It has been a very busy week here at Shoestring Cottage so no time for shopping, which is quite money saving unless you are missing out on loss leaders in the stores because you haven't the time to fetch them !
I got several good books from the library and downloaded a free ebook for the Kindle. We washed out plastic bags for re-use and reused foil. We cooked ahead and made bread and several meals for busy nights, this not only save money but sanity as well !
I had one egg in a box which had broken so instead of throwing it away I made 5 fairy cakes to use it up. I got a free Sunday a paper and a scarf and some books when MissShoestring started to clear out her stuff ready to move into her own flat !
I found the time to take the cash box full of pennies down to the coin counting machine in the supermarket and got a shopping voucher for £7.60. I don't usually use coin counting machines as they take a around 10% of your money as a fee for doing the counting. However, I knew that a trip to the bank to get bags was not going to be possible and the box was getting too full to shut, so I decided convenience was a good thing in this case !
We also got some free stationery and printed out lots of free past papers for MasterShoestring's GCSE revision, only a couple of weeks until the exams begin and he has requested a good supply of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard to help with revising ! So I think the shopping bill may rise this month !
I hope that you had a good, frugal week !
I don't know if this is still the case but a few years ago we used the self service tills to get rid of all our small change.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a good idea, I hadn't thought of that ! Thanks for the tip Mandy!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome (I hope it still works :-))
DeleteIf you bank with Natwest they have coin counting machines in some of their branches. It gives you a voucher which the cashier will either pay into your account or exchange for cash. No commission and it automatically sorts out all the little foreign coins that creep in. Sorry to post as anonymous but having trouble with sign in. Mary
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, Thanks so much for posting ! I did not know that about Natwest so hope that will help people who do ! What a great service to offer !
ReplyDelete