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Swap and save – how I did in the Aldi challenge
I have been shopping at Aldi since September to save for Christmas last year. I may go back to online shopping for convenience, so I decided to check my Aldi shop against the same/or very similar items from Tescos, Sainbury’s, Ocado and Asda. I already supplement my Aldi shop at Co-op and/or Morrisons, so they don’t come into this experiment.
I bought my Aldi shop on 25 January and did the online shops on 26 January to make it fair. I selected own brand or cheapest similar products from the other stores. For example, I selected Premier Sausages from Aldi, so the equivalent would be Finest sausages from Tesco.
Sainsbury’s was the overall winner at £36.64, with Tesco following at £37.59. By shopping at Aldi I saved £9.74 from the nearest competitor. Prices below are …
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Men’s and boy’s haircut for £5 – Kings Barbers
I get miffed that haircuts for my boys cost £10.25 at weekends and £8.75 on week days, so today we popped into Kings on the High Street in Solihull.
They are doing all cuts for £5. Of course, it’s an introductory offer, but for boys it goes up to £7 when the offer finishes, so that is still a nice cheap haircut. The barber didn’t know when the £5 offer will finish, but it got me through the door and was half what I would pay normally, so I was happy enough.
There was a family in there with three boys and a dad so that must cost a bit every month, so Kings must be welcome on the high street for them and many others.
The barbers is open and airy with five stations. …
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Betel shops for restored and overstock furniture at great prices
I stumbled upon the Betel charity after walking past one of its furniture shops. They have some lovely furniture, so today I popped in for a good browse, and also had some tea and pumpkin and ginger cake in their cafe.
One of the guys there, who had been helped by the charity, explained that the shop gets its stock from India, The Netherlands and France and they buy container loads, so can keep the prices low.
They also restore furniture and had lots of shabby chic products. The friendly guy explained that they have their own workshops so that’s why certain products were low cost. Finally, they get overstocks from department stores and when I popped in, they had stock from Debenhams.
A bit about the charity that the sales support, so that you …
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8 tips to looking richer than you really are
I get annoyed when people, especially in posh shops judge me by my appearance. Once the assistant knows that I am not there to window shop, their attitude changes.
I have enough friends and I know that judging on appearances is wrong, so I should walk out, but in the end, snooty shop assistants are there to serve me, whether they like the look of me or not. In the short term, snooty shop assistants will always exist, so sometimes, when I can be bothered, I have learnt some basics to get better treatment (which includes getting free make up and beauty product samples;-)) anywhere.
1. Get a good haircut – basically looking well groomed is one key to looking like you have more than you really do. Go your local beauty school to get …
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Low cost yet fashionable shoes – Linzi.com
Now if you’ve been following my Twitter, you’ll see that like most women, I love shoes.
I sometimes buy shoes that I don’t really wear that much. For instance, I needed some new boots and instead of the shops, I headed to my collection and dug out two pairs that had heels and soles that evidenced that they had hardly been worn. And sometimes, I buy shoes because they are just gorgeous.
Anyway, I’ve been hunting around for reasonably priced online shoe shops and found Linzi.com. They have stores in the East End of London and Essex, but hey that’s too far for me to travel. I asked them to help me with 2014 spring shoe trends, so that I can get low cost shoes that are bang on trend. Anyway, the lovely people …
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Confusing Tesco fruit and veg prices
Today I did a mega shop at Tesco. I saved an amazing 10 p on my branded shop – I mean eh? Why did they give me a piece of paper to tell me I saved 10 p compared to if I went to Sainsbury’s?
Anyway, the branded shop saving paper is silly, but what annoyed me today and annoys me regularly is fruit and veg pricing.
Here’s an example from today:
£1.95 per kg golden delicious loose apples (88p per lb)
vs
£1.75 for a five pack of golden delicious apples, so 35 p each but no kg or lb price.
Now, I bought four loose golden delicious apples for £1.19, so that’s 30p each, but had to use the scales to work this out.
I know that loose is often cheaper, but why …
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How to get £20 off at Next for you and a friend
I like Next clothes but they sometimes seem expensive, so I have been hunting around for a discount or money off code and the only thing I found was £20 off when referring a friend. They have to buy something over £50 and both you and the friend get a code for £20 off.
I tried this with a friend and two weeks after my referral, my mate got a code for £20, but it did have a short date, so watch out.
Remember you can get clothes delivered free to store next day, so you can avoid postage costs.
Here are the words from the referral page
Introduce a friend to Next and you’ll both receive £20 off. Your friend must be new to Next and place a first order of £50 or more …
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Save money on supermarket wine with a personal wine expert app – Wotwine
Now I must admit when I go to the supermarket, I choose the wines that are knocked down from £9.99 to £4 or £5. I figure that if it costs so much in the first place, it must taste good.
I like dry white wine and rose, but couldn’t name a good grape to save my life and when I get to the supermarket, I am faced with a confusing array of wines and prices.
That’s when I discovered wotwine a brand spanking new supermarket wine app. The free to download app helps determine whether a “deal” is in fact a real deal and can help you save money on supermarket wine.
You simply scan a bottle barcode in a supermarket and the app throws up all kinds of information: the quality, but most importantly …
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Dispatches – The Secret of the Discount Stores – are they too good to be true?
Tonight I watched the Channel 4 programme on discount stores called The Secrets of the Discount stores, and it was interesting viewing.
Here’s my recap for those of you who may have missed it. Just to warn you, it did feel like a TK Maxx bashing exercise. As you may know, I am very fond of that store and will still be going there!
According to the programme, with the average Brit earning less than £450 a week and the recession biting, stores like TK Maxx are growing, with slogans such as Big Labels This Season, Always up to 60% less and this season’s trend.
A typical TK MAxx store holds 50,000 items and the presenter, Harry Wallop, showed items like a Jean Paul Gaultier mac for £350 down from £2,680. He examined how TK …
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Free cake and hot drink from John Lewis – new loyalty card
Got my John Lewis loyalty card and welcome pack today after applying a week ago. Guess I’ll have to find room for it with my other loyalty cards.
I got free cake and hot drink vouchers from December 2013 to June 2014. I went with my friend and we used our vouchers to save over £11 for a carrot cake, Victoria sponge and two hot drinks.
I just need to produce the card when I go into the shop and if I shop online, the card is already linked to my online account. If I shop on the phone, I just need to give them the number on the back.
The advantages of having the card while you shop
Along with your membership card, as a member you’ll get
- John Lewis to understand your
