Another Car Boot Sale Success

Well I cam back from my holidays on Friday afternoon and could not wait to go to the Cheshire car boot sale today. I checked the weather forecast yesterday and was grateful that it was fine weather.

I have come back today with a lot of girly purchases and am delighted with my bargains. The first things I bought were a selection of Yankee Candle items. I love their tea lights and bought 3 boxes of them off a trader who has a stall every week. They rarely have tea lights as they normally have the jar candles and votives. This week they had just these 3 boxes so I bought them all at £3 a box. They normally cost around £6 so I got them for around half price. They are Fluffy Towels, Honey Blossom and Black Coconut. I then found a stall where a lady was selling lots of new items that were unwanted gifts and bought the reed diffuser in Fresh Cut Roses for £1.50. These normally cost around £10 so a bargain in my eyes.

On the candle front I also bought a lovely Biba candle in a classy black glass holder for just 50p    (retails for approx £20) and a Price's Vanilla candle set containing a candle in printed holder, set of 6 tea lights and candle in glass jar for £1. The tea lights alone cost £3.50 so I got a good deal on both of these buys.

I bought a selection of toiletries which included the L'Occitane gift set for £1. This contains a 75ml shower gel, 30ml hand cream and 50g soap in a lovely floral scent called Fleurs Merveilleuses. These sets cost around £20. I also found a bottle of  Liz Earle Energizing Body Wash for £1 and this retails for £12 plus a Sanctuary Mini Must Haves gift set for £1.50 which would cost about £8. This had a 75ml body wash, 75ml bath soak, 75ml body lotion and body polisher contained in the set. Finally I bought a cute little metal suitcase containing a selection of Burt's Bees mini items for £2. A couple of items had been taken out of the set but there was still a lip balm, body wash, shampoo, shower gel and facial scrub.

I bought a couple of gifts for family. Bagpuss was a favourite children's programme for myself and my sister when we were little and I found a new toy complete with tag for 50p. It is a reasonable sized toy and is just a little stocking filler for my sister. I also bought a set of 2 pairs of soft lounge socks for her from the same lady for 50p. I found a large soft grey scarf (£16.99 price tag attached) with zebras printed on it for £2 for my niece. The couple selling this also had a huge 8 candle chandelier which my partner, David bought for £20. The lady selling it said she had originally paid £400 for this and you can tell that it is real quality and worth a lot more than £20.

Other gifts I bought include a soft extra-fine lambs wool top for my dad for £2. This is from Marks & Spencer and is currently retailing at £29.50. This is brand new and unworn and he loves these sleeveless jumpers for wearing over a shirt when he plays golf. Two little stocking filler gifts for my niece are the two face cloths rolled into a Swiss roll for £1 and a mini tote with a cat face on it for £1. Both of these are new with their labels attached and are great for extra gifts to open.

I love Christmas pottery and found this Christmas tree shaped dish for holding nuts or sweets for only 50p. I bought 3 magazines which are Elle July 2014, Red August 2014 and London July 2014 for 50p each.

Finally I came home with far too many DVDs but I could not resist them when they are 3 for £1. Some of them had several discs inside them so I got 5 films for £1 in some cases. They include Sherlock series 2, Creature Comforts series 1, the Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000. Some were in their wrappers and unopened.

So a good day for me and I spent around £30 which I think is a bargain compared to what I would have paid if I had the items from a shop. I can't wait for next weekend as we have two car boots to go to; the Cheshire one and one held by the Scouts on the nearby village common.

Holiday Packing & Today's Freebie

I am sure that I am not alone in that I hate packing for my holidays. That sounds like I am really spoilt because it is lovely to go away and I count my blessings that I can go on a couple of holidays every year. However, I still hate packing, so to make life a little easier for me I have a number of tactics that I adopt.

• Always have a packed toiletry bag.

I keep samples of toiletries (read my Samples Post here) when I find them and also buy small travel size toiletries from car boot sales for taking on holiday. When I return from my holiday and am emptying my case I take out any bottles and tube of toiletries that I can use up at home and re-fill my toiletry bag before putting it away full and ready for my next trip. I have two toiletry bags; one I use for sunny holidays abroad and a separate one for weekends away in the UK. Both get the same re-filling treatment so that they are ready to be packed into my case.

