Hi peeps

I have started this new topic so we can share our experiences on saving £s and making a few as well.

I am off to Greysteel this morning to see what bargains can be had and will be updating this thread with some of my experiences regarding Car Boot Sales - where the best are, what are the best sellers and buyers markets, and a few other tips! (being the old pikey that I am!!)

Anyone else who wishes to share their tips on frugality etc. please go on ahead...................

edit - just as an aside - I was knocked out by the price of exterior / interior varnish at Lidl on Friday, I spent £120 a few years ago on 5 x 2.5l tins of ext. varnish at B&Q. Anyway, I was in homebase and they are looking at £30 per 2.5l tin, I went into lidl and you can get 5 litres of a quality german brand for £7!!!

wine is good at lidl as well

Its strange - people won't buy at Lidl because it is seen as downmarket - all the more for me.
Great thread PP. I go to the car booty at Newcastle but find that sellers have weird ideas about the value of their goods.

I learnt my frugality skills after watching "The Survivors" - I can raise animals - make bread -jam -cheese- save seed for the following year. If you can get a garden to raise some veggies. Even the scallions that people like over here can be raised easily and cheaply in big pots. I bought a large bag or onion sets in a pound store and will get dozens of scallions for very little.

I am totally amazed at the amount of cooked food sold in supermarkets and garages and butchers over here. I've seen people with 20-30 pounds worth of cooked food and bakery goods in their trolleys. I make scones for a fraction of the cost of bought ones. I look for the loss leaders in every store I go into.

My best buy was a slow cooker. I read about it on MSE and got the 3.5 litre size for about 16 quid. Huge casserole dish which I fill up with cheap meat - especially reduced stuff that it going out of date- brown meat in pan first with a dusting of flour -then put in slow cooker with enough gravy to barely cover plus veggies cut medium size. I put this on at high heat for 2 hours then slow cook for 8 hours. Beautiful stews. If you've got any freezer burnt stuff lying at the bottom of the freezer it does not care - just cut it up and put it in. According to MSE because it is only 170 watt it only costs 15p for entire cooking time. You can do joints or whole chickens in it. Any spaces just shove in some sausages for another stew. I make lovely stews with smoked ham (offcut pack 1.39 per kilo from Lidl) chicken and whatever flavoured pork sausages are on offer cut up into chunks. Make a good gravy though and dont keep opening the lid.

similar to this - price around for a good deal.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/part...and%2Bovens.htm

recipes here
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes.php?q=slow+cooker

Lidl IS decent for food, I used to be a bit of a snoby git and frowned upon it....till I was dared to do my weekly shop there instead of tesco's and found the food just as good if not better AND I saved over £20

A chef/caterer mate of mine gets a lot of stuff from Lidl; quality stuff - that and the asian supermarket. I did that Dundrum car boot sale one and it was wild - it was like the scene in Father Ted where the Daniel O'Donnell parody's on the island and the women descend on the parochial house Dawn of the Dead-style: "It was like a big tide of jam made of women" or something. It was lashing down, my mate and I had got up at half 6 to get there and queue, and then we didn't know if it was going to go ahead. But all these people had their faces pressed up against the car windows noseying, and then opened the door and stuck the head in to tell me to open up the boot! (We didn't have to pay 'til we decided if we were going to sell or not.) They were like vultures.. Ebay all the way. (Free listing weekend this weekend too I think?)

Also, check out swapaskill.org for bartering services, keep the money out of the banks... And freecycle.org; join their mailing list and when you need something, send an email and if someone else has it and wants rid of it you can get it for free.

P.s. Johnstone's on Sunnyside St very cheap for paint etc. compared to B&Q..

I would be very careful with savings, I am rarely far away from the best interest rates. I also change current accounts to get the best deals and to make the most of any account opening bonuses. I always ensure my credit card is paid off in full and I do not pay any interest.

When it comes to purchasing I always do my homework. I never ever pay for a full price dvd, I dont recall when last i spent more than £4 for a movie. Insurance costs will all be checked in a dozen or more places, electronics purchases likewise and I will ensure that I know exactly what I am getting so that I dont end up with a cheap lemon.

