London on the cheap

There's no shame to wanting to save a few pounds here or there while still wanting to enjoy the finer things in life. When you live in London and every £10 you spend could have gone on a flight to Paris/Berlin/Budapest you have to save the dosh where you can. A couple of weeks ago I had possible the cheapest evening I have ever had out in London while actually attending an interesting event (ie not just going to a bar and scabbing free drinks of everyone else). This may sound incredibly dorky, but I actually went to a book reading at my local Waterstones (a high street bookstore chain) and was pleasantly surprised. It was packed for starters, and the author was considerably famous - Marina Lewycka - who wrote the funny and sweet A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian and has a new novel out called Two Caravans. She read excerpts from her latest novel, spoke about it and answered questions, and was thoroughly interesting. Before you think I've completely lost it, the other redeeming quality of the night was that there were free snacks and wine! I had dragged Shell along (she only came for the wine I suspect :) and tickets were only £3, which was subtracted from the cost of the book if you bought a signed copy. Not bad for a weeknight out I reckon.

While on the subject of wine and saving money, is it wrong that I have taken to buying wine online? This may sound like I am sinking into alcoholic depths, however it is incredibly economical if you get the frequent cheap deals from the major supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury's. And when you exist in a wine-drinking household such as hours, it is normal to expect that you are probably going to go through six bottles a month anyway..(right?), so why not just save the money by buying in bulk? Plus it saves you lugging the bottles back from the supermarket - a nice man delivers it to you! This is my money-saving tip for winos living in London anyway.