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Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

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  • grandma247
    grandma247 Posts: 2,412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I haven't sewn my own so far but that was my next target. I never thought to use tee shirting - although one of my bought ones is clearly in that type of fabric.
    Mainly the ones I have are flannel so I've picked up some flannel pillowcases for pence off CS and car boots and am going to have a session making them.
    I was checking the price of hemp on ebay but I'll cut up an old towel now for the middle - thanks for the tip. :D

    Did you use press studs to fasten yours? My bought ones have 'wings' and snap poppers. Didn't really want to go to the expense of buying poppers if studs did the job as well. :rolleyes:

    :T

    Pure cotton mens tshirts are great and there is a lot of material in the large ones.
    Flannel will work great too.
    I did not make mine with wings I just made some wider than paper ones and put decending size pieces of towel for the inner so the thickest part and smallest size was in the middle. So you have 2 pieces of tshirt for the cover and for the padding four pieces or so, depending on how much absorbancy you need,of toweling a little smaller which are stitched together so they don't move around. stitch the cover leaving a gap to insert the padding and stitch up the opening. Then I stitched all around it about 1 cm in from the edge like quilting to stableize it.
    Some I made narrower but longer ( was experimenting which was best).
    It does depend on your underwear but I found both stayed put without problems and the thick ones were good for the first couple of days.
    I made a lot because it is nice to be able to change frequently without worrying about the cost. you usually have to change more often anyway because there are no crystals in none disposables .
    If I was making those with wings I would use a press stud,probably plastic because there is nothing worse than something like velcro irritating delicate bits:rotfl:
  • grandma247
    grandma247 Posts: 2,412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Re: homemade sanitary towels, that's definitely an area I wouldn't compromise, especially as it only cost me £1.20 a month bying ownbrand from MrT.

    I do not consider it a compromise. I had irritation problems with disposables because of the chemicals and when I read that washables get rid of that I gave it a go and they were right. There are no horrible chemicals and there is a lot less impact on the environment.
    I used washable nappies even for my "modern" babies ( I have a span of 25 years between youngest and oldest child) and I decided this was no worse than that. As it happened it was better than washing stinky nappies:rotfl:. You just have to get your head around the idea.
  • grandma247
    grandma247 Posts: 2,412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    cw18 wrote: »
    Since then we've had no crying at all, and he's had no other meds at all until his anti-B's this morning, which involved even more of a fight - so looks like it was a reaction to the tramadol, and he's quite happy with no pain killers at all !!
    Humans can also have strange reactions to Tramadol. A friend of ours did but it took him a while to convince the doctor it was them.
  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,630 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    My GP gave me Tramadol when my back was bad - I took them for 3 days, but found I was totally zonked out (slept for at least 19 hours a day, and struggled to even make a cuppa - family meals were a nightmare). Spoke to the pharmasist who said I was actually on a low dose - so no real scope to reduce it - so I went back to my GP and told him in no uncertain terms I wasn't taking them any more (and hadn't for a couple of days by the time I managed to get an appt).

    If the dog had been totally zonked out, then I'd have put it down to the tramadol - but most of the time he was crying he was also pacing around the house :confused:
    Cheryl
  • cheerfulness4
    cheerfulness4 Posts: 3,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 20 September 2009 at 3:07PM
    grandma247 wrote: »
    I made a lot because it is nice to be able to change frequently without worrying about the cost.

    That's why I wanted to make more. I'm finding now I'm in my mid 40's that I need more and it'll help in the colder months when its harder to get the washing dry, too.

    Thanks for all the help with making them, too. I shall have no excuse not to plough on and get them made now. ;)

    Oh we've decided on No 9 now - no more tv guides but shall use the internet to select our viewing.
    I'm secretly thinking that DH is agreeing to everything I'm suggesting in the hope that I'll reach my 10th one before hitting anything he's loathe to replace. Although he did go rather pale when I mentioned the addition of no buying biscuits and cakes. :rotfl:

    MAY GROCERY CHALLENGE   £0/ £250

  • cheerfulness - do you have freeview or cable? They have programme guides on them to show you what's on for the rest of the day/week if you like to plan your tv viewing.