• Use your empty case or bag to hold holiday essentials.

Once I have emptied my case I put holiday essentials back into the case ready for next time. This includes items such as plug-in bug machines and tablets, beach bags and beach towels, travel adapters, travel kettle and beach shoes (those rubber soled ones for walking on pebbly beaches).

• Put "holiday only" clothes together in a storage bag.

Maybe I am a bit different in having "holiday only" clothes or maybe a lot of you do this. I find that I tend to wear kaftans or sarongs only on a beach holiday over my swimwear so put these straight into a storage bag once they have been washed and ready for the next holiday. I do not iron them after washing, and just put them washed into the bag, so that they just need a quick iron just before packing. This makes holiday clothes easy to find and I can easily remember what I took last time and what got worn the most. I am constantly striving to reduce the amount that I take away with me after being stung for excess baggage on a return trip.  This has happened only once and will never be repeated. 

• Keep a collection of holiday read paperbacks

I buy paperback books from car boot sales and charity shops throughout the year and store them in a box in the garage. When it comes to packing I just go through the box and pick out which books I want to take with me for some poolside reading. The most I will have paid for them will be 50p and many have been 20p. I refuse to buy books from high street shops as their prices are extortionate.

We have a number of Samsonite suitcases which we have again bought from two car boot sales; the Cheshire one and one that is held indoors at the local grammar school. These suitcases are so solid and hardwearing that they should last a lifetime. We have paid between £1 and £8 for the ones we have and when we are not using them for our travels we use them for storage. These cases usually cost from around £130 upwards so I am always suprised that they come up for sale for so little. We do not buy all the ones we see because sometimes we do not like the colour or they may look a little too worn. We once bought one that was unlocked but the combination was forgotten so it could not be locked. We bought it anyway after knocking the price down accordingly and I patiently went through every combination of numbers to find the correct combination. It took me nearly an hour as the number was in the 800s and I had started at zero. The triumph I had when I found the correct combination was great.

Today I received two full sized products in the post that I got free by signing up to the Supersavvyme website. This is owned by Proctor & Gamble and they are a great company that makes a lot if every day products that we all probably have used at some point. Today I received Pantene Age Defy shampoo and conditioner. These usually retail for £5.99 each and are on offer at £3.99 each at Boots. Not bad getting nearly £12 of product delivered to your door for free.

So no posts for a couple of weeks while I'm away but I look forward to posting again when I come home.

Today's Car Boot Sale Finds

The weather forecast for today has been ever changing all week. This morning we woke up to find a sunny day with just a couple of white clouds in the distance, so we decided to head to the Chesire car boot sale. Once we had arrived the weather turned and was decidedly wet and windy, and I had to return the sunglasses I was wearing back to the car. We did not have as good a day as we have done in the past because of the weather but I have still managed to come home with some items that I am pleased with.

I have bought three Bomb Cosmetics items. Two lovely Christmas Bath Blasters and a bath brûlée gift set. The bath Blasters are Gingerbread Trees and Snowflake Chance. These will be Christmas gifts for my niece and cost me 75p each (they cost £2.29 new). The bath brûlée gift set contains 6 mini brûlées and cost me 50p. I will keep this for myself and use them over the next few weeks.

I bought a Boots No7 gift set that had come free with purchase. I am not so bothered about the case which will go into the charity bag but I wanted the cosmetics inside. It had a small protect and perfect face cream, mini mascara and eyeshadow. There had been a lipstick included in the set but the seller had kept this. This cost me £1. From the same lady I bought a glass bead necklace in shades of grey, black and clear glass for £2. I found a Gucci sunglasses case for 10p which is a little larger that some of the other cases that I have and will be great for holding some larger shaded sunglasses. I have had to fight David off this case as he wanted it for himself.

