Budget Cath Kidston Wallpaper

 I LOVE all things Cath Kidston, but I find a lot of her products to be quite expensive. But panic not! A British wallpaper company, Eden, make a range of purse friendly wallpapers called Millie which have a charming likeness to some of Cath Kidston's most sought after designs, but for over half the price!

There are several websites that stock these style-savvy designs. One of my favourites, wallpapersandborders.co.uk sell the above featured Red/Cream Rose Millie Flower for an amazingly thrifty £10.99 per roll. It would make a beautiful vintage feature in any room. For fans of the floral look, I've found that Focus DIY sell a variety Millie wallpapers, including Millie Blue, which features small red roses on a sky blue background.

The Thrift-Queen also recommends the website wallpaperdirect, which sell a few varieties of Millie wallpaper. Specifically, they do an exact copy of Cath Kidston's now discontinued blue polka dot wallpaper, Blue Spot for £15.99 per roll. So now there is no excuse not to have beautiful rooms on a budget.

Gumtree Goodness

I recently posted a thrifty article on an amazing Gumtree Daily Deal Paypal Cashback Deal, after a heads up from a reader (thanks Kieran). I am now well and truly hooked and I'm especially loving their Twelve Deals of Christmas. Today is day five, so subscribe soon to receive some amazing money saving offers on the run up to Christmas.

They have deals ranging from experiences to products and potential presents.. My favourite today? Hard to call but given the time of year and my distinct lack of transportation it has to be the amazingly good value £29 6ft artificial Christmas tree which is delivered to your door.

My Top 12 Uses for Foil

We all have a roll of aluminium foil sitting in our cupboard, and yes it's good to store your sandwiches in, or wrap around a jacket potato in the oven. But there are many other fabulous uses for the stuff to help simplify everyday tasks. Get thrifty, save money and become a foil god/goddess!

Some of these tips I use ALL the time, and some are courtesy of the wonderful Reader's Digest.

In the Home

1. Clean pots and pans - Don't have a Brillo pad to hand? Scrunch up some foil and get scrubbing (works well on barbeque's and silverware too). Foil can also be useful for preserving the life of your Brillo pads. Prevent rust after initial use by wrapping it in foil and storing in the freezer. Go on, get your money's worth!
2.  Move furniture with ease - To slide big pieces of furniture over a smooth floor, place small pieces of aluminum foil under the legs. Put the dull side of the foil down, the dull side is actually more slippery than the shiny side. 
3. Speed up ironing - I hate ironing, it's such a boring chore. So anything to help speed it up is a winner with me. When ironing your clothes, a lot of the iron's heat is sucked up by the board itself, requiring you to make several passes to remove wrinkles. To speed things up, put a piece of aluminum foil under your ironing board cover. The foil will reflect the heat back through the clothing, smoothing wrinkles quicker. You can also use foil to clean your iron. Simply run your hot iron over a piece of aluminum foil. 
4. Sharpen your scissors - I use this method all the time to sharpen up my dull scissors. Fold a piece of foil about seven or eight times and cut a few times with the scissors. It works a treat. 
5. Keep a paintbrush wet - Going to continue painting tomorrow morning? Don't bother to clean the brush, just squeeze out the excess paint and wrap the brush tightly in aluminum foil (using a rubber band to secure). For extended wet-brush storage, think paintbrush ice-pop. Put your wrapped brush in the freezer. But don't forget to defrost the brush for an hour or so before you paint.

Out and About

1. Protect tree trunks - Mice, rabbits, and other animals often feed on the bark of young trees during winter. A cheap and effective deterrent is to wrap the tree trunks with a double layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil in late autumn. Be sure to remove the foil in spring. 
2. Put some bite in your compost - To keep hungry insects and slugs away from your cucumbers and other vegetables, mix strips of aluminum foil in with your garden compost. As a bonus benefit, the foil will reflect light back up onto your plants. Be eco-friendly and try using Lovechock's biodegradable foil.
3. Keeping your sleeping bag dry - When camping, place a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil under your sleeping bag to insulate against moisture. Stay warm without spending a fortune on gadgets and gizmo's
4. Keep matches dry - It’s a tried and tested soldier's trick worth remembering (I learnt it in Scouts): Wrap your kitchen matches in aluminum foil to keep them from getting damp or wet on camping trips. 

Do you know of any amazing uses for regular household items? Leave a comment, or email me at thrift-queen@hotmail.co.uk.

Hello Again

Hello again Thrift-Queen readers, apologies for my blogging absence. In the past ten days I have had an offer accepted on a beautiful new house and I've also organised and hosted my son's 6th Harry Potter themed birthday party (I feel old). Which was a roaring success.

New thrifty related posts coming soon 'Moving House Doesn't Have To Cost The Earth' and 'DIY Children's Birthday Party For Less Than £60'.

