New start on my OS adventure!!

icontinuetodream · 14 December 2014 at 12:58PM

My proper start on OS begins today and I'm hoping some of you will join me and/or advise!!

I have had a diary on the MFW boards for a while, but due to a drastic change of circumstances, I know that my lurking for the next six months will definitely be predominantly on these boards!!:D

I have decided to take a six month break from work, which means living on one salary with little manoeuvre room in the budget....however, it does cover all of our bills and gives us a little bit personal spending money so I know that I am in a very fortunate position and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

But - I want to make the most of the money I have and use the six months to concentrate my efforts on producing a really good foundation that will become a complete way of life; I want to be able to continue when I do go back to paid employment!

Despite being budget conscious for a long while, I have never really embraced the OS lifestyle in all it's glory

That all changes from now though!!

:D

On the plus side, I can cook and I can grow stuff - the minus is that the two good points are the only bits of creativity I have ever displayed!! :rotfl:

But I'm willing to learn!!

All suggestions will be more than welcome!

So far, my plans are -

1) My garden - growing things to use during the summer/autumn/spring and store for the winter; I want the garden to be productive throughout all the seasons - it hasn't got to be a massive amount, but a little all year round is the aim!!
2) Utilise the huge amount of old but good quality clothing and a 'long-term' borrowed sewing machine which I have never used or have cottons for!

I want to make things which will help to brighten and/or insulate my home to minimise bills - lining curtains, making throws etc...that sort of stuff..
3) I want to minimise waste and recycle everything that I possibly can - this will focus my purchases as well as my planning :shocked:
4) Minimise all expenditure where possible - I really want to concentrate on where every penny goes; I find it far to easy to squander cash!

I have a lot to learn and am happy to accept when I fall down- I'm good at getting back on the wagon and seeing the positives in failure!!

I have the plans for solstice covered - a budget for the food, we are making our own wreaths and decorating with stuff from the garden and spending a day baking and preparing food. I will work the rest of December's and January's meal plan around what we have remaining following the celebrations!! Plenty of OS meals will be frozen for use - saving on fuel costs and taking the strain out of meal planning!

I will plant the first of my seeds on Solstice - six tomatoes, six broad beans, six garlic bulbs and six chillies. The next sowing will be in early February when I will put in the remaining broad beans, tomatoes and aubergines.

My friend is coming over during the holiday period so I will ask her to show me how to use the sewing machine and get started with that in January too!!

I'm looking forward to this!!

jackyann · 14 December 2014 at 1:15PM

Welcome!

My main bits of advice (most of which I'm sure you do) are:

Browse this forum and lots of other stuff on the net. Keep your "commonsense" hat on. Some people (on other forums / blogs etc) seem to suggest daft things.

Use your library assiduously. There will be loads of "how to" books & DVDs.

Join freecycle / freegle. Not just for the stuff, but for all the bits of advice & ideas that you get.

Make sure you are on your local council's mailing list for information, also any local wildlife trusts, nature reserves, arts centres etc. So you get to know lots of local info.

Don't get downhearted by failures. You have a little spare personal money, so an experiment isn't necessarily the end of the world (but it can feel rather awful). Some of your cookery / sewing / growing / upcycling projects won't work. Learn and move on.

Don't forget your treats - but you can be thoughtful about them & what they cost.

Good luck!

WantToBeSE · 14 December 2014 at 1:56PM

Good Luck!

Don't forget to look in the charity shops for old curtains/material that you can utilise. They can be made into door curtains, duvets, throws etc if you have the know how.

Work out is having cash is better than card for you. Different things work better for different people. What works for others may not work for you. For example, I was always told to use debit card for my grocery shopping, as most people find it easier (apparently) not to have cash on them. Yet for me, its better to have cold hard cash on me, so it seems more 'real'. So I withdraw my grocery budget money for the month on payday and all grocery spends come from that.

I agree with the above poster, make the most of your local library. If you need books to learn anything, then your library should be your first port of call (if you cant get the info online, obviously). Next should be a second hand book shop.

jackel · 14 December 2014 at 3:53PM

Good Luck ! jac.xx

icontinuetodream · 14 December 2014 at 4:15PM

Thank you for your advice and best wishes jackyann, WantToBeSE and jac

I have worked out my food and household budgets for the Solstice to Solstice challenge (as I am lovingly calling this!!

) All the savings I make in these budgets will go towards my target of saving £500 by the summer solstice.....

My six month budgets are as follows:

Meat & Fish - £714.96 (£27.50pw/£119.16pm)
Fruit & Veg - £532.98 (£20.50pw/£88.83pm)
Dairy - £273 (£10.50pw/£45.50pm)
Jars/tins etc - £168.96 (£6.50pw/£28.16pm)
Non-food/cleaning - £103.98 (£4pw/£17.33pm)

I have a list of things I intend to grow and a list of things that I will make from that produce and from bulk purchases I get at the local farm shops etc.....hopefully, I will come under budget in the fruit/veg plus the jars/tins categories for a lot of the time!!

