Author: GirlwithGloves

Week Two. Show Me The Money: Savings, Side Hustles and Being Savvy

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Photo by Christopher Bill on Unsplash

It’s January; grey and dismal with a never ending side of “how much?”. With prices increasing almost daily in some areas it pays to shave off the pennies wherever you can. For example, the instant coffee I like has gone up by 90p. Yes, 90p. I’d love to try and find another but it took ages to find a coffee that was in my price bracket and which I liked. So I’ll suck this rise up. However others I will not. Take the humble toilet rim block. I worked out that I was spending 84p on each rim block. Looking at it simply in that way isn’t that bad but add up all the blocks you use in a year. Yeah, more than a few pennies. So I set myself a challenge to find one of equal quality but cheaper. I quick root on the internet and I found one that worked out 11p cheaper per block – and bought in a pack of 12 (x2) gave me nearly a year’s worth. Total time spent? 5 minutes. Only pennies but a deal like that soon mounts up.

So that’s an example of a quick search getting a saving.

Savings: It is the time of sales so don’t be afraid to hunt them down. Towels, bedding and curtains are always a discount to be had along with homewares and electrical goods. Research, see what you can get for your filthy lucre. Do you have discount codes to use? A voucher? A couple of code hunters I use are Pouch and Hot Deals, both of which do those fiddly searches for you, usually at checkout, to see if there are discount codes you can apply to that basket. Take full advantage of any flash sales on sites you regularly use and make sure you check those spam email folders for any notifications. You even get ones offering more money on resell sites on certain days.

Another type of saving is the piggy bank, virtual or otherwise. NEVER and I cannot say this enough, NEVER, use a coin machine at a supermarket to count your loose change. They take a cut! So that coin money you’ve been diligently emptying your purse of after a night out gets emptied into their bank balance! Sit down in front of the TV with a few bank bags, or ordinary bags, or even envelopes and count it yourself. It’s actually fun AND you won’t be giving any money away. Then pop into your bank/post office, bank it and it’s YOUR money in YOUR account. Yes it takes a bit of time but you’re not giving your money away for free.

Then there’s the savings accounts. I could talk about this for ages but my tip is find a high interest account with a small minimum monthly deposit and put that in every month. Last year I found the best on offer and put £20 in each month. By the time it matured in time for Christmas I had most of my spend covered. It’s like a Christmas present to yourself. You can get great deals as the financial people try and tempt you in January. Good sites are the comparison ones such as USwitch and of course Money Saving Expert who I have been a fan of since the start. It takes minutes to set all these up and then you can sit back and feel smug knowing that you’ve got a savings thing going on.

Side Hustles: Three words, Sell. Sell. Sell. With the rise of the online selling platform it’s a great way to not only buy but also SELL. Ebay, vinted, preloved – whatever your choice but always check to see what the average sold price is. There’s no point going too cheap and if you price something higher than others, well who will not sell their item? Especially clever if you re-use old packaging you’ve got to send on. As for buying many times I have seen something, thought “Oh I don’t want to pay that” and behold, a few months later there is the item on a resell site for a fraction of the cost. If you have lots of CDs, DVDs and books and can’t be bothered listing them all there are lots of sites who will buy off you such as Music Magpie and World of Books but always check between any sites that you are getting the best price you can for your item.

Another side hustle is any job you can do around your schedule that will bring in a few extra pennies. Shift at the pub? Walk next door’s dog? Cut somebody’s grass? Explore any avenue you can to get those extra pennies in if you are so inclined. Or alternatively if you want to do something for free see if any local papers or websites want reviewers for local events. Even volunteer at an event. From personal experience volunteers are like gold dust……

You can go down the vlog route but it takes a long time to get to the level where you get sent items for free but, don’t ask, don’t get. If quid pro quo is more your style – “you paint my fence and I’ll put up your shelving” – there are websites that promote such alliances such as Barter’d and Time Bank. I’ve not used either but only because there isn’t one near me.

Savvy: It’s not so much about not spending money at all but making that money work for YOU. A quick shopping around can save you some money. It may not seem much but add it all up and you would be surprised. Sign up to saving hints and tips from your utility providers. See what restaurants near you do deals such as early bird – it’s usually sitting down before 6pm, or lunchtime deals or even a set menu but it is always worth looking. Even the humble pub now does 2 for 1 or 2 for a fixed price. No need to pay through the nose for your dinner.

