My Best Money Saving Tip

This is the last stitch of the scary sewing project, hand sewing the hems. The whole project has taken me about five days in all, and although the curtains are certainly not 'perfect' from a professional curtain making point of view, I'm very pleased with them. 

(Sighs of relief all round and a huge saving of £500 made).

The pencil pleat uniformity is a bit iffy and wouldn't stand up to scrutiny, but hey the ribbon is sooo pretty it kinda makes up for it. I was hoping the ribbon would lift the plain curtains from bog standard to bespoke, and I think it has.

I would say if you're thinking of giving this sort of thing a go, but like me have never done it before, give it a try. Look on the Internet for tutorials, ask friends for their tips, take your time and it will work :)

We have spent some money on this room, but we have stuck to a budget, and we now have a lovely room that we will use, instead of an ugly one that we didn't want to go in. 

Most of the larger items we have recently purchased, art deco cabinet, sofa and fire surround have all been found on ebay. The rug was Ardingly.

Pure wool. Only £50.00.

This 1930s fire surround was an unbelievable £4.99.

So now I'm going to let you know how we found such incredible bargains on ebay. Otherwise known as my best money saving tip.

By using The Money Saving Expert's local ebay deals mapper. 

This handy little gizmo can tell you all the items that are listed as 'collection only'. By entering your post code and the amount of miles you're willing to travel to collect, you will be able to scroll through a veritable cornucopia of delights, and grab some bargains.

You may even be lucky and find some sellers who are willing to deliver for a small fee.