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Wood burning products – Aldi Special buys
What with record numbers of permits being issued for domestic wood collection , it seems that wood burners are a real option to reducing energy bills.
And check out this statistic to support the trend – according to David Spencer at the Stove Industry Alliance, 180,000 wood-burners were installed last year, with close to one million homes in Britain now having one. The National Association of Chimney Sweeps says business has increased 40 per cent over the past couple of years as a result of this stove mania!!!
With the wood burning stove trend growing, Aldi’s new addition – Wood Burning Range – is well timed. The new range has everything you’ll need to prepare your own fuel and keep your wood burner going as we approach the winter months.
You know the price is …
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Bank holiday offers – alfresco entertaining from Alfresia
So it’s the last bank holiday till Christmas and I’m going to look for some bargains. I want to replace some garden furniture, but I want quality at a good price.
I’ve found Alfresia – an online retailer that sells attractive garden, conservatory and patio furniture direct to the public. These are some of the things that are in their sale.
Sienna Garden Furniture Set (Now £129.99, was £229.99)
Made of hardwood and with a classic design this table and chair set will compliment any patio or dining area. It also folds away for easy storage when the outdoor entertaining season comes to a close. That’s a £100 saving and 43% discount.
Matterhorn 2 Burner Gas Barbecue (Now £129.99, was £179.99) With long life cast iron burners, a grill plate and griddle, this barbeque …
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5 ways to save money on energy bills while you’re away
Don’t pay for utilities (energy) that you aren’t using while you’re on holiday. While some of us have been on holiday, others are yet to go. Whether you will be in another country, off to a festival or even a staycation in the UK, here are some tips to reduce energy consumption while you’re away.
Now you know that I don’t have much time, with a full time job, kids, household to run, so why reinvent the wheel? I found these great tips from home efficiency experts Zenith Home. Making these small changes will ensure your bills are at a minimum when you are out and about on holiday.
1. Give your fridge a break too
Your fridge is most energy efficient when it is stocked up but for most of us, prior to …
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DIY workshop range at Aldi
I for one am going to give Mr Bargain a not too gentle nudge and tell him to get down to Aldi to check out their new workshop range which hits the stores on 14 August. He’s popped in already and got himself a mega broom for £10….at least he’s happy!
Here are my favourite pieces from the range:
5 Piece Ratchet Wrench Set, £12.99
Featuring chrome-plated hardened steel and flexible ratchet heads, no tool kit should be without this great value wrench set.
4-in-1 Hacksaw, £4.99
At 30cm wide and with an adjustable angle, this Hacksaw is perfect for up-cycling furniture or odd jobs around the house, and comes with space for storing 2 spare blades in the handle.
6 Piece Long Reach Screwdriver Set, £9.99
Made from hardened steel and …
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£700 for renting out an empty parking space
You may know that I use JustPark, formerly ParkatMyHouse, to rent out a space that lies empty on my drive.
I wanted to share with you how easy the service is to use and maybe get you thinking whether you have some space that could be earning you money while sitting empty.
Even if you don’t have a space, what about your elderly friends or relatives who no longer drive and have parking for someone who is willing to pay for it.
Great locations are near stations, tube stops, town centres, airports, stadia and business parks. Parking around these areas isn’t cheap, so using JustPark can earn you money.
On the other side of things, if you are looking for a parking spot and don’t want to pay high NCP car park prices or …
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New cupboard doors made to size
It’s taken four years, but we finally have cupboard doors for one of our bedrooms.
Basically we have a in-built cupboard and needed doors to be made and fitted. We spoke to some carpenters and we looking at about £500 – £600 for a carcass and doors.
So I went online and looked for doors made to size. I found three sites and they were all very helpful giving me information on getting dimensions to them for a quote.
After my research, we had two options: build a carcass and doors or build a frame and doors. We decided on the latter and Mr BH measured up, bought some strip wood and made the frame himself. The wood cost about £20 from B&Q. It really wasn’t hard and I reckon I could have done …
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Rekorderlig vs Aldi’s alska strawberry and lime cider
Mr Bargain likes Rekorderlig strawberry and lime cider and as of today he also likes The Swedish Cider company’s alska strawberry and lime cider, which is available at Aldi.
Today I spotted Aldi’s offer in the fruit flavoured cider market, so its alternative to Rekorderlig and bought him a bottle.
He likes Rekorderlig cider and has been drinking it for over a year and likes the fact that it’s light but still alcoholic – 4% – and tastes good.
They are both from Sweden and the bottles look very similar, either look stylish enough to bring out and impress friends at a BBQ for instance. In terms of taste, he says that there’s not much difference, but for his own palette he prefers the Aldi stocked alska cider as it’s a little less tart.
And …
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Brand new house for £5K
Just finished watching the new Linda Barker programme where home owners hand over £5K for her to transform their home while sticking to a strict budget.
The series is on Channel 5 at 8pm on Wednesdays and started at Sam and Mervyn’s house, which is basically a lot of botched home improvements.
Now £5K is a lot of money, but not to renovate a whole house, so I was riveted to the sofa to discover new ideas.
To keep costs down, they called in family and friends and had to learn some trades themselves. They blagged nothing for free from retailers (like they do in other home renovation programmes), and said that the discounts they got can be negotiated by anyone. As Linda only had a week to make the improvements, she also had three …
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Gorgeous Wedgwood at Bicester Village
Sometimes a lady just has to drink her tea from the finest china and that’s where Wedgwood comes in and where Wedgwood’s outlet shop at Bicester Village makes life so much better.
I first went there last year and bought a gorgeous cake stand, and this year my friend spoke of wanting a new tea set. Of course John Lewis was the first stop and she did indeed buy items from the store. I told her to stop right there and had she considered waiting till we went to Bicester – a visit had been planned. Well lo and behold, she didn’t even know there was a Wedgwood shop there.
The upshot of the story is that John Lewis wouldn’t match the Wedgwood outlet shop price and as Bicester isn’t far from us, she returned …
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Home made victoria sponge cake – Blognix bake off winner
I was gutted when Marks and Spencer discontinued their individual triple layer Victoria sponge cake. At £1.90 a slice, it really was a little slice of heaven.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find the same quality as a lot of the shop sponges seem to have a lot of air pumped into them, so I have started to make my own sponges….yum. Home made cake is definitely better value and more delicious than shop bought varieties. And to prove that home made is best, I won the Blognix bake off with my cake last weekend.
The total cost for a whole cake is £2.43 and the ingredient cost breakdown is below. Of course, I couldn’t buy just 200 grams of flour etc, so the ingredients cost me £6.80, including the vanilla essence which is …
