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Save money when decorating your tree and table this Christmas
So have you got your tree up and your Christmas decorations? I have and lots of outside lights too. If you haven’t started or thought about it, don’t despair.
Here are some great tips and ideas on decorating your tree and Christmas table for less this year.
Tree
- A box of crackers can be purchased for a very reasonable price and act as a great addition to any tree. Rest them on branches evenly around your tree and when Christmas is over they can either go into storage or be pulled when the tree is taken down to continue the Christmas spirit into January.
- Large ribbon doesn’t just have to be used at the top of the tree. It also looks great tied in big elegant bows on individual branches as an alternative to tinsel.
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Experiment – how to fill an empty house on the cheap
So my niece is just about to complete on a house and she has a plate, towel and a few other bits and bobs….not enough to fill our spare room!
She’s rented for the last 10 years so money is going to be mega tight at the beginning. I asked her to put together a list of everything she needs, and we are going to see if you guys can give us tips on how to get the bargain household items for the best price.
Some considerations
She doesn’t have a budget in mind and will be living on rice and lentils for the first few months. She isn’t keen on second hand stuff and likes quality……..(not too demanding then). She’s in Birmingham and wants space saving items as the house is very small.
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Cleaning supplies and toiletries in wholesale sizes and prices delivered to your door
Now as well as a bargain, I love convenience, so when I found the HOME2HOME service on Facebook, I thought I’d give it a try.
Basically, it’s a closed group that provides “quality professional cleaning and toiletry products in wholesale sizes at household prices delivered free to your door.”
I am based in the Midlands, and I think that this group (currently with 2,400 members) may only deliver to the wider Midlands region, but there must be others like it around the country.
Anyway, you have to ask to join the group and once accepted, you will get their offers in your feed of cheap cleaning supplies and toiletries, and they will also send you a price list of items they have available at the time. These items range from shampoo, washing powder to stain …
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M&S furniture and John Lewis curtains at a snip
We overspent when buying our first house, so needed to scrimp on furniture.
Quality was the name of the game, but doesn’t quality cost?
I had wondered around Habitat (sadly no more) and Heal’s and the furniture was gorgeous, but just too expensive, though we had to have the square extendable table (at full price!).
I decided to go high street and M&S was my first port of call.
The Abbey sofas and Sonoma dining table set were just right. I got in touch with M&S and asked if they had any furniture discount or outlet stores and they told me about Bucks Furniture warehouse in Deptford and another place in north Wales. Sadly the Bucks I knew is no more!
Now Bucks just happened to be a few miles away from our new home, …
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Using showrooming to beat high street prices
Now showrooming to get cheaper prices sometimes doesn’t feel too moral. It’s the practice of going into a high street retailer and then using your smart phone to surf the internet and locate a lower price, often online or where you can order online and pick up from store.
I don’t always use showrooming, for example, if I’m in M&S and they are offering new season stock, I just buy it. I think it’s really only worth it on large purchases. Once I was in a dress shop and the frock was going to set me back £150, so I was having second thoughts. I searched for the said dress on eBay and bought it for £40.
I’ve used showrooming at Homebase too, where I found that a Karcher pressure washer cheaper online at Argos …
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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 …
