I must admit that I am not your regular frugal person. I don’t really believe in cheap. For me, I take the definition of frugal from the now deceased Jeff Smith, aka The Frugal Gourmet. His definition is: The term frugal does not neccessarily mean “cheap“. It means that you use everything and are careful with your time [...]
Is there a link between being depressed and being in debt? I guess this is a chicken and the egg kind of question. Lots, I mean LOTS of women use shopping as a chemical pick me up. (I have a friend that tripled her wardrobe while going through a particularly bad break-up.) The problem [...]
We all have ways we like to shop. My favourite is a mish-mash of supermarket delivery, the fruit and veg market and ethnic stores. Ethnic stores was mentioned in Think Ethnic. I keep a sort of shopping schedule, I do my internet order about every fortnight and go to the fruit and veg market every Saturday. [...]
It is getting chilly here in old London town so it is time to take out the heavier clothes, tights, socks and sweaters. What is the easiest way to get in a bad mood first thing in the morning? No, it is not being out of milk but not being able to find a pair [...]
As I have probably mentioned before I live pretty much alone, my beloved comes over a few nights a week but is not asked to help me in running my flat. That would be unfair. A few years ago I had a wonderful flatmate and we used to cook for one another. It was such [...]
I must confess I am unable to pass up a bargain. This trait in me does not make me popular when at airports as I can’t resist the Duty Free section. Every time I go to visit my family in the States I stock up on anything that is cheaper over there. Now that the [...]
I must admit I am having a bit of an identity crisis. I used to work as a stylist, so I used to live fashion then I got tired of the constant need for the new and the very large strain on my finances. This was about three years ago then I started The Lean [...]
Shopping on a Sunday afternoon, I know it is not the best time for fresh food but I still expect to see food. I ended up needing to go to two different large chain supermarkets to get the following: a chicken, baking potatoes, chestnut mushrooms and a green vegetable. There just was not a lot [...]
This past Saturday was one of if not the best weather day of the summer. So what did I do? Go shopping of course! I went all over Portobello in search of produce that I can freeze to give me a taste of summer in the darkest days of winter. My first two cooking adventures [...]
This is a sign that is on every bulletin board on my estate. It scares me but it speaks of the brutal truth, there are people that will forgo paying their rent so they can have an impressive Christmas spread and more stuff under the tree. In the UK, Christmas advertising starts in October so [...]
Here comes another frugal confession, I miss the finances of the past. This past weekend, I lost a very good friend in an accident, when something like this happens of course, you are flooded with memories. I have fond reminiscences of spending Saturday afternoons browsing the shops and when you wanted to buy something that [...]
Friday is tip day, here at The Lean Times, today’s topic is how to save money with eBay. 1. Many of the items on eBay are new. They may be from stores liquidating or just having overstock. 2. Know your prices in store then check eBay before buying anything. I use eBay for items like [...]