If things get tougher?

DdraigGoch

Primrose, we used to say "spat on them"

DdraigGoch

by the way, if anyone is looking for a cheapish slow cooker to buy [as opposed to Freecycle etc!] I found this one:

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk/royal-doulton-electric-multi-cooker_1_33534.html

if it's any use.

HTH
DG

ceridwen

kittie wrote: »

My practical head came on again yesterday. Water meters and paying for water adds up too. I have been using a neti pot for washing my sinuses and for hygiene reasons do it in the bathroom. I run the water until it comes through warm and it struck me the other day that there must be a means of re-cycling bathroom water. I have cracked it: I bought a 90p plastic mixing bowl from T and a £1.87 oval bucket and discarded the mop squeezer bit. The bowl fits beautifully in the sink. It doesn`t hold quite enough to flush the loo properly hence the bucket. I also tried a shower with bucket and bowl in there too and I got half a bucket of water and that is the amount that is efficient at loo flushing. They didn`t really get in my way either. As mr T says, every little helps

Ceridwen, I have long been of the opinion that we could get by on just veg without fruit and I was taught that exotic fruit isn`t good (as in natural) for us anyway. We have adapted to do well on home grown (uk) stuff and that means veg with orchard fruits and bilberries, blackberries, elderberries etc. We definitely don`t need oranges, bananas, kiwi, mango etc

Well - as one of the ceridwen experiments - I've found its possible to take a shower standing in the largest-size trug in the shower cubicle - and a large part of the shower water stays in this and can then be scooped out with a large jug to throw down the loo for flushing purposes. Did find though that it only seems to work in my loo for the lower-level of flushing - IYSWIM. Have definitely found that trugs have a multiple number of uses. Just used the smaller one today for a bit of guerilla gardening and now I'm going to wash it out and put it back into service as a "holder" for a couple of haybox cushions I got from a friend (ie old candlewick bedspread made into bags with those "ball" thingies that are used to fill sagbags) - it even matches too: purple trug and purple bedspread material:D

Re getting by on just vegetables - and certainly not exotic fruits. I guess you mean the idea that our bodies will be adapted to the foods of our genetic country of origin. So - I am British and therefore my body will be best adapted to the foods that grow in Britain (maybe Mediterranean stuff as well perhaps? - as I think I probably have fairly recent Spanish genes in me? - yay! bring on the olives)

sammy_kaye18

think someone is watching over me today - was upset earlier that i dont really have a great deal of money to start winter proofing the house - instead me and bf are worried about xmas already as we never seem to have money for bills let alone xmas presents.

well i went to town today to have a look at the car boot sale , found nothing and started trundling home disheartened. walked past two charity shops and saw the pdsa and figured id pop in and say hello to my friend who works in there. Turns out she wasnt in today :rolleyes: btu noticed some green curtains and figured i could at least line bens curtains with them and give him a little extra warmth, and then saw some thick crushed velvet looking green curtains and thought how lovely they'd be in our bedroom (wouldnt match) btu heat wise would make a difference and id have a spare set to make some sausage dogs with. but all the tags said £3.99 EACH - so i figured i could at least get the ones for bens rooms and make a start on something if nothing else.

Got to the till to an old battleaxe of a woman and well this is how the conversation went.
she punched price in the till
CASHIER : 'right thats 10p please'.
Me : :eek: WHAT?????
CASHIER : '10p please'
Me : 'I thought they were £3.99?'
CASHIER : 'oh yeah they were, today is our end of season sale so we can start bringing all the winter stuff in, everything is 10p today so we can clear space for stock'.
Me : 'can you give me one second please?'
CASHIER : 'Sure'.

(this is the point where i run as fast as i can back to the bedding rack adn grab me two sets of curtains)

Me : 'your telling me these are 10p too?'
CASHIER : 'Yes'
Me : 'I'll have these too please'
CASHIER : ' ooookkkkkaaaayyyyy.............thats 30p'


30P!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For 3 sets of curtains!!!! So now am going to do bens room as intended, our room and fingers crossed will use one for the front door and the other one for in the kitchen which will hopefully go over the blind to help insulate it - which hopefully means i wont have to cling film the kitchen, our room, or the front door and will only have to do the living room now even though these have blinds and curtains (the curtains arent quite long enough and they didnt do one big blind for the main window in the living room) so we have tow smaller but the space is on the partitioning beam.

so im feeling quite chuffed with myself today and slightly better. Also have applied for a new job in a certain retailing shop which puts out very heavy catalogues beginning with A for a temporary christmas job - hoping i can leave the coop then as i cant stand standing on a till for 7 hours straight. Plus think a job in a**os will be more beneficial come christmas and birthdays with the discount!

sammy_kaye18

Also ment to add that I would lvoe to be a mouse - if anyone else is wanting to take part in the nonny mouse thing id love to be a part of it

Yategirl

Wow Sammy! What a bargain!! And I hope you get the job too! My SIL worked there a few years back - the discount certainly was useful

ceridwen

Congrats then SammyKaye on getting those curtains - good one! Well - I think there is sometimes times when we get "prompted" to do summat that will turn out rather helpful for us....the someone watching over us bit....so you may well be right.

Glad you get your welly boots t'other day as well.

Primrose

SammyKaye - your lucky day! Those curtains will certainly make a difference. You're certainly going to save more than 30p on your heating bills with them. Reckon that's a pretty good return!

mummysaver

Hello! I think the nonny mouse sounds like a lovely idea, I've never heard of it before, but what a nice thing to do, if someone wants to organise it please put me down to help out!

Not really sure what we are doing to adjust and help our bills, other than the grocery challenge and thinking a lot harder about how I spend money. I am currently using my slow cooker, microwave, hob and remoska for everything and haven't used my oven for ages - it's got a loose piece of glass in the door so def isn't very efficient, but in the winter I guess it'll heat the house nicely! So I must be saving a fortune in gas, well I know I am, we have a gas tank cos there's no mains where I live, and it's still almost full from the delivery ages ago - prob the fact that the boiler isn't working helps too!

I've stopped using the tumble drier, and am slowly getting through to the rest of the family, think me quoting advice and costs from here has helped, not sure they care about whether I save money but they are certainly getting earache from listening to me lol! Anyway, I found ds actually pegging out the washing for me when I got home with the girls, thought I was going to fall over!

Edit: oops pressed the button before I was ready! I think the main thing that I am doing is preparing us and thinking twice about what we do and how I spend money, thankfully things aren't desperate at the moment, and I really hope that by being prepared and following a lot of the tips and advice I've picked up here then they never will be, but should the worst happen I hope that we will cope.

SammyKaye - fab bargain with the curtains, and good luck with the Argos job!

MRSMCAWBER

Well done Sammy

About time you had a bit of luck :T

I have had a leaflet through the door today -every week all the supermarkets deliver a magazine with their latest offers in.... the rest will be here in the morning :j ..how sad am I :rotfl:
Now I have a remoska on its way from lakeland (currently stuck in the BFPO system :rolleyes: ).. so that will save some gas.. but I have now seen this:-


You will have to click on it to get a decent view ...using my best German translation skills :rotfl: it :-

• uses 65% less energy than a kettle
• boils enough water for a cup/mug in 3 seconds
• has a removable filter
• removes lime, chlorine and pesticides
• and you press a button to deliver the water

Now Im willing to part with €40 -about £32 as my kettle is on its way out .. but has anyone got anything similar? or just opinions would would be great before I go out and buy a pig in a poke