Thrifty Thursday | Shopping local

This weeks super-six at Aldi are kiwis (6), peaches (4/5), Galia melon, Romaine lettuce (2), tomatoes (6) and new potatoes (750g). They are all 69p each. The peaches from Aldi are delicious. I had 400g of grapes last week, that’s a smaller pack, but cheaper! Lots of packs are getting smaller these days…

I have readers around the world so I should explain that I live in the Black Country, in the heart of England. It used to be highly industrialised here, before Thatcherism.  We still have a market in Wednesbury. I must visit it one of the days, it’s been years since I went there. I do drive to Aldi each week and although it’s not the closest supermarket, I do notice the difference in prices if I use Asda.

Cutting through the Black Country are the M5 and M6 motorways. Walsall is the other side of the M6 for me, but I shop there a little. Not in the town centre, that is bloody horrendous. Driving there is a nightmare, the streets are like a maze and although people moan about parking charges, it’s the way car parks are laid out that is often the problem. I go to Walsall to the hospital, I’ve got used to the layout of the car park and raising the barrier to get in and out. The parking charge at a pound for every half hour is a bit much. It cost me £3 last time and I only went to collect someone else. I have an appointment next week, that’ll be another £3 if the doctor is running a bit late.

Matalan is the other side of the motorway too, I went there last week and bought some summer clothes. I have a Matalan card so they sent me a voucher. I got £10 off spending £40. Many of the shops have closed down on that retail park including Comet. Next door is Bescot market on a Sunday, judging from the traffic on a Sunday afternoon, it might be popular. It’s hard to judge in Walsall because the traffic is always bad. They keep extending kerbs out into the road, putting in speed cameras, blocking off streets, pedestrianizing areas, putting up signs to flash your number plate, reducing speed limits and their latest barmy idea is a 15 miles per hour limit on all but major roads. I’ll be avoiding Walsall even more. Mind you my council is full of megalomaniac idiots. They do the same sort of things. They put humps in near schools, but do nothing to encourage parents and kids to walk to school.

If you shop local, you obviously save money on petrol. You might find bargains on the markets, in pound shops, charity shops, discount supermarkets or car boot sales. You are doing you bit to save the planet too. There are people who drive miles along the country’s motorways to shop at stores like Ikea and have coffee at Starbucks or Costa. These are Daily Mail readers, who appear to be one genetic mutation up from Sun readers.

There are more thrifty ideas today on a Zillion Ideas. Why not pop over there and check it out?

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• Thrifty Thursday | Walsall again? (mike10613.wordpress.com)
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