It all comes down to doing your homework. If you bought your tv having just popped into currys and bought the nice shiny black one.... then you have very likely thrown away tens if not hundreds of pounds. I would certainly not buy something like a TV before I have spent several hours checking out reviews, what the specs mean, what features I actually need and then several hours more searching for prices or for reasons why the price may well drop in the immediate future. The shocking thing is how common that ignorance actually is.

neither do I ....come to think of it...can't recall paying more than £0 for films or music

Well on that one I will disagree with you. Yes you can save money, but technically you will be breaking the law.

There is an MSE topic at the moment and I have checked my finances and worked out that we were spending about £800 a month for a couple to be accomodated in a 3 bed semi including food, car, insurances etc (and dvds!). This is below what an individual on minimum wage would be earning. Thus those who say you cannot live on min wage are simply wrong.

My best savings tip - hotukdeals.com
Recently got a car cd player for £23 delivered after seeing it on that site, absolute bargain.

Some great replies already people - keep it up!!

Car Boot Sales:

Antrim (Dunsilly, roundabout):
My absolute favourite CBS, in the summer the field behind the car-park is jam packed with sellers. Get there for 6 on a Saturday (or before!!) if you want the bargains because this one is a buyers market.

Ballymena (near cinema):
Saturday AM. More of a sellers market than buyers, with some regular collectables / antiques traders in attendance. Check out Nicky Brady's lot as he is easy to deal with. You do get non-traders as well and this one is packed in the summer.

Benvardin Dogs Home, Ballybogy. Sunday AM. Great all-round CBS (best from April to Oct.) where you can get decent priced collectables on one stall, Chickens on the next!!, and CDs etc. on the next. A real mixed bag – £1 entry fee (per car) goes to the Dogs Home.

Greysteel, Co. Derry. Sunday AM. For me this is the best 'sellers market'. 50p per adult entry fee (£5 traders per car, vans and trailers + another £5). Packed in the summer months and always a good run for those who don't live near the border areas, as Muff is only 10mins away for diesel / petrol.

Newtownards (Portaferry Rd.). Sunday AM. Like the others good from April to Oct. and can be combined with the Windsor Park CBS as well.

Others worth a mention, Windsor Park Sunday AM, Nutts Corner Sunday PM (more of a traders market than CBS), Toome, Elk Car-park (1st Saturday AM of every month), Ballymoney Church of God (1st Saturday AM of every month – I think!), Moneysallin (near Kilrea) Saturday AM. Lifford (Sun AM) – need to check details on this one. Doccyboy you mentioned Newcastle – is this on a Saturday?

Please note I will update this list through time and if I missed some boot fairs – please post details and I will update.

ps - the links are to multimap locations (apologies for pop-ups)

pps- check out Orange Hall auctions that occur about once or twice a year - if you want absolute bargains then these auctions is where you'll find them (especially collectables)

Yes Newcastle is on a Saturday am-early pm but dont know starting date yet. Also Dundrum but it was rubbish last time I visited. Thanks for all the info - will build my tourist plans round these.

I forgot about Dundrum - WBS mentioned it and I forgot to include it. I presume this is also on a Saturday AM?

Think it is but don't know start date.

Jonesborough market near Newry. Sunday afternoon. All totally legal

My tips for saving cash

1. Never 'buy now pay later' - never did it, will never do it, also car finance - if I aint got the dosh I buy a cheap car out right! Only gets you from a - b guys!!

2. Never buy on credit (linked to no1), only owned a credit card once cause I was going to america and needed for car hire.

3. Budget, budget, budget - work out how much in/out every month (online banking is good for this), then give a portion of this away - I tithe, and give to charities every month........ I don't own anything on this earth, I'm only a stewart of possessions, give with the right attitude of heart.

4. If your in it, get out of debt as quickly as possible - debt comes from ignorance, lack of planning, from indulgence and unexpected emergencies........ reduce your spending!!

oh, thats the lession bit over!! Now the rest:

Car boots sales

Never been to one, what things can you pick up at these things?

Lidl

Really love Lidl for sauces and jams - noticed that the German hotdog stands at Belfast contenental market were also selling over priced lidl booze - obviously bought in Lidl and marked up over 100% - loved it!!!

Gotta go feed the baby, doing well thanks for asking Vesp.

bless ya'll or how ya'll doing dawn tharrr - also lived in North carolina !!!!!!!

Well Sophia where do I start with car booties. You just never know what you'll find there. Baby stuff - books - collectables- toys- anything under the sun. If you are lucky you find someone with what you are looking for and the price is right and you go away so happy and so does the seller. Just like home buying really.

