Living frugally in London

Bye bye to this tumblr

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:15:39 -0400

Followers, I’m no longer posting in this tumblr. Please follow libertine-grrl on here instead. Cheers!

Everything You Need To Know About The Steubenville Rape Trial

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 05:49:06 -0400

Everything You Need To Know About The Steubenville Rape Trial:

The boys’ lawyers plan to argue that silence is consent.

The boys’ lawyers plan to argue that silence is consent.

The boys’ lawyers plan to argue that silence is consent.

THE BOY’S LAWYERS PLAN TO ARGUE THAT SILENCE IS CONSENT

I bought this box of “Monty Bojangles” truffles for...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:46:35 -0500

I bought this box of “Monty Bojangles” truffles for 2 quid at Waitrose to treat myself today (and the rest of this week!). They are French truffles with a crumbly soft cookie in the centre. Incredibly rich, so I’m allowing myself only a few per day (they are rather small!). I gave a couple to my colleague, then told her how much they cost. She was shocked and said they tasted like very expensive truffles. And they do. I highly recommend them.

London Cinema: memberships & deals

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:57:12 -0500

If you’re a fan of cinema, it may be worth investing in a membership at your local screen or in the cinema you attend the most to regularly save money on tickets. You can also get discounts by going on “non-traditional” cinema nights, such as Mondays or Wednesdays:

The quirky, avante-garde Prince Charles Cinema in Central London offers an annual £10/yr membership (or £50 for a lifetime membership), which gets you regular discounts on tickets plus early announcements to many of their events, and discounts at businesses throughout Soho: http://www.princecharlescinema.com/html/membership.php

Every Monday night at the Barbican you’ll get to see all new-release films for only £5/ticket.

The Barbican has a family film club that encompasses not only film (with a programmed family film every Saturday) but also art, music, and theatre. You’ll get discounts on the weekly film and the other events as well. It is free to join. http://www.barbican.org.uk/family-film-club/

If you’re 16-25, you can join Barbican’s “freeB” membership scheme to get lots of free tickets to not only cinema but their other art & music events as well: http://www.barbican.org.uk/free_b/about-freeb

If your mobile carrier (or iPad carrier) is Orange, you can take part in Orange Wednesdays: you’ll get 2-for-1 cinema tickets (at the moment it looks like you also get 2 for 1 pizzas at Pizza Express on the same deal). It’s as easy as sending a text on the day of to get your 2 for 1 cinema tickets sent to you via SMS (or use the app on your iPhone: http://more-from.orange.co.uk/orange-wednesdays/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=PPC

(cinema membership suggestion brought to you by my friend Laws!)

SLOW COOKING! This puppy came in the post yesterday! It’s my new...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:10:00 -0500

SLOW COOKING!

This puppy came in the post yesterday! It’s my new 3.5 litre slow cooker. The plan is to make big batches of meals to last us over several days. Put the ingredients in before work, turn it on, and then voila! An amazing tasty slow-cooked creation when we get home from work. I am stupidly excited to get this plan going… No more ready-meals when I come home from work exhausted at 8pm!

Poundshops

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:42:00 -0500

You are welcome to say that I have no dignity, but I don’t care (and it’s probably true, to be honest)! Pound shops are amazing and they are very much your friend. This is something we didn’t have in the US (we have Dollar stores, but they are full of novelties and crap - absolutely nothing useful). Poundshops are EXCELLENT in London. You can get toiletries of all varieties, tea towels, baking dishes, gardening supplies, you name it. Get thee to a poundshop!

Superdrug's supercheap toothpaste!

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:36:06 -0500

As much as I want to be one of those people who is fussy about their toothpaste, in fact I am not. Superdrug had a sale on this week: buy two tubes of their “sensitive whitening” toothpaste for £2. I was sold - that’s my teeth taken care of for the next 2 months!

Science Museum lates

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:15:00 -0500

If you’re a geeky sort, check out the Science Museum’s monthly Lates for adults. It’s free entry - there are lectures, bars, and even a silent disco. You really can’t go wrong with this one. The next one on the 25th of January is on the Science of SPACE! It’s a good, inexpensive, stimulating night out! Check out: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/events/events_for_adults/Lates.aspx

artistic outings to London's free museums

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:00:00 -0500

Be sure to visit London’s amazing free museums for the perfect artistic outing. Don’t forget to pack your lunch (and maybe a thermos of tea!), plus your sketchpad, to enjoy your day out to its fullest:

Near Holborn in Central London: the British Museum – MASSIVE and free! You can spend an entire day in this museum and still not see everything.
Trafalgar Square: catch the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, adjacent to one another.
Kensington: the Victoria & Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and the Science Museums. All within walking distance of one another, and as most exhibits are sponsored, they are free entry.
Sloane Square; visit the Saatchi Modern Art Gallery, which is also free with a good rotation of exhibits.
South Bank: Tate Modern is excellent and the main exhibitions are free. Invest in a Tate membership, and you can free entry into all the exhibitions, as well as entrance to the members bar (plus all the food and drinks in the members bar are much cheaper). A great way to spend a first date, or a 30th date!

(Many thanks to Andi Rutherford for his contributions for this!)