FRUGAL LIVING CHALLENGE 2010, part 2, April - June.

pagangirl

phoebe03cat hope DD is ok

Anyone living near a Lakel*nd store - they have free catalogues for Garden - grow,cook,enjoy with a free pack of salad leaf seeds attached. All you have to do is call in store and pick up your catalogue HTH someone

phoebe03cat

Thanks pagangirl, have fed her a huge steak in bed! Much to my surprise she ate the whole thing and seems to be a bit perkier. Think she's been eating all the pre-prepared rubbish for speed at uni, even though she knows better and no doubt skipping meals. Add a good dose of stress and the virus has knocked her down again. Blown our food budget for the week mind you. Why do kids always have to learn the hard way?

rozeepozee

cw18 wrote: »

Are you 100% certain you need a new damp course?

We had terrible problems with 'rising damp' in our lounge/diner at the last house the first winter we were there, and I called in three companies for quotes as we assumed this was what was needed.

The first 2 that turned up hummed and tutted, stuck probes in the walls, and tutted some more - then presented us with huuuge quotes for the 'necessary' work. The 3rd was round for about 10 mins tops, looked at the room, asked when the double glazing had been put in (a couple of months earlier), and informed us it was purely a ventilation issue - and he wasn't interested in the remedial work.

So we then got a local builder to come and put a ventilation brick at each end of the room (it ran front to back of the house), and we didn't see the problem again in the 10 years between then and selling the place.......

We've had some pretty creative quotes, Cheryl. The first guy said we needed the entire exterior of the house doing (£1600 but for that he would chuck us in some free bits of general maintenance work elsewhere - seemed such a generous offer at the time), next said only the front and side, another says a damp proofing course won't help at all but quoted us £170 for a soak away that seems to be part of the problem as the gutter/drain floods and settles near one wall of the house - so I think this work will need doing too. Finally we got a quote from another company who could actually demonstrate the damp (moisture meters and rotten internal plaster) on the same small portion of the house, apparently the problems elsewhere are ventilation/condensation issues which are just part and parcel of living in an old stone house. They're going to treat the small part they've identified from both sides and then the room will need replastering (additional expense but we were intending to decorate this room anyway and knew that as soon as we started stripping the wallpaper, it would need skimming). His quote is around £500 all in and they're a long established company that provide a 20 year guarantee. I'm still not sure but they seem to be as legitimate as we're gonna find and we're a little under pressure as the babies are due in a week and the plan was that Iwas going to be sleeping with them in this room to start off :eek: Looks like I'll now be in the lounge until the paint fumes subside!

On the plus side, if I'd nagged my partner more, we would have had this room newly decorated a few months earlier and the damp discovery would mean that a big chunk of it would have needed doing again - every cloud has a silver lining.

Whoops - sorry for the essay... I'll shut up now.

grandma247

I have a tip to get rid of unwanted weeds. Save any cooking oil that you would otherwise throw away and paint it on your weeds or spray them. The oil suffocates the plants and rain just runs off. I did it to a large plant pot that was full of weeds among my bulbs (the bulbs had died down) and it worked. Only one weed has dared to regrow and I did half expect it to although it is smaller and that is a dock plant so it will get another paint tomorrow and hopefully it will stay dead. It does not harm the soil. Try not to get it on any plants you want to keep.

cw18

rozeepozee wrote: »

We've had some pretty creative quotes

Sounds like you've had a good selection of workmen round to allow you to make the best decision possible without in depth knowledge in the area yourself. Also sounds like you've seen the same 'chance to make a quick buck for doing next to nothing' chaps that we had :mad:

landregistrylass

Evening all. Wont be able to be on for a couple of days as away with work. Will be hell having to have them pay for my food and accommodation! Frugality? Not for the next 2 days!!! Allotment calls at the weekend - looking forward to a backache. Its our 1st year, so only a quarter plot allowed - lets see how we do. We know we will use garlic, toms, courgettes, potatoes, beans, peas and rhubarb. What other suggestions ladies for such a small pot? By the way, what has happened to Rictus???

BigMummaF

rozeepozee wrote: »

...Looks like I'll now be in the lounge until the paint fumes subside!....

An onion cut in half & left in a little bowl of water really does get rid of the smell. We're asthmatic so have to be careful with fumes & things..

chika

I was wondering the same Landregistrylass. The thread has really quietened down over the last month or so. It's still excellent inspiring reading though.

I have some dig in seeds that I'm not going to use - I'm moving house in the next couple of months and mum won't let me dig up her garden. Does anyone want them? PM me if so.

cw18

I'm still here and reading - just nothing much new to report on a regular basis.

BUT.... it looks like I may be reconsidering the 'move/downsize' issue sooner that I'd expected to.

DS is moving in with my parents at the start of the new academic year (subject to getting his projected grade at college, so he can go to his first choice of Uni). That leaves me, DD and GDs down this end.

Then last night DD phoned me to 'chat' about something she's been looking into for a while. She's decided that after 5 years she's not settled in this area, and wants to move back up closer to my parents (and her school friends) during the Summer holiday.

So that leaves "lil' ol' me" all on my tod down here


Whilst I love the area, I'm thinking I'm going to miss the regular visits (as in two mornings a week during term-time, plus evening/weekend 'pop-ins') from/to my GDs. So I guess it's on with the declutter in a more major fashion, and then have a think about whether I move back myself or not

Only issue is that I've spent a fair bit (outside the challenge) on stuff to get my garden up and running for growing food, and I'm not sure how 'portable' most of it is going to be - so I'm losing the 'ooomph' to actually get it finished off......

There are several branches of Mr M in the area (one's similar in size to the one I work in now, then there are considerably larger ones), so I guess I'll have to try and find out how easy it is to transfer from one to another as I can't afford to make the move without having a job to go to - unless I do a considerable down-size and live off the kids inheritance until something turns up.

JayJay14

cw - those are big decisions to have landed on you like that. We are in the throws of similar due to OH's unemployment. We will be able to comtinue to live in this house while we get the morgage insurance (when they get round to paying it, it's taking them an age) but if we are no further on by the winter then we will have to selll and downsize or even rent. This is the first time we have really got the garden working for us so it will be a big deal.

How far away are your parents?