I bought three full size Soap & Glory body moisturisers from one young girl who sold them to me for £1 each. These retail at around £10 each so this was a real bargain. I bought a couple of Soap & Glory weekend bags for 10p and 20p each about a month ago so I am filling them with a number of Soap & Glory toiletries to give to my niece at Christmas. I even bought a "niece" Christmas card off the same girl for 30p so I am nearly set for Christmas for my niece and it is only August!

I am a sucker for cookery books but like them to be hard back, a reasonable size and have plenty of pictures as well as me having an interest in the recipes. I found a very clean copy of Brian Turner's Great British Grub for 50p. It has some great traditional British recipes in it which I will try out over the next few weeks.

There was one lady who was selling a lot of items that she had made herself during sewing and craft classes which she told me she used to run. She had this darling Christmas stocking which she had made herself from the sleeve of a jumper. I think this is a great idea and will certainly think twice about what I do with old jumpers or cardigans (I currently weigh them in for 50p a kilo). I might even keep a look out for ones that I can buy at car boot sales to turn into stockings myself. The pattern is fairly easy to draw up and it is minimal sewing. This cost me 50p and I also bought two gel handwarmers in cute bunny covers for 50p for the two from the same lady.

I bought 6 DVDs from 4 different sellers. Two of them are still sealed in their original packaging (Close Encounters and the Dark Crystal) and these cost me 20p each along with a double disc version of Armageddon. The other three (Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Pretty in Pink and Real Steel) were £1 each.

Finally I bought a selection of pottery items at £2.50 for the lot - 50p each item. The commemorative  plate is Royal Worcester and the two knives are Aynsley Pembroke. These all came boxed. The other two items are Portmeirion and match a coffee set that I have which is also in black but with a gold Greek key design. I do not know whether I will keep all of these items or not as the plate is currently selling on ebay for £8 upwards and the knives are around £12 or so each. I generally do not buy items to sell on but could not resist this job lot mixture for the price of £2.50 and thought I would sell them if I got them home and changed my mind about them. I may keep some and sell some.

At the end of the morning I had only spent £16 and come home with a real mixture of items. Two DVDs would cost me more than £16 at any supermarket so I think I did well. I will miss next week due to holidays but should be able to return for the first week in September.

Saturday at Home

I love Saturday mornings and being an early riser the first couple of hours are my favourite. I have a couple of very large cups of tea, read my emails, read my favourite blogs and usually watch a carboot bought DVD.  I am always restless so cannot watch a film without doing something else, so it's usually sewing, reading or doing the ironing at the same time. This morning I woke very early at 4.37am (usually it is 5am) and although I tried to get back to sleep I couldn't so got up just before 5am.  

By 7am I had drunk my two cups of tea, tidied the kitchen a little, made the ratatouille I said I would in yesterday's post and started on the ironing. I like using my slow cookers for a lot of recipes as they are so easy to use and economical. I can also leave them switched on when I go out and not worry about them. I had bought courgettes and peppers yesterday so made a start on the ratatouille first thing.

Ratatouille
Courgettes
Peppers - I used yellow today

Red onions

Tomatoes - I used baby ones today
Mushrooms - because some needed using up
Garlic
Herbs
Seasoning

The original recipe asks for aubergines but I knew I did not have any of these. I am not a slave to recipes and use what I have to hand (within reason). I cut everything up into bite size chunks and put them into the slow cooker with half a pint (250 ml) of water and put the slow cooker on medium. Once it had cooked for about an hour I turned it down to the low setting and left it for about 5 hours. I divided this into portions, freezing some of it and using the rest for our evening meal. There is nothing better than home cooked fresh food and I love eating colourful meals. We are going to have steak with new potatoes and the ratatouille.

I have spent the rest of the day doing housework and catching up on chores. I change the bedding on our bed every week and usually every Friday or Saturday. I stripped the bed this morning, let the bed air with the bedroom windows open and then put crisp white bed linen back on the bed. I always spray the pillows and sheets with Avon Sleeptherapy pillow mist. This is £4.50 from Avon but I have got the last three bottles from the Cheshire car boot sale at 50p each time. The last time I bought it, it was in a gift set along with a bottle of bath gel and body lotion and was still 50p!! There is nothing better than getting into a freshly made bed when you have just got out of the bath. One of life's free delights.

