A Spot of Internet Shopping and Making Do

I fell off the wagon a couple of  weeks ago, in the sense that I did a spot of internet shopping using my credit cards, and thus outside of my cash budget.  I know, not great really, but I happened upon a couple of offers that I couldn't ignore and indulged.

The first was a 25% off items from Joules.  I've had my eye on some mugs they sell for quite a while now and have put them in my basket and then removed them several times so when this offer dropped through the mailbox I thought I would go ahead and just get them.  They were £8.95 each full price, but I managed to get this down to just under £7 each approximately, with postage of £1.  I bought six in total.  Two each of three designs, striped, floral and pheasant.   Here's a photo.  My partner said they were a bit 'farmhouse', (he's an urban type of guy), but I like them.

 

The second purchase was a bit of a selfish one.  It didn't start out that way.  Miss Thrifty let slip on her blog that Zatchels, a satchel company, were having a flash 50% off sale for 24 hours only.  I thought that I might have a look and get one for my daughter, as I recalled her telling me on a recent shopping trip that she wanted one.  With the discount they worked out at just over £50 for a real leather satchel in whichever colour/design you wanted.  I found one I thought she would like, a pastel-coloured purple one, and put it in my basket with the view to it being a birthday or Xmas present for next year.  I left it in the basket and then had a look at the different colours and styles you could get and I happened upon a lovely one in grey.  Now I have a bit of a passion for grey at the moment, so I popped it into the basket too, justifying it to myself in that the previous two handbags I've bought in the last two years or so have been synthetic and not cost more than £25.  Surely a girl deserves a nice leather handbag from time to time?

 

I minimised the screen so that I could think about it before paying and moved on to do other things.  A bit later, my daughter happened to mention in conversation something about a bag that she wanted.   I said that I thought she wanted a satchel.  'Oh no' she said 'I'm not really bothered about one'.  As a consequence I was back on my computer removing the one for her from my basket and then after a bit more deliberation went ahead and paid for the one for me.  It's not a huge one, as from my memory of them from school days, they can be quite heavy to carry around.   I'm still waiting for it to arrive, as apparently they are made to order, so it might be a while after such an offer.  I'll post a photo when it does arrive.  In the meantime, I just need the charcoal grey converse trainers to go with it now!

 

Talking of my fetish for grey, I popped up to our nearest IKEA the other week, to look for some storage solutions for my bedroom shelves and for files to house some financial documents I was reorganising at the time.  Unfortunately for me it was a wasted journey as the store was being renovated and they didn't have their full range of storage items on display.  I didn't really see anything I liked amongst what was there so headed out of the store.  Now being a frugal sort, I never leave IKEA without first popping into the Bargain Corner, as I have bought some fabulous bargains in there over the years.  Whilst in there on this occasion,  I happened upon these two dark grey lampshades, which would look great in our living room and co-ordinate nicely with the current scheme. 

 

 

 

 

They were 70p each.  Needless to say I bought them.  I hope I might have just redeemed myself a little here in frugality terms.  If not please read on.

 

On the way home I had a lightbulb moment.  I had been considering a solution for storing some of the many vintage plastic and lucite brooches that I have collected over the years, some of which I wear, and wanted a way of storing them so that they could be easily accessible and displayed at the same time.  Well, an idea on Superscrimpers the other week came to mind, about using a photo frame.  I remembered that I had put a large gilt coloured ornate plastic picture frame in the charity shop bag the week before and as I'd not yet taken it I figured I could use it and paint it a colour that co-ordinated with our bedroom (grey again I'm afraid) and pad the board and cover it with a pretty fabric to pin the brooches to.

 

As a consequence of this idea, I stopped off at B&Q on the way home, to get a spray can of paint for use on plastic.  It wasn't cheap at £8, but I figured I was going to make something really nice and useful, so I didn't mind.  I took it home and then set about renovating the frame.  When I took the lid off the can of spray paint, the nozzle which allows you to spray it wasn't there, so I couldn't use it after all.  As my partner had taken the car to get it serviced, I couldn't take it back, so I dug out some ordinary grey matt paint and used that instead and it seemed to work okay.  When later my partner said he was popping out to the DIY store I asked him to take back the can and get a refund which he did.  So I saved on the potential £8 spend.  I forgot to take a before photo as I was so keen to get on and finish it, but here's the result of my handiwork. 

 

 

 

I used a vintage Laura Ashley grey and white floral ditsy cotton fabric and some toy stuffing I had to cover the board and make a pad.  I really like it and it looks so much better than it did.  In the end it cost me nothing, but my time and a bit of creative inspiration.  I just need to find somewhere to hang it now.