Scrimpy Valentines

So that wonderful day of the year is arriving soon, you know that one day a year where even the most hate ridden couples pay a fortune to express their mutual liking for each other. Yea, I'm not a fan of valentines day. Massive con. Whatever.Okay, the fact I shall be spending it on my own (AGAIN) tucking into a box of choccys I had kindly donated to myself crying into my pillow while watching sex and the city might have something to do with it. But enough about me, for you lucky lucky people who do have a special someone to spend the day with I do have a few scrimpy valentines day ideas for you to try out.

I did this for my fella one year and he thought it was really sweet. 

All I did was take some images from the glorious internet and add some meaningful captions, I then put all these images onto a digital photo frame, wrapped the frame up and gave it to him. He had no idea what was on it and was really surprised.

Digital photo frames can be picked up relatively cheaply nowadays then once you have that all you need is to put in some time. For me those are the best kind of presents, when you can tell someone has put in time and effort.

This is the kind of soppy crap I used.

Write a letter- I have done this before as well, on a year when we both agreed not to do anything. All you need is some paper and a pen, nothing fancy, I find with these, the simpler the better.

101 reasons why I love you-There are loads of things you could do with this from making confetti, each with one of those reasons on and scattering them on the bed sheets or using them as a trail to...something else...to writing them on post-it-notes and sticking them all over the house so she finds them throughout the day.

Sweets/choccys- Okay this is a classic but BE VERY CAREFUL if you choose this. I had a boyfriend and for the two valentines days I was with him he got me was a cadbury milk chocolate tray, I loathe them now. With that little warning aside if you must buy chocolates at least don't throw them at her in the box they came in, get a pretty box and put a bow on top.

Cook dinner- Why go out and pay stupid prices? Run her a bath giver her a glass of wine and let the lady (or man) relax, while the other half is out of the way cook up a beautiful dinner. I personally don't care what I eat, I just appreciate that someone had taken the time and effort to cook for me. Plus to keep it scrimpy why not try a few of these to really top off the meal.

I hope you enjoy these ideas, let me know if you try any. I hope you day goes a little better than Chandler's.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

Vintage!

I love anything vintage and can often be found gracing the vintage shops of Bangor (or where ever I am for that matter). So when a new vintage/retro shop opened up in Bangor over christmas paying it a visit was high on my list of things to do.

Vintage clothing is a great way to style up your wardrobe, every piece you buy is individual and it's unlikely that you are going to walk down the street and see someone wearing the same item. Plus it's uber eco-friendly (Yay!).

 At first I was put off buying Vintage purely by the price, however it didn't take me long to realize that I was looking in the wrong places (the high street upmarket boutiques). Car boot sales and charity shops are great places to find quality Vintage items at low prices, some charity shops even have areas of the shop dedicated to vintage items. Remember high street vintage shops will have to play massive rents for their prime location, this is often reflected in their prices, look for some off the beaten track.

So after some careful consideration, I escaped from Bangor's newest Vintage shop with this beautiful dress for only £12!

I am so in love with this dress, now I just need some nicer weather so I can wear it!

So...Want to buy vintage?

My Top tips for buying vintage

• Check the condition of the item- this might sound obvious but take a good look at the item, moth damage is common in vintage clothing, check all over the item. Other places it's worth checking are the armpits and crotch, gross yea but it's better you see mystery stains in the shop rather than when you get home.
• Give it a sniff- Okay not to be gross again but if the pits smell really bad it's unlikely you will get the smell out.I don't mind that musty smell that most vintage items come with, that disappears with a quick wash.
• Try it on- Vintage sizing is weird  I personally find it really hard to get vintage clothes to fit me, mainly due to my lack of boobs and these things called hips (I don't think they had hips back in the day)
• Consider the price- If you find anything wrong with an item don't be afraid to ask for a discount, but remember to be gracious if the seller says no, they do have to make a living.
• Check the label- Far too many times I have seen a lipsy dress or a primark top among vintage items, ask the seller some questions about the item and gauge their reaction, if you want to check for sure your item is vintage try googling the label.

Do you buy vintage? Feel free to share your vintage bargains (or disasters)

Keep it scrimpy.