Money doesn’t grow on trees but you can grow it yourself be just being a little bit persistent when looking for a deal.

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Week One – sorting, selling and strategising: The Basics.

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Photo by Benjamin Elliott on Unsplash

Welcome to a chilly part of the UK. Our snow/ice has finally melted but it is still freezing.

Well I am pleased to report that the first week of my minimal spend/declutter has gone reasonably well. This week saw me tackle the toiletries stash and sort it out. I now have a few items on ebay, have sold items already and will only need to buy some hair products towards the end of the year.

I did the same with the pantry and again meals will be made based on what we already have in and we will not be starving or eating beans on toast for every meal; I imagine the soup maker and slow cooker will be working extra hard. Plus there is still a box of goodies that we are working our way through – and the budgie is doing the same.

I’ve also been utilising all those loyalty cards we now carry with us. I have money to spend at Tesco, Asda, Poundland, Sainsbury’s and Boots so wallet damage has the potential of being light.

For entertainment I must praise the modern library. Not only books but audio and ebooks, emagazine, talking books and jigsaws but also book sales; our local one does a “fill a plastic bag for £1” although having sorted out three boxes of books to read I’m not sure how much advantage I can take of that. Selling books seems to be a bit of a minefield. I’ve joined some groups for selling books and jigsaws but in all honesty there does not seem to be much selling going on. Selling websites such as We Buy Books (formerly Ziffit) are okay but offer as little as 5p per book…. Maybe a car boot is the way to go? I am loathe to donate to charity shops after seeing so many dumpster diving videos in skips behind charity shops. I am thinking about Facebook marketplace but have heard tales from friends about the pitfalls.

There is also a wealth of audio books, radio plays and vintage TV and films on YouTube which can while away a few hours.

I’ve also managed to pick up a reviewing job for a national tour of a west end musical. In exchange for a pair of tickets and sometimes an interval drink all you have to do is write a fair review of the production. I’ve been doing this for a while now after deciding that I was fed up of standing at music gigs whilst people were drunk around me trying to review a band whilst being jostled. It’s a great way of seeing lots of theatre productions, some you wouldn’t necessarily see, for minimal effort. If you are so inclined I’d check out local theatre websites to see if they are recruiting.

For tracking money I’ve signed up to Snoop which alerts me to what I have coming in and going out in the coming month and on which I can set budgets although my budgets seem to be under used at the moment.

Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash

Another resource is vlogs. I’ve long been a fan of frugal website and vlogs but it’s useful to seek out people also doing minimal spend. My favourite at the moment is Frugal Stu, a no nonsense bloke who wants to concentrate on life not stuff and the community is really motivating. Worth a watch.

Hopefully next week I will be able to update you on ebay sales, my use of the local freecycle group to divest items

Well that’s it for now. Back next time with more witterings……Let me know if you’re taking part in any downsizing activities…. let’s support each other!

In search of “stuff”

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Let’s talk about stuff. That nebulous conglomeration of stuff that we al have: it’s in the loft, the garage, the shed. Under the bed in neat little boxes. Crammed into the suitcase on top of the wardrobe.Or, a common sight now, in a storage unit on an industrial estate.

Photo by Simon Hurry on Unsplash

We all have it in varying degrees and one thing is clear; we don’t need as much as we have. Even 20 years ago our surplus collections would have been less. Go back 50 years and we would be regarded as mad. True there are the highly disciplined amongst us who can ruthlessly divest themselves of stuff but in the main we all hold onto stuff as stuff is magical. It transports us back to our youth, the youth of others, a fond holiday memory or a long lost loved one.

This year I will be attempting to use up stuff. I have too much. There I said it. I have too much stuff. However unlike many my stuff is that which can be used; toiletries bought in a too good to miss bargain or gifted, cleaning supplies- especially Zoflora, craft supplies for that must have item that we never got around to doing, books, jigsaws…I could go on. This year I will be attempting to use up, make, “do”, read and then pass on.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I may not succeed. I may fall at the first hurdle but it is day five of this new year and so far so good. Of course this will also have the effect of my not buying stuff. Items from the stash are to be used, repurposed, created with, entertained with rather than buying new. So minimum spend should be easy, right?

