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LEE BOYCE: Make it up and recover to beat the cost of living and stop the swelling of our landfills
What an inspiration the Market Harborough Fixers are.
As we report, the team of hard-working volunteers in the market town of Leicestershire give up their Saturday mornings, rain or shine, to fix broken kettles, lamps and record players brought in by locals.
It is truly noble work.
Do and Fix: The Market Harborough Fixers give up their Saturday morning rain or shine to fix broken kettles, lamps and record players brought in by locals
Not only do they stop items going to landfill and give them a new lease of life, they save their neighbors money when every penny counts.
Their ingenuity reminded me of the time when I panicked over my daughter’s birthday present.
Brooke was only a few days away from her third birthday, and after an afternoon trudging down the High Street, I came away empty-handed.
The next morning I walked to the local coffee shop and saw an almost new bike in a dumpster in a driveway.
It was still there on the way home. So I knocked on the door and the owner revealed that he had thrown it away in a house moving frenzy.
Can I take the bike? Yes No problem. My prayers answered. The Princess bike (RRP £100) – all cleaned up, with inflated tires and tassels added – was the perfect birthday present. Not only did Brooke love it, she had no idea it was second-hand.
More and more I see families hanging out on my neck of the woods in Essex with ‘free, take me’ signs.
All they need is a little Tender Loving Creativity to cheer them up. Take a look around your neighborhood when you’re out and about.
If any good comes out of this cost crisis, let’s hope it’s a return to the old-fashioned values of ‘do and recover’.
Wouldn’t it be great if more youngsters experienced the excitement 15-year-old Charlie must have felt when the Market Harborough Fixers rescued his grandparents’ old record player?
I can picture young Charlie listening to the sounds his grandparents heard 50 years ago. It’s a money-can’t-buy link to the past. And who knows, maybe one day he’ll pass it on to his own grandchildren.
I hope our report inspires you to go to the loft, or even create your own circle of volunteers who can turn their hand to repair work.
It’s a great way to save money and stop the swelling of our landfills – one sewing machine, radio and Princess bike at a time.
Retirement crafting
Why can’t politicians just leave pensions alone?
We are under tremendous pressure on our finances and yet Treasury officials would consider a raid on pension pots.
According to reports, new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is considering cutting the tax cut on pensions in a drastic effort to boost the government’s coffers.
Six years ago, his predecessor George Osborne tried something eerily similar – only to scrap the idea after coming under fire from a Money Mail campaign fueled by anger from our readers.
Our views have not changed: politicians should keep their grubby hands off our nest eggs.
Don’t make us take the old newspaper clippings from the Mail library and send them to Downing Street, Jeremy!
Supermarket hawk
My wife has come to call me a “grocery hawk” when we go grocery shopping, which I’m not sure is an expression of affection or contempt.
You see, I insist on a forensic inspection of the price of items per gram or liter, or even per sheet of toilet roll.
As eagle-eyed readers will have noted, larger packs occasionally have worse value for money than the smaller ones, which turns the logic on its head.
Examples I saw over the weekend were pasta, frozen peas, and cookies. Even some items on offer were more expensive than smaller packs.
Mrs. B was not as impressed as I thought she would be. But supermarkets are there to make a profit. If they can sell you items you don’t need and baffle you with prices, they will!
Have you spotted a supermarket price frenzy? Mail me at the address below and become a member of my (proud) hawk club.
l.boyce@dailymail.co.uk