It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

mardatha

LilacLady, I did in fact think water was free until carrie posted, then I went and looked at my bill. I would pay for sunshine without moaning though !!! It supposed to be 18 here today but there's no way thats 18 outside. its COLD !

charlies-aunt

mardatha wrote: »

LilacLady, I did in fact think water was free until carrie posted, then I went and looked at my bill. I would pay for sunshine without moaning though !!! It supposed to be 18 here today but there's no way thats 18 outside. its COLD !

Phew! Its been scorchio here again - just contemplating going for another shower. Finding it hard to get anything done - the heat makes me feel so lazy and lethargic

The_Thrilla

Four days to go till pay day, and I am still living on the contents of the pantry, and I still have the loose change I was living on. In fact it's grown like the Feeding of the Five Thousand. Upon my soul - a miracle! (It's amazing what turns up behind seat cushions!) Today I had a sudden idea. Garibaldi - he was a revolutionary, you know - fed his army on bread and raisins, which is, I suppose, the reason why squashed fly biscuits are called garibaldis. So I mixed a load of raisins in with plain flour and water. (I planned to add some olive oil, but I forgot.) The end result was something resembling spotted !!!!!!, but I can happily live on this till Thursday.

ceridwen

Thrilla

So what did you do with your raisins/flour/water mixture then? Did you make pancakes with it?

ginnyknit

Just checked my water rates are 42.99 a month, we are considering going on a meter when Dd and co move out but am going to look into it first. Our water comes from the lake district -pity when theres a reservoir at the end of the street- and I saw pictures in the paper to day its like a mud flat there!

freebiequennie

lauren_1 wrote: »

I had another baby related brainwave circa 3am this morning (yes, it hurt)

Going to get OH to convert DD's old computer desk to a changing table (she has a smaller one now) its big, big enough for a matt and some little rattan baskets to go on top and has drawers etc etc so just needs a bit of edging, it took a good half hour of me walking round the house mentally deciding where to put it to make room for a changing table before the penny dropped...

sounds like fab idea we are due first baby end aug and wanted a changing unit I wanted one with drawers like a chest and its needed to be 100-110cm high which we couldnt find so husband got some bricks and wood covered in old curtain and placed an old set of chest drawers on top and looks fab, changing mat fits nicely on top and nappies etc will go in top drawer - amazing what you can make to save money

The_Thrilla

ceridwen wrote: »

Thrilla

So what did you do with your raisins/flour/water mixture then? Did you make pancakes with it?

I just lumped the whole thing onto a piece of baker's parchment, and put it in the oven. I put it right at the bottom, because I was baking other things on the upper shelves.

freebiequennie

water wise we try to cut our unit usuage every 6mths when our bill comes in - just 2 of us living in 3 storey 4 bed house, soon to be 3 of us, water bills is about £85 ever 6mths.

we have a water butt in our small garden - annoying when it doesnt rain for a while but use water from bath and also from washing veggies where we can (grown loads of own veggies in pots hung onto fence in garden using holes drilled in trough style pots and coat hanger hooks to hang them as garden is small). We bath 3 nights a week and share the water and either wash or quick shower on the other nights, brought a 9kilo drum washing machine last year when ours was on its way out so only do one wash a week now either whites or colours, very occasionally have to do 2 and prob will once baby arrives as well.

ceridwen

The_Thrilla wrote: »

I just lumped the whole thing onto a piece of baker's parchment, and put it in the oven. I put it right at the bottom, because I was baking other things on the upper shelves.

Reet.....i guess if desperation has struck for a few days...well maybe.

Even so - can you manage a few pennies for a bit of some dairy product of some description? I don't like seeing even a very temporary diet with no dairy products in (bar some well-up on nutrition vegans I know of on here).

If nothing else - could you maybe buy some dried milk and make it up to just glug down as a drink. Dried milk is palatable if well whisked together and then left to cool in a fridge for a few hours before drinking it.

Also - have you tried your hand at freeganism? ie seeing what supermarkets might be chucking out in their dumpsters...

If you can find some fresh milk going cheap because its just about to go out of date - then its possible to use milk that is just SLIGHTLY off-ish in pancakes, yorkshire puddings, toad in the hole (if you can find something to be the "toad" part of that), scones.

mardatha

A long time ago, you used to get garibaldi biscuits covered in chocolate ... I forget who did them. I wonder if you can make them, and dip into cooking choc...?