Laura.

#twittersisters

Last night I took part in my first #twittersisters, people who follow me on twitter (@scrimpystudent) may have noticed a slight increase in tweets., Sessions are held every Thursday between 8.30-9.30pm. Thankyou to everyone how took part it was an amazing experience.

I found out about twitter sisters from Sarah over at sadexcuseofagirl her post about #twittersisters can be found here (head over there for the ins and outs of it, she knows more than me). So a massive thankyou to her.

So what is #twittersisters?

#twittersisters is a twitter hashtag used by ladies from all over the UK to promote their blog/business/services. The aim is to help independent and small business gain more followers and hopefully make some sales. I love the idea of a small independent business and although I do love bargain chain stores such as poundland I do love the quirky things you can only find in independent stores.

Even though I have only taken part in one session so far I have seen the results, I have loads more twitter followers and I can see the views increase throughout the hour .

I met some really lovely people during the hour and I would like to share some of them with you guys.

http://beckysboudoir.blogspot.co.uk/

Becky is a blogger who blogs about lingerie! I didn't even know people blogged about that kind of thing, but here she is! Becky is a lovely Yorkshire lass whose crusade to find well fitting bras had developed to a full blown lingerie obsession. Her blog is a very interesting read and her current post 'What is Curvy? is great food for thought

http://www.etsy.com/shop/missmagpiedesigns

Emily who runs miss magpie designs has to be one of the most talented people I have met in a long time. She is self-taught which I find even more amazing. Miss magpie was started in 2012 selling just greetings cards but had now expanded to selling pet portraits and animal prints. Her main focus is on birds and her drawings really are beautiful.

How cute is this little guy!?

She has an amazing range of Valentines day cards and very good prices 

If anyone would like to send me one of these for valentines day the puffin one is my fave.

Nappy Cakes By Laura

@NappyCakesLaura

This lovely lady (who has a very nice name) makes Nappy cakes, these are fantastic and make amazing gifts for any expecting parent, the lovely Laura is based in Blackpool. The large cakes such as the one above are £45 however they start at only £10. They contain blankets, nappies, shampoo, brushes,socks, baby grows and towels. Feel free to give this lovely lady a tweet

Strange fruit

http://ilovestrangefruit.com/

Strange fruit is a home run business that sells some the nicest greetings cards I have ever seen. It was set up by Denise and her husband Cory in east London  The name Strange fruit comes from a poem that I found quite hard to digest.

Their cards have a very vintage/retro feel to them, some are made from recycled materials and most have a quote of some kind on them.

This is my fave card the quote on it says Courage doesn't always roar. 

 "Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying "I will try again tomorrow."  Mary Anne Radmacher. 

I love the quote they use on they cards, they are really meaningful.

Thankyou so much to all those who took part in #Twittersisters see you all next week!

Keep it scrimpy
Laura.

Student meals- Spag Bol

So I thought I would open with a classic, every student should know how to make a good Spag Bol, it's a staple of student life and it can be quite healthy.

You will need

Mince (this recipe uses veggie mince)

Onions 

Other veg-use whatever you have or whatever is going cheap for example

• Mushrooms
• Peppers
• Frozen mixed veg 
• Peas (fresh or frozen)

Tinned tomatoes 

Tomato puree 

Tomato Sauce 

A glug of oil

Garlic

Now you will notice I haven't given quantities of anything here, that's because I don't cook like that, I just bung it all in a pan and hope for the best, check the photos for rough ideas of how much to use. For this I used a massive saucepan (see photos) and it made LOADS.

Start off by chopping all your veg, here I used mushrooms and peppers, also chop your onions.

Then in the biggest sauce pan you can find add the oil and heat the pan to a high heat, add the garlic to the pan while the oil is cold. You really don't want to burn garlic, it will taste very bitter.

When the oil is hot fry off your onions until they have gone soft, if you are not sure taste them, they should become sweeter. (if you are using meat mince add it here and fry it until it had browned)

 Next throw in the rest of your veg and fry that off for a few mins, until everything has started to soften

 Now it is time to add your tomatoes, for this I used two tins and about 1/4 of a tube of paste. If you are using whole tomatoes then first only add the juice to the pan then with a knife roughly chop the tomatoes before adding to the pan (it's easy enough to do this while they are still in the tin). Then add the puree, you can add as much or as little as you like, puree will just make the tomato flavor stronger. Taste as you go and work from there.