From my persie budget, I am allocating a max of £120 over the six months for craft stuff (cotton, glue, fabric etc) so I need to make sure that anything I want to buy is either cheap (car-boot/charity shop/freecycle etc as suggested!!

) or totally free!! A mission on it's own but it will be nice to bargain hunt!! :rotfl:

There will be further savings from other parts of the household budget - these will go into a different account though as I want to put those and any additional cash I acquire against the mortgage - but I currently allocate £1080 every six months for the heating/hot water and electricity use in the house; getting that lower is a definite desire of mine and hopefully this challenge will help

Thanks for dropping in and encouraging me!!

WantToBeSE · 14 December 2014 at 5:48PM

icontinuetodream wrote: »

From my persie budget, I am allocating a max of £120 over the six months for craft stuff (cotton, glue, fabric etc) so I need to make sure that anything I want to buy is either cheap (car-boot/charity shop/freecycle etc as suggested!! ) or totally free!! A mission on it's own but it will be nice to bargain hunt!! :rotfl:

There will be further savings from other parts of the household budget - these will go into a different account though as I want to put those and any additional cash I acquire against the mortgage - but I currently allocate £1080 every six months for the heating/hot water and electricity use in the house; getting that lower is a definite desire of mine and hopefully this challenge will help

Thanks for dropping in and encouraging me!!

Maybe you could kill 2 birds with 1 stone and make a draught excluder

If you aren't too bothered about how it looks, you could recycle an old pair of jeans (if you have any- or pick up a cheap pair from a charity shop/Facebook/Freecycle).

The basics are easy; cut a leg off the jeans, sew up 1 end and then fill it with rice or rolled up newspaper, or whatever cheap alternatives you have- Google what other people do, or search through the OS threads, I am sure there are a few on making a draught excluder. Then sew up the other end and hey presto!
If you have young children or grandchildren, you could get them to decorate it.

That'll save you a bit of money on heating! And a fun craft activity too.

Do you use a butcher for you meat? My local butcher is MUCH cheaper than the supermarket, so may be worth you having a look.
An example from my butcher recently was 24 chicken thighs for £7.99.

Same with road side fruit and veg sellers, they may be cheaper than farm shops.
For example, several of the local farmers around here park up in various lay-bys on a Saturday morning and sell potatoes, eggs, fruit, veg, Christmas trees, even jams etc. They are MUCH cheaper than our local farm shop.

I'll be following this with interest, as I am looking to cut down my expenses in January

icontinuetodream · 15 December 2014 at 12:04PM

Draught excluder firmly on my list now!! Thanks WTBSE!!

I will also check out the butchers....we do have one in the local town but he treated my dd very badly when she worked briefly for him so I won't go there as a matter of principle!! ;)However, there are a few others dotted around the area, so I will see if I can find one who has decent offers!

I am doing a freezer inventory today - I need to ensure that I have room for the solstice food that I am buying tomorrow and want to clear out any chicken stock that I haven't used up yet....I tend to make a lot throughout the year - most of which I use, but what I haven't used by the end of the year I clear out and use to moisten the dog biccies....clears room in my freezer and makes the puppies happy!!

I also have a lot of bits and pieces in the freezer which I will use up in one form or another over the next few days....freezer roulette is on the menu until solstice!! :rotfl:

Last night, I decided that I needed to use up some of the fresh stuff in the fridge so I made a salad of shredded iceberg lettuce (dd won't eat any other type!!) grapefruit segments (had a grapefruit which looked sad!) thinly sliced radishes and red onion, some chopped dates and all dressed with blood orange balsamic. I served it with some red lentils and rice with red onions (soaked in boiling water together for ten minutes, then rinsed and boiled for approx. 15 mins in veg stock) and shredded cabbage which I wilted in butter and oil with chopped red onion, added lots of dried dill and sage, a good glug of white wine cooked for 15 mins and then added some sweet chilli sauce. Absolutely everything from stocks and using up things which, if left for a lot longer, would probably have ended up in my bin!!

I feel very OS!! :rotfl:

Tonight, we are having fajitas - I took out of the freezer a box of hm pork fajita stuff which I have had for a while and a box of chilli....the tortillas were in the freezer too and I will use the remaining salad with the meal......another 'free to me' dinner!!

In other news.....I have spoken to my ds and asked him if he can finally sort out a woodstore for me.....I have a great big pile of logs outside - some of which is a year old but needs splitting and another load which is already at burnable sizes but only obtained a few months ago so needs storing for next winter.....at the moment, it is all piled in my front garden which isn't a major issue, but not helping it dry so, hopefully, we will manage to get it sorted before the new year but I am not holding out too much hope!!

I have been extremely lucky with the logs - my dd's bf does a lot of work on sites and whenever they have to remove wood, he brings it to me instead of taking it to the tip!! :jWoodstore or not - I never refuse!! :rotfl:Hopefully, I will continue to get these freebies - no guarantees but everything is a bonus!!

My friend is over during the holidays - hopefully she will bring me more jams and chutney....she makes excellent jams but they are always much more solid than normal jams (she has it in porridge so never spreads the stuff!!) and not really useful for toast or sarnies....however, they make the most fabulous glaze or sauce for meats that you can imagine!!