My Thrifty Week

I am always looking at ways to try to save money. I think it has something to do with the way I was brought up particularly by my grannies, but also I see it as some kind of competition. My sister and I swop bargain stories all the time to see which one of us has got the best deal or to share ideas and places we can go to to get a deal.

This week I received 6 vouchers from Sainsburys for £12 off a £60 shop for the next 6 weeks. I haven't shopped there for a while and I find that if I give a particular supermarket a miss for a while they will send me some vouchers to lure me back. I will go to Sainsurys for the next few weeks to use the vouchers but once they have been used I will give them a miss again for a while. This is the second time they have sent me these vouchers this year.

I went shopping for a couple of things at a nearby outlet. The Marks & Spencer Outlet Shop there is good for bargains in that it has a clearance section where prices are reasonable. I managed to find a pair of slim fit boot cut jeans in my size and the right length for £6 and a jacket which will be suitable for work and evening wear for £14. I bought a linen shirt for David for wearing on holiday for £6 and an Autograph bangle for my niece for £3. I will put this away for part of her present for her birthday in November. I tend to buy my niece and nephew lots of small gifts rather than one large present.

I also visited the Clintons card shop as they had a half price sale on some of their Yankee Candles and I adore their tea lights because of the wonderful scent they give when lit in the evening. I use two a night in two hurricane lanterns that I have on my mantelpiece. I smelled about 4 different scents that were on offer and went for Under the Palms because it had a hint of coconut which will get me in the holiday mood for my trip to Spain next Friday.  They cost £3.37 instead of £6.65.

I did quite a large shop at Waitose and felt that I had spent far too much when everything was totted up at the till but when I got home and looked at everything that it had bought and how long the food would last us, I started to feel a little better. I used the multibuy glitch as much as possible when I was looking at the reduced items. There were fresh meat items on offer at 3 for £10 so I bought beef mince reduced from £4.29 to £2.95, 4 peppered beef steaks £4 reduced to £2.75 and venison meatballs £4.09 to £2.59. A further £2.38 came off at the till so the meat finally cost £5.91.

I bought quite a lot of cooked meats for sandwiches at lunch and some snack foods which are great as a change at lunch. There were 2 packs of breaded ham £1.25 from £1.79 with a further 58p off at the till as they were 2 for £3 so this cost me £1.92. I also got 3 larger packs of oak smoked ham reduced to £2.09 from £2.99 with a further £2.97 off at the till so this cost £3.30. Finally there were 3 packs of  black bean chimichangas reduced from £2.69 to £1.69 with a further £2.07 off at the till so these cost just £3.

I noticed that they had a summer offer on with some chilled items with everything priced at 3 items for £6 so I bought 3 reduced items of two large freshly squeezed orange juice and a triple pack of dips. These worked out at £3.60 for all of them with a total saving of £4.19 on full price and/or £2.40 with the offer. I rarely buy fruit juices and am not keen on the long life cartons but love freshly squeezed but only when reduced or on offer as a treat.

I finally bought fresh mini courgettes and peppers so that I can make some ratatouille for eating during the week. I already have tomatoes and onions in my larder so needed some peppers. I plumped for just yellow peppers because these were reduced and thought we would get some red colour from the tomatoes as the red peppers were not on offer or reduced. The peppers I bought were loose so  I chose two large ones. Although not conventional I have some mushrooms in the larder so may add those. The 2 packs of courgettes cost £1.39 each reduced from £2 with a further £1 off at the till on the multibuy so £1.78 in total. My peppers cost 97p as they were reduced from£4.29 a kilo to £2.49.

I feel that I have spent quite a bit this week but know that I have bought some real bargains some of which will last me a while. It is lovely to have a treat now and again too otherwise life can start to become really dull.

