enthusiasm for anything apart from sleeping.

I find that it is just a little flat at the moment so I don't feel that I have had much to write home about,   but here is what has been happening in my last week.

I am carrying on with my plan to empty the freezers an pantry and spend less on food. This week we had a traditional Burns Night meal (well traditional in our house) of haggis, home-made mashed potatoes (tatties) and crushed carrot & swede. I know it should be turnips (neeps) but I would much rather have carrot & swede so that is what we have. Of course the haggis was reduced to 70p and out of the freezer, as was the whisky sauce which had been reduced from £1.50 to 45p. This made three meals, one large portion for David and two smaller portions for me, one for the evening and one for my lunch next day.

We had an M&S reduced apple pie, 85p instead if £3, warmed through in the oven and served with single cream.

I had two M&S Gastropub meals of Venison Hotpot and Empire Pie which we had with new potatoes and green vegetables (reduced of course) one evening. Of course I saved money by using just one gas burner by using a pan for the potatoes with a steamer held over it to cook the vegetables. I prefer cooking my veg this way as they don't go soggy and retain some bite.

We also had two duck breasts reduced from £8.50 to £4.59 one evening served with potatoes and fresh vegetables.

The only things I seem to be  buying at the supermarket these days are vegetables, bread, milk and butter etc. I used a £5 off a £25 shop voucher on Friday and the balance of £36.40 on a gift card that I had received for Christmas. This meant my shopping bill was small change despite treating myself to some fresh flowers - white oriental lilies (my favourite) and a bunch of daffodils for the kitchen windowsill. Oh and a couple of bottles of fizz.... As part of our pantry and freezer clearout we have been using up some rather dusty bottles of red wine. I'm not a massive red wine fan so I decided to treat myself to some fizz, and my fizz of choice is a very dry cava.

eBay sales have been slow but steady this week with five items sold. These were a silk camisole style top which is now too small for me, a pair of sandals that I bought at the Cheshire carboot sale without trying on and found they were too small for me and a pair of briefs that were new and bought for me as part of a gift but we're not my style or colour at all. There was also a boxed set DVD and a no longer wanted black backpack.

I received a freebie Fitbit type monitor in the post this week. It is called a Moov Now and when I went on line they sell for around £50 so this was an excellent freebie to get. I know I applied for it on line but can't recall where. Anywho thank you to which ever company has sent it to me. I thought it might be like a Fitbit but on further inspection it is specific to using when exercising in the gym or jogging etc. I think this will be listed as I am not an exercise nut at all.

I also received free tickets for the BBC at media city. They are starting to film a new series of Porridge written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. I appliced for tickets to be in the audience for the filming of the episodes and got two free tickets for myself and David. We'll tie this in with a meal in a nearby restaurant beforehand and make this a great date night. I feel quite fortunate about where we live as it is only a 5 mile journey for us.

We are very slowly clearing out the house of unwanted items and I will be listing mainly clothes today. I reckon it will take me the full 2017 year to get rid of our excess clutter so I have to be in this for the long haul rather than wanting speedy results. I'll keep you all updated with how I do.

Shellac Nails

It has been my first attempt at doing shellac nails myself with the UV lamp that I bought at the Cheshire carboot sale last week for £3 and the nail varnishes I bought this week for £5 each

After buying the CND Shellac base coat, top coat and four colour varnishes I went on their website to do some research before starting to apply the varnishes to my nails. I was itching to get started but thought it would be waste of time, money and effort if I just ploughed in there like a bull in a china shop. So I found out from the website that each coat needed 10 seconds curing under the light and I made sure each coat was cured for a little more than 10 seconds to be safe.

Given that I still have a tan I thought I would go for a cheeky coral pink from my limited selection of colours. This colour is called Tropix Color.

I was pleased with the consistency of all the products as they were not too runny and thin but equally not too gloopy and thick. They went on very easily and the coverage of the colour was good. I noticed that the coloured varnish had a section on the side of the box that stated the colour was opaque and looking at the website I noticed they have different coverage levels such as sheer. I think I am an opaque person as I like a heavy glossy appearance to my nails.

My finger nails took just moments to do and if I say so myself they looked salon standard. I had been a bit messy with my right thumb nail but I just had to give the edge of my nail a file with an emery board to get rid of the messy edge and it was good to go.

The top coat polish is tacky once finished and I used a drop of nail varnish remover on a cotton wool pad to remove the stickiness and this left me with a glossy finish.

It was then onto my toenails which were just as easy to complete. I put the UV lamp on the floor and bent down to apply the polish. Yes it is easier when this is being done for you but I just thought of the ££s I was saving and the good the stretching was doing me.

