A small pot of paint goes a long way

Hello and good morning. Thank you to Jean for the question about my paint. 

You always seen to have plenty of paint for projects, where does it all come from? I know you buy test pots, and mention free paint, but with all your summer house painting and projects, you must spend a lot. So what is your secret of never ending paint, and how do you get "free" paint? Jean.

Yes, it must seem like I spend a lot of money on paint, I always appear to have some on hand. Flis is right, friends gave me some half tins of paint for the summer house, so that was free, I also used some of my small pots. This is what I have left.

Small tins of Crown, these came from Hull Scrapstore. They were included in my £5 per basket, along with lots of fabric. So they cost very little. 

These Coverplus plastic tester pots came from Woolworths just before they closed, that was a few years ago. They cost 4p each, there was a lot more but I am on the last dregs now.

Got these on a previous visit to the Scrapstore, again as part of a basket, only three left, had about twelve to start with.

Cuprinol, bought a few months back from Wilko. You can see that they were 10p each.

The total sum of what I have left. It's all vinyl silk emulsion or similar, so the brushes can be cleaned in water. I don't have as many colours left to play with now, so I will be keeping my eyes open when I go in  diy shops that sell paint, and look for anything that is reduced.

I treat all my shopping in the same way. As well as food being reduced, shops sometimes clear out excessive stock to make way for new. It's a case of being alert, not walking around in a dream, and scouring the shelves for any offers. The word 'reduced' is imprinted in my brain, if I spot something I want to know what it is, and if it will be of any use to me.

There is a reduced section in The Range, a big department store that has an extensive selection of arts and crafts items. I very rarely find anything in there, they don't knock much off, but when I am in the shop I take a look just in case. It's like the reduced dry goods (food) in Tesco, nothing much there, but on occasions they have dented tins which are marked down to very cheap.

If I go in any shop my eyes scan the shelves, the bins, and around the till area, searching for the words Reduced, or Offers, or Sale. All these little savings add up and it means that I get to keep my money in my purse and save up a little nest egg for spending on treats. It's the fun of beating the system for me, like a tug of war between me and them. I know more or less what I am prepared to pay for things. If the price is too high I walk away.

Paint is very expensive, my whole house could do with a lick of it, but I am not prepared to spend the money because it's not a priority. I might tart it up a bit if I find some cheap enough, but I don't enjoy painting whole doors and walls inside a house. The summer house was different, I could slap it on, it didn't matter that it wasn't perfect.

Anyway, I've got tho go, Heidi needs to have a tablet, that's if I can find her, she went out earlier but might be back in now. Garcia has been in for his breakfast, he scoffed it down that quick, he brought it back up again, yuk. Mayze is lounging on the dining room table aka the painting/sewing table. It's going to be a hot one today. I shall go and see Stan in the mobile library later to change some books.

Thanks for popping in, we'll catch up soon.
Toodle pip