Free Samples

I love finding free samples as I think they are so useful and you can find them in a range of places. The easiest place to find them are inside magazines where they are quite often attached to advert pages for the products. These tend to be face moisturisers and body moisturisers, shampoos, conditioners and foundations.  I have often found these inside magazines that I have bought at car boot sales or charity shops and it suprises me that people don't take them out and use them themselves. I always take these out straight away before I read the magazine and put them into my bathroom cabinet. They are also really handy for using on weekends away or holidays and I will sometimes put these straight into my toiletry bag so that they are there ready when I am doing my packing. I did an "ask around" with my friends, work colleagues and even my hairdresser and many of them said they did not bother with the free samples which I think is such a shame.

Many of the samples I have are for products from expensive brands which I would not normally buy because I cannot justify the cost. However it is lovely to be able to use expensive brands and it is great to try different products out. You can see in the photo below that I have samples from Chanel, Lancôme, Estée Lauder, Clarins and L'Oreal. A lot of the samples are foundation as I save these up for the winter months. I tend to wear tinted moisturiser in the summer but change to foundation in the winter when my face becomes a little paler. The amount I have saved is probably enough for a couple of months as one sample usually does me for two days. 

Another way that I get samples is from dedicated websites such as Magic Freebies. Once I joined I started to get an email a day with the free samples that are available. The email takes you to links on the internet and you can apply for samples or enter competitions to win items. I have had so many items sent to me over the last six months or so since I joined that I have lost count. They have ranged from face serums, packets of tomato seeds or fabric conditioner to stock cubes and a gravy boat. This does not cost me any money in postage and packaging, and it is quite exciting seeing what will arrive in the post each week.

I also "like" pages on Facebook for products or brands that I genuinely do like and find that I have had information sent to me on my newsfeed about more samples or competitions to win items. I struck lucky using this Facebook method to get a full size product from Liz Earle. It was a Cleanse and Polish hot cloth cleanser complete with cloth. You will see from the link that this would have cost me £14.75 so not bad for a free item. I did have to collect this from a high street store but as I was going shopping anyway this was no problem.

Magazines quite often have free items attached to them or there will be a voucher inside to go to a cosmetics counter and ask for a free sample. I have no problem doing this and often the staff are so friendly that they will give you additional samples or even book you in for a consultation. I have never felt under any obligation to buy but maybe I am just a little hard nosed about this. Bare Minerals took a voucher I had from a magazine, matched my skin tone to the correct coloured foundation and gave me a large sample complete with cute little brush. I was given a free cosmetic make over which was great as I was going out for a meal that night and used my new look. Talking to the member of staff she told me that on Friday evenings they were packed with people getting their makeup done for free across the store at different counters for their Friday night out.

If I am going to spend some money on toiletries then I want to make sure I get any other offers that are available at the same time. I love L'Occitane products and in particular I like the fresh citrus smell of their Verbena eau de toilette. This is not a cheap product so I have joined to be a VIP which is free and I now get sent emails or postcards in the post for a free toiletry bag with samples inside when I spend over say £40. They always give you a selection of samples as well and if I go to their shop rather than buy on line they usually have free drinks and chocolates on offer too. 

Let me know if you have had some great free samples as I would love to know whether I am on my own on this topic.

Car Boot Designer Labels

It always suprises me to find designer items at car boot sales where people are asking very little money for their items which have clearly been very expensive for them to buy. Both David and myself like to have some designer names but we are not too much into having everything with a designer name. We're quite happy with high street names but why would we miss out on an expensive  designer item at a knock down price?

Some of our buys over the last 12 months have included my lovely Mulberry Emmy black leather hand bag. This came with the Mulberry card and dust bag. They originally cost £600 and I still see them for sale on ebay from £100 upwards. I bought mine from a lady at the Cheshire car boot sale for £18. She had asked for £20 but we settled on £18. The bag has had some use so there are some signs of wear and tear but these are fairly minimal and I am delighted with my designer bag at this price.

I also bought a cute little Fendi bag from one lady who was selling off a collection of clothes and accessories which were mainly designer names. The bag is only small and I rarely use it but for £2 it was not to be missed. From the same lady I bought a pair of gorgeous Christian Laboutin sandals which came in their box. These had been originally priced at over £200 and I paid £4. I bought them without trying them on (they were my size) and it was not until I got home and tried them on that I realised they were too small. I decided to sell them on ebay (I do not normally buy items to sell on) and was astounded that they sole for over £50. 