I have a big pot of damson jam that I intend to cook a joint of beef in along with a bottle of a sturdy red wine, baby onions and baby carrots....nom nom!! :beer:
We will also be bottling my damson gin when she comes over - I have four demi-johns full!! Once the gin is strained off, I will stone the remaining damsons, cook them gently with additional sugar and some white wine then push them through a sieve....the resulting damson 'goo' is absolutely fabulous on ice-cream (or as a topping for any type of dessert), as a sauce on steak or pork chops or as an ingredient in other types of sauce.....I do love food that works twice!!

I still have a huge pot of plum 'goo' which was the result of the plum gin and vodka that I made in the summer....I am getting through that at the moment so it will be nice to have a replacement!!

Anyhoo...better stop now as this has turned into a mega post....didn't mean to do that.....sorry!!

icontinuetodream · 17 December 2014 at 2:30PM

Right, I have finished my solstice buying!! :j:j:j

I did spend a considerable amount of money yesterday, but a lot of the cost was on meat which I have bought while it is cheap, so it will sort contribute a considerable amount towards keeping my grocery bill down during the six month challenge...;)

In the freezer (as soon as I sort it all out!!) will be:

1 joint of beef
2 bags of chopped beef
1 bag of beef strips
2 joints rolled shoulder of pork
1 leg lamb
1 small gammon joint
1 chicken
1 duck
1 side salmon
1 pk sausage meat
20 cocktail sausages

In addition to this, over the holiday period I will be cooking a joint of gammon, a slab of belly pork, a chicken, a joint of beef and an incredibly rich version of Bolognese sauce - there will be leftovers from all of these dishes

I am going to make a variety of ravioli's from the leftover meats (minced gammon & brie, served with a white wine, white stilton & apricot sauce / minced pork & apple with a teriyaki glaze / minced chicken, lemon & dill served with lemon cream butter/ Bolognese served with a tomato and olive sauce) and freeze them for later use.

I will be making a couple of meat and veg pies from the leftovers too - always comforting on a cold winters night!!

Although I have my food budget planned, I am really hoping that I can spend a maximum of £10 per week

It's a really big ask, but I am going to see how little I can spend between now and the end of March - it will be good to have a mini-challenge for myself

I will have to maximise the use of every item to reach the goal, have no waste and be really creative in the kitchen....

I'm looking forward to it really - however daunting it may seem!! :rotfl:

icontinuetodream · 19 December 2014 at 2:03PM

Doing pretty well so far!

Did all the decorating and baking for solstice yesterday along with dd....had a really lovely day and have enough gingerbread to feed the entire village!! :eek::rotfl:I used the spare space in the cooker to bake potatoes for last nights dinner - I cooked some chopped onion and cooking bacon to stuff some of them and topped with grated cheese and others were stuffed with chopped porcini and sundried tomatoes rehydrated in brandy, red onion, black olives and feta...they were absolutely gorgeous - even if I do say so myself!!

Very OS too - utilising the oven to the maximum and the dinner itself was very cheap and served five of us!

Everything is now sorted for solstice - but I will pop to the shop tomorrow just to get the remaining soft drinks/mixers....space is in short supply in the kitchen at the moment, so I have kept some of the budget back for those

I will be busy spending the rest of the day cooking and then beginning the celebrations - the family are all back at work on Monday so we are keeping the drinking to Saturday night!!

We will be having a more peaceful celebration on Sunday night - candles lit and a fire, buffet, chatting and probably a few board games.....:T

I love solstice; regardless of the weather, knowing that we are on the way back to summer is a fab feeling and definitely worth celebrating!!

Despite all the things I love about winter, I think I am a born-again reptile and need the warmth!! :rotfl:Better get on with those draught excluders!!

lillibet_dripping · 20 December 2014 at 11:57AM

Hello! Will be following this thread with interest.

I, too, celebrate the Solstice plus all the other festivals inbetween. It always give me a lift to know that the days are getting, ever so slightly, longer and that Spring is not far away.
Lilli

icontinuetodream · 21 December 2014 at 10:12AM

Thanks for dropping by Lilli

Happy Solstice everyone!! :beer:

Well, last night was a success!! We had the Bolognese, salad and homemade focaccia (no leftovers!! Can't believe it!! :eek:) and I have cooked the gammon and the beef. I have also cooked the roasted tomatoes, sprouts in orange and ginger, jacket spuds for the freezer and a filling for a suet pie that I have put into the freezer as I have no suet!!

We had a lovely evening drinking and chatting and I am very much looking forward to today too!!

I have started my day by burning my old diaries from the last three years - it's very cathartic, especially when they are read before being burnt!! It's surprising how much has changed and, conversely, how much has stayed the same....I have come a long way really, but there are certain things that I wanted to change back then which I am still doing.....but this will be the year that I get them done!!

I am really looking forward to the new year - I am going to really enjoy this one!! I am a very fortunate person, living a very charmed life and I don't want to forget that for a second... I am grateful for all I have and the constant opportunities which arise.

Happy holidays and I wish you all prosperity and happiness today and in the future :xmastree:

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

New start on my OS adventure!!

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