 If you are making this with meat mince skip the next section.

 Now it's time to add veggie mince, I prefer veggie mince but I'm not veggie myself, it's often cheaper than meat so when it's on offer I like to stock up.

Any brand of mince is good I've made it with both Quorn and Linda McCartney mince (I prefer the latter), Tesco's own brand mince is very good.

 Give the mince a good stir and let is simmer away for about 5 mins (you might need to turn the heat down slightly here)









 When your mince is cooked (veggie mince) give it a taste, if you feel like it's missing something then I like add a squirt of Ketchup, I know it sounds weird but it really does make a difference (well to me anyway).














Finally you need to season the Bolognese well, keep tasting it as you go, you don't want to over season it.











Then leave it to simmer on a low heat while you get on with the spaghetti.


(If your sauce is looking too thick add some water, if it is looking too thin just let it simmer for a little longer

Serve and enjoy!

Leftovers
There will be left overs, I did warn you that this would make loads.
With this batch I put about half into plastic tubs like this, let them cool and then froze them.
With the rest I added a couple of teaspoons of chopped chili and a tin of red kidney bean and BOOM I had myself chilli con carne.






Finally you need to wash up, although if you cooked for your flat mates maybe they should wash up for you.

 So now I have armed you with the knowledge of spag bol, go forth to your kitchen and make a mess food!


Let me know if you guys try this, and questions let me know! Tweet me @scrimpystudent

Keep it scrimpy
Laura.

Blue Monday- Pound Land Shopping Spree

So it's Blue Monday? Not in my little world!

This morning I gave my blog a bit of a face lift, what do you guys think?

Then came the exciting bit, I went to collect my post, every thing I had nabbed in the online sales I got sent here to uni, it was like a second christmas! My sex and the city DVDs arrived plus Joey season 1 (I'm finishing season 9 of friends soon so this is next on my list to watch). I still have a few things left to arrive.

Finally I had a little package from the lovely people at Poundland  I found out after christmas that I had won their Pintrest Christmas Competition so today I got my £250 of Poundland Vouchers! I nearly cried when I found out I had won, I didn't quite believe the email at first, £250 is a lot of money for anyone but for a student WOW!

So... What was the logical thing to do next? (after a Bacon sandwich) SHOPPING SPREE!
And what a spree it was, I managed to spend £40... £40 In Poundland, I couldn't quite believe I managed it, I thought I had the whole shop by the time I finished, here is just a selection of what I ended up with.

There is loads of hair and make up stuff here so once I have used them I shall report back.

Then to top off my day we had the arrival of a new flat mate as Tina, our German exchange student, had gone home. Our new flatmate is from Paris, she's just settling in at the moment but she seems really nice and sweet. Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better look who showed up!

I hope Blue Monday wasn't too blue for all of you.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura

Choosing Accommodation

UCAS deadline day has passed, most people are now holding offers (if you aren't don't worry some places like to take their time handing out offers). So what's next on the long road to applying to uni? Well while waiting for student finance to open it's worth thinking about what accommodation you want to live in next year.

Most first years choose to live in university accommodation/ Halls.

However you need to have a look around before deciding what halls you want to live in. There are several things to consider.

• What can you afford
• You might not be able to answer this yet but using a loan calculator you can get a rough idea
• What do you need
• Most universities offer large rooms or even rooms with a double bed, these all sound very nice but are quite expensive. Large rooms on the ground floor are often used for disabled access. 
• How many people are you sharing with
• Depending on the halls you may share with differing amounts of people. The cheaper halls here have more people per flat than the more expensive halls.
• What are you sharing (bathrooms kitchen etc)
• for some people sharing a bathroom is a big no no, but remember you will pay extra for en-suite rooms. 

One of the first posts I did was a tour of my room here. I pay £4,221.27 for the pleasure of living in my halls, which seems expensive but over the year it is cheaper than most.

