Saturday 31 December 2011

Happy New Year

Just a quickie dear readers, I wanted to wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2012. With best wishes for New Year, MPB xx

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Sales Shopping

Hi there and welcome to my new followers Aubrey Rose and Penny Saver, thanks for following.

I had the urge to go shopping today. I think it was in part to the last few days just sitting around socialising, eating and drinking. I don't often get the urge to go shopping but I did fancy a walk in the fresh air. We went into the local town. I went into M&S , it was packed but I managed to find a quiet corner with some good bargains to hand. I bought some cards for next year, 50p reduced from £1.50 and a big card to grandparents which is hand embellished, £1 reduced from £3.50. I always find the hand embellished comment funny, they have probably stuck a sequin on before its wrapped ! I also picked up some gifts for next Christmas as well, a fleece scarf and glove set reduced from £12 to £5 and two hard back books reduced from £4 to £1 each. Then into Boots which was equally chaotic but more bargains to be had. A lot of Boots stuff is half price so for my two friends I got one Mango and one Cocoa butter set , reduced to £5 from £10. I was pleased with this as if you buy the items individually they cost a lot more. I also got two White Company soap sets: a soap ,a flannel in a porcelain soap dish for £2.50, reduced from £5. I got home and packed my goods away and began my new list. Each year as I buy stuff, I update my list so I know whats in stock and that way I don't replicate presents for people plus I can keep tabs on the spending as well.

Thank you for my five lovely Liebsters



Whilst I was absent I had five lovely nominations for the Liebster Awards from SFT, Pamela , Ruth Kelly , Justine and Penny Saver. Thank you so much for the nomination which I gratefully accept.

As part of the award you have to copy and paste the award to your blog.

Thank the giver and post a link back to them.

Reveal your top 5 blogs with less than 200 followers and let them know.

So here are my five . They are ones that I really enjoy following and I hope you would too. They are :


Frugal Living uk

Lavendar fields forever

No Spend Days

SFT's Travel, Mortgage Freedom, 101 and life goals

Tales from Beyond the Nook

Here are the five blogs who nominated me ;

A Penny Saved

Feral homemaking

Jazzy's Place

Dian's Timpanalley

SFT


Please take a look at the ten blogs above. I am sure that you will find them as friendly and informative as I do !

Saturday 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas

Just a quick message to wish you all a Happy and Holy Christmas. Thank you for all your good wishes. I have been out of the loop lately and have been so busy I haven't had much time for blogging. I do have some messages that I need to answer so I am hoping that next week when I have some time off I can do some blogging housekeeping and get up straight ! Have a lovely Christmas, with best wishes from MPB xx

Sunday 4 December 2011

A busy start to a busy month

I've got lots planned for this month but I have also got it all accounted for , time and money. This week has been busy but fun. I've seen lots of people and had a good time socially but managed to keep spending down to a minimum.

Wednesday , my daughter was off school due to the strikes. We spent the day together, firstly we went for a long walk then we went into town. We had a pizza buffet, my daughter ate free with the voucher downloaded off the Internet. It cost me £6.99 just for my buffet, her food and drink was free. In the afternoon we went to see the new film 'Arthur Christmas', for free ! This was due to a friend kindly giving me two tickets as they had no use for them. My daughter was delighted as she wanted to see the film and we had a nice day together. Afterwards we went to visit relatives.

Thursday , I went to meet a friend which was a longstanding arrangement. We went to the cinema again, this time to see ' My week with Marilyn'. Despite me insisting otherwise, my friend wanted to pay for me so I enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the company of my friend and didn't spend any money. I also refrained from sharing her popcorn so was I being good too !

Friday, after school club for my daughter then we went to a Church Service. This was in respect of thanks giving for recent building works & improvements which was followed by a lovely buffet afterwards. No cost involved and a pleasant evening socialising with other people.

Saturday, the three of us went to the cinema again. This time to see Cars 2 which was released earlier in the summer. I always try to wait to see these films at the kids showings when they are drastically cheaper. We paid £1 each to see the film. After the cinema, some friends popped round to see us, then some relatives so we had a nice afternoon with a house full , drinking tea.

Today, cinema again !! We took my daughter and a friend to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. A kids showing at another cinema, £1.25 each. Afterwards we went into Birmingham to see the German Market. It was really busy but we didn't buy anything, just window shopped. We did have a meal at Pizza Express. My husband was given some time ago two £15 gift vouchers that we decided to keep for a rainy day. I also had an email voucher for £5 off a £20 spend. Then this week they emailed me a voucher for a free bottle of prosecco as a birthday treat and upon enquiring they said I could use both vouchers together. The bill should have come to £66.65 but minus the email vouchers £24.95 then the £30 gift vouchers, I only had £11.70 of real money to pay. The meal was nice but not worth £66.65, but the wine should have been £19.95 which I find hard to believe, I'm just glad it was a birthday treat ! Its not something I would normally buy. My daughter and her friend had a great time and the meal and cinema came to £16.70, not bad for 4 people.