Money, money, money..isn't funny when you have none!!

I’m trying to win an iPad 2 in the iSave, iWrite, iPad competition from PlayPennies.com!

Another infrequent post. Honestly how do some people manage to make the time to post every day!!

I am constantly trying to find ways in my life to save money without compromising our lifestyle. Extremely difficult with a teenage daughter you might imagine. The thought of the university years looming up strikes fear in my heart.. but I have strategies which seem to work somehow. We'll never be well off but we're doing everything that we want to, bar owning a huge house and expensive car, but somehow i think that isn't a big importance in our life, as long as we can afford holidays, summer festivals and amazing life affirming experiences, have time to spend with family and friends then surely nothing else matters ( as well as not starving of course).

My main advice is shop secondhand and vintage. Amazingly random and amazingly individual outfits occur when you do this. This is probably my most proud acheivement to say my lovely daughter and her friends love nothing more than hitting the local independent charity shop after school and spending an hour trying on random outfits till they find that perfect dress or 80's jacket to wear out to that weekends party. A sideline to this adventure is being able to pass on any clothes you spot that wouldn't in any way ever fit you but you can't leave in the shop or carboot sale and sell it to someone else that will love it as much as you do, making a little profit ( sometimes a bit more that a little!!) along the way.

Another way I moneysave is I always recycle packaging and style magazines to post the lovely clothing I sell. I like to make buying an item from me as personal an experience as possible and so I sew beautiful photoshoots onto the pre-used padded envelopes making individual packages to send my items out in ( Some pics in a previous blog post here).

Another small hobby of mine is entering competitions. If I need something I try my hardest to win it. At the moment I am still praying to the comping gods that I may be lucky enough to win some festival tickets...are you listening?? Download, Rockness, Sonisphere..I'm really not fussed but there are plenty of opportunities out there.

It worked with holidays. I was lucky enough to win our holiday this year to Aruba with Magic FM and have also just found out I have won a huge amount of Nectar points in a competition with Real Radio Scotland so will be able to buy flights and accommodation for my long girlie weekend away i had planned with my daughter to celebrate her finishing her exams as well as replacing the microwave & oven that kindly blew up on the same day the other week.

Now I am on a mission to win clothing and fashion vouchers to top up my holiday wardrobe with things to complement my vintage finds. It has started well with a £100 John Lewis voucher in a Telegraph competition to design a Look Book which actually arrived to day. I was one of five winners and it is sometimes a good idea to look out for and enter comps that require a little effort and that you have a genuine interest in.

For example I need a new sewing machine to transform some of my vintage fabrics ( which i've picked up for pennies at Carboot sales) into skirts and dresses or maybe some home furnishings that seem to cost an absolute fortune in the shops and are so trendy atm. So I am currently working on a Book bag ( all handsewn!!) to enter into a comp to win a sewing machine and a cute Cath Kidston Sewing Box at The Little Brown Book Group blog.


Even if i don't win I will have a lovely individual new bag to show off that cost pennies and that gave me some pleasure to create.

Seefeel - Fracture (Official Video)

So much for more regular blogposts!!

As far as comping goes have had quite a few small wins this month and last. The best have been the ticket wins, who doesn't like as many chances to get out and see as much as possible especially if it's free!

Last week I went to see Marilyn at The Citizen theatre in Glasgow thanks to a win from The Herald. I was a bit uncertain of what to expect but after reading reviews was quite upbeat at the thought of a night at the theatre midweek. My husband and I both really enjoyed this treat and having never been to this theatre before were impressed with both.

Tuesday night we managed to get tickets for a preview of Limitless at Cineworld in Edinburgh. Can't say it was a fabulous watch, but for free I can't complain. Bradley Cooper was good in the main role and the premise of the story was good, just felt like it had been done before and better.

Tomorrow night we have tickets for Mamma Mia at Clyde Auditorium courtesy of a win from NOTW and really can't wait for this. I love the film, and Abba and Glasgow for a night out so all combined we will have much fun. The seats are good too and would have set us back £80 so no way we would have gone otherwise.

Monday night we have tickets to see Seefeel @ Glasgow Art School. I'm somewhat worried of looking a little old and not trendy enough for this but I'm sure a cocktail beforehand will help with this feeling. There are still tickets available if you fancy going along.

Right now I am keeping my eye out for Festival Ticket comps. This is the first year we don't have any tickets bought, usually have Rockness and TITP as well as Belladrum tickets already purchased. At the moment we feel fine with that but the closer it gets i know the worse we will feel so I am determined to win tickets for at least one festival this year.

Check out the comp on the Rockness website to win VIP tickets and a stay in a Squrt. Just download the Rockness line-up poster and get a photo of it stuck somewhere original to win.

Please let me know if you come across any other comps on your travels :)

I have to say I have been quite enjoying all this competition entering I've been doing of late again. Nothing beats that little thrill when you hear that you've won something however little.
This last couple of weeks I've heard about quite a few wins I've had. One of the first was a full Quiksilver outfit of my choice ( approx £500) which I had a lot of fun choosing with my dear OH. Just had an email to say it should be on it's way to me so that's exciting, it will be just like Christmas. I also got a bottle of Only The Brave Diesel aftershave (£38) ready for my OH's Valentines, a pair of Hanky Panky undies (£18), a set of Jamie At home DVDs from the comp on Bod For Tea's blog, Kettle Chips ( which we've already eaten) and a couple of waterproofing products for my outdoor clothing.

One thing i wanted to achieve from comping was to get the opportunity to go and do some things we never do and one of those ways is by winning tickets. So I was amazingly chuffed to find out i'd won 2 tickets for the 6 Nations Rugby match at Murrayfield tomorrow to see Scotland take on Wales (£140) ( Which is why I'm here on my computer tapping away at the moment waiting for the tickets to be delivered!!). I also won 2 tickets to see a band called Grinspoon at King Tuts at Glasgow (£20) so that's my next saterday night sorted. I would never have gone to see them otherwise and we will make a day of it, go see an exhibition, eat dinner out somewhere different. It will be a pretty fabulous day out in one of our favourite cities.

And just had a Wonderbra & matching knickers (£42) and 5 Bourjois Lipglosses (£6.99 each) delivered so off to search for where they came from.

Now I am entering comps to try and win tickets to the Creative Stitches and Hobbycraft Show at SECC in March and also for any holidays I find. Please do let me know if you see any comps for the show at the SECC.

Almost a year since I last blogged..oh dear!1

Well this is me going to give this one more go. I have recently started entering some competitions and this really has opened up a new world to me. I'm actually using facebook for reasons other than to be nosy, and I'm learning the ins and outs of Twitter.
Another sideshoot of this is dipping back into the world of Blogs and so I came to the conclusion that maybe i should give this another go and use my blog to keep a record of my attempt at being a competition winner!!

I might also still be including my makes and clothing purchases though. How could I not!!