It isn`t tough for us. We are OS and we COPE

karren

Ive really got back into the mse way of thinking so thanks to all for the posts, Ive promised myself not to buy any clothes at all for myself, my children have wardrobes crammed so hope to make do for them too (my friend gives my dd her dd outgrown clothes so she always has plenty to choose from) and friends always buy her next clothes for bdays so she ok, ds is 11 and we go for quality rather than quanity these days as he seems to live in the same clothes these days, but will have to buy his complete new uniform in sept as he goes to comp, but ive put extra away every month for that.
So Lets hope 2011 is the year that I realise less is more!!!
Im decluttering room by room and have to say mentally i feel better as not surrounded by clutter any more and know were things are, nothing good enough to ebay so far but lets hope there is.
Well as i say thanks all for fantastic advice keep the tips coming xxx

meanmarie

Happy birthday Jusamums DD and Frugalista.....my DGD1 is 6 today too...won't see her as she is in London, but she will be here on 19th, so we will have celebrations then....with her cousin who will be six on 7th, her auntie who will be 31 on 5th, her sister who will be 3 on 19th and her biggest cousin who will be 10 on 21st....February is an expensive month for me!!

Justamum

meanmarie wrote: »

Happy birthday Jusamums DD and Frugalista.....my DGD1 is 6 today too...won't see her as she is in London, but she will be here on 19th, so we will have celebrations then....with her cousin who will be six on 7th, her auntie who will be 31 on 5th, her sister who will be 3 on 19th and her biggest cousin who will be 10 on 21st....February is an expensive month for me!!

What is is about April? My niece is 11 tomorrow, my cousin's daughter is 6 on Saturday, and my sister is 40something on Sunday. It was my dad's birthday last week. My DD's teacher told me that there are loads of Aquarians in the class too.

Pitlanepiglet

Happy Birthday Frugalista and others! Frugalista, I've used eggs over a month past their date as well. I crack them into individual bowls so that if one isn't any good (and I've never found an off one) then it doesn't contaminate whatever I'm cooking.

maryb

Justamum,

I use a mnemonic to check off cake ingredients

Shirley Shouldn't Eat Fresh Mushrooms

Shirley - sugar
Shouldn't -shortening ie marge/butter
Eat - eggs
Fresh - flour
Mushrooms - milk (if it needs it)
The advantage of this is it also reminds you which order to add them in if you are doing cakes the old fashined way ie creaming them instead of all in one. I use hard baking marge when I do this and it does make lovely cakes

zippychick

Frugalista wrote: »

Have just found a dozen eggs in the cupboard dated 10th January - am tempted to use them - what do you all think? Maybe I could pickle them?

I would try the float test - explained in how do you test an egg. Basically put the eggs in cold water. If they sit on the bottom of the bowl they are fine, the older they are, the bigger the air pocket they will have inside and they will start to float if they're off. Works for me anyway

Sell by dates on eggs, how long do they keep for?

FatVonD

I regularly use eggs that are past their sell-by date with no ill effects!

Thanks to the inspiration of this board I let the hems down on 2 pairs of my son's school trousers last night and saved myself the upwards of £30 it would have cost to replace them (they're the M&S wool blend ones.)

I'm feeling really smug

GreyQueen

maryb wrote: »

We are very lucky in this country in that we don't tend to have major climate disasters. Wait for long enough and the snow will melt/the floods will subside etc. Our OS preparations are about minimising impact on day to day life rather than saving life and limb. The 1953 East Coast floods are the only comparable thing I can think of. But if we did have a storm surge coinciding with a high tide London would still be at major risk if it were not for the Thames Barrier. (That will need replacing and given how long we faff around in this country before committing to capital infrastructure spending I can see there being a risk of flooding before it gets prioritised). I don't think we could prepare for impending devastation on a scale like the Queensland cyclone in this country - can you imagine trying to evacuate the Thames Estuary?

You are so right, Maryb. I have ground floor flat with only 50 metres of flat ground between me and a tidal river. Can get a bit hairy at certain times of the year. There's normally a good bit of "spare" for the river to come up, but about 3 years ago there were some very high tides co-inciding with heavy rainfall and it was a worry. The authorities always say "Move things upstairs" but some of us don't HAVE an upstairs. Good job I can swim. Joking aside, there were a lot of deaths from drowning in my area about 100 years ago, but river controls are better now (hopefully)

saveabobortwo

I drove new little car to shops today and i am really pleased with it its quite nippy and zooms along for a small engine car and very easy to park .Was glad to go out to be honest as fed up already with all gloom on tv i like to keep updated with all thats going on but also like to have a break from it aswell and despite popping into marks and spencers which i visit along with Azda , MORRISONS tesco , Sainsburies, farm fresh , lidl who ever that week has best offer or price is where my loyalty lies that time. today marks was selling a large oakham chicken with a bramley apple pie for 5 quid and also purchased 6 yorkshires for 99p and 2 small loaves of wholemeal bread for the freezer for 1.50 so was happy with what i had bought however i do make my own apple pies but also will buy special offers when they come up in the supermarket. however i nearly fell over when i see how much their red / green grapes were 17 pound a kilo on special offer 8 pound a kilo absolutely ridiculous prices so as you can imagine we are a grapeless household tonight.had nice walk in the country park along to a beach which was nice and free parking which makes a change found a cheap cafe but only had acup of tea but thought i should of made up a flask but did nt know i was going there untill after shopping looked on price list in the cafe jacket potatoes and beans 2 pound ham egg and chips 3.50 i thought this reasonable considering food is going up. did not purchase dog food in marks as was aggravated that their cat food was cheaper than dog food in the same size tin so get that somewhere else have good day everyone:)

kitschy

Happy Birthday Frugalista and Justamum's DD :bdaycake:

I second the floating egg test - if it floats, chuck it out - there is too much air inside which means it's turned.