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Shiply – the low cost courier service
My first experience with Shiply was just over a month ago. The UK-based firm is behind an internet marketplace where you can get bids for your transport job.
We used Shiply to transport a sofa we bought on eBay. The driver was making deliveries up in Manchester and on the way back to London, he brought us our sofa for £53 (in total). The sofa was originally from London.
To get the quotes in from transport providers, I registered, put in some details about pick up and delivery postcodes and what needed to be shipped. I got some quotes and chose a provider. I PayPaled a deposit which covered a Shiply fee and arranged with the driver delivery times and other logistics. I paid the driver the rest of the money when he delivered my …
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Refurbishment on a budget
Here are just some of the bargains that I have picked up for the refurb I mentioned a while back.
The front door is tiny, so the only way to get sofas in is through a window or build them in the house. We took the second option so turned to second hand Nabru sofas. Nabru is a cool brand of sofas that can fit into any space. The sofas new would have cost me close to £700 and we even managed to pick the green one up in our car! You can pick up sofas much, much cheaper especially on Facebook, but size and getting into the space is a problem for me. These sofas can be disassembled easily, you can reassemble them super quickly and you can buy new covers for them from …
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Nabru’s self assembly sofas – bargain and fit into small spaces
A 29 inch door frame is unfortunately not wide enough for today’s big fat sofas, so I’ve been trying to work out how to replace the two rather dated burgandy shenille sofas that sit proudly in my refurbishment project house.
I have looked at re-upolstery, but even for two small sofas, firms are quoting over a grand; I have looked at sofa beds and futons, but they don’t really project the look I want – I would like to maximise rental income, and futons won’t do that for the owners.
We have thought about removing a window to get the sofas through, but the timing of delivery would have to be really precise and we’d have to pay for the removal and return of the window. I have found some really nice sofa beds on …
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My furniture bargains from eBay
It’s an exciting time for me at the moment, as I am doing a refurb project on the side, so as well as my day job and kids, I am updating a house for rental. The house has been neglected for about 30 years, so the decor is very dated and the furniture is falling apart.
The cost of the refurb is high as a lot of building work needs to be done. I am avoiding too many shortcuts, but have persuaded the builder to repaint the kitchen cupboard doors rather than fit new doors, so that’s saving a grand. Will post before and after pics when I have them.
We are also repainting the house, removing an old bar that the previous owners put in, plastering and retiling, among the many other tasks we …
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Workwear clothing and Workshop tools at Aldi – specialbuys
I am in the middle of a refurbishment job and so this Workwear range has come in very handy for me to butter up my builder, who loves the gloves, soft shell jacket and the trousers best.
The quality of Aldi Specialbuys Workshop range is good and that opinion is from my builder. Featuring a great selection of power tools, functional clothing and accessories suitable for both home and professional use, Aldi’s Workshop range has been in store on 5th February and is available while stocks last.
The Premium Softshell Jacket is £19.99 and Premium Pro Holder Pocket Work Trousers (£19.99) boast durable CORDURA® fabric re-enforced knees, hems and holster pockets for longer-lasting performance and a selection of functional features including a phone pocket and handy holster loops for tools.
My builder is working in …
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Give your Christmas guests the gift of sleep
Friends and family coming to stay this Christmas? Here is the perfect solution to ensure you are the ultimate host and they have a comfy sleep away from home.
The NEW handy rolled-up memory foam mattress from the sleep experts at Silentnight. Price from £199 for a single size mattress and with next day delivery* and arriving in a handy carry bag – you’ll be ready for even the most spontaneous of guests. May seem a bit steep for a mattress, but mattresses are genuinely something that you shouldn’t skimp on.
The new mattress-now memory foam mattress is the latest addition to the Silentnight mattress-now collection and “brings superior comfort and pressure relief with its Miratex support system and a memory foam comfort layer.”The hand made, soft touch mattress offers support and pressure relief for …
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Seasonal energy saving tips
The countdown to Christmas has officially begun. Christmas tree lights are being switched on, radio stations are playing our favourite festive songs, and local supermarkets are stocking their aisles with tasty turkeys and mouthwatering mince pies. But while we fuss over our food preparations and Christmas decorations, it’s easy to forget that we are using up precious (and expensive) energy.
To help you save energy amid the holiday hype, www.zenithhome.co.uk the energy saving experts, have put together some simple tips to help keep your energy bills cheap and cheerful so that you can have a holly jolly Christmas:
- Deck the Halls with LED Lights
Switching your usual festive fairy lights to LED or solar powered Christmas lights will save stacks of energy and will cost six times less to run. If all 26 million UK …
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ALDI’s Chimenea and BBQ Specialbuys – al fresco dining and entertaining
Aldi’s bringing out its BBQ Specialbuys so that grilling and eating al fresco can look good, cook good and not cost the earth.
If you want to stay warm while you’re having a BBQ, Aldi is stocking an attractive Chimenea (£29.99) in store on 1 May, as part of its Specialbuys.
Chimenea
Originating in Mexico for cooking and keeping people warm, chimeneas have grown in popularity in the UK. You can cook on a chimenea, but small quantities, so best to have this for warmth and a BBQ for cooking for friends and family.
As well as looking good, the Aldi Chimenea is a definite bargain as other chimeneas come in at £50+. I popped in to measure the chimenea, and it was over two foot high by one foot at its widest. This one …
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Sainbury’s 12 piece dinner sets at £10 – when to buy for this saving
While I have a beautiful Denby set gifted at my wedding many moons ago, I am rather like most of my friends, too scared to use it every day. It’s too heavy for the kids and the replacement cost makes my eyes water.
I ended up with some nice Whittards plates, then got married and got some other random plates, but never more than four of each plate, bowl or cup.
As a grown up, I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and buy a matching set. I looked at Corelle, thinking unbreakable and long lasting, but I would need to import and even the cheapest sets were around £50 for 16 pieces, so with spares, I was looking at over £100.
M&S and John Lewis, while selling gorgeous dinner sets were still …
