1 mortgage, 2 babies, 3 years to be MF, 4 goodness sake!- weezl's diary

jenid

Hi Weezl, good to see you on such good form.

I've been away a while whilst we've been renovating our new home, but I'm back now and am more than impressed with the new challenges you have set yourself and in complete agreement with everything you've put in your amazing post. Maybe we should forward it on to Mr G Brown as an indication as to how some of us are feeling and what the government should be concentrating their efforts on more.

Anyway, in about 2 weeks time I should have a kitchen again after 6 long hard months without one. And for health reason I now have to take it easy on the heavy lifting front and renovation duties, so I will have more than enough time to help test any recipes for you, or do some pricing research if you need any help with things like that. I also probably have some receipes lurking somewhere in my files from when I was working on a similiar thing for my own family, if these would be any help for you then please let me know.

So, please shout if you need any help. And in the meantime, it's nice to be back and see you and your family are doing so well. Take care

Jenid x

gallygirl

Queen-Bee wrote: »

Not long ago in my diary, I described how much happier I am living with less these days... and totally agree about living within one's means.

Kittikins wrote: »

My friends say that I'm much happier since being divested of my spendaholic ex OH, and my lack of credit card debt, loans or anything other than my ginormous mortgage attest to a lot of that happiness, as I don't fall for the buy now pay back later advertising.

I love reading posts like this :T. I'm in the fortunate position of being about to get a massive payrise. So I've decided to splash some cash. So far I've decided on 4 cans of spray paint to paint a Lloyd Loom style laundry basket (bought 15 yrs ago for £2) to match the bedroom furniture. Is that too decadent ? Apart from that most will go straight into savings.

If anyone is offended Weezl they are probably exactly the type of person who SHOULD be reading it!

vandanfc

Well Weezl, that post woke me up. You can't delete it though - it is way to important for that - anyway it is on your own thread, so your thoughts are allowed.

I know this issue has been bugging you for a while now. I too would love to try your recipes, can't promise to follow a whole challenge, but even some of it would be a good start. If we all made small changes, they would soon add up.

Weezl you need to start a proper blog - introduce it to the whole world.

This is a BIG issue and is doable by most people. Keep it coming.

vandanfc

Nyk, is your feed 4 for £10 work accessible anywhere, would love a nosey.

HowlinWolf

Weezl don't delete your post. You might find the writings of Amartya Sen interesting on those long sleepless new baby nights.
I think you should put your challenge on the old style boards. I read your threads and Nykmedia's and find them both helpful and inspirational. I don't think it will do any damage to have another challenge thread at all.
And I'd be happy to test recipes for you - so long as you don't expect me to shave and de-brain a pigs head.

Kipper

Thank you Weezl, that was inspiring!

nicki_2

Weezl - You are an inspiration and I wholeheartedly agree with your post :T:T:T:T:T Until I started reading your challenges I always thought it was impossible to eat a cheap, well balanced & nutritious meal. You have changed my way of thinking and I now feel confident that I can provide myself & daughter a healthy diet and still manage to clear the thousands of pounds of debt I am in - all due to the "buy now pay for it later" attitude from my previous relationship. I fell off the wagon big style, but you've pulled me back on and I want to thank you for it. There's no way I'd feel confident in being able to pay off a £2500 overdraft while on benefits (I got me into this mess, I'll get myself out of it ) this year without your wise words and delicious recipes. Then I'll start really tackling the credit card debt! Thank you :T:T:T:T

blueberrypie

Excellent post, Weezl - I agree with much of what you said. I'm not convinced that it's up to someone "in leadership" to teach people how to live within their means - that's a life-skill that should be learned as part of growing up within a family - and certainly used to be - and I feel that government agencies already encroach far too much into things that should be personal responsibility and personal decisions - indeed I think it's this culture of expecting our leaders to micro-manage our lives which has led us to the place where so many people have no confidence in doing it for themselves. I suspect, though, that our thoughts aren't really so far apart, and I'm certainly not offended by your passion.

I too would very much like to be one of your recipe-testers - although I'll have to double the quantities to feed my household, "abnormal" as we are ;-D

IlonaRN

Sian_the_Green wrote: »

Hey all, Weezl, I think you are pretty remarkable in your challenges and I don't think those two months will be that much of a difference... Why not allow yourself 2 easier months with your little family

I am currently half way through having some patch testing and my patches for nickel has come up massively already. Just having a read about nickel in food; better hope you never develop it weezl, whole grains, lentils, canned food! eek, am hoping they don't suggest a low nickel diet, not sure I have enough will power!

Hello everyone I did follow your old threads, Weezl, but I can't remember if I ever got round to posting!

Very sorry to hear you're allergic to nickel, Sian. A friend of my Mum's had that, and it made her life extremely difficult. Remember there is nickel in lots of things that you come into contact with all the time, such as money, buttons on jeans, even in tap water! :eek: Mum's friend used to have to let the water run for 15 mins before she could do washing up or have a shower. Please be extremely careful with any jewelry you might have. I know in Denmark it's possible to get something to paint on the jewelry to see if it has nickel in... maybe there's something similar here?

IlonaRN

weezl74 wrote: »

What I'd dearly love to create is a resource. With meal plans and recipes and costings. For a 'normal' family of 4 (2 adults 2 teens). And I’d like it to prove itself to be healthy, and I’d like it to not be too much of a break away from what people normally eat. Because these are the objections and fears that most normal people have when you try to help them to live within their means.

So I’ve been asking for volunteer recipe testers and so far 15 lovely MSEers have stepped up to the plate. And I’m more grateful than I can say. Thanks:A. I hope there are more who might spare the time and the cash to test a frugal recipe. Let me know if you do.

Erm…… so I think that counts as the longest ever answer to what have you been up to Weezl, anything frugal to report?

I'd be happy to test for you, Weezl, but there is only me in my household (though I do occasionally feed a couple of my male friends, so could get feedback from them).