Category Archives: Princess Tightwad

By Princess Tightwad, the parsimonious eco-warrior Princess Tightwad likes bargain basement music. 100% Colombian by the Fun Lovin’ Criminals for 99p? Oh yes. I’ve written about the joys of charity shop CDs before. But legal music for free? Bring it on.

So when I stumbled upon www.last.fm while looking for an obscure track on the internet, I thought I’d discovered a pay-as-you-download unter-iTunes. But no, here is a site where you can create your own radio station of favourite music, play full tracks and not pay a penny. I don’t always want a full album. Lily Allen is a case in point: generally the Bedales-educated mockney socialite irritates me with her faux glottal (glo’al?) stops and perceptions, but I like a couple of her tracks. I don’t have an iPod. What to do? Log onto last.fm, listen to LND or Smile until they grate on you, then simply ban them from the playlist. What’s the catch? I haven’t found one (yet). Continue reading →

By Princess Tightwad, the parsimonious eco-warrior Princess Tightwad has now abandoned the hushed, designer aisles of the Marks and Spencer food hall for something easier on the purse. As the foreign discount stores Lidl and Aldi are about the only shops showing profit, I thought I would pay a visit and see if good food really could cost less.

In the previous recession, the Lidl car park in Locksbottom was the inspiration for one of Mr Tightwad’s best jokes: as a shiny new green BMW drew up alongside our 10-year-old Vauxhall Nova, he noted’Look she’s saved enough money shopping at Lidl to buy a BMW’. Now, if you have a BMW you have to shop at Lidl just to keep the darn thing on the road. Continue reading →

By Princess Tightwad, the parsimonious eco-warrior Princess Tightwad was bored with her in-car CDs. How many times had she listened to Moby, The Ministry of Sound Chill Out Sessions and Music of South Africa?

Unwilling to let Amazon play with my Flexible Friend, and with a musician pal’s birthday looming, I thought I’d see what my local charity shops had to offer. I expected very little apart from scratched CDs of Tears For Fears, Val Doonican and Daniel O’Donnell Singalong “with-Mrs- Doyle. Continue reading →