Sunday car booty

This morning I got the house up at the crack of dawn to head for a car boot.

We have been to this car boot a couple of times, once in the first year with my mum while she was here on holiday, last year with friends in the rain, and this year, just us, but the rain held off until the afternoon, so we got some good finds.

This years haul:

1 vintage cotton double bed throw
1 plastic table cloth (for the wooden table outside that is now all splintery)
4 little blue and white bowls for my harlequin set
6 vintage cotton napkins (for making tea towel appliques with)
2 very cheap tops for me for work in the summer (sticking to my buying only new Fairtrade or second-hand clothing rules for 2010) - and the girl offered me the hangers too - very useful as I keep breaking them wedging stuff into my wardrobe
1 nifty cat bag carrier complete with a bed, some toys and a hairbrush - for the new kittens coming in June
2 wicker baskets with long handles - for autumn harvests to hang from ceiling hooks in the pantry
1 white metal basket for planting windowsill herbs in
1 hand luggage sized bag for my daughter for when we have to fly to the UK later in the year - this was a real bargain as it has never been used and came complete with a matching washbag. (We would never have seen it if some other lady had not picked up the children's furniture that had been put on top of it.)

and the best bargain of all

A pair of 3m x 2m curtains with another 2m of matching material in a lovely thick upholstery cotton in cream with peacocks in a William Morris style print that had been left in a garage and now smell very musty - all that material for 1 euro! Can not wait to get in the studio and find something to make from this.

When I got paid for my last job in cash - rather than squander it at the supermarket or on bills I decided to stash it away for the year's car boots and flea markets.

On my desk you can now find my 'Hello Kitty' coin bank.  I stuffed her full of bills (I wish) and my plan is to only use what is in her for the car boots - this way I don't spend too much from our tight budget, and I will have to restrict which ones I go to as I won't have enough money to attend every single one.  We very rarely have any cash at all - a bit like the Queen - I never carry cash. 

My wages get paid direct into my account and all the bills come out from there either on Direct Debits or when I pay by Cheque at our local Tresor Public.  I am also a stickler for checking our statements and cross checking to cheque stubs and card receipts. 
I know - a bit retentive, but at least this way I know exactly what we have got and what we can and can't buy. 
Living on a budget is second nature for me, I have been this careful with money since my late teens and have always followed the advice my late uncle gave me - whatever you earn, however much it is, always save 10% of it for a rainy day.


Anyway - with today's fun things off the agenda, now it is time to get to work. Back to the Inland Revenue and an afternoon battling through the red tape of tax.