The shellac is supposed to last around 14 days of no chip finish so I'll let you know how I got on in two weeks time. From my experience my toe nails normally last longer than 14 days and I would say around 21 days before they need a pedicure and re-polish.

I can't believe that I have been paying a fortune at nail salons when I could have been doing my own shellac nails at a fraction of the price. This literally cost me pence to do.

Do any of you do your own gel or shellac nails?

More eBay sales

I know that I have recently written a post about my eBay sales but I am not sure what is happening with eBay at the moment but I have been having lots of sales and just wanted to update you. Last week in total I sold 12 items. I went to the post office three times. The first time I took just two parcels and the second and third time I took 5 parcels each time.

I am incredibly lucky in that the post office is just further up the road from where I live in a parade of shops. It is open from 7am until 10pm each day because the post office counter has been moved from a separate counter in the shop to the main shop counter. I can take my parcels any time during the day although there are strict times relating to the last post collection which are normally around 5pm.

I have sold a strange mixture of items that have been hanging around the house. I love getting rid of the clutter around my home and hoping that it is going to a better use in another home. 

So what did I sell?

A Lancome Juicy Tube lip gloss that was part of a set and in a colour I would never use.

A pair of leather loafers from the M&S Autograph range that are in my size but which come up small and are a little pinchy on my big toes.

A Star Wars spoon that came free with a box of Kelloggs cereal. I bought four of these boxes of cereal as they were on offer at £1 a box. They all came with the free spoon which I can hardly see myself and David using. Although thinking about it, a fun spoon at breakfast may bring a smile to our faces. It seemed a shame to throw them away so I thought I might sell them on eBay and I have sold two with two left to list.

A pair of white linen jeans that came from the Per Una range of Marks & Spencer. I bought these a couple of years ago but then put on weight (I am a terrible yo yo dieter) and I have never worn these as they are too small. It was time to let these go and I listed them on a Friday evening and they were sold by Saturday morning.

A lovely printed and embroidered cushion that David and I bought as a pair for our bed. They are both lovely but I have so many cushions already and have had a change of mind about our colour schemes that I decided to sell them. I have sold one and now have one left. It went for around the same price as we paid so with costs it is a minor loss or a break even.

I need to list some more items of clothing so that I can reduce my clothes mountain and it does not take long to list them but I don't seem to have a spare moment or the inclination at present. I am working every day in the office because I have had so many staff resign and I am trying to manage one large unit as well as do my usual job. This is due to a recent review of my department and I served redundancy notice on quite a few staff last week. I am coming home from work mentally exhausted and listing my clutter is starting to feel like work rather than a hobby. Time to give it another rest for a week and then pick it up again when I am enthused.

Grocery Budget & Clutter Sales

At the end of January I was horrified to find out how much I had spent on my groceries and drinks during that month. I wanted to radically reduce this amount and had very little success in February. There was a reduction but only minor. For January the total was £606.14 and for February the total was £598.30. Hardly a radical reduction when the amount in question is just £7.84. However, what has been of great value has been keeping a record of my spending and I have come to realise that I keep too much "stock" in my pantry, fridge and freezers and that I am sucker for using up money off vouchers sent to my the supermarkets. I usually get them from Sainsburys, Waitrose, Tesco and M&S.

I would not have spent so much in February if it had not been for three £8 off a £40 spend vouchers from Waitrose. In my mind I HAVE to use them up and have bought lots of long lasting items such as cat food, toilet paper and laundry liquid to use up the vouchers. If I try to not fall for using up any vouchers in March I am hopeful I can use up my "stock" and reduce my spending for March.

I have still been planning our meals and have been doubling up any cooking in the oven, so for example I cooked a roast beef dinner the other Sunday (beef was half price from the butcher's counter in Waitrose). I also cooked a chicken at the same time for using during the week for a couple of evening meals and sandwiches for work lunches.

I used the same accounts app for my grocery spending to keep a check on how much money I made in January & February on selling my clutter on eBay. I took into account postage costs plus eBay and PayPal costs. The amount I made was not huge and was more satisfying in freeing up space in the house than becoming a potential eBay millionaire but it will certainly help towards some spending money for our holiday in April. I managed to sell just over 40 items most of which were make-up, books and shoes. The smallest amount I sold an item for was £2.49 for an eye-liner and the most was £25 for a pair of boots that I had not worn for years. 

I will give the eBay selling a rest for now as it can be time-consuming in addition to me working full time as well and I seem to have reduced some of my clutter within our home. I think I will start again once we are back from our holidays in April.