My experiences were that on open days we were only shown the most expensive accommodation and I really had to search for the cheaper options, but keep looking they are out there.

I know it is a while until applications for accommodation opens but it's worth looking now and knowing what you want ready for when the time comes around.

Feel free post me any questions and I will do my best to help

Keep it scrimpy.

Laura.

A Student's first christmas

Okay so it might be getting a little late for Christmas related blog post but I'm sill on my Christmas break until the 19th. All I have to say is that I'm 100% ready for my return to uni. Don't get me wrong Christmas was amazing but after nearly a month off I think I've had too much of a good thing.

While I have been back I have been so busy but at the same time I still have so much left to do. I have caught up with so many friends but I still have more people to see before I go back.

My mother is doing my head in now, at first it was really nice to be back home, having meals cooked for me, even the slight bit of nagging was welcome but now I miss my independence. I miss being able to do things my way and whenever I want to.

This Christmas has been a whole new experience and has made me realize exactly how much I have grown up while at uni, meeting up with some old friends made me realize how much they haven't grown up and that's been quite hard to adjust to and more than once I have had to face the fact that I'm just not going to keep in contact with some people, this has probably been the most important learning curve I have faced in 2012.

I have a new appreciation for 'family time' I really loved playing board games with the family, I have even got on with my sister for the majority of this holiday, I even might feel that I haven't seen enough of her (don't tell her that).

So while I anticipate my return to uni there are a few things I shall miss. My Sunday Chinese meal with the lovely Alex. A pub quiz most nights in the week. My dog. My wii. And finally my job.









p.s I have some exciting news for you soon.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.

Money saving tips #3 TV Licence

TV licences are quite costly, the simple way to save yourself some money here is to just to not have one.

 I don't have one, I don't even have a TV

Nowadays there just isn't a need. You only need a TV licence to watch TV as it is being broadcast live. With the likes of iplayer and 4od you can still catch up on all the TV you watched at home. Then there are services like netflix and amazon prime which are pretty awesome.

Also communal areas such as common rooms usually have their own TV's for you to use.

If you are like me and are totally obsessed with a certain series (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) it might be worth getting the box-set, I recently invested in the Sex and the City box set for only £20



Would you be getting a TV Licence for uni?

Keep it scrimpy
Laura.

Student Finance applications

So it’s 2013, some students are already packing up and heading back to uni for some dreaded exams. For those of you applying to uni this year it’s time to start thinking about student finance. If you thought UCAS was a pain in the arse, just you wait.

Applications start in ‘early 2013’ (they don’t even give you an exact date). You can make an account with them whenever so get that done early so you are ready to go when it is time.

When they do open, online forums are saying it will be in february this year, don’t wait around. Get it done. Usually I’m a little more relaxed about things but if you don’t get your application in before they deadline (again they haven’t announced an exact date yet) you wont be getting your money when your course starts. I know some people who only got their first loan payment before Christmas because they didn't get their application in on time. Don’t mess about with student finance.

Another hoop to jump through for student finance is sending off evidence. For me I had to send off my Mum’s divorce certificate, if you do have to send anything off make sure to send it recorded delivery so you know it got there for sure. You will need to provide evidence that you are you, you can either enter your passport number online or if you don’t have one you need to post your birth certificate. (if you need to it might be worth rooting out your birth certificate now just to make sure you have it)

Finally you need your parents to confirm their income; there is a whole wonderfully confusing section on this for you all to tackle. They will need to supply financial income and their national insurance number.

Once you have jumped through all the hoops you will be sent a letter telling you how much money you get. DON’T LOSE THIS LETTER. Buy yourself a folder and keep all your uni related letters in there. You will need this letter when you get the uni. It will look a lot like that one over there.

Make sure you get your application checked; usually there is someone at your school/college/sixth form who can do this. Whatever you do, do not press send until it has been checked. At one point I have one box ticked incorrectly and it meant that I didn't get the tuition fees loan. That would have been scary if I had pressed send.

My top tips for getting through student finance

1. Make your account now
2. Apply early
3. Get your application checked before sending

For those of you applying, I hope you found this helpful. Good luck, you are going to need it.

Keep it scrimpy.
Laura.