We shall see but I shall try and keep you updated on my journey and hopefully by the end of 2025 I will have less stuff and more money. Well that’s the plan. Come with me on my stuff journey, join in if you like. Let’s see how we can turn copious consumerism to our advantage and use up our stuff.

Photo by Andre Taissin on Unsplash

It’s 1959 again

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left_right_and_centre film

Left to right – Richard Watkiss, Ian Carmichael and Moyra Fraser

Now that we are in June we are running headlong towards the car crash which is, of course, the UK General Election.  This year seeing an exhausted electorate, a confusion of policies and above all a bit of a surreal aspect to the whole event.

It is timely there that today (1 June 2017) Talking Picturse TV is showing the gentle 1959 satirical comedy film “Left, Right and Centre” which tells the tale of an election with a twist; the two candidates fall for each other big time.  Starring Ian Carmichael and Eurovision winner Patricia Bredin with a lovely turn by Alistair Sim it shows a Britain on the cusp of the swinging sixties.  However, although this whimsical tale harks back to a gentler time one thing is very clear – the platforms on which both Labour and Conservative campaign.

A vote for the Conservatives is a vote for poverty and despair shout the  Labour campaign.  A vote for Labour is a vote for chaos and uncertainty cry the Conservative camp.  And meanwhile in the background the unscrupulous Alistair Sim makes money off both sides.

So, whilst I can’t see a love in between Teresa May and Jeremy Corbyn any time soon it seems that slogans and avarice haven’t changed.  Welcome to the 21st Century, we’re still in 1959.

Left, Right and Centre (1959)

 

Left_Right_and_Centre_FilmPoster

 

Oh Manchester……..

On By GirlwithGlovesIn General Witterings3 Comments

manchester1

My Manchester.  My city.  My city full of wonderful eccentrics, of history, of innovation, of tolerance.  A place where you can meet somebody in a pub and be best friends by the end of the night.  Where colour or creed matter not one iota, not red not blue.  Just Mancunian.

It’s so hard not to cry.  Many have. To know that music, one of our heartbeats, has been used to create such pain and sorrow.  It’s easy to scream and shout, to blame and rant but if ever there was a time we shouldn’t it’s now.  We’re better than that.  We’re the taxi queue in Piccadilly Gardens.  We’re the fruit seller outside Kendals. We’re the last bus home with the drunks.  We’re the pigeons on Market Street at 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning feasting on the late night kebab and chips.  We’re the curry houses of Rusholme and the cafes of the Northern Quarter.  We’re Canal Street and Deansgate Locks.  We’re the fountain that never works and if it does somebody puts bubble bath in. We’re music in every shape and form in every venue.  We’re the literature and history and invention that this city gives.  Bringer of the modern age, the computer, the atom.  It’s all here.  It’s all us.

So.  What give one tiny insignificant footnote in history the right to terrorise us?  To try and bring us to our knees?  Nothing.  When they are long gone our history will still be there.  Our music.  Our city. Our love.

WE are a city of individuals and a city of one.

WE are the voice of the many and a single cry.

WE are the workers bees that create the Manchester Buzz.

WE are the silence of reverence and the roar of the crowd.

WE are everyone and if anyone thinks they can even try to change that then they really haven’t got a clue.

WE are Manchester.  Hear us roar.

manchester bee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eurovision – an exercise in bland

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eurovision winner

Well it’s been nearly a week since the Eurovision Song Contest can you remember the song that won? Nope, thought not. There’s a good reason for that. They ALL sound the same. Anything that doesn’t ….well….. right side of the board.

It was hoped that the alteration in voting this year would have created a near impossible state of affairs with regards to political voting. How wrong they were. Eurovision forgot one thing – nobody likes Russia, at least not right now. Throw in the fact that it was a song about one of the greatest despots the planet has seen and there you go. I have to say having never heard the Ukraine’s entry as soon as somebody mentioned the phrase “it’s about the deportation of Tartar Muslims by Stalin” my reply was “and that will win”. Nothing says Eurovison winner like a politically well aimed dart.  Bullseye.  It’s a shame really as there were a lot of good songs amongst the  warbled dross slash disco warble that most countries send. First off the Netherlands had a kind of 1960s summer of love Beach Boys vibe to it. Georgia and it’s rock was fantastic – and I was delighted to see the UK gave that top spot on the vote – and then there was the UK. I’d never heard the song before and it was good, very good, better than some of the stuff we’ve sent recently (Bonnie Tyler?) but alas it was not bland. However special mention for Belgium  Just because Fleur East and Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars have used that riff doesn’t mean you have to.  We’re so over that now.