    Nyk- I love frugal holidays - Stockholm for 3days was £72. Weekend in Barcelona was £96 (sangria -oops:o)My best frugal weekender was Budapest - flight £12, hostel £18 and spending money £20 and I lived like a queen:D

    I have a Visa Electron from Halifax from years ago and I never check in luggage even on week long holidays. I fly regularly to visit friends and family and usually pay £15-£30 for a return- although in a few weeks I have a 2p day trip to see my family. Even started taking an empty water bottle and filling it up after security from the drinking water points because I resent paying £1.50 for a bottle of water for the plane.

    Next year's trip to Lake Garda is a self catering chalet with BBQ and the budget is £250 each for a week, including food, accomodation, flights and activities.

    Just finished making a big batch of chicken n veg soup for freezer meals, and rice, chicken tomato and peppers - reduced goodies meant it costs about 30p a portion:T
    "I cannot make my days longer so I strive to make them better." Paul Theroux
  • grandma247
    grandma247 Posts: 2,412 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Cheryl our friend was totally miserable on them which is out of character for him.
  • BigMummaF
    BigMummaF Posts: 4,281 Forumite
    Evening...
    We had trouble with our Pooch & getting the meds down him. The pain killer was a liquid & the vet was most surprised when we told her he refused anything we used--chicken nuggets, cheese, roast chicken!--as the product is apparently odour-&-tasteless although she did admit she hadn't tried it out for herself :laugh:

    I actually remembered to put the pinto beans & yellow split peas on to soak last night so today SIZE=1]along with 800g of mince[/SIZE I've made 5 portions each of meatloaf & lasagne. Un/fortunately the offspring caught me in the act so I had to think fast...I'd already blitzed up some carrots so put the cooked pulses in too, whizzed them together et voila! No tell-tale lumpy bits :D

    I also used up the
    :shhh: [out of date :o] l-o-n-g l-i-f-e milk to make a rice pud & the white sauce for the lasagne, so I'm beginning to feel like a true member of this particular Clan :dance:

    Full time Carer for Mum; harassed mother of three;
    loving & loved by two 4-legged babies.

  • cw18
    cw18 Posts: 8,630 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    BigMummaF wrote: »
    I also used up the :shhh: [out of date :o] l-o-n-g l-i-f-e milk
    Funny you should mention the 'out of date' phrase -- DS was digging through the fridge to make butties yesterday lunch, and asked "why is everything in this kitchen out of date?" :rolleyes2

    Pointed out to him that his spread (marge) wasn't - and the ham he was using hadn't been when I put it IN the fridge..... and wouldn't have been if he'd used it in a timely fashion :rotfl:



    Have spent several hours today meal planning to the end of November (!), basing as much as possible around freezer contents. Just done a shopping list for the bits I need to finish off the main meals until just after the end of October, and it comes in at under £20. Will have milk, bread, cheese, ham, eggs and a few other odds-and-sods (such as the ice-cream DS keeps eating!) to pick up as well, but looks like I could manage the next 7 weeks on somewhere in the region of £50 if I'm really strict with myself - whereas my budget would be around £175. So I reckon I could be on target to pull back at least £100 towards the vet bill by 6th Nov :T
    Cheryl
  • thriftylass
    thriftylass Posts: 4,033 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 21 September 2009 at 8:33AM
    grandma247 wrote: »
    I do not consider it a compromise. I had irritation problems with disposables because of the chemicals and when I read that washables get rid of that I gave it a go and they were right. There are no horrible chemicals and there is a lot less impact on the environment.
    I used washable nappies even for my "modern" babies ( I have a span of 25 years between youngest and oldest child) and I decided this was no worse than that. As it happened it was better than washing stinky nappies:rotfl:. You just have to get your head around the idea.

    It's not that I'm queasy I guess it's that I don't actually use towels at all as I don't like them (use tampons as it's cleaner and more practical for me). Anyway, I totally agree on the environmental impact though and actually I know someone too that has a bad reaction to the chemicals in them (sorry, should have used brain before posting :) . Strangely enough I have considered reusable nappies if I ever have baby.
    DEBT 02/25: total £6100 Debt free date 12/25
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