Satnav
Having a satellite navigation system has saved us quite a bit of money and inconvenience whilst we have been here.
Miss Shoestring bought it whilst she was over here in the Spring and gave it to me for my birthday.This was a useful present and saved us the 15 dollars a day the hire company would have charged.
The first thing it helped us with was finding a grocery store off the interstate to buy a picnic. Then it was really helpful at finding a gas station in the middle of nowhere when the car was close to empty, in fact it has done this twice.
The last thing it is really good at it is giving directions to the places we want to go, it has a feature about Places of Interest and you can just enter the name of the place, for instance Mount Washington and it calculates the fastest route.
Knowing the fastest route has saved us quite a bit of gas and we have only filled up once since we arriveD. I like reading g maps and wasn't sure if a satellite navigation system was worth it but I think that I am a convert now.
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Friday, 29 July 2016
Grocery spending
After last week,s spending on groceries of 148 dollars I was pleased to only spend 106 this week. We saved by going to 3 stores instead of 2 and I think the only way to get spending lower than that would. E to garden, buy in bulk and keep a price book, none of those things are very beactical on holiday ! I am glad that I cut down on groceries a bit before we left but I still think the FOOD part of the budget for July and August will be quite high. We have. Even trying g to work out why prices 're so high but I not really clear, I wonder if people are paid more ?
After last week,s spending on groceries of 148 dollars I was pleased to only spend 106 this week. We saved by going to 3 stores instead of 2 and I think the only way to get spending lower than that would. E to garden, buy in bulk and keep a price book, none of those things are very beactical on holiday ! I am glad that I cut down on groceries a bit before we left but I still think the FOOD part of the budget for July and August will be quite high. We have. Even trying g to work out why prices 're so high but I not really clear, I wonder if people are paid more ?
Thursday, 28 July 2016
Parking
Parking is good value f o r money over here. Most places we have been parking is free and where we have had to pay this has cost 25c an hour or less. Contrast this with the cost of parking in the UK watewhere parkinglmost never free,you get fined or clamped if you stay too lo g in thse shopping centre and I usually pay 60p to 1 pounds d an hour !
Parking is good value f o r money over here. Most places we have been parking is free and where we have had to pay this has cost 25c an hour or less. Contrast this with the cost of parking in the UK watewhere parkinglmost never free,you get fined or clamped if you stay too lo g in thse shopping centre and I usually pay 60p to 1 pounds d an hour !
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Cinema Tickets
So we went to the cinema to see the latest blockbuster and were astounded at how little the tickets cost. We went to the film, all 3 of us for les than the cost of 1ticket in the UK. It was a beautiful cinemas well and we did not buy any snacks. So a frugal trip as the last time we went to the cinema was 8years ago!
So we went to the cinema to see the latest blockbuster and were astounded at how little the tickets cost. We went to the film, all 3 of us for les than the cost of 1ticket in the UK. It was a beautiful cinemas well and we did not buy any snacks. So a frugal trip as the last time we went to the cinema was 8years ago!
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Monday, 25 July 2016
Dollar Tree
We needed a thin screwdriver today to finish installing a window blind and USAShoestring did not have one thin enough, so off we went to buy one. We did not want to pay too much as it would probably never be used again. So after trying various places we tried Dollar Tree. We had noticed that some of the dollar stores no longer priced things at a dollar but that is not true at Dollar Tree. We got 2 screwdrivers the correct size and also noticed that they had some good packages of beans and rice all priced at a dollar so we will be going back there for a spot of grocery shopping later !
We needed a thin screwdriver today to finish installing a window blind and USAShoestring did not have one thin enough, so off we went to buy one. We did not want to pay too much as it would probably never be used again. So after trying various places we tried Dollar Tree. We had noticed that some of the dollar stores no longer priced things at a dollar but that is not true at Dollar Tree. We got 2 screwdrivers the correct size and also noticed that they had some good packages of beans and rice all priced at a dollar so we will be going back there for a spot of grocery shopping later !
Sunday, 24 July 2016
Wow! Prices have risen !
O
Apologies for no pictures for the next couple of weeks but I am writing on Mr Shoestring's mobile device whilst we visit USAShoestring.
One of the first things we noticed as we landed in Toronto was how much the pound has fallen against other currencies, this makes things 20 percent more expensive anyway, so the hotel room on the first night was a real treat that we will not repeat on this trip. However it offered a free dinner and breakfast service where we could eat some of the food, so that saved quite a bit. Next dat buying food for a picnic lunch made me gasp. We left the highway and went to a value supermarket and still spent nearly 40 Canadian dollars, a small pierce of cheese was 8 dollars, gasp !
Buying food for a week here in USA has cost over 140 dollars, which is awful, so I'm going to be working hard to bring that down.
Good news is that petrol is very cheap, we filled up once on our trip from Toronto and it only cost 40 Canadian dollars !
Talk to you some more tomorrow about what we find that is good value !
O
Apologies for no pictures for the next couple of weeks but I am writing on Mr Shoestring's mobile device whilst we visit USAShoestring.
One of the first things we noticed as we landed in Toronto was how much the pound has fallen against other currencies, this makes things 20 percent more expensive anyway, so the hotel room on the first night was a real treat that we will not repeat on this trip. However it offered a free dinner and breakfast service where we could eat some of the food, so that saved quite a bit. Next dat buying food for a picnic lunch made me gasp. We left the highway and went to a value supermarket and still spent nearly 40 Canadian dollars, a small pierce of cheese was 8 dollars, gasp !
Buying food for a week here in USA has cost over 140 dollars, which is awful, so I'm going to be working hard to bring that down.
Good news is that petrol is very cheap, we filled up once on our trip from Toronto and it only cost 40 Canadian dollars !
Talk to you some more tomorrow about what we find that is good value !
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