Autumn bargain hunting

The Aldi super six this week are cherry tomatoes (250g), broccoli, snack pack grapes (150g), carrots (1Kg), savoy cabbage and onions (1Kg). They are all 49p each. That offer ends on the 25th of September. The weather is getting cold now and so we have to think about winter soups and stews to keep us warm.

Keeping warm

Food is important in winter. We can actually lower our heating thermostat and our heating bills by eating well. A breakfast like porridge can keep you warm through the morning. The Scots swear by it and it’s really cold in Scotland. Warming stews too will help to keep you warm, not just when you go out, but when you’re at home too. Some ‘hot’ foods like curry don’t help keep you warm, they actually make you sweat and so have a cooling effect. Alcohol isn’t good for keeping warmer either. I never did understand the attraction of ice cold lager in Britain, especially in winter. I have seen people walking through snow quite scantily dressed though, so maybe its a mental health problem… 

Special Buys

The special buys at Aldi today are mostly things for babies. With the Liberal Democrats planning free school meals for young children; you’ve never had it so good…

Sunday’s special buys includes a chain saw. That would be handy if I had access to a coppice where I could get free logs. The other special buy offers are mostly things for cake makers. You can make some cup cakes for the Autumn Fair.

The Autumn Equinox

Its the Autumn Equinox on Sunday, 27th of September:

The Autumn Equinox is celebrated when day and night have approximately equal length. After this date, the North Pole begins to tilt away from the sun and evenings in the northern hemisphere becoming increasingly dark in the run up to the Winter Solstice.

The days then start to lengthen ahead of the Spring Equinox when, again, day and night have approximately equal length. Evenings then become increasingly light in the run up to the Summer Solstice.

Check the car before winter

It’s a good idea to think about checking the car over now before the weather gets worse. Mine will go into the garage before winter begins for a service and MOT testing. Think about carrying some essentials in the car in case of winter breakdowns, like a container of fuel, jump leads, a tow rope and first aid kit. It’s not a bad idea to have a snow shovel in the car, a travel blanket and even some sweets or glucose tablets.   Think about changing wiper blades, checking anti freeze and oil and making sure the car can last through the winter.

Prepare for Christmas

I know, I don’t want to think about Christmas either! I have planned to buy some presents. I’ve also been buying drinks for Christmas. I’ve got lots of beer, some wine and I bought a litre of scotch this week. I’ve also stocked my freezer up so if the weather gets bad I can miss a week and not bother going shopping. I’ll keep it stocked up so I can last through Christmas easily. It’s about 14 weeks to Christmas so there is still some time. In seven weeks we have bonfire night, which isn’t quite so expensive, but might be worth thinking about. I think organised firework displays are the best these days. Eat a good stew before you go out and wrap up warm! Anyway, I’ll be doing research into Christmas presents. Did you know you can order unlocked smart phones, direct from Hong Kong and save money? I’ll tell you about that and how to buy a DSLR camera, before Christmas. I’m going to be looking at greetings cards that can be emailed this week too.

Do you have any good money saving ideas? Please use the comments box to share them. You can also follow me on Twitter for updates.

Related articles

• Equinox: Balancing Light and Dark (oneroomairycastle.wordpress.com)
• The Harvest Moon (valleywx.com)
• Autumn Equinox (mollymac511.wordpress.com)
• Prelude to Autumn Equinox (touchtheearthblog.wordpress.com)
• Prepping for the Autumn Equinox (ditzydruid.com)
• Autumn Equinox – balance between light and dark (clew.lu)

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