How to Get Through The Tough Times The Old Style Way.

shegar

kitschy wrote: »

Quick question - does anyone know of any price checking sites for groceries that include Morrisons or Lidl? My Supermarket only does the supermarkets that home deliver, but I wondered if there were any more? I drive past Lidl, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons on my way home.

Yes you can try fixture ferretts website thay maybe able to help you.........

mama67

Went to the farmshop yesterday for a 25kg sack of potatoes, we use one a month.

They had all gone up a £ since I got the last one.

Marfonas which were £3 per sack when I worked on the farm approx 7 years ago are now £7 and Pipers and reds without a label were £8. :eek:

ceridwen

ceridwen wrote: »

I dont recall that - and there may have been a mistake made. I know there was one incident where a blog link was wrongly removed by MSE by mistake - and had to be re-put up again (making it clearer that it was someone else's blog...).

Anyways - I have checked and my "Living on $12,000 a year" thread that ran for quite some time here on Old Style Board is still very much there - complete with the MSE add-on in the first post that it was recommended in Martin's Weekly MoneyTips Email:D

- and that thread quite specifically gives loadsa links to useful blogs (all other peoples'):D

Now - back on topic....what food storage have peeps been doing recently?:)

See there is still apparently some confusion re posting blog links - as the one I posted yesterday has been deleted. I have just rechecked the MSE rules re posting blog links and they state:

"...not allowed to post sites or blogs you or friends are involved in."

So - to clarify - Sharon Astyk is not me and not a friend of mine. I dont know her - therefore posting a link to her blog would appear to be allowed under MSE rules (I have posted a specific query re this on the Site Feedback Board - stating she is not me or a friend of mine). But - according to my reading of the rules - a link to her blog is acceptable - because there is no connection between her and myself. So:

http://sharonastyk.com/2011/03/06/newbie-food-storage-on-the-cheap

ie a useful post on this blog about a very Old Style topic - ie food storage.:)

redlady_1

I order my wood and coal in the summer. The coal is much cheaper but the wood has time to season. It never is despite what the wood suppliers say. That said, I have found a cracking supplier but he doesnt stack, but his wood is fantastic.

HariboJunkie

redlady_1 wrote: »

I order my wood and coal in the summer. The coal is much cheaper but the wood has time to season. It never is despite what the wood suppliers say. That said, I have found a cracking supplier but he doesnt stack, but his wood is fantastic.

We mostly get free wood from MIL so I know exactly how long it has been seasoned but we had to order extra from a supplier this winter as MIL's wasn't ready. This batch is sweet chestnut and it burns beautifully.

Have been having another look at the finances today. With our own small business times are always unpredictable if not actually tough. Work could dry up at a moment's notice or health could fail unexpectedly. So I am becoming paranoid about the pennies .

Tea tonight was frugal enough. I have stopped OH snaffling leftovers by hiding them after plating up and tonight I had spag bol, he had beef casserole and the girls had shepherd's pie all from the freezer. This in turn left a gap to be filled so I did with oodles of whoopsied meat. :cool:

ceridwen

GreyQueen wrote: »

If anyone finds the uber-book on this subject, can they pleeeze post the details up here. My flat is 24 sq m or 240 sq feet, which might sound a lot but to give you an idea.

I've also decided that the dead space formed where the washing machine abuts the undersink unit at right-angles can't be left as it is. It's accessible thru a 6" gap and a rummage but it's a case of stick your arm in up to the shoulder, press your face against the cupboard and grope around blindly. I tend to stand bottles up there.

In the spirit of make-do and mend, I retrieved a 3 tier old style storage rack from my lottie shed. Bought it donkey's years' ago for 50p from a b.s and it served in my previous kitchen but there was no room here. Scrubbed it clean and I've taped the bottom of it's legs with electrical tape in the same colour (they were starting to split off their plastic coating) and have glued the caps from tomato puree tubes on the sharp metal leg ends to give it feet. Later today, I shall drag the washer halfway across the kitchen, clear out and clean the cubbyhole and insert the rack. What lives under there will have to be impermiable as in worst case scenario the washer hoses (which cross the space) might leak. Or the washer itself.



