Mum and Daughter day

One thing I believe is important, no matter how old they are, is spending time with your kids.

My daughter is 27, and has her own kiddies.

Her hubby often works away and she is about to begin a full time career.

We live very near each other but don't get girl time like this very often.

Yesterday we had a mum and daughter day.  Man Wonderful and son-in-law had the kiddies and the dogs for the day and we headed off to the seaside town of Brixham.

I love the brightly coloured houses on the side facing the harbour.

There is an old boat decorated as a pirate ship you can explore.

And some folk dressed as pirates walk among the tourists and locals.

But we weren't here for pirating or pillaging...

We had come for a treat - our brand of treat - mooching around the charity shops.

I wanted to find a new coat.

GD wanted to find some clothes for the rapidly growing grandchildren to grow into.

We both wanted to browse bookshelves.

And as usual, I had an eye out for items suitable for Christmas pressies.

We paid to park for four hours.  Using an online app rather than cash saved us a few pennies. 

We had pre-ordered our lunch from a cafe/eatery to collect.  It was a little cheaper than sitting in.

The cardboard boxes our lunches were packed in easily transform into cardboard plates, and we were offered bamboo cutlery - although being a Frugal Mum I had cutlery from home in my handbag!  I had also brought drinks from home so we didn't need to buy those for lunchtime.

We sat near the harbour just drinking in the view and watching the world go by.  (OK we were pointing out people in outfits that really didn't go well.... to each other not to the people, you understand!!)

Then we began our challenge:  how many charity shops could we visit, and what could we buy within our budget?

In the first shop I found a LEGO Harry Potter game in mint condition!  As granddaughter loves anything HP that was a must - GD purchased it for £10, along with three paperback books she wanted to read.  

While £10 might seem quite pricey, this game is currently selling for £79.99 on Amazon...although it is already being played with and loved, which is far more important than what it is worth!!

In the second shop I found two very pretty mugs with winter themes on.  I looked at the underneath (I always check this as you can see how worn out a mug is.. ) to find original shop prices and perfect bottoms!  One more check over to make sure there were no cracks or chips and Ker-Ching!! Two mugs for my Christmas shopping for 50p each!!

The next shop was a little bit grotty and we didn't stay in it very long, but the next charity shop was superb! - I found a gorgeous trench coat for £5.

I was still smiling at this find when I found a Mantaray and a Joe Brown's dress for £4.50 each - and the Joe Brown's still had the original ticket attached!!

I needed to be careful with my pennies as I wanted to treat us to a cuppa and cake before we went home, so I tried very hard not to look for bargains in the next two shops.

However, in the very last shop we visited, there were three teddy bears.  A large, medium and baby - again with the original tags on and in perfect condition.  

Thinking of the Macmillan Coffee morning that we are hosting in two weeks time, I thought we could buy these and have a 'name the bears' competition with them as a prize.  For just £6 they were an absolute bargain.

We went to a very quirky coffee shop for our cuppa and I enjoyed rainbow cake while GD had a raspberry tart. 

All in all it was a smashing day out.  

I spent up to my budget, and have already started another savings envelope for the next time.

Take care,

Tracey xx