This is not really a problem if you are moderately capable with your finances. I will never ever buy with my own money if I have half a choice. First and foremost, if something goes wrong, the credit card company sorts it out. Less significant but perhaps more relevant to this thread, by using the credit available and paying it off prior to any interest being charged, I get more return on my money (principally because, in any given month, my savings are earning interest on what I have PLUS my cc balance).

Have you noticed the way they shorten your time to pay if you clear it every month? Just to catch you out? This was discussed on Radio4 a few months ago and they admitted to it. Also, low use charges and "fines" for clearing your balance religiously have been suggested. Recently, egg "fired" many credit card holders. Some were complaining that they had never been in arrears etc. That's why they fired you, people.

If one pays off by direct debit, then one will never be caught out!

I hadn't heard about 'low use charges'. I suspect there are enough lenders out there that someone will always be willing to give credit based on the hope that you will make a mistake.

Have ya, Ma'am? What place? We lived in Durham for 9 years, and our children are still there.

A few pieces of frugal wisdom that we have always followed (and we know full well how bad things can get, coming from the former Soviet Union):

1. Never a new car. Never a car bought from a dealer. When buying a car off a person, looked at the person, rather than at the car. Never a full comprehensive insurance on an old car.

2. Bought used things, whenver we could. Way cheaper.

3. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

4. Buy a house you can afford, not the fanciest one. Fix it yourself, as much you can (yes, we have painted, laid laminate flooring, you name it!)

5. Keep away from private schools, make the children work hard to get into free competitive schools (both our children have gone through the North Carolina Scool of Science and Math - an excellent residential high school, all expenses paid by the State of NC) and win scholarships, if possible. Let then get all the Math and languages courses available in school - these things are much more difficult to learn later in life.

Alas, disasters do happen. The current economic meltdown (and political disruption) in the States is eroding our future pensions and out life's savings - there's nothing we can do about that - but at least we're not burdened by debt. And we're happy we have not been feeding the credit leeches.

I lived and studied at UNCG university - greensboro - loved the weather and the friendly people. Took a Greyhound from Charlotte to Greensboro when I first arrived - scarey experience - that was 10 years ago so things might be different now. Dont think i was in Durham but was in Raleigh, South Carolina, Murtle Beach, travelled all around, loved Washington DC, Virginia - funny asking for direction in Virginia - noones ever left the place - hated the grits - loved the accents - total culture shock!

Very unlikely. Greyhound never changes.



There's no way to bypass Durham on the way from Greensboro to Raleigh, whether you take a train, I-40 (that one goes through South Durham) or N.C. 70.

I love this thread and seeing people admitting to being frugal and actually making a virtue out of it. Seems to me that there are so many rather dim, hollow people who can only feel they are leading meaningful lives if they are spending lots of money on a weekend. Is there any other reason for the Victoria Centre?

The best tips I have are:

- plan what you are going to eat in the week ahead before you go shopping. If you've got time, cooking each meal from fresh and making your own lunch to take into work every day will save you a fortune.

- buy nearly new if you can, we got our sofas and dining suite from the 'Ads for Free', all excellent.

- don't make the mistake of thinking that 'you get what you pay for' because in a lot of stores you don't. Primark's bedclothes have lasted me longer than anyone's. Debenhams' fell apart in the first wash.

- like loads of people here, I think planting vegetables is a great idea, I'm planning on planting out our front garden this spring, because it's a free country and I don't really give a damn. Which extra activity also means

- you don't need gym membership, surely the biggest rip off of our time !

Primark rules! All our foreign guests have bought a lot there



It would be a pity however, if someone else reaps what you have sown. I think a walled rear garden is better

I have been toying with the idea of switching my broadband supplier to a 'totally wireless' one for a while now. At present, 3, vodafone and t-mobile are offering such deals. One major cost saving of getting broadband this way is you can ditch the land-line for good if you use a mobile phone as well. The cost savings of doing this could be very good, since you can use your pc for long-distance calls with Skype instead of the mobile. It may not be for everyone, but if you don't use your land-line phone much, it might be for you.

BTW, I spoke to someone in the 3 store and they told me I had three days to try it out and decide if the reception was good enough etc. (but since I have a 3 phone anyway, I already know I can get the 3G enhanced data signal).

