More Car Boot Bounty!

More spending yes! but bargains galore! I needed some flower pots, I often give plants as presents and like to put them in nice pots, our spider plants are reproducing so it became a need!

the lovely green set of 3 plant pots cost £1.50, the white pot 50p and the little red one was added in as a bonus! The large cream pot was 50p.

I had been looking for pie dishes and pots for the Remoska and got the 4 metal pie dishes for 30p total! The little casserole (an exact replica of my favourite family sized casserole) was only 20p. The large tupperware rectangle was £1 and the small tupperware round was 10p, the round floral metal dish with a lid was 50p - all for organising my fridges. 2 silver storage jars for 10p each, an Antony Worrall Thompson "Appetite for Life" flora cookbook for 10p (from the 10p box), 2 bouncing balls 50p (for the puppy) and a soft toy 10p (can't show you that as she has destroyed it! took 5 mins) completed the bargains.

Total £6.70 - £2 from a charity stall so that leaves £26 in the charity budget.

Also spent £7 in aldi on some food essentials.

I have to be very good now and keep my purse tightly closed!

20 days of changes!

It's been 20 days since I started this blog and what have I changed?

Well for starters I put myself on a reduced grocery budget (£150 for the month) and lived out of the cupboards and freezers. We had some interesting meals this way but at the end of the month we had enough money for me to make a bulk order (£47) on some organic beans and pulses and some oats and soya mince (all regular standbys apart from the chickpeas - have to get used to using these!) I should have enough to last a few months anyway. With the residue of what I would normally have spent I bought a Remoska which should save me 80% electricity over using the electric oven. I cooked up a (happy meat) roast chicken in it last night and it was lovely and moist, will definately do that again.

We have also added another vegetable bed and planted up some runner beans, courgettes and spinach. The digging goes on though as more beds are planned. The greenhouse is full of tomato plants with a promising amount of fruit already and Mr C has planted up some pepper plants. We are very much beginners in this field though and have much to learn.

We are using the library more and the only books I have bought were the bargain bags from the church fete which included one treasure - a 1964 edition of Good Housekeeping Look and Cook which includes the GH childrens cook book that Mum used to teach me to cook! Mainly rock cakes, flapjacks and jammy buns! Ah good memories are priceless!

I have started to knit again, easy stuff so far - dishcloths using cotton yarn from our market and charity shops, so useful and cheap. I have yet to dust off the sewing machine, that is next on the list.

Entertainment is now a 50p or less film on video (they are so cheap now) from the charity shops or boot sales, there are so many films out there that I haven't seen so this will keep us going for a while and much cheaper than renting dvd's. Barbecues in the back garden with family and friends are top of our list at this time of year and hopefully we will soon be able to provide home grown salads.

The main thing I have learned is to stay away from the shops as much as possible and to avoid shopping as a sport/hobby, I now look at what I have and make do!

Arcopal at the church fete

The top photo shows the vintage rose patterned arcopal I inherited from my Mum. It has great sentimental value as I can remember being with her when she bought it. Whenever I use it I remember Mum. The trifle bowl came out on special occasions and the butter dish and egg cups were in regular use. Mum had the tea set as well but i can't remember what happened to that. I have never seen any of this pattern come up on ebay but I keep hoping. There are a few of the lovely lustre tea sets on ebay at the moment though.

I thought the butter dish would make a great alternative for refrigerator pyrex dishes (can't afford them yet but will save up) so I was pleased to find another arcopal butter dish in clear glass for 50p at the church summer fete today. I also was found a glass storage jar, pretty blue bowl, 2 small floral dishes (might put some tea lights in these) in the 10p box. The linen "God bless my kitchen" tea towel was 50p and the little bag in a purse 20p. We also picked up 2 bags of books at 3 for £1

Awash with plastic

I bagged another piece of pyrex yesterday from the charity shop, it had some burnt on marks around the side but these have lifted off in the dishwasher. It has a lid which, although not a perfect fit, will cover the lobster patterned dish I rescued on sunday from an unwanted "stuff"
pile.

The top photo shows I have been reading my dog eared copy of "Tightwad Gazette" and wash out my "baggies" ready for re-use, including some of the super lakeland "stay fresh" bags (next to the bag of soapnuts) which really do work.

I do feel though that we are becoming a bit too dependant on plastic, we probably all have some tupperware in our cupboards and freezers and they certainly do stand up to the test of time, but I do worry that so much plastic around our foods may not be such a good thing, chemicals can leech from the plastics and when the item is no longer required or good for it's intended use it goes into the landfills and causes problems there. Plastic bags can only be washed and re-used so many times (not at all if wrapped around raw meat) this adds to the cost. I need to look into the alternatives. Tupperware was just coming out when I was a child and I do fondly remember the pastel coloured tumbers for our squash, but other than that there wasn't a lot of plastic in the kitchen. Food like sandwiches and cheese were wrapped in greaseproof paper or brown paper bags, cakes were mixed in earthenware or glass bowls and casseroles were cooked in pottery casseroles or pyrex. Maybe a trip back in time would be better for our health and wealth. Any excuse to add to my pyrex collection.!

Boot Sale Bargains (or some folks rubbish is definately other folks treasure!)

I finally got to my first car boot sale this year, I do try to go as often as I can but hadn't got around to it until now. So glad I did this time as the first stall I came to had the lovely Johnson Bros Rose dawn platter and sugar bowl for only £1.50. I already have some green dawn plates so I guess I am collecting them now!

Other bargains were the much needed sewing basket for £1 so I can now "make do and mend" and the videos were only 10p each! Much cheaper than hiring a dvd! I have always wanted to see Fried GreenTomatoes with Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy.

Best of all was on our way back to the car someone had just dumped a pile of stuff saying help yourself and a few folk were, I had a quick look and in a box on the top of the pile I found some vintage pyrex! The first piece was a meatloaf dish in the 1982 "poppy" pattern and the other was a real delight as I have been hankering after some of the 1961 lobster pattern pyrex after seeing some on Elizabeths Making Good Use blog so I was thrilled to now have a piece for free! What a lovely day!