I’m a fan of Eurovison, hell I even had Charpentier’s Te Deum as my walking down the aisle music at my wedding although not one person recognised it as the Eurovision theme which was most disappointing, but until the UK starts sending generic blandless we are not going to win.

So here is my three point plan to winning Eurovision:

  1. Solo artist please. Backing dancers allowed but artist must walk dramatically onto the stage themselves.
  2. Look pained.  You must look pained, close to tears is also good but remember those jazz hands.
  3. Sparkles.  Just shove those sequins on the dress like your life depends on it.   Men should wear a white shirt preferably with a hint of chest and do a cheeky “Look your Nana would love me” smile.

There.  That should do it.  Or we could just think “to hell with it” and send a rock band…..

Charity Shop Mooching

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I like a nice charity shop mooch.  I’ll bring anything home; jigsaws, pottery (a favourite), clothes – I even snaffled a wooden fireguard once and a very nice tray and coasters.  Anyway, my most recent charity shop snaffle was a very nice cardigan, I like cardigans, and a chunky bead necklace.  Both were from Shelter in Didsbury and a Per Una cardigan for £3.99 and a Next necklace still on the card with the RRP of £15 for a snip at £3.50 had to be purchased.

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The cardigan always comes in.  A delicate purple/pink shade with the requisite softness has already been earmarked to compliment some of my vintage style dresses.  The chunky necklace has a massive 60s vibe and makes me feel like Twiggy (feel not look….).

So what are my top tips for a charity shop mooch.  Well go in all the time.  You will be amazed what people will throw out in this disposable society.  Obviously Nana’s china is always going to be in there and what a bargain you can get.  I once bought a medium sized old style roaster with the dimpled lid for a few pounds.  Still going strong it’s my “go to” item when doing a slow roast and similar ones in high end shops are out of my budget.  I’ve had crockery from there, whole tea sets before the whole vintage thing took off; I was ahead of the curve on that one and never paid more than £5 for a 6 setting service and lots and lots of assorted vases.  Vintage is getting quite tricky to source now but flea markets are always about and never be ashamed to have a rummage in the box on the floor.

Books are always a go-er. Cheap as chips me and Mr GWG have a standing present every Christmas.  We go to our local Oxfam book shop and set ourselves a limit, it used to be £5 but now it’s £10 due to inflation, and buy each other the “yard of books” present.  Read the books, take them back to a charity shop.  It’s a win/win!

Clothes.  Now I know a lot of people turn their nose up at this.  Why?  Some people buy an item, wear it a few times, can’t be bothered to put it on ebay and so just take it to their nearest charity shop.  Why not take advantage?  I’ve had some crackers.  Pure wool jumpers for a fraction of their original cost, Next shoes and handbags the shoes with barely wear on the soles and the handbags still with their packing in!  Mr GWG even bagged himself a hand made in London tweed suit for the unbelievable price of £14.  Fits him like it was made for him.  I know you can go to Primark or any other cheap fashion outlet and buy from there.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t, I love a good mooch around Primarni and will cover that in another post but why not try a charity shop?

My top rules are:

Bobbling – easily remedied with a defuzzer

Loose buttons and dropping hems – you’re kidding me right?  Get your sewing kit out

Small holes can easily be darned or, if you’re feeling adventurous, patches on elbows and a few well placed buttons/bows/flowers can cover a multitude of sins and give you a unique look for a fraction of the hand crafted price.

SO what are you waiting for? You’re saving items from landfill, you’re giving them another lease of life, you can customise to your heart’s content, you’re saving your own money and most of all you’re giving a charity a few pennies.  Charity shops have been doing vintage for years!

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the future…..again

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After months of inactivity, well be fair a couple of years really,  I’ve decided to get myself organised and start a blog again.  I’ll be migrating articles from my previous blog over (or will I?) and using this more as a platform for my general meanderings through life.  Of which there are many.  I like a meander.  I also like a mooch, a cogitate and the odd nap.  I’m big on procrastination and navel gazing and also bouts of hyperactivity.  I’m like a toddler.  Either napping or doing something that will most likely get me in trouble.  So if that sounds like you welcome.  If not.  Oh.  Well, I’ve warned you.