Underscale furniture from ex-show houses?
I've read that, in order to make boxy new-builds look a little bigger, that show homes are kitted out with furniture which is slightly under the normal scale. It goes to be sold when they've finished with it. Does anyone know where? I've seen reference to this in a book on thrifty living but I can't recall which. Probably in the S.E. somewhere towards London.

Ceridwen, I have a sofa that was originally from D*S and was a cast off from a friend. It is a 3 seater and replaced the 2 seater I had. The kicker is, the external dimensions are exactly the same but I can stretch out and lie down on the 3 seater one. I've mended the wooden frame a couple of times and titivated the leather but when it is beyond repair, I am dreading shopping for a replacement as the ones in the shops are such massive puffy things.........

Some good points made there GreyQueen (aka "Altar Ego":rotfl: - after someone thought you were me recently or I was you...or...oooh...my head hurts....:rotfl:).

I think its a LOT more useful idea to think of the amount of square footage there is in a home actually. I cant recall which country/countries measure homes in terms of how many square feet they measure (think its America??). I think thats a very useful way to look at it actually - and have measured out the rooms in my home accordingly to see what square footage my home is. Mine is approx 700 square feet (not counting hallway and loft). So - now I know how to compare and see what is "like for like" and what is bigger or smaller than mine....

I think its long past time that British homes were measured according to how many square feet there is of roomspace.

I know what you mean re sofas - I had one originally that was described as a 3-seater (and converted into a reasonable standard guest bed too) and I "sold" it through the LETS Scheme. This was in the assumption that I would readily find a replacement - and then I couldnt - because the "selling size" of sofas has gone up/that sofa was particularly well-designed. In the end - I gave up looking at 3-seater squashy comfortable sofas (even those that DIDNT convert to beds) and decided just to get a really cheap tiny 2-seater sofa and regard it as "expendable". So - I got one for £250 - and its only virtue is how cheap it is and at least it fits in with my plain/modern taste. At that price I figured its cheap enough to pass on if I move ever and can revisit what sofa I have.

That is a VERY good point re ex-showhouse furniture:T. I've read that they deliberately put in smaller furniture (think its three-quarter normal size??) in order to make rooms look bigger than they actually are. It hadnt occurred to me that they would be looking to sell this "dolls house furniture" somewhere afterwards. Well spotted GQ:T

"Dead space" in kitchens - ooh...that is such a gripe of mine. They know very well JUST how tiny many peeps kitchens are - and then have dead space in them:mad:. If a kitchen is tiny - then one has to use literally every last inch of space to its max. I put a carousel space in my "dead space spot" in my kitchen when I swopped what units there were when I bought B.H. (aka "Blimmin' House") and have, in recent years, literally ripped out the carousel fitting from that corner cupboard. There was no way I could get at the wall behind to keep it clean and it was terrible space utilisation. So that carousel got ripped out (even though it meant that the centre part of the "frontage" went too:() and I put some shelving in there instead. I've got a LOT more storage in that unit now than I did have - and can get at the back wall if I need to.

ceridwen

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The nine inch space on top of my kitchen cupboards is stacked with goodies from Approved Foods. I really need a little kick-step to access them more easily.

There are fold-up kickstep stools available - tries to remember where I've seen them:cool:

I put things up on top of my kitchen cupboards too - though, in my case, I keep one of those lightweight metal stepladders nearby in the understairs cupboard anyway - so just get that out for getting to that stuff when need be.

redlady_1

HJ - I try to get as much as I can in the summer so I dont have to worry about it in the winter. I have also been costing it over a period of the year I have been here and it wasnt as frightening as I thought. I have also been trying out different suppliers and will settle on a couple.

[Deleted User]

I have an electric bike and it is superb, I bought it after a lot of research and after I got rid of my car. One full battery charge will easily do 40 miles and the bike itself is a supreme example of engineering. It is a pedelec ie power only kicks in when the motor senses that I am struggling and I can adjust how much effort I want to use. The bike is excellent for getting fit esp when starting from unfit and I can sail up the steepest of hills, while carrying two fully loaded panniers, milk and chicken etc. It is a kalkhof and was expensive so I use the best of locks when I park it

Bitsy_Beans

shegar wrote: »

Yes you can try fixture ferretts website thay maybe able to help you.........

Morrison's own website doesn't really show much in the way of their Groceries so I doubt you'll find anything on the web showing their offers.
Lidl I suspect you'll just have to save their website to your favourites and keep checking on their offers.