Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Monday 26 November 2012

Frugal gifts...and shopping



I do not like "shopping for basics" in "real life" - I much prefer to spend my precious shopping time wandering around browsing in small shops, chatting to shop staff, tasting, smelling, looking and maybe buying and then going to visit somewhere like a small museum, a book shop, a church - in short I love browsing but I do not like "shopping"

So I am really pleased with my latest bulk purchasing experiences on line for both store cupboard essentials and some gifts.

I shop, in bulk, at Natural Collection. I get points and every now and then they send me a voucher by email for money off my next shop. I also get sent various discount codes and alerts about discount days.

So I have just done a load of bulk buying on their excellent website,  of bread and baking flour, dishwasher tablets, shampoo, hand wash, cleaner, various canned food items and lots of other store cupboard essentials, all at 20% off AND I used a voucher to reduce the bill ( got from my previous shops with them ) AND I got free delivery AND I got another £20 evoucher to spend on my next shop AND several  free gifts ( which will be added to the gift stash I keep hidden away, so I always have a little something ready to give to someone)

And it is all organic, cruelty free, ethically produced etc etc  - and delivered to my door.

I paid for the orders with my Amazon credit card , who give me a £10 voucher when I reach a certain level of spend. ) Thery have also just given me a gift voucher for £50 because I subscribed to Audible, their audio book scheme (which I was going to do, anyway)- and gave me a £10 voucher because I purchased an item of clothing as a gift ( which I was going to do, anyway) and have given me a £ 2 voucher for mp3 downloads (which I was going to do, anyway)

So I have just bought from them a major electrical item ( which I wanted to buy, anyway) for free

Win, win in my book. I bought the things I wanted AND got some vouchers to use now, or later  It really DOES pay to "shop around" 

Am feeling good, as I have sorted all my Christmas/Yule shopping out before the end of November. Just got to write and send the (few) cards to people who don't get e-cards from us!

1 comment:

  1. Bulk shopping is totally where it's at. I shop with Suma and I only need to do so maybe once every six months, but it's soooo worth doing! Stocking the pantry up so I don't have to worry about shopping is a win!

    Sounds like you got a good deal as well, so bonus! Xmess shopping was done last week and now I can just chill and sort the cards out.

    Happy chilled-out holidays!

    ReplyDelete

Hello! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. I try to reply as quickly as I can and I really appreciate your interest in my life and doings here in The Compost Bin.

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