BTW (again!), if you connect a wireless router to the pc with the wireless dongle, you can share the wireless broadband with other pc's in the house - I have now set this up for two people and it works fine, although you need to keep the 'receiving' pc permanently on whilst you want to share the broadband (maybe a bit dodgy for hardcore gamers though).

We don't have a landline at home, and we use www.draytel.org's internet phone service, which gives us a geographical (i.e. 028 90X XX XX) phone number, so people can call us for free, and charges only 1p/min for calls to the UK, Ireland, and the US (and a few other countries).

Our internet is NTL/Virgin cable.

I went out with this girl in Dublin last year who told me "you are what you drive" - she had an expensive cabriolet. I turned on RTE the other night, and there she is, hosting her own TV series.
Cars - pah! Back when I was 21 I bought a Saab for £110. After 3 months, 1st gear gave up. Pretty soon, reverse gave up too, which was awkward. Lots of pushing to get parked. I took my babe to Dublin for the day, parking illegally on St Stephen's Green. Came back a couple of hours later and found it clamped, with a demand for £60. So we lifted the tool kit out of the boot and went home on the bus.

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/shop?ca...yId=cat59590009

Certainly not as good an opportunity as the George Best £fivers but may prove to be a modest investment

Might be a nice idea to frame these and sell em' to all the well-heeled punters in Co. Down

Out and about getting some vinyl this morning (and a few CDs), quality vinyl sells well on eBay, CDs are not worth anything like quality vinyl. (emphasis on the word quality)

If you have that 'old box of records' in the attic, don't ever throw them out!* check out their comparative prices on eBay first.

It you're lucky enough to have for example, some early Led Zep or Belfast punk RIP OFF label 7"s - some of these will 'fly' off eBay.

*or don't sell them for a £1 each at a boot fair without checking their value first

Sometimes, when the LPs you value are coming in at say a fiver each,
it may be worth selling them, as a 'job-lot' on eBay as long as you list them individually on the page; you can get away with 20kgs UK Standard Parcel Service (max £12ish) which is a decent wait allowance - approx., 60-80 LPs (100 x 12"s).

Forget about euro sending as the AIRMAIL limit is 2kgs (and pricey) / why do they insist on sending some things AIRMAIL to RoI, I have got away with sending stuff 'shipping' rate but sometimes PO workers won't allow me to send stuff this way!

PP, as regards the mobile broadband - I looked into that 'tother day. See this link: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/ch...obile-broadband

..can't remember if it was the MSE forums I went to next but people were complaining about coverage (whether not being able to log on at all or dropping out when logged on) and extortionate fees for going over download limit. I think general consensus was it'll be great in a while, and much cheaper - I'm going to keep an eye and then prob get one myself, since I don't plan to be of a long-term fixed abode for a while..!

G'luck,
WBS

WBS - I will check that link out tomorrow - thanks

I must say I got 'caught out' over the weekend: I have broadband on my mobile and exceeded my limit, which meant every mb over this was costly

If I was going for the wireless broadband, I'd probably get the most 7gb level - this should do me fine as I don't use limewire etc., although I use youtube.

Like you say one to keep an eye on, if 3, T-mobile, Vodafone start selling a 'true' wireless router, then this could definitely be the way to go for home users....

PP - was at a networking event recently and talking to people in the old wireless industry; they say there's a new dongle coming out from Orange soon which would be one to go for - keep an eye out!

Hi frugal people, I am going totally off topic here through sheer frustration more than anything else, but can anyone advise me where I would buy a sofa bed/futon (double) in the Belfast/ Gt Belfast/anywhere really area? I need this super fast (by next week) and don't really want to buy a 2nd hand bed! It really annoys me that nearly every store here takes weeks to get any large item shipped from GB, or else only has the most expensive models in stock. Dekko isn't a possibility as I am looking some change from £200. See trying to get anything quickly in this country!!!

IKEA?

argos does good ones from £110

OK I guess I can ask this question here.

Does anyone have a reliable PVR that costs less than £100? (digibox + recorder)

I have been looking at the ONN/Durabrand Asda ones, but I believe there is a new model coming out based on the Vestel T825 hardware.

It's not for me. I would just buy a HUMAX and be done with it.

On similar note: why do some manufacturers produce digiboxes with EPGs (electronic program guides) that do not have the now-and-next list feature? That pisses me off! Rant over