Pumpkin Recipe (2)

As promised, my next most loved pumpkin recipe. My ricotta and pumpkin lasagne is a simple, purse friendly dish packed with flavour. A seasonal delight, perfect serving if you have vegetarian dinner guests. Pumpkins are still available in most green grocers, I bought one last week for 50p! Thrifty goodness. Alternatively, you could use a large butternut squash.

Ingredients
1 large pumpkin/butternut squash, peeled, cut into 2cm piece
350g ricotta
8 lasagne sheets
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sage (dry or fresh)
½ teaspoon on chilli flakes
A pinch of salt and black pepper

• Preheat the oven to 190°C.
• Place the pumpkin on a baking tray, drizzle with oil. Then season with chilli flakes, salt and black pepper. Cover with foil and roast for 25 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender. Allow to cool slightly. 
• Use a blender to puree the pumpkin with the sage. I prefer to leave a few chunks of pumpkin in it for texture. Set aside. Then blend the ricotta, egg, parmesan, salt and pepper. 
• Lightly grease a square baking dish and begin to build up the layers of your lasagne. Start with a layer of pumpkin then add the lasagne sheets. Spread with another layer of pumpkin and then spread with half the ricotta. Repeat process, then sprinkle final layer of ricotta with extra parmesan. 
• Cover your dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 15 minutes or until golden. Stand for 5 minutes. 
• Serve with a salad or seasonal vegetables.

Hot UK Deals

Just a quick Thrift-Queen recommendation: Hot UK Deals is an amazing community website which searches the best money saving deals to be had. They find and share the best deals, promotional codes, special offers and vouchers from on and off the web. A perfect site to visit before embarking on Christmas shopping. Go on, get yourself a bargain.

My favourites deals at the moment?

1. Logitech Wireless Touch Keyboard. £7.99 at Staples.
2. Muddy Fox Hustle Mountain Bike. £25 in store at Tesco.
3. Binatone F350 UK SatNav (with full 12 month warranty). £27.98 at Argos.

It is no secret that I love a bargain, but I love a freebie more. I am happy to report there is even a section for this! Other great deatures include competitions and deals in your local area.

Pumpkin Recipes (1)

Pumpkins are rife at this time of year and very cheap to buy. My son and I made two awesome jack-o-lanterns for Halloween, and with the leftovers I made a delicious chicken, pumpkin and jalepeño soup. A light and aromatic winter warmer with a lovely heat of the jalapeño's. It not only makes your house smell wonderful, but is easy peasy to make and inexpensive to boot.

  
Ingredients
1 medium sized pumpkin peeled and chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2–4 jalapeños, seeded and chopped (2 jalapeños give this soup a hint of heat, but if you like it hot, add all 4)
1 potato, cubed
Flaked chicken breast, if you prefer your soup to have texture
1 clove garlic, minced (I use Very Lazy garlic)
2 tablespoons unsalted margarine or butter
A pinch of pepper, curry powder and [preferably fresh] chopped parsley
4 cups of chicken stock (I tend to make my own from a chicken carcass)
2–3 drops hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
½ cup low fat sour cream (optional)

• Melt margarine in a large pot over medium heat; add onion and jalapeños. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 4 minutes. 
• Mix in potatoes, curry, garlic, and pepper and cook for 1 minute longer.
• Add carrots, pumpkin, parsley, 2 cups chicken stock, hot pepper sauce and bring to the boil. 
• Decrease heat to low; cover and simmer until vegetables are cooked.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Using a hand held blender, puree the soup until smooth.
• If require, add flaked chicken breast, heat through and serve, with a dollop of sour cream swirled in, if desired.

Want to impress? Serve in a hollowed out pumpkin. The perfect way to get thrifty for a dinner party.

Frighten That Spider Away

Common house spiders are useful for getting rid of annoying insects in the home, and are probably more scared of us than we are of them. I, personally do not have too much of a problem with them. But if you are a bit more on the frightened side then this thrifty tip, recommended by Thrift-Queen reader Jennie, is for you.

My son collected an enormous amount of conkers this autumn, which are now collecting amount of dust in his bedroom. So why not put the conkers to good use? Spiders are terrified of conkers, believed to be something to do with the smell.

Place one conker in each corner of a room and keep spiders at bay. An inexpensive, but effective tactic.

It's Been A While...

Sorry for my absence in the blogging world. I FINALLY managed to sell my house, but it would seem the finding somewhere to live and relocating 180 miles is pretty time consuming. But I'm back, with a vengeance.

Hope Halloween's were appropriately spooking and bonfire nights' sizzle-tastic. For those who like to cook, I'll be blogging about my favourite pumpkin recipe's shortly. With many other top thrifty tips to help save you money on the run up to Christmas, heading your way soon. Watch this thrifty space...