David loves black jackets and coats and when we were away for a long weekend in the Lake District earlier this year we found a car boot sale on in a local field. A lot of the items for sale were very different to what we are used to at the Cheshire car boot sale. There was a lot of older items almost antiques and farm house style items. The clothes tended to be more thick winter jackets and boots. In the midst of all this I saw a black Prada coat in the right size for David. It looked as though it had been worn once and I thought it was going to be expensive when I asked the price.  I was told £4 and the man selling it said he thought it was designer. Where can you buy a decent coat for £4 these days? let alone a Prada one.

The school car boot sale last year delivered quite a number of treasures. My sister and her family were staying over for the weekend and came with us to this sale. She bought quite a few items for her two teenage children who are clearly label conscious at their age. I found a great pair of Gucci sunglasses for £2. These are probably considered out of date now but I love the little bit of sparkle on them. They came in an Armani case which David immediately snaffled for his own use. I wasn't bothered as sunglasses cases and glasses case are usually a very easy find at car boot sales and cost little at £1 or 50p. Sure enough I found a Gucci glasses case a couple of weeks later for £1.

We keep our eyes open for items that we love from designers we like but I would not buy an item just because it has a designer name. Two weeks ago I found a lovely Lulu Guinness bag which was unused and was only £20 but it was purple which is not a colour I generally wear. I thought about buying it as a present for my sister but it was not her style so this was passed up and it was immediately sold to someone who was stood next to me. You have to be decisive at car boot sales and make up your mind there and then as if you go back after changing your mind it will invariably have been sold. 

Waitrose Reductions Glitch

I have shopped at Waitrose since they opened a small to medium sized store about half a mile away from where I live. They seem to have a reputation for being expensive but I find them more than reasonable when I buy their reduced items. They are even cheaper when their multibuy offers still apply to reduced items. I think these computerised reductions are called a glitch and I always make sure I buy any reduced items in the required numbers to get the multibuy glitches.

27th April 2015
I called at Waitrose last week and found that the glitch is no longer working on multi-buy products.

I called in at Waitrose yesterday after work and managed to find quite a few reduced fruit and vegetables items. There were some multibuy glitches included in my shop. It was good to see some fresh fairly healthy food reduced rather than cakes or pies etc. which can sometimes be the case.

The first buy was two packets of Rich & Creamy Coronation Chicken Salad with a yogurt and mint dressing. These should have been £3.49 each but had been reduced to 99p each. They had a sticker saying buy 2 for £6 on them. At the till 98p came off the bill meaning I paid £1 for both of them. Now a 50p lunch seems good to me. They were best before Monday but I had no problem with us eating them today only 12 hours out of date.

I also noticed some baby leeks. These had been reduced from £2 a pack to 75p. I found two packs reduced and noticed that they were 3 for 2 by the stickers on the packs. I went back to the vegetable racks to find a third pack which was not reduced but I knew I would get this free as it was 3 for 2. At the till £2 was taken off my bill so I paid £1.50 for all three packs. I will make leeks in cheese sauce tonight.

Looking at some of the other reduced items I decided that I would make roasted pepper and tomato soup as there were two packs of sweet Romano red and yellow peppers that were reduced from £2.99 a pack to 89p and a pack of ready chopped onions (4 onions) reduced from 99p to 39p. I knew that I had a couple of packs of tomatoes in the fridge that I had bought at the weekend which had been reduced from 69p to 29p a pack. I made this last night and the recipe is below.

There were a few packs of ready made fruit salads which are a lovely refreshing dessert to take to work. I often buy a mixture of these when they are reduced and mix them together. I put them in separate plastic tubs and store in the fridge. I find they usually last a couple of days pasts their sell by date and even longer if they do not contain too many soft fruits such as strawberries.  I found two packs of nectarine, melon and strawberry for 45p each reduced from £1.99 and a very large pack of classic fruit salad reduced to 89p from £3.99.  The two smaller packs were eaten today for lunch. The larger pack will last until tomorrow at the latest but I know I'll be okay to eat it then as it contains grapes, apples, oranges etc. and they tend to be okay for a day or too past their sell by date.

Finally I found a free range chicken reduced for on £9.63 to £3.97. Waitrose have standard chickens at 3 for £10 at the moment but the thought of having a free range one was tempting so I decided I would buy this to eat that night. A chicken normally does us about four meals. We ate the breast last night, the legs and thighs will do for a separate meal tomorrow night and the carcass will be boiled and stripped to make a stock for soup. I usually make enough soup for four people so this will be another two meals for the two of us.

Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup

Red peppers or a mix of red, orange & yellow peppers
Onions
Tomatoes
Garlic
Stock
Salt
Pepper
Mixed herbs

Cut up the peppers into chunks and de-seed them. Put on a roasting tray along with tomatoes which have been quartered unless you are using baby tomatoes in which case put them onto the tray whole. Cover everything with a good glug of olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. Roast in a very hot oven until they look slightly charred. You can put the onion on the tray aswell if you have whole onions. These also need to be cut into chunks if you are going to do this. As I had ready-cut onions I missed out this step and put them straight into my slow cooker along with about a litre of water. I added about two teaspoons of my lazy frozen garlic from Waitrose.

I added two chicken stock cubes to the water as I had no ready prepared stock available. I put the slow cooker on the low setting and once the roasted peppers and tomatoes were done I emptied the contents into the slow cooker. I had a look at my dried herb rack and added about four pinches of dried mixed herbs and then I cooked this for about 5 hours and left to cool overnight. The next morning I used my hand held blender to blend the soup into a slightly smoother soup but not too much as a bit of texture is nice.

Making the most of Loyalty Cards

If you use certain shops on a fairly regular basis then I think it is important to get their loyalty card. I have loyalty cards for a number of stores and make sure that I get the maximum benefit from them. They help towards saving money and it is a waste to not use them.

I shop at Waitrose on a regular basis. People have told me that it is expensive to shop there but I find it very reasonable if you look for offers and if you buy items at the end of the day when they have some really good reductions.

They have a loyalty card called My Waitrose which gives some great offers. These are the offers I use:

• A free tea or coffee to drink in or take away everyday. I usually get a free latte to take away. 
• A free newspaper everyday as long as you spend £5 
• The essential waitrose butter (250g) and milk (4 pints) is £1 
• You get 10% off 100s of products across the store. Many are branded products and they usually have a sticker showing which ones are included.
• A free Waitrose magazine (monthly) worth £1.20

My favourite offers are the free coffee because it is delicious and the free newspaper. When my sister comes to visit (she lives 50 miles away) she always asks if we can go to Waitrose because they do not have one near where she lives. She loves Waitrose and their reduced bargains and even though she only visits about once a month she has a My Waitrose card to get the offers.

I also shop at Tesco on a regular basis and their Clubcard gives some great offers if you use it to its maximum. The offers I use are as follows:

• Whenever you spend you earn points and the points are converted into £ money off vouchers. I used to use these as cash in store. However I realised this was not maxing their value. I now convert them into money off vouchers at restaurants because you get 4X the value. I usually wait until I have £10 and then convert them to £40 for a meal. Pizza Express and Cafe Rouge are favourites (I'll post more about these on other posts)
• Up to the end of September 2014 you get up to 20p a litre off fuel depending on how much you spend with them. 
• They send you additional money off vouchers for products you usually buy. Sometimes the vouchers can be for additional points instead of money off or they can be to enter a competition.

I sometimes shop at Sainsburys and have a Nectar card which I only ever use for money off vouchers in store. They have other offers but when I have compared the deal for say Pizza Express vouchers compared to the Pizza Express offer from Tesco, it not nearly as attractive.

Finally I have a Boots Advantage Card which works the same as the Tesco & Sainsburys card where you get points when you spend. Boots sometimes have offers on where they will double of triple the points you get or they will give you vouchers for additional points if you spend a set amount of money. If I am thinking of spending at Boots then I will try to buy when they have the additional points offers available.