I have a secret…

…I love Wilkinson.

I really do.

For those who don’t know, this English high street discount store is just heaven on a penny.  You can get everything from hair gel to garden seating, cutlery to carpet cleaner, stationery to home furnishings at bargain prices.  I don’t go often but when I do, I get all overcome with ‘disco-unt’ fever and have this lovely warm glow afterwards as I gaze at my full-to-the-brim bags of super savings – here are just some of the things I could not resist today:

• Listerine Mouthwash (less than half the supermarket price)
• Blue nail polish for £1 (adorning my toes as I type)
• Washing up gloves (I never wear them but it’s good to have them for emergencies…apparently)
• A portable concertina file (because I like to feel ‘sorted’)
• A red lamp shade (to replace the blue one I am bored with)
• Some secret birthday treats for J (honey, please pretend you never saw this)

Some of the things I did resist included:

• bedsheets (to go with the lovely duvet cover I got for my birthday),
• more stationery (you know how addictive stationery is),
• coffee cups (apparently I have too many already and the ones I liked weren’t THAT cheap)
• and plants (my gardening clippers have recently had a serious altercation with the thyme that had the audacity to die after thriving all year – I am now focusing my regenerative green thumbs single-mindedly in this direction).

So today’s post is really a big ‘shout out’ to this British bastion of bargains…

…who were also the only place I could find to buy a hammer in Robert-Dyas-less Kingston (to put together my Ikea furniture together) when I first moved to the area…